Whitney and I just worked with Bay Area nutrition coach (and friend!) Marnie Northrop from Becoming Health to complete a two-week cleanse. Using her guidance and recipes, I filled my belly with organic veggies each day while avoiding common toxins and allergens. Having tried half-assedly to eliminate dairy in the pasty, I was nervous that it would be too hard or I would be tempted by everything around me. I’m proud to say I did the whole 13 days, no cheating.
Coming off of my two-week cleanse, I feel a little uncertain. I want to tiptoe back into eating regular foods in moderation but that’s challenging. Will I spiral into old habits? Do I even really want the coffee? Is this dessert worth it? (The answers, so far, are No, No, and Yes).
Yes I dropped a few pounds– safely. I want to stress that waited until I was finished with breastfeeding before trying to conquer my sugar cravings. I spent the past (almost) two years eating for two, and wondered if I was still eating this way out of habit. A big part of Marnie’s message is to eat mindfully. (Stop shoveling.) I needed this reset.
Ok, so what was it like?
We started our clean-eating program with an in-person kickoff session with Marnie to learn about the philosophy behind the various foods and activities. She then took us to the Bernal Heights Alemany Farmer’s Market and Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco to shop for our first week’s food. The food was fresh and lovely, but I don’t mean to sugarcoat it for you; I felt like I spent the entire day grocery shopping. Look at my haul!
The daily schedule of food started the next day; each day’s plan included three healthy meals and two snacks. I received regular check-in emails and phone support. I survived and thrived for 13 days with no cheating. I impressed myself just a bit. Whitney goes into the details of her two weeks with no sugar on babycenter.
Tips for first timers:
- Schedule it when you don’t have a lot of other stuff going on. I lucked into perfect timing. I had very few professional and personal obligations that competed with my cleanse menu, which I clung to like a security blanket. I was able to eat most of my meals at home, and when I was out and about, you’d find me toting around a bunch of cut-up veggies and organic hummus.
- Treat the cleanse as a “food vacation.” I really wanted to cut out common allergens from my diet to discover if I had a food sensitivity and try to get my sugar habit back in line. Since I was so motivated, I knew that I could stick to it for two weeks. And just like a real vacation, I’m finding that coming back home feels a little different.
- Be prepared to shop and cook. A lot. Do you see those groceries over there? Most of them were gone within the first week of the program. That’s a lot of slicing and dicing. If you have a buddy doing it with you, maybe you can team up on dishes and trade off. For people with more money than time, Marnie partners with a chef who will make the food for you. Lilah Belle’s charges a $30 delivery fee to the East Bay.
Since ending my official cleanse on Friday night, I’ve dabbled in some of my old favorites only to find that they don’t quite taste as sweet: birthday cake, pizza, cereal. I hope to continue piling the veggies on my plate for every meal and aiming for progress rather than perfection. I could see doing a nutritional cleanse once a year as a reboot to improve my habits.
If you are thinking about working with Marnie to feel great you can schedule a FREE 30-minute Discovery Session and find out how you can begin. Tell her 510families sent you and save $50 off a cleanse in October or November (2012). Upcoming cleanses are:
October: Kickoff is 10/13. Runs from 10/14 – 10/26
November: Kickoff, 11/3. Cleanse from 11/4 – 11/16
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Disclosure: Marnie gifted this experience to us. You can find her regular rates on her site and if you sign up, you will also receive her grocery store tour, daily coaching, and email support just like I did.
Yeah, looks good.