Part 1 Continued - The Cleanse....

January 5, 2012 The day I chose to start the cleanse and detox (had to wait until Christmas was over and New Years as well....lots of food to be eaten) - So, there I was, starting my Clear Change cleanse...following the program. Sure enough about 4 - 5 days in, just as the nutritionist had predicted, the detox headache kicked in. The good news, it was not a migraine type headache, just this sort of dull...foggy headache where your head just feels really heavy and has a slight pain, like when you hit your funny bone. By day 7, the headache was gone and I was kicking into full detox mode. Breakfast was the detox medical food shake plus the AdvaClear detox supplement. Mid morning snack was usually an apple and blackberries or carrots or broccoli. Lunch was a mixed green salad with cold pressed virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing (which I made at me desk daily), mixed into the salad was broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers. Mid day snack was usually an apple. Dinner was usually steamed broccoli, cauliflower, mixed with garlic, and then either fresh haddock, fresh trout (when available), fresh sole, or fresh cod. I would try and stop by the fish market and get 2 days worth of fresh fish - had to be fresh - nothing farm raised or nothing that was fed antibiotics.

Here is the funny thing....on the cleanse, I could actually eat as much of the foods listed on the menu as I wanted - No caloric restrictions. This went on for 28 days...and during that time the program also requests that you do not perform any exercise - so my only activity was coaching Ice hockey for Matthew's (my son) team. Which, by the way, I never really broke a sweat at...

Now, here is where some people may get a little agitated....during the 28 day detox/cleanse....IT WAS EASY - At least for me. I know different people go into things with different expectations and different driving factors and commitment levels - but for me the whole thing was easy. My wife and son did their normal thing and I, when I got home from work at whatever time that was - did my thing: cooked my own dinner, prepared my own snacks, whatever the cleanse and detox called for, I did it. As they say, I was in it to win it....nothing was going to stop me. And I do have to say, for the entire 28 days I did not deviate from the menu even once....I followed the program to a T.

At the end of the 28 days, I could not really tell a difference in my weight (remember, the goal of the detox was not to lose weight but get the body ready to lose weight). I definitely felt a little better though....I felt like I was not as bloated as I was before the cleanse.

At this point, it was time to head back to the nutritionist and begin Phase 2 - The Diet and Weight Loss plan.....