Renew, Refresh

I've been feeling awfully run-down lately. Travel, allergies/cold, stress, etc. It all adds up. Nothing I do seems to help... so I thought I would try doing a modified detox program for a week or two. I'm going to follow the 7-Day Detox Miracle plan, which is a horrible title and makes me cringe everytime I see it. I don't know if I really buy into the whole 'detox' thing anyway, but I like this plan, and everything I think of doing it, my body says, "Yes! Yes! Please!"... so... I'll give it a try. It's recommended by lots of people who Terri talks to, for detox purposes, and it seems pretty gentle and do-able as detox plans go.

What it is:

• First two days is supposed to be a total fast, just lemon-water. I'm actually not doing this. I'm going to do a liquid diet for the first two days: fruit smoothies with rice protein, etc. They say in the book you'll get 'better results' if you do the fast, but they don't specify what these 'better results' are and this is my first time doing something like this, so I figure I'll just ease into it.
• For the rest of the seven days, you can eat all the fruits, vegetables, and rice you want. You can have rice protein powder, rice milk, anything like that. Also OK are herbs, spices, and a little salt. Also a little bit of oil. I will follow this pretty much to the letter. You can't have any caffeine (which is fine with me), sugar, white flour, processed stuff, etc. You can have the fruits and veggies any way you wish, cooked, raw, juiced, soups, salads, smoothies, etc. I looooove fruits and veggies and don't eat enough of them, and it's summer in Northern California so I'm actually really looking forward to this part.
• Alongside the diet modifications, you are supposed to take some supplements. They have a list you can choose from -- nothing too exotic, just Vitamin C, some herbs, some other vitamins... most of which we already have in the house.
• Also some meditation or 'quiet time'. Bring it on, please!
• Also some 'hydrotherapy' (hot/cold showers) and/or saunas. This also sounds really great.

That's about it. Pretty simple. There are some other specifics but this is the basic plan.

I'll track how it goes each day here. I expect to feel tired at first, and then hopefully slowly more 'clear and clean' as the week goes on...

What am I hoping for?

• More energy
• A feeling of calm
• More consciousness of how I eat
• A happy tummy
• Better sleep

Let's see how it goes! We have a stash of movies to watch this weekend and I'm hoping I feel okay enough to go to a farmer's market on Sunday to stock up on yummies for the week ahead. I'm looking forward to a week of delicious, simple food and lots of rest.

Starting: Saturday morning!