Better Balance + Flow

Each year I run a Body Restoration Cleanse, which many people might hear the word cleanse and immediately think it’s some crazy crash diet. I promise you it’s not because I don’t believe in quick fixes or loading your body up with chemicals in order to get specific results. The nature of the Body Restoration Cleanse is a simple elimination of addictive stimulants that keep us on the crazy Blood-Sugar Roller Coaster. You know the one, where you start your day with a coffee or two, then a couple of hours later, you’re itching for another fix because you just can’t seem to keep your energy up.

Maybe for you, it’s not coffee. Maybe it’s your favourite brownie or carrot muffin with cream cheese frosting. Or a bag of chips, with their oh-so-addictive perfect blend of sweet and salty. Whatever it is, it’s keeping you from experiencing a true source of energy that doesn’t just disappear as soon as your snack does. And that lack of energy is probably one of the biggest reasons you have a hard time sticking to any routine you try to start.

So you might be wondering, ‘Does this mean I have to cut out all of the things I enjoy? How is that different from any other crazy diet?’

Because the goal of this cleanse is not to make you hate food or your body or to feel like you have to go to war with yourself in order to be healthy. It’s about getting back into balance with what your body needs to feel strong and energized, and how you can learn to incorporate some of those treats into your life without going overboard. I like lattes just as much as the next girl, but I don’t need to drink one every day just to stay alert. And that’s what my hope is for you; that you can get to a place where you indulge in these things because you genuinely enjoy it, and not because you’re body sends you into withdrawal without it.

ELIMINATION BASICS

Elimination is an accurate description of what this cleanse is designed to do, but I much prefer to look at it as a transition. During the first week of the cleanse, you’re only real goal is on reducing the amount of high sugar and/or high caffeine foods you eat. What that might look like is, instead of having two creams and three sugars in your morning brew, you cut back to 1:1. By gradually allowing your body to adjust, you reduce the intensity of any withdrawal symptoms you might experience, based on how regularly they were introduced to your body. Or you might choose to swap some of your favourite snacks for some nuts and fruit instead, saving the real treat for just once or twice that week.

As we get to dive deeper and begin to make more conscious choices, during the second week, we remove as many stimulants as we can reasonably manage and allow our bodies time to recalibrate. If you’ve ever gone for a physical where your doctor asks you to fast before doing blood tests, this week is similar to that. In order for your body to communicate what its true nutritional needs are for your unique body, it needs to establish a baseline.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR BODY

The final week of the cleanse is, in my opinion, the most fun and eye-opening experience. As we begin to reintroduce some of the foods that we previously removed, we get a much clearer picture of just how they affect our body and ultimately, how they inform the decisions we make every day.

More than just feeling tired or unfocused, you may find out why you always feel so bloated at certain times of the day, or that the headaches you been worried about lately are actually triggered by what you’re eating.

With this new information, whatever goals you have for your body will be that much easier to achieve because you’ll have a better understanding of where you’re starting off from. You’ll also, hopefully, learn which foods are a true source of energy for you, so you can continue to include more of them in your diet. With a more consistent and stable source of energy, you’ll be able to do more of the activities that make you happy or possibly try something new that you’ve been putting off for a while. One thing after another, they compound to make more and more opportunities available in your life.

How You can Cleanse at Home

By following the simple steps covered in this post, you can begin to experience some of these benefits today.

1. Slowly reduce the amount of high sugar, caffeine, and addictive foods you consume, so your body can get back to a true baseline.
2. Spend some time fueling your body with natural, whole food sources that provide lasting fuel that your body needs in order to function.
3. When you decide to reintroduce certain treats, take notice of how they make you feel so you can make informed decisions going forwards.