Day 9: What exactly is this cleanse?

I received a question today from a family member asking me about the actual cleanse I am on. It made me realize that I haven't actually written about what my meal plan looks like or what supplements I am taking.

The cleanse is part of the Health and Wellness line of Arbonne called Arbonne Essentials. If you are not familiar with Arbonne they are a European company that has been around for decades. Their products are sold by individual consultants similar to I guess Avon however all of their products (cosmetics, bath and body and health and wellness) are vegan and plant-based.

The 30 day cleanse is a package of products not necessarily designed for weight loss but to rid the body of toxin build ups. It requires that for 30 days you avoid alcohol, dairy, soy, gluten, caffeine and refined sugars. Its basically an eat clean diet with added supplement to maximize your bodies ability to flush a build up of chemicals and toxins from your body. You can just select individual products or opt to do a cleanse package. Prior to doing the cleanse, I was following an eat clean diet (minus some of  the restrictions above) but without positive results. I knew that this cleanse would be a good fit for my overall health needs.

In the past several years, I have been trying very hard to buy local produce, meats, and even dairy or trying to go as close to organic as I can. This cleanse worked for me because the food you are expected to consume is supposed to be organic particularly produce and animal based protein needed to be grass fed, cage free, wild and/or free range. In terms of sugar, you can use Stevia or some other organic/natural sweetener like agave nectar, brown rice syrup, etc. All of these factors appealed to my ethics around food.

The overall goal of the cleanse is to improve the way your organs process food by eliminating toxins. At the end of 30 days you are actually supposed to slowly start introducing the foods you've avoided to detect allergens and food sensitivities.

While the Arbonne products are vegan, the cleanse is not. I eat eggs, chicken, fish turkey...I will eat beef just haven't yet but again they all need to be organic.. The products I use are a vegan based protein shake powder (there is no whey or soy in it), a vitamin pack, a detox tea and an plant based fizzy thing that I put in water. It's meant to curb your appetite and give you a boost of energy. It reminds me of those crystal lite single packets but it tastes better and is not artificial.

So here is a typical day of what I eat:

Breakfast:

• Detox Tea: a cup in the morning right when I get up and sip while I make my "shake and eggs" (lol).
• Protein shake: there are 2 flavors chocolate and vanilla. I blend it with almond or coconut milk and will add a tablespoon of almond butter or half an avocado. I have added strawberries and blueberries. I have also added spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice). I have also added spinach and kale. I make different ones all the time. I freakin' love them! My favorite is vanilla, with strawberries, almond milk and avocado. It tastes EXACTLY like strawberry quick.
• Egg whites: Last week I was starving every morning so I'd also eat 3 or 4 egg whites with a tomato and some spinach.

Morning Snack

• Water: lots and lots of water. I usually would use a fizz stick with it. I have a 32 oz water bottle and I'd just dilute the fizz stick.
• Fruit: again if I'm hungry I'll have an apple or strawberries. I really like apples so this isn't hard.

Lunch:

• Protein shake: (see above). I eat at my desk or on the run so this really works for me because I can sip it. I usually have chocolate for lunch because it satisfies my sweet cravings. I also purchased two of these cups where you can mix smoothies on the go.
• Water, water, water

Afternoon Snack

• Water: see above about fizz stick
• Crunchy: I have been eating raw vegetables with hummus. My favorite hummus is roasted pepper.

Dinner:

• I do plan to put up my dinner recipes but here is a list of some of the dinners I have made the past week or so:
• Eggplant Curry
• Grilled turkey and lemon garlic broccoli
• Turkey Chili
• Scallop Ceviche with gluten free tortillas chips (I made these by buying a pack of gluten free tortillas and then cutting them in wedges spraying them in a coconut oil version of Pam and salt)
• Mexican Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup (again I made baked tortilla strips from brown rice tortillas and used added corn while roasting tomatoes to make it creamy)
• Zucchini Pancakes (again made GF by using brown rice flour)

After 7pm:

• Detox Tea: definitely the hardest part. I love having ice cream or some kind of dessert while I lounge in front of the TV.

If you have specific questions, please don't hesitate to post them. I'm happy to answer what I can and if I can't I'll try to find an answer. This is really the only "diet" that feels satisfying to me and un-anxiety provoking. My anxiety about "what can I eat" is always the emotion that pushed me off the wagon.

On that note, I am off to lounge in front of the TV and enjoy my cup of detox tea.