Tips for Sticking to A Cleanse

We all know how important our health is to feeling our optimum best. We have just one body so we need to feed it good stuff and treat it right with exercise and relaxation. I am currently doing a small simple cleanse. By no means would I consider this a complicated cleanse. I know a lot of people fear doing cleanses because that means they will have to give things up. I also feel this way at first because I love my coffee, or caffeine in general I guess, and I love not having restrictions on what I eat or drink. Of course over the years I have learned to not consume certain foods at all and I do not miss them, but that's another post for later. Today I want to talk about how I motivate myself and stay motivated to go on a cleanse and what exactly I am cleansing.

#1: Determine your "why". With any goal it is always a good idea to figure out why you want to do something because if its important enough to you, then you'll stick with it. A lot of times it takes a scary health diagnoses before people start to take any drastic steps to change their lifestyle. I do not want to wait for that or ever have that happen. That is my why. I want to be good to my body, keep it healthy and feeling good so that I feel good. It's a win win situation obviously.

#2 Partner up. Doing things with a friend or family member who is on the same page of wavelength as you can make this a fun challenge. It will also help keep you accountable.

#3 Select a prize! Treat yourself to something nice like a new pair of shoes or an outfit you've been eyeing. Having a reward system is always helpful just like it is with your kids, it can work on you too! So think of something you will buy yourself for completing a cleanse (also useful with any goals).

My cleanse involves just cutting out:

*caffeine: which I typically would drink up to 4 coffees a day, and even sometimes I'd have a white Monster on a day where I already had a coffee. It got to a point where I no longer was feeling the effects and was in fact yawning and not staying alert. Too much caffeine can wear out your kidneys because the caffeine is elevating your blood flow and pressure which puts strain on your kidneys. While there are negative effects of too much caffeine, drinking coffee has potentially good health benefits so while I plan on cutting it out for a bit I do plan on putting coffee back into my diet. Some studies showed that drinking coffee can actually prevent liver cirrhosis and helps to break down fatty tissue inside your liver so *thumbs up* for coffee and tea.

*alcohol: how many of us became or are currently under the impression that drinking alcohol after

a stressful day is a good stress reliever? Unfortunately I believed this one for a long time. Although is does take the "edge" off, who wants to depend on alcohol to solve our stress problems? We should be strong and disciplines enough to face our stressors and deal with them, not run and hide from them with substances. That doesn't mean I do not enjoy having a drink now and then. I have become a connoisseur of beer and wine in my own right haha. I love red wine and Hefeweizen beer, but I won't just drink any beer or alcohol just for the heck of it. I drink the quality stuff if I'm going to. Anyways, we all know the harmful effects of alcohol so I won't go into details about that here. But yes, I will be also cutting out alcohol to give my body a complete break.

*dairy: although I haven't been a fan of cow's milk for several several years now, I will sometimes eat cheese, sour cream and very rarely creamer that is milk based. But there are alternatives so if need be I will purchase non-dairy style of these. I especially prefer my almond milk based creamer for my coffee. Dairy just is hard on the body, to process and it causes inflammation. An inflamed body is a body that is open for health issues. Just about all health problems begin with a body in an inflammatory state. So yes, dairy is going to be completely cut out of my cleanse. I thought avoiding cheese would be hard but it isn't. You get used to it.

and lastly...

*processed sugar: I am an addict. I love sweets, chocolate, pastries, cookies, muffins, whatever, I love sugar!! It's one of those things just like caffeine that hits the feel good receptors in your brain just like a drug and you just feel like you have to have it. Seriously, we (who have never experienced it or know anyone personally who has) talk about drug addicts like they should just stop using, but what about you? Can you just stop eating sugar? Which is also another reason why I am doing this. As a person who believes in training one's mind to have discipline and self control, I want to do this cleanse to prove to myself that I am not addicted to these things. That I do not need them. I've always been weird about doing this to myself. If there is something that I really like and think I can't live without, then I make it a point to prove to myself that I can. Is that weird? I like to torture myself haha. My mom even told me yesterday as I laid on the couch about to fall asleep, "Oh just drink some coffee already!! If it's making you feel that bad!" I wasn't.

I believe in listening to your body. 100%. It will be the first to tell you what you need and don't need.

In replacement of these things that I am cutting out, I will be adding in:

*WATER: at least 3 liters of water and plenty of other sources of liquids

*vitamins and supplements: To ensure that I am not crashing too badly from the caffeeine withdrawal. Plus my biggest fear going into this was that I would just suddenly pass out while taking care of my 2 year old without having my coffee in the morning. But I am doing fine.

*smoothies: these are a great source of natural energy, the nutrients are readily available!

*rest and sleep: plenty of it.

As someone who believes in the holistic approach as a primary means to obtaining greater health I will not be taking OTC drugs to deal with my migraines. I did get a couple of headaches yesterday but nothing I couldn't handle. Plus I use a lot of turmeric in my food preparation so that relieves a lot of inflammation naturally.

Thank you for reading my post! I hope you enjoyed! Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any new posts or updates on living holistically.