30 days ago I began on this very first Whole Life Cleanse with some simple goals. Remove harmful addictions from my life, get back to baseline, and find more spiritual balance. I fell like it has been an incredible success. I specifically refrained from writing a day 29 post because I knew this one was going to be a doozy. So strap in.
Meditation Message & Gratitude
Day 30 began the same way that Day 1 did. Early wake up, feed the dogs, turmeric tea, walk, cold shower, transcendental meditation, gratitude and free form journaling. I was blessed with an amazing insight following my meditation:
Happiness is indeed of the utmost importance. If not for happiness, than what do you live for? This month has made me happy. I have felt such a wide range of emotions and feelings but none more than happiness and contentment. I couldn’t have imagined this first Whole Life Cleanse going as it did (in an amazing way).
Day 30 Gratitude:
- Salsa (I lived off of this stuff)
- Baby birds’ sounds (they’re hatching just outside our front yard)
- Stretching (super important when you’re active)
I was able to keep up this morning routine almost every day of the 30. That made it a foundation of what needed to be accomplished this month. Gratitude will always be at the core of what I work toward in the future. It’s that important. So are cold showers, walks, and journaling.
Day 30 Food
I couldn’t have made it through this first cleanse without some go-to snacks and dishes. These included peanut butter and brown rice cakes, cherries, and homemade hummus with carrots and celery. Whenever I felt hungry between meals (and even sometimes for my meals) I would reach for these staples. They served me well and will continue to for the rest of my physical life.
I did waiver just a bit for dinner. We went out to our local sushi/japanese restaurant in town and I got tofu in broccoli with brown sauce. I had ordered this earlier in the month without the quick fry on the tofu. This go around I didn’t tell them so my final meal was a little bit of a cheat. But so be it. I think I deserve it!
Physical Changes
My body began this cleanse in a dramatically different shape that it is now. Both in terms of the actual shape and also in terms of how it is functioning. I keep stressing this so I sound like a broken record but it is important. I didn’t do this cleanse for weight loss or physical changes. My did it more so for the functioning of my body as well as my spiritual balance and health. That being said, I did take my weight at day 1, day 15, and day 30 to keep a simple log of things.
- Day 1 weight: 190.4 lbs
- Day 15 weight: 184.4 lbs
- Day 30 weight: 177.8 lbs
**Total weight loss for the 30 days was 12.6 lbs (almost a pound every 2 days)
My physical functioning was an even more remarkable change. I went from being a zombie in the mornings to jumping out of bed at 5 am with energy and awareness. I also experienced dramatic improvements in my digestive system. Finally, I have certainly added muscle to my frame doing all of the physical labor around the home.
Before
After
Before
After
On a side note, part of the cleanse was to also cut out most all social media surfing and television. I did watch a few movies with the family. This change made a huge psychological impact on me for the positive. Without those outside stimulus, I felt more motivated and less depressed/anxious about the world. I will need to keep this in mind during the next 2 months.
Now What?
This story doesn’t end here. The 30 Day Whole Life Cleanse isn’t meant to be a one and done kind of situation. I intend to do a 30 Whole Life Cleanse every 3 months. This means 2 months off and 1 month on. In addition, the healthy habits that I’ve replaced the bad habits with in my life will live on. They are now my base case that I can come back to when I get too far off the healthy path in my 2 months of non-cleansing. This is super important. Without these habits and foundation, I was listless in the past with no true idea of what I needed to do to pull back from a concentrated period of unhealthy behavior.
I will be adding some things back into my menu intentionally. A cup of decaf coffee will certainly find its’ way into my daily routine (probably in the afternoon). However, I will not be loading it down with sugar and Jocelyn and I need to find a suitable creamer that doesn’t have all kinds of laboratory chemicals in it. I will also be allowing some alcohol consumption back in. I do endeavor to keep it to twice a week maximum and I will be drinking full glasses of water in between each drink to lessen the damaging effects on my body. Finally, an occasional bit of flour and sugar will be consumed. I will be cataloging the reintroduction of these things into my life to track how they make me feel. This is why the foundation from this past 30 days is so important. If I feel myself indulging to an excessive level, I pull it back to cleanse state. Especially if I’m feeling negative physical fallout.
It is not my intent to reintroduce nicotine, high amounts of caffeine, or a bit of nut/seed oil. I feel these items are very harmful and I will be avoiding them at all costs.
The Next 30 Day Whole Life Cleanse
So what will the next cleanse look like? I am going to continue to blog and talk about my journey while I’m not cleansing. But I will be putting the pieces in place for my next cleanse. Some of those pieces I spoke about in my mistakes were made post a couple days ago. Namely I want to develop a library of recipes that I can share with everyone. I also need to do more reading (and writing about it) as well as spiritual practice. It’s time to dive deeper into these aspects of the cleanse.
It is also my intent to get some folks to come along for the journey. I would like to get 5-10 folks to cleanse with me. There will be tons of support and that is what I need to setup in the coming months. I will need to offer a daily check-in in the morning. It can serve as everyone’s morning routine and accountability check. The recipes list will be a huge help as well. Finally, a place to congregate and discuss successes, impediments, problems, solutions, etc. It helped me a lot to have Jocelyn supporting me in this process by doing a lot of the cleanse as well. This meant I had a partner in crime that I could talk to about the process and we worked out fun ideas to keep it moving forward, such as new foods to try. Doing this in a communal atmosphere I think will make it way more successful and powerful for the participants.
A Toast to the First 30 Day Whole Life Cleanse
I appreciate everything this journey brought me and everything that will grow from it into the future. Thank you to everyone to came along with me and that may discover this in the future. I hope it brings some value to your life like it did mine.
Cheers!
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