I wanted to shake things up. I had been at a weight plateau for a long time and wanted to try a cleanse. My husband had tried the Dr.Oz detox/cleanse a month ago so I figured why not? So here is my experience. Overall it can be pricey. We had some of the ingredients already because Ed had already tried it. The raspberries are really expensive especially for the amount you need so I chose to use frozen ones.

Day One: Let’s do this!

Missed my morning coffee right away mostly for the ritual of it and not necessarily for any other reason. I like green tea and drink it so that wasn’t hard. The morning shake wasn’t bad. It was pretty filling and my detox was off. I had my probiotic and omega 3 pill and drove off to a lake with my kids. Yup, 5 minutes after we got there I was running to the Porto-potty to um, cleanse. After that I felt fine until the hunger crept in. We were at a lake and I had packed snacks for the kids but there was nothing I could eat. That’s when you start to realize it’s a mental battle. I do think it would be easier in a work environment to make the shakes and stay on a schedule.

Once I got home I made the afternoon shake. This shake doesn’t taste good at all, very salty due to the celery. Even worse was the consistency which was like drinking applesauce. Later, I used the morning shake as a snack and that was good. The dinner shake was also not good. I had to just gulp and go. Again, the consistency is a hard gulp to swallow. A drawback is there is no explanation of exactly how much kale to use other than a measurement 1 Cup. With that said someone who has a processor can shred and mince a lot of kale into one cup. That is probably not an important thing other than it is helpful to mince the kale as much as possible. The cayenne pepper really burned my throat and I was just glad to be done with it. I did take the Epsom salt bath because I wanted to stick with the plan. I don’t get to take baths so it was nice.

Day Two: Eh!
Woke up feeling groggy and out of it. Stepped on the scale and I was down three pounds. Well, that was certainly a motivator to stick with it.  I hadn’t seen that number in a while. I was working on the computer after I got up and didn’t drink the breakfast shake till around 9:30. It is amazing how your body adjust to the hunger. Did the morning shake routine and it was becoming the new normal. I did delete the use of stevia with the tea. I don’t normally use sugar in my coffee and find it odd to use an artificial sweetener in a detox /cleanse.

By afternoon I felt weak, lethargic and achy. I spent a lot of time lying around that day. For the afternoon shake I cut down on the celery (2 stalks) and upped the green apple to a whole. Tasted a little better but the consistency still was a challenge. The desire to chew is overwhelming. I was pretty hungry and cheated. I cut up a cucumber and added salt and pepper. I ate it like it was the tastiest food I had ever eaten. I wasn’t hungry but felt blah. I had to go teach karate and was not looking forward to it. I grabbed more cucumbers to snack on and packed a banana. While Demonstrating moves for my students I felt so weak. It took everything I had just to function. In between classes I ate the banana and felt a little better. After class I was having a conversation with my student and lost track of what I was talking about.

I went home and made the dinner shake this time minus the cayenne pepper. It made the shake doable. I continued with my snack of cucumbers. I also had a “dark” moment when I chewed and sucked on the mango core scraping what I could off of it with my teeth like a starved animal. No bath, I was just too drained.

At this point there is a mental struggle between the desire to eat food because you see it and the need to eat. There is a definite chew desire but there is an internal debate between, “Am I actually hungry?” and “Do I just want to eat?” Once you get a day into the detox you don’t want it all to be for nothing. Even though you have temptations and desire to eat your will to succeed helps you stay strong and resist urges.  I found myself oscillating between, “I can do this.” and “I can’t wait to eat.” You become self-aware of the hunger and the empty sensation and you own it. I thought many times of people who suffer from hunger to know the filling taste of food and be denied it is horrible. I wasn’t prepared for the mental aspect of the detox. There were a lot of internal conversations going on about hunger vs. need and desire. Today I was pretty glad I wasn’t at work but it also limited what I could do at home.

Day Three: Almost Done!
Woke up from a deep sleep and felt pretty good and energized… until I did something physical like walk up stairs, then I felt weak and drained. Stepped on the scale and I was down five pounds. I know that as soon as I eat food again it will pile back on but seeing that number on the scale was glorious and provided motivation to stick with it for one more day. The shake routine is much easier. The hardest part again was being out with my kids for a few hours and missing a shake time. At this time I switched between, “This isn’t so bad. I could do this for a few more days.” to “I can’t wait till tomorrow when I can eat. What will my first meal be?” I skipped my Jiu-jitsu class because I honestly didn’t feel I could survive the intense workout. However, I did feel energized and wonder if I could have done it after all. I have the utmost respect for anyone who has done a five or ten day detox. It is really a mental challenge as much as a physical one. I am not sure someone can maintain a vigorous exercise routine while doing this detox but that was just my experience.

All Done!

Ironically on my first big eat day I wanted to do anything but. I lost a total of 5 pounds and didn’t want to put it back on again. I started out with the green tea and the morning detox shake. For lunch I ate the celery and cucumbers and then mixed the rest of the afternoon shake with a scoop of Whey protein. For dinner I had a salad with the works of veggies and just two tablespoons of dressing.

A day later and I am up a pound and half. I still don’t feel like eating and definitely not anything processed, fried or carbs. For those that are wondering I only had that one “cleansing” experience. Everything else was fine, frequent trips to the potty due to hydration but nothing else. I will definitely be doing it again I feel it was beneficial to my mind and body.

Pointers for anyone thing about doing the Dr. Oz Cleanse/Detox. These are just my suggestions I am sure some nutritionist or scientist put the detox together to form a perfect cleanse so I cannot say how my modifications will affect it. These are the things I experienced and it made the process easier for me.

• I would skip the stevia. It is an artificial sweetener. If you tea isn’t palatable I would add a teaspoon of honey.
• Like I stated early it can be pricey. Frozen raspberries are cheaper than a regular pint. I also bought some frozen mango because the first mango I tried wasn’t ripe.
• On the afternoon shake the celery really adds to the saltiness I cut back on it and upped the green apple.
• I wasn’t aware of how to preserve fresh kale. The kale that I purchased Sunday night was bad by Tuesday morning so I had to go get more which was a pain. I researched it and the going opinion is that you don’t wash it until use and you store it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator away from apples, pears, plums and tomatoes (shouldn’t be in the refrigerator anyway) these are apparently enemies to kale.
• When using the kale the better you can mince it the better off you will be. If you have a processor and can really mince it down it will make your shakes easier to swallow.
• I tried the cayenne pepper in the dinner time shake the first night and found it impossible to tolerate but I wanted to be authentic. After that I deleted it from that shake.
• I’m not sure if juicing the kale and other vegetables is allowed? I tried it the first day but I think you need the thickness of the vegetables to thicken the shakes and provide more fulfillment.
• If you have time the Epsom salt baths are really beneficial. The benefits of soaking in Epsom salt are huge. Its benefits are too numerous to list. It is literally a part of the detox I would recommend not skipping if you can help it. I didn’t find the lavender oil and just went without.

  Stick with it. Once you survive a day you have already come a long way so just push through. Good Luck and I hope this was helpful.