Wings!!!!! (and fries with gravy)

Yay!!  Day 7!  We did it, team!  We survived on just fruits and veggies for all 7 days of our 7-day detox! ^_^

Tonight, we celebrated together with 3 baskets of wings and food!  Real food!

Through this experience, I realize now how closely related your body’s health — physical and mental health — have to do with eating right.  For the first two days of the detox, I initially felt a little light-headed and tired, but I was feeling okay.  I did what I had to do and got tasks accomplished.  By the third and fourth day, I was feeling a little lethargic and not very motivated in the tasks that I usually would finish in a moment’s time.  By the five and sixth day, that’s when it hit me hard.  I suddenly turned into a very irritated and low-compassionate person.  I didn’t have a lot of patience for things and I felt very upset.  It was so bad on the sixth day that I can almost say that I had a mini breakdown.  I felt stressed (it seemed like tiny stresses from my life had accumulated and formed into a big mess) and agitated.  Unfortunately, two of my friends had to witness this and they were shocked to see a different Karen.  I’m usually so positive and cheery that it was a complete turnaround from my regular self.  After I realized what was happening, I did eat a little more grain and sugar.  I felt so much better after that.  Now on the seventh day, the detox is complete.

Before this experience, the phrase “you are what you eat” never really meant too much to me.  I just thought that, yes, you should eat more veggies and healthy food since that will keep your body healthy, free of constipation, absorb more nutrients, etc.  However, through this detox experience, I realize that the food we eat (the four food groups) really help to keep our mind and mental state healthy too.  I didn’t remember feeling so upset in such a long time and for so long that it really must have had something to do with the diet I was putting myself through.  I’ve heard that if you are tired easily, you need to ingest more iron.  Iron comes from meat.  I’m sure that the low mood I was going through had something to do with the lack of food I was getting in my body.  This all makes sense now and just shows you how important the food that we eat are to our bodies’ health.

Of course, this varies case by case.  I didn’t hear of such extreme mood changes in my friends who were going through the detox.  One friend did mention that her emotions got stirred up a bit, but it wasn’t as extreme as mine was.  The important thing is to listen to your body and do what you feel comfortable with.

Phew!  So, so glad to be done this detox now.  I don’t think I’m going through it again anytime soon, and if I do, I am going to stick with the lean meats instead of cutting it all out.  What an experience this was!  I have so much respect for people who are vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, etc. etc. the world over who do this on a day by day basis by choice.  I am thankful that I don’t have any food allergies and can eat pretty much anything I want.  Cheers to anyone who has gone through a detox or is going through one right now.  It’s hard, but if you want to succeed, you can do it!  My liver, colon, and digestive tract are now cleansed. 🙂