Cleansing Revealed

9 years ago I began a cleanse; after sitting on the toilet for 3 hours and 17 minutes I was deep in contemplation, why the hell I had started this. (THIS IS NOT THE KIND OF CLEANSE WE RECOMMEND, however it was a great learning experience.) I was experiencing day 2 of what I think was the worst day of that cleanse. It was my first time participating in a cleanse of this severity, it was called the lemon juice cleanse. At the time this cleanse consisted of lemonade for 21 days straight, with nothing else to eat. What they called lemonade was really blended lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.  Day two was when your bowels and urinary track system started to flow with blended lemons and cayenne. This is what I called The Dreadful Diarrhea Day. I hoped to survive the fiery feelings that my private parts were experiencing. Day 2 was hell but day three was a little better, each day after that seemed to improve from everything from my energy levels to my ability to tolerate burning bowels. I chose to come off of the cleanse at the end of day 10 due to my sever muscle loss and emotional numbness. During my 10-day personal experiment I had lost over 17 lbs., 8 of which I calculated to be muscle loss, 4 from toxins in my body and 5 from fat from my body. I quickly regained the muscle, and was able to keep the fat off.

My real joy of that cleanse came later. After coming off the diet, eating healthy food in the right quantities was easy. After having spicy lemonade for 10 days, red peppers and brown rice tasted like cookies and ice cream. I found more reasons to enjoy the taste and health benefits of natural whole foods.  At the same time I instantly realized the effects of different toxins as I reintroduced processed foods, sugars, table salts, and other preservatives into my body. As my body experienced freedom from some of these processed toxins and then had them reintroduced I became aware of the toxic side effects that most of us suffer from daily. The side effects of these toxins included… my feet swelling up, telling me blood circulation had been compromised and water retention had occurred; my legs hurt. The complexion of my skin was like a withered leaf drying out. I attributed this to poor circulation, salt, and preservatives. I had been drinking over 100 oz. of water, however more of it was going to my legs and not enough to the skin around my eyes. Discard #2 was dry and inconsistent, leaving more toxins in the body for longer periods of time. Not effectively dissuading causes toxic build up which is cancerous an exhausting. Toxic build up with poor circulation and water retention negatively impacts, digestion, utilization of nutrients, energy levels, sleep, and mood.

There is a negative health cycle that starts with poor food, in the wrong time, at the wrong quantity. This dangerous cycle leads to lifestyle side effects of compromised sleep, decreased energy, and lower amounts of strength. Lifestyle side effects such as these can cause emotional stress and compound the problem. These life style side effects have a negative impact on your relationships, job performance, free time and happiness. 

I decided to do a second cleanse, this time I was going to do a little more research to understand and improve the process of cleansing. During this time I was young personal trainer helping clients who were primarily focused on weight loss, however some of them suffered from chronic diseases. As I studied, directed and adapted different cleanses I found there were many similar characteristics in weight loss cleansing and chronic disease cleansing. Soon I was creating 8-10 cleanses a year; always getting feedback from those participating, then adapting my methods based on that feedback as well as their results. I came to understand the components that the best cleanses had in common; they’re are always full of natural foods, and focus on:

1.       Healthy flushing of toxins and repairing balance inside the digestive system.

2.       Consuming high amounts of specific nutrients directed at one of your body’s systems.

The main difference between cleansing for weight loss and cleansing for chronic disease is what body system you are focusing on and the total amount of calories consumed. When you are cleansing for chronic disease you are focused on building the specific system that is affected by the chronic disease and repairing that part of the body. When you are cleansing for weight loss you are focused on building the body’s calorie burning system and allowing the body to eat itself. 

Cleansing your body is much like doing maintenance on your car; the more you keep it well maintained, the easier it is to keep it that way. Each cleanse should have healing effects on your body by restoring and repairing targeted areas, as well as allowing you to process toxin-free nutrients. The cleaner that you eat on a regular basis, the less you will need to cleanse and heal your body. I recommend cleansing about three times a year depending on your lifestyle. 

At FitForever we take a long-term approach to cleansing. Our cleanses are a hybrid of weight-loss and long term health dieting. We typically focus on two different systems of the body, for this cleanse we will be focused on the heart and circulatory system. Weight loss is inevitable; so we want to ensure your loss is from fat and toxins. We want to preserve muscle and strengthen the heart. Total weight loss is not our goal. Targeted fat loss and long term health is.

Each week of the challenge we will be posting more on the health benefits of the diet and how it affects our body. 

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