Week 3: Full Cleanse Week 1 Welcome to week 3. This is the first full cleanse week, also known as Step In. Now in this module, I ll share with you exactly what you ll be eating and doing to deepen your cleanse, grow your energy, quicken your weight loss management, how to eat at work, when going out, possible symptoms that could arise, and some great detox strategies to help you feel better. What You ll Be Eating The basic foundation of this cleanse, as you probably know, is to remove all of the toxic six foods. At this point, you should be completely free and clear of all gluten, dairy, soy, sugars, corn, and caffeine in your diet. Yay! And already, some of you are noticing great changes: clearer skin, better focus and energy, and maybe even a loosening of your pants. Now for the next two weeks, you ll continue to enjoy the green-and-clean protein shakes for two meals a day. Most people like breakfast and lunch for their shakes and then have a regular dinner. Others like to eat their meal at lunch, which can make it easier for people who have work meetings for lunch. Any way you like it, just stick with two shakes for two meals a day. So, a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch. Be sure that you are using the protein guidelines of at least 15 grams of complete protein per serving, and you can reference back to the protein handout I created for you in last week s module. Now for your daily non-shake meal, you can use the recipes in the cookbook I created or simply adjust an old favorite, taking out any ingredients and replacing them with ingredients that don t have any of the toxic six. And I encourage you to share your favorite recipes on the online community so that others can get inspired by your kitchen wizardry. Deepen Your Cleanse Now, to really ensure that this week and the rest of your cleanse is a success, read through the program guidelines maybe a few times. Familiarize yourself with the toxic six and the hidden ingredient names that they can sometimes be found on. Check out the program s Facebook page to see what people are saying. Go through your pantry and fridge and remove any foods that might be tempting you. Ask a friend or partner or a family member to join you in the cleanse.
Go grocery shopping or visit a farmer s market and stock up on beautiful fresh, delicious produce. Visit recipe-sharing sites and get ideas for meals and start cooking, even if it s very simple and very basic. You can even consider your daily shakes to be your cooking, but you can feel really good about the attention and care that you re taking with your meals now. How To Eat Out Now, I m going to walk you through how to eat out and how to eat at work during the cleanse. First when eating out, have a nice big glass of lemon water when you re seated. Drinking water can cut your hunger, hydrate you after a long day, and give you some energy. It ll also fortify you to make good decisions, and the lemon will help to start up your metabolism by kick-starting your liver. Now while you re cleansing, you re going to skip the wine or beer and order sparkling mineral water instead. Add some lime or lemon to it. A spritzer is a good option. Mineral water or sparkling water with lemon or lime. Be sure to ask the server not to bring the bread basket. You don t want to stare at those biscuits as they taunt you from the middle of the table. Order a salad as an appetizer always. You can never overdue your raw greens. So, take advantage of fresh greens while you re out. If they offer an option with a few nuts or slices of pear, go for it. Order your vinaigrette on the side. Maybe just get real olive oil and lemon and make sure to ask about any ingredients. Make sure that they haven t glazed anything in soy or sugar or maple syrup. If you are an omnivore, go ahead and have some fresh fish. Most nice restaurants have daily fish deliveries, and this is a good time to enjoy some seafood if you eat it. Order wild salmon or wild caught fish. Use the Monterey Bay Aquarium website called seafoodwatch.org. You can download that app on your phone to pick the best sources of fish that are going to be less toxic and have lower levels of mercury. So, that s a great app for you to use for when you re eating out and buying fish to make at home. If you are vegetarian or vegan, go ahead and order a vegetable platter or whole grains and veggies. Most restaurants have a nice assortment of fresh or lightly cooked veggies, and you ll probably be pleasantly surprised. Have some nice brown rice or quinoa if they have it. If they only have white rice, maybe you pass on that, or maybe you have a little bit of rice but mostly veggies. See if they have a hummus or bean dish to help you get the protein that you need.
And take care of your digestion when you re out. You don t want this meal out to bloat your belly. So, practice food combining. If you re having grains for dinner, skip the protein. If you re having animal protein, skip the grains or starchy veggies. Order a big double-sized salad with protein or have grains with veggies. That kind of food combining helps your body to digest easier. How to Eat at Work How to eat at work on the cleanse. Take a small blender to work with you and make your shakes fresh. You can pre-measure ingredients into a big baggie or a glass container and just add water and blend at work. Bring all of your protein powder with you or keep your protein powder with you at work. You can get really good, inexpensive travel blenders for less than $30 on amazon.com. You can keep one at work, or you can bring the one at home with you if you prefer just to keep using that one. Pre-blend your shake at home and take it to work with you. You can either make it at work, or you can just make it at home in the morning with your breakfast shake and take it in an airtight jar. Then, refrigerate it once you get to work, and it ll be ready for you when you re hungry around lunch. Now, you may get snacky. You may want some snacks. So, pre-cut up veggies, fruits, raw nuts, and seeds on hand for you if you get hungry. There are some great snack ideas in the cookbook. Keep things refrigerated at work, so they re nice and fresh. If there isn t a refrigerator, take a cooler with ice packs and keep it nearby. If you can t keep it at your desk, keep the cooler in a break room or even in your car and take five-minute walking breaks to grab the snack from your car. This has the added benefit of getting you up and moving, so you generate more energy. Just be sure to have enough cold ice packs to keep your food really chilled and safe throughout the day in the cooler. Symptoms Now, let s talk about possible cleanse symptoms and how to handle them. Now, I ve created a tracking sheet which you can download here in this module. Use it to keep track of any symptoms that come up. Notice times of day, frequency, and intensity. If you track it, you ll be able to see if something is getting better, if something new appears, or if something goes away completely and quickly, which is a great way for you to measure and track and really get a sense of what s happening for your body.
