7-Day Detox: Kickoff (ie Say WHAT?)

My week off was a much-needed respite from the daily grind, but being at home has certain drawbacks. There’s food everywhere. And not just any food – multiple multi-course lunches and dinners, finished with enough desserts to fill a display case. Even a short trip to Shenandoah National Park included a fried chicken + chocolate cake dinner and burgers, milkshakes and fries for lunch. As it turns out, there can be too much of a good thing, especially when that good thing is berry yogurt cake or kheer with orzo or my mom’s chicken.

After all of that indulgence, I feel really icky (yes, that’s the medical term). So in order to cleanse my system of all the rich food, sugary sweets and j-chips I consumed over the past seven days, I’m taking the next seven days to detox.

I know, I know, major eye roll. Detoxes have become de rigeur recently, often accompanied by dubious health claims and celebrity backers like Beyonce and Gwyneth Paltrow. There are many different types of detoxes, but I had a bunch of different caveats while looking for a program for me:

1) No juice-only plans! I like eating food
2) Similarly, no mandatory juices — I don’t own or want to own a juicer
3) No weird eating habits — some detoxes call for eating only at specific times of the day or only drinking after 6 p.m., etc.
4) No strict “follow these recipes only” plans — I wanted something that outlined what to eat and what not to eat, so that I could figure out recipes on my own
5) No supplements — no fish oil, liver capsules, etc. I take a multivitamin daily when I remember and that’s good enough

Basically, I needed a flexible detox that could be easily adapted to fit my schedule and eating habits. Seven days isn’t a terribly long time, but I know myself enough to realize that there’s no way I could stick to just drinking my calories all day long.

After some quality time with Google, I found a 7-day detox plan that looks like it can work for me. All fruit and vegetables, most legumes, raw nuts and seeds, plus plain non-fat yogurt are on the table, which makes it easy to incorporate into my day-to-day eating habits. (Lean meat and fish are also okay on a limited basis, but I’m going to try to stick to vegetarian for the week.) Out for the time being: sugar, most dairy (including cheese sadface), gluten, coffee, dried fruit and booze.

Since my focus is on re-energizing my system, not on weight loss, I’m less concerned about my daily caloric intake and more about the types of calories I’m consuming (though I will weigh myself at the start and the finish of the week, just to see if there’s any difference).

This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, and right now I feel so gross that I’m actually excited to begin. I’m going to document my experience in short posts every day, so I apologize in advance for any hanger-induced outbursts. Wish me luck!

Have you ever tried a detox? What plan did you use? And how did it go?

Also in the 7-Day Detox:
7-Day Detox: Day 1 + Quinoa with Green Beans and Shallots
7-Day Detox: Day 2
7-Day Detox: Day 3
7-Day Detox: Day 4 + Alice Waters’ Ratatouille
7-Day Detox: Day 5
7-Day Detox: Day 6
7-Day Detox: Day 7