Monday, January 30, 2017

The End of the Cleanse!

Generally a cleanse lasts for 28 days and when January 29 falls on a weekend, I often end my January cleanse a few days early!  To finish up the cleanse this year, I had a few bites of chocolate and it tasted delicious!  For the most part, I will return to the cleanse for Monday and Tuesday and then will officially finish on Wednesday.
Because I have done the cleanse a number of times, I don't specifically reintroduce each food that I have not been eating during the cleanse.  However if we are doing the cleanse for the first time or if we have had a significant change in the way we have been feeling since we last did a cleanse, it is very helpful to reintroduce each of the foods that we eat on a regular basis back into our diet in separate 3 day blocks.
The order of food reintroduction is arbitrary, although if there is a specific food we have a sense is likely to be hard on our system, it is best to save that food for the end of the reintroduction process.
For the reintroduction process, each food that has been out for the cleanse is reintroduced in a separate 3 day block.  During each 3 day block, we would eat the food in the amount that we would normally eat it each day for 3 days (along with all the other foods we have been eating on the cleanse) and watch how we feel.  If there is no change in how we feel during the 3 days, that food is fine for our system.  If we note that we aggravate on any level (digestive, skin, emotional, energy etc.) during the 3 day reintroduction block, it is an indication that the food is contributing to how we are feeling and that it is best eaten in a limited amount/frequency, when possible, going forward.  If we aggravate before 3 days, we can remove the food at the point.
During the food reintroduction process, whether we aggravate to a food or not, we remove the food after 3 days (or before with an aggravation) and then go onto the next food.  In other words, there is only one food that has been out on the cleanse consumed during each 3 day reintroduction block.  If we have aggravated to a food, it is best to go back to the cleanse for at least 1 day to allow our system to re-balance before starting with another 3 day food reintroduction block.
The food reintroduction process of the cleanse provides us with a great insight into whether any of the foods that we regularly eat are contributing to any of the concerns that we are experiencing.  It is a great learning experience and provides us with excellent information about how we can continue to move forward, diet wise, post cleanse, to support our overall health.    

No comments:

Post a Comment