30 days ago I decided to take on Whole Living’s 21 day detox challenge.  Unlike many detox plans, the Whole Living challenge encouraged whole eating while at the same time detoxing you from processed foods.  Once I made the decision to take the challenge, I didn’t look back and I’m so glad I didn’t.

As you look at my 21 days you’ll see that I followed the plan to the best of my ability but was not strict.  I did eat out a few times and added in “non-detox foods” here and there.  I also decided that I wanted to have 1 cup of coffee each morning, although the plan asks you to avoid caffeine.  Although I wasn’t uber strict, I followed the detox plan and made it something livable.

For those of you consider a detox, finding a realistic plan is extremely important.  Although I understand why people do liquid detox plans, it wasn’t realistic for me.   Instead, restricting my diet to fruits, veggies, and nuts and then adding various whole foods back into my diet over time was livable.

As I stand on the other side of the Whole Living detox, I have learned a lot about myself, my body, and my diet.

  1. You can survive on fruits and vegetables alone.
  2. If you’re patient with yourself, you can train your body to eat whole foods and to walk away from processed foods.
  3. Smoothies for breakfast are amazing!
  4. You still have to watch what you put into your smoothies.  If you’re not careful, you can easily whip up a 600 calorie smoothie.
  5. Listening to your body and hunger signals is challenging, but if you really listen to your body, you’ll be surprised by what it actually needs.
  6. Changing your diet is fantastic but counting calories is still extremely important too.  You need to know how much you’re putting into your body.

So now what?  Well I’m still living a “Whole Living detox” kind of life but am open to adding in “non detox” foods.  Take Monday’s food log for example…

Breakfast – 1 bowl of Erewhon Brown Rice cereal and vanilla almond milk (non-detox foods)

Lunch- Spinach, kale, and tuna salad (detox foods)

Snack- Diet coke and recharge granola bar (non-detox foods)

Dinner- Trader Joe’s spring rolls (85% detox friendly food)

I loved the Whole Living Detox and would recommend it to any body.  The past 21 days have gotten my diet back on track and have left me feeling clean and refreshed.  I also finished Trader Joe’s 14 day cleanse and having nothing but good things to say about it!  It’s been a good month, if you ask me!

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Filed under: Detox • Whole Living

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