Why I’m doing The “CLEAN” Cleanse, Part 1

Day 1

Today marks the first day of my 21 day journey on The Clean Program, a detox program which is designed to remove toxics, restore and rejuvenate your body. As you’ve been following my blog, you know that I am by no means the poster child of healthy eating. I love cooking my BBQ Pork Ribs and eating juicy burgers just as much as the next girl.

As I go through this cleanse, I wanted to share with you the reasons why I decided such a cleanse was necessary, my experiences on the Clean Program, my thoughts on other cleanses, as well as share some good healthy “Clean” recipes, and of course, my findings after 21 days.

As I powered through night after night of going out and partying, I had a wakeup call when I had a good friend visit me for the weekend about a month ago.

After a long week of work, all I wanted to do on this particular Friday night was just rest. However, as social obligations call, you have to answer right? So instead of resting that night, we went to eat hot pot on the cold and slightly rainy night. After the meal, my body started to feel really queasy and sick. However, the night never just ends with dinner. Instead, we went to a lounge for drinks. Immediately I knew that all I wanted to drink was water – and trust me, I don’t usually turn down a good cocktail. As the night progressed, I was feeling a little better so I decided against what my body was telling me, and continued through the night with a few drinks.

As we happily went from bar to bar through the night, I knew that I still wasn’t at my best, but we continued to stay out till 2AM in the night. Then, to finish things off, we had some late night Artichoke’s pizza. Given, I only had 1/3 of a slice, but by the end of it, I knew it was completely bloated and felt completely disgusted.

Warning: the next part I’m about to get a little bit graphic, but I think it’s important to share because it’s really the mark of the turning point for me.

Exhausted after drinking and eating, I was able to fall asleep right away. However, by 5AM I started to toss and turn. I felt sick in my stomach in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Was it food poisoning? We all ate the same thing that night, so I don’t think it was that. All I knew was that I needed to throw up to feel better. So I spent about half an hour hovering over my toilet, trying to remove whatever that was in my body that was making me feel so terrible.

I had brunch plans with another friend the next morning at 11AM, but at 5AM, I seriously didn’t think I could make it out. However, with a bit more rest and a lot of water, I felt good to go again the next morning. I haven’t seen this friend in over five years, so I really didn’t want to bail. After brunch this weekend, my friends and I had a hot dog crawl along side our pub crawl (I’ll talk about this later, it was pretty awesome). Through the night, I really just brushed off what happened the night before. Perhaps it was just hot pot, I kept telling myself.

Spicy RedNeck at Crif Dogs – Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog with Chili, Cole Slaw and Jalepenos – oh so good

However, after another day of drinking and eating junk, as the middle of the night approached, I felt the same things I did the night before. So, almost like a bad habit now, I was once again trying to remove the disgusting things that I ate in the short 12 hours. As I spent more time in the bathroom, the more I was convinced that something has got to change.

I know that this situation may seem a bit on the extreme side, and honestly I couldn’t even believe it myself. Was my body feeling that bad that by the end of the day, it couldn’t even digest what I had consumed? To make things worse, what came after these two nights was the worst cold that I’ve gotten in years.

I’m starting the Clean Program today because I want to take better care of myself. After reading about numerous detoxes and cleanses, I felt that this cleanse worked best with my lifestyle, and I believe in the ideas behind this cleanse. Thanks for joining me as I navigate through this cleanse to a healthier me!