Anyone else feeling a little heavier than usual after the holidays?
To kick off the new year, Kirby and I decided to do a detox week to reset, de-bloat and set ourselves up well for our busy schedules. As I’m sure most of you did, we over-indulged during the holidays. We ate lots of chocolate and sweets, drank our favourite whiskey and really enjoyed ourselves, but it was time to put our health and wellness back on track.
We did the Tone It Up five day detox plan, and it was really nice that everything was planned out and we didn’t have to put too much thought into it. There is a sample meal plan that you can go by, or you can create your own based on the detox foods that are allowed.
The first day was really tough. Kirby was struggling with no coffee in the morning and he wasn’t satisfied with the meals. I had difficulty with the Morning Mocktail, which is 8 oz. water + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar + ½ lemon, juiced + cayenne. On day one – we were HANGRY.
I did not sleep well the first night because I had major stomach cramps. Kirby said that was a sign of the detox working.
On day two I actually enjoyed the first meal, a protein pancake, and started to feel a bit better. My stomach cramps continued throughout the day, but I made it through a core heavy tabata class! Then came the downward mood swing… We had to pick up groceries on the way home and I was kind of grumpy and frustrated and when we arrived at the grocery store and I realized they didn’t have the specific almond milk that I wanted, I cried. Yes. I cried in the milk aisle at my local Save On Foods.
That was the worst of it. The next three days were relatively easy, minus the apple cider vinegar ?, and Kirby and I decided to deviate slightly from the sample meal plan for some variety.
On the final day of the detox, we were dying for some of our favourite foods, so we made reservations at one of our favourite local restaurants for the next day! We didn’t go crazy though. We slowly reintroduced foods like bread and cheese back into our diets.
So what did I learn from this 5-day detox?
Well, I learned that detoxing is not for me. To be honest, I didn’t notice too much of a difference in my body. Maybe a bit less bloating, but other than that, I really didn’t notice anything! I didn’t have an increase in energy levels and I was genuinely confused by my mood swings. The meals were fine, but not really that tasty.
One bright side to this detox was that I noticed that eating bigger meals more frequently throughout the day left me feeling satisfied and less prone to snacking.
Truthfully, I don’t see myself doing a detox this extreme again. I missed my snacks and cheese SO MUCH. I would prefer to fill my diet with lots of healthy foods and limit the not so healthy treats when I feel I need to.
Have you done a successful detox before?