It might surprise you to know that even as a health coach I’ve never done a cleanse. To be honest, I didn’t really believe in them. I know, even while in the industry, I didn’t believe what I was selling. I’d always experienced a feeling of disappointment and deprivation when it came to cleanses. I experienced a lot of emotion and physical pain from trying to eat well for many years.* It depressed me and made me feel like I was the problem.

That’s why I was so happy to discovered Anthony William, and his book and blog Medical Medium. His kind words allow readers to understand why it’s no one’s fault that they are fighting any health issues large or small. He gives hope and gives practical, simple advice anyone can follow and might just even save your life to incorporate his habits into your daily routine.

So, what exactly are we hoping to achieve from this cleanse? Aside from just wanting to refresh my system, here is a list Mando and I put together of some issues, symptoms we are hoping to help.

*When I say I experienced physical pain, William describes it in his book Life-Changing Foods that some foods that are good for you may give you temporary discomfort when digesting them as they are pushing the toxins out of your body.

Ashley                                                                                                         

• Clearer skin, dryness, itchiness
• Mood
• Energy
• Twitching
• Anxiety, Depression
• Sleep Quality
• Menstruation symptoms, irregular periods
• Dark under eye circles
• Wrinkles
• Frequent urination
• Body temperature irregularity

Mando 

• Clearer skin, dryness, itchiness, rough patches, discoloration
• Energy
• Libido
• Sleep Quality
• rid Asthma
• Self confidence about skin issues

*I’m aware that by adjusting the cleanse to our wanted and needs may affect the results that we are looking for but I see this as a process and maybe the next time we do a cleanse, it will be more eliminative.

The Rules….

What’s great about this cleanse is that it’s tailor-made for our needs. I’ve also sat down with Mando and let him know that there is no ‘fail’ in this. We are doing this for us, to better ourselves and four our health. If we eat a piece of bread or have a beer I don’t want to get down on ourselves and throw the towel in.

I’m basing this ‘cleanse’ on the issues both Mando and I have as well as recommendations from Anthony William’s first book, Medical Medium, though not following it strictly.

I will also be using a lot of recipes and incorporating many foods he discusses in his second book, Life-Changing Foods, into our diet as many of them help the specific issues we want to improve. For example, William discuses how incorporating more papaya into your diet in large amounts helps for clearer skin.

YES!

• All fruits
• All vegetables *see some exceptions below
• All wild foods (I’ll go into detail later)
• All herbs
• All spices
• Raw Nuts
• Raw honey
• Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil (very little)
• Matcha (on weekends)
• Raw Cacoa
• Any juice or food from the shop where I work (all raw, vegan, plant-base food items)
• filtered water or fresh spring water
• Hummus (I don’t think Mando would’ve done it without this condition but homemade)

Sorry, bro…

• Animal food-meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc.)
• Wheat products of any kind-cookies, pancakes, sandwiches (with bread), pasta, cereal, bagels, tortillas, chips etc.
• Coffee (a little caffeine on weekends AKA, Matcha, is OK)
• Corn and corn products like corn chips corn tortillas
• Beans *see note about hummus
• Rice
• Quinoa
• No processed beverages
• Alcohol-beer, wine, hard liquor

Things I noticed the first day…

• Better mood
• more energy
• not very many cravings
• frequent urination

Mando on the other hand experienced…

• Cravings for bread
• lack of energy at end of day
• clarity about body nourishment
• more fluid conversations with people (due to lack of jittery caffeine nerves)

What we ate….

Spinach salad with sprouts, red onions, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, green onions, avocado, radish & lemon juice w/salt, pepper, raw honey & cold-pressed evoo (very little)

• Detox smoothies *see my instagram account for recipe (AM)
• Bananas, apples, oranges, dates, (AM) nuts (AM)
• Water (AM))
• Leftover turmeric-ginger carrot soup (M)
• Spinach salad (pic above) (AM)
• Grapefruit juice (A)
• half avocado w/raw honey & lemon juice (A)

It’s worth mentioning that Mando fell asleep so I didn’t cook the dinner I prepped and ate a half an avocado instead. So I’ve realized I can’t plan too much. Just have to make sure we have plenty of food prepped and not be too hard on ourselves.

As far as the source of my information goes and it’s reliability, for this detox, it’s not about being right for me. It’s about being healthy. I’ve learned that the only true way we can know if something works for ourselves is to try it ourselves. Not to go over tons of scientific data about diets, food and the tons of (too much) information on what foods and diets are good for us.

All I know is that at the end of this if the worst thing that comes out of it is that I was duped into eating more vegetables and a ton more fruit and this guy turns out to be working in the banana industry or something, I’m still way better off eating fruits and vegetables than anything else.

Here’s a link to Medical Medium where you can find his books and more information on his cleanse!