Detox, denial and discipline

About ten years ago I started detoxing, once a year for ten days. Based completely around eating whole, fresh foods, I guess it was eating extremely cleanly without the label.

Detoxes tend to suit my personality - I associate it with resetting my body. And in particular controlling my “sugar switch”, which is really highly charged. Sugar is without doubt my downfall.

I have never been a fan of a diet, which in my mind is linked to weight loss, or denying myself something. In fact, if I tell myself I can’t or shouldn’t have “whatever”, that’s all I want.

Over the last few years however, I have fallen out of the detox habit. Life has been increasingly busy and I felt my training and daily nutrition were pretty good so I didn’t feel the need to do a formal detox.

This year though, some kind of health and fitness shake up was on my mind. And in the general busyness of life, eating cake and going out for drinks was becoming more of a regular occurrence rather than an occasional pleasure.

However, after my summer holiday, I made up my mind. Drinking nearly every night – which I find quite brutal these days - coupled with a video shoot coming up in the next few weeks my mind-set just flipped. I don’t know what you’re like, but once I make my mind up – I’m pretty focused and generally don’t deviate from my goals.

So, what am I actually doing? A ten-day detox. I started my regular “eating clean” regime – no sugar, caffeine, alcohol or starchy carbs. All was going well, and then on day 3 I decided to turbo charge the whole experience - I have no idea why - and bought David Kirsch’s 48 Hour Super Charged Cleanse.

This has been around for a while but I have never tried it. It is 48 hours of a liquid cleanse, no food whatsoever. I found that doing the cleanse with vitamin supplements and herbal teas my energy levels didn’t really dip at all. The only change I noticed was I didn’t sleep particular well, but I don’t know if that is coincidental.

I must say though, the hardest part for me was missing actually eating food – as I really enjoy eating!

Anyway, so far I have lost 1.7kg in 5 days. But for me, this is not principally about weight loss. It’s more about feeling good about myself and confident especially if I am going to be in front of a camera. I am great believer in feeling positive on the inside and projecting that outwards. And maybe there is a little vanity in there too…I also feel lighter, leaner, more energised and cleaner and my stomach, which is definitely my Achilles heel, like many mothers, is currently completely flat!

I am going to do my best to keep on this healthy track for a while after my detox is officially over, especially as I don’t have a firm shoot day for my video yet.

And whilst I would quite like a cupcake I’m going to hold out for as long as I can. A little self-imposed discipline won’t do me any harm! 

Is it time I gave up drinking alcohol?

There appears to no correlation these days to how much I drink and how I feel the next day. I can go out with friends and have a glass and a half of wine, get a good night’s sleep and wake up in the morning with a pounding headache.

Similarly, I can be out drinking all night and wake up feeling as fresh as a daisy. Dehydrated of course, but that’s the worst of it. There really is no rhyme or reason to this.

I have been thinking it’s an age thing, or a woman/hormonal (!) thing, but many of my male friends are the same, so that's not it!

Hangovers are a constant mystery to me. And I think we can all agree are evil. So, I’m always looking for a formula to beat them…but just as I think I have worked out the “sensible” amount of alcohol to escape a throbbing head, a dreadful night’s sleep and feeling slightly nauseous – the way my body reacts changes!

Similarly, hangover cures seem to vary – fail-safes that used to perk me up like Diet Coke have increasingly become ineffectual. To be honest the only three things that really work for me these days are water, green tea and spicy food (!)I am, I suppose, what experts would call a classic “social binge drinker”, where binging is anything more than two drinks. I don’t drink at home, unless we have people over. I don’t drink on my own. So, in my head socialising involves drinking to some degree. But as I said NOT a fan of the hangover, so periodically I think about becoming teetotal.

Increasingly a lot of people I know just don’t drink. They go out and have plenty of fun, without alcohol. These friends fascinate me. It seems they are able to exercise a level of self-restraint that I don’t seem to possess.

Not drinking clearly has a lot of pluses – no hangovers, good for my health, saves money, guaranteed good sleep. The problem is… I like a drink here or there.

So I thought about this possible “willpower” issue, but when I was a teenager I used smoke, a lot. Then before I had my kids I decided to give up, to “cleanse” my body of smoky toxins before I fell pregnant. So one day, I went cold turkey and gave up. It was relatively straightforward.

So I guess for me, mind-set comes into play. I believe we all have the power to do whatever we want to do. So, whilst I like the theory, in practise I don’t think I really want to give up. So, maybe limits would be better – for someone who has no concept of “middle ground” this is going to be interesting experiment.

Especially as on Thursday I’m off on holiday with my family. Maybe I will try to exercise a little self control in the first instance and have a few soft drink evenings...hmmm, I'll keep you posted…any tips?