For those counting, I'm on day 16 of my 21-day cleanse. Still going (though I will admit to having 3 homemade mini, dairy & gluten-free blueberry muffins yesterday, which would've been ok sans the sugar and egg they contain. We went to The Berry Patch and picked blueberries that morning and I had to taste my creation, right?)
The cleanse has probably gotten easier. My energy level is back to where it was when I started. I am bored with the dinner shakes. I feel like, "why bother," though often this is when I get my leafy greens and that's important. My hubby is pretty much done. He's feeling starved and has been planning his next steak for at least a week. Tomorrow is the 4th of July and he's decided he's done with the cleanse. We'll see if I make it the next 5 days without him. I may have to take a little break tomorrow in celebration! He can have his steak. I really want a glass of wine. He (and we) do have plans to make changes following the cleanse though, which I'll discuss in a later post.
I do want to mention some of the things I'm doing outside of food in order to help my body get rid of the toxins. The skin absorbs things directly into your blood stream, so it's important to consider those potential pollutants as well. Also, the air we breathe. Here are some of the additional measures I took outside of food:
Lotion: Except for my facial lotion and sunscreen (if I was going to be out for a long period of time), I managed to avoid it. I wasn't sure I could, but now I'm not sure I'll go back. In Clean, Dr. Junger recommends a little coconut oil instead. I tried that. Once. I put it on in the shower after shaving my legs thinking I could rinse some of it off so I wouldn't be greasy. I forgot about the shower floor getting slick. I almost fell. Also I smelled like suntan oil the rest of the day. Gross! Later I remembered when I learned infant massage, the instructor gave us grapeseed oil to use. Not only does it not have a smell, it is high in vitamin E which I know is good for the skin. I tried it and it works for me. Not everyday, but every other day. Just remember a little goes a long way. Too much and you'll be greasy!
Soap: I'm trying to remember when it was no longer good enough to just use "soap" and I had to start buying fancy, great-smelling stuff at Bath and Body Works. What happened to plain soap and what's wrong with it? As a child, I started life with Ivory. It made my skin too dry and my mom started buying me Dove (it's got that 1/4 cup moisturizer) so that's what I went back to during the cleanse. It's nothing to get excited about, but I'm clean and I probably spared my body a few perfumey-toxins.
Make-Up: I skipped it on days I wasn't going anywhere (also deodorant). On days I was going somewhere, I took the "oh well" attitude. No one wants to see me without it! A few years ago I did switch to mineral-based powder and eye shadow. My foundation has SPF in it, but it is made from Amazonian clay so it surely must be a little better than most.
Cleaning: I also avoided this whenever possible, but ok, that's not so possible with 2 small kids! I use Norwex for almost everything, which consists of a special rag or mop made of silver (a natural anti-bacterial agent) that you just wet and go. If you want to learn more about Norwex, I raved about it in another post.
My next test is paint. I promised both of my boys dinosaur rooms and I've procrastinated long enough. I found through Debras List that Benjamin Moore makes a VOC-free paint. I'm going to try it.
Bottom line is I've switched soap and lotion and the cleanse has reinforced some of what I was already doing. That's about as granola as I get.
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