Well, I have officially stopped my cleanse. I decided on Day 8 that I needed to end it. I was getting some pretty clear messages from my body that continuing was not going to be beneficial to my health. I was feeling very ungrounded and weak and that's a feeling I couldn't tolerate. So although I am still eating healthy, taking my cleasning herbs and eating plenty of raw foods, I am no longer cleasning. I had an appointment with my acupuncturist and discussed it with him. He's treating me for fibroids as well as a couple of other things. He told me that my energy was too low and that my organs weren't strong enough at the moment to do this cleanse. I know that sounds a bit strange but from a Chinese Medicine point of view it just means that the chi (energy) is not flowing freely throughout the body. The chi gets 'stuck' sometimes in certain areas which affects the organs associated with that part of the body. This is what leads to 'disease'. Acupuncture helps to free up the chi and allow it to flow freely. He affirmed what I already knew about discontinuing the cleanse but it still helped me to feel better about my decision.

Day 7

The end of my first week. This is still a raw food day, tomorrow I can start adding cooked foods again. I feel pretty alright, not fantastic but ok. I have lost a couple of pounds but nothing I can't gain back quickly enough. My skin looks and feels fantastic and my eczema is almost although not completely gone and my teeth seem whiter too. I still have some aching in my joints although I'm starting to think that maybe it has nothing to do with the cleanse but some acupuncture I had a few weeks ago. I'm seeing him again on Wednesday so I'll check in with him on that. I'm still feeling a little light headed, maybe just not grounded. I miss cooked food. I could never be a raw foodist, it's too extreme for me, but I can see the benefits for a short period of time. I don't eat red meat but I'm sure looking forward to having a yummy veggie burger!

Day 6

Art got in late Friday night so I was tired. I've been going to bed quite early so I was pretty tired but the kids really wanted to go to the airport to greet daddy. Hannah threw up in the car on the way home and then we had to get up once to mop up the floor around midnight so I'm not sure what time I fell asleep. Saturday was my first day back to solid although still raw foods. I made myself a smoothie for breakfast which tasted like a dream. It felt easy to go back to making salads again and I actually felt pretty creative. It was a much easier day. I overate at lunch though. I guess I wasn't paying attention to how I felt and ate too much food and felt sick for awhile. It just tasted so good. Josiah and I went to bed and napped for most of the afternoon so I felt much better when I got up.

Day 5

I was too tired to write anymore last night so I went to bed early. I actually ended up taking a cup of herbal tea with me and read for awhile. It was nice to be in bed early and just relax with a book for an hour. Hannah was at a sleepover with one of her homeschooling pals which was why my evening ended that early. I thought I would just add a few details to what I did yesterday. I should have prepared the night before and then I would have been able to actually 'drink' earlier than I did. I had to juice 10lbs of carrots, some very large beets, celery and parsley. I know that isn't a mono food but because you are keeping things simple by only drinking juice throughout the day you are able to add more than one veg. My juicer didn't want to juice the parsley and didn't do a very good job on the celery so I just mixed the carrot and the beet. It took me a while to get this finished but once I finally got some juice into me I felt better. It was still a pretty difficult day with more food cravings and some emotional crap being released.

I had originally intended to have apples again on my fifth day but that was definitely out. And although I have enough carrots to juice again I decided to go with vegetable broth for Friday. Since I didn't want to be hungry first thing in the morning I decided to make the soup the night before. So last night after I got Josiah into bed and before Lost, I started the soup. I had enough organic vegetables to make a good soup and then just added lots of spices, seaweed and even some leftover beet juice. Gordon and Natasha were here and they helped me put it all together and it simmered while we watched Lost. It smelled amazing and they taste tested it added more spice and said it was good. When I got up this morning I strained it, added some miso and had my first bowl and let me tell you it is the best soup I have ever made! I will enjoy sipping it throughout the day. I woke this morning feeling great actually. This is a good day, it's the last day of the mono food part of the cleanse and Art comes home today. I am going to play with Josiah now and will report back later.

Later: The broth was delicious but I did feel hungry a lot throughout the day. Today I felt like it was ok to be hungry though. We don't know what it's actually like to go hungry, in fact most of us overeat all the time. I know I eat more than I need to at each meal and learning to stop before I'm full would not be a bad thing. The last two days of actually feeling hunger has been an interesting lesson for me. Why the need to fill out bellies to the point of not being able to eat another thing? I felt very focussed on the fact that I was hungry too. It was like I couldn't think of anything else. It must be horrible to feel worse than that almost everyday of your life.

Day 3

I've had a few questions from people on why I'm actually doing this cleanse so I thought I'd address that. My mother tells me I don't need to lose any weight so why am I dong this? Well, not to lose weight that's for sure. Yes, I may lose a couple of pounds but they will be easy to gain back. The purpose of the cleanse is to purify the body and aid in the removal of toxins that contribute to many types of ill health, to quote my handout from Savayda. It also helps to rebalance or regulate the acid/alkali state of the body. It is also good to initiate