Some of the possible cleanse symptoms are headaches, which you can fix with water, a short nap, a neck and head massage. Another symptom is acne. Again, water, possibly a little sunshine on the skin, and some time. Acne can be a result of hormone changes that are happening with your cleanse, but over time, it ll normally go away very, very quickly, and most people experience soft, supple, glowing skin really quickly on this cleanse. Another symptom could be muscle aches. Again, this is a result of acidity moving out of the tissues. So, try massage, drink more water, try arnica cream or Topricin. Those are both homeopathic pain creams that you can use on your muscle aches to help ease any tension. You may feel a little tired. You may need more sleep or to take an afternoon nap if at all possible. Again, drink as much water as you can. Walk around. Get up and move if napping is not an option. You may feel moody. So again, water, sleep, and eat something. If you haven t been getting enough calories, make sure you ve always got healthy snacks on hand. Any time I feel moody, I ask myself have I eaten lately. The final symptom that s most common is digestive issues. For gas and bloating, you may need to get some digestive enzymes and take those with meals just for a while to help your body adjust to digesting more fiber in your diet. Again, drink water, try a belly massage, try a hot water bottle when you get home in the evening. Relaxation is important and time. Time will heal most of these issues as your body is changing and adjusting through the cleanse. The good news is everyone feels better at the end of the cleanse than they did at the beginning. Some of these symptoms pop up, and they re gone so quickly within a day. Others take a few days to clear. We re all different, and we re all here to support you, depending on what you may notice. Midday Energy Boosters The next topic is midday energy boosters. Now in the past, you may have used coffee or caffeinated drinks or sugar to help wake you up and perk you up in the middle of the day. Not so during the Cravings Cleanse. Instead, we are going to create more energy in your body. If napping is not an option, then we need to get some midday energy boosting going on.
My favorite way to do this, bathroom aerobics. Bathroom aerobics is something I invented when I worked my first corporate desk job. I would get so tired around 2:00 or 3:00, and as I was trying to eat better myself and avoid caffeine and sugar, I also wanted just to get some more movement in my day. So, I started going to the bathroom and taking little breaks and working out in there. You can do pushups against the bathroom sink. You can do the wall sit, where you put your knees at a 90-degree angle and sit against the wall using those big muscles in your legs to keep you up. Try one minute, two minutes. Do 20 jumping jacks. Do some nice stretches, some forward bends, some side bends. Any of this movement will help create more energy in your body. You could also take a walking break instead of a coffee or smoke break. If you used to go to a certain café with a friend and get something in the afternoon, you can still walk and go to the café and socialize but get something different. Get an iced herbal tea or just get a water while you friend and you have a nice walk. Go talk to someone who makes you laugh. Get up, move around, visit with a friend for a moment, and get some nice intimate connections and friendly energy moving. Another idea is to take all of your phone calls and meetings standing up. Even if you re meeting in a conference room, just casually say, I m going to stand up for a few minutes to keep my energy and focus up. People will think you re cool and probably join you. Slipping Doesn t Mean Failing Finally if you re starting this cleanse and you slip up, know that all will be well. We are all human, and we all make mistakes. You might find that you mindlessly pop a candy into your mouth when you re getting them ready for a friend s birthday, or you start to chew on a piece of sugary gum after a garlicy meal, or you choose to eat a piece of bread at a party. In that moment, you may have made a mistake, given the outline of the program that you set out to follow, but you are not a failure. Let me say that again. Failing to follow any program 100% does not make you a failure. You may have slipped up, lost focus, given in, gotten busy, gotten lazy or distracted, but it s only a failure if you decide that your health isn t worth the effort, and you give up on yourself and your goals completely. A setback doesn t ruin the progress that you ve made during this cleanse. And you will be okay. Just realize what led to the mistake, have compassion for yourself, and keep going. Now, be sure to check out the other modules in this week: a wonderful relaxation and release meditation and a bonus video on my favorite detox tools that can help you feel even better faster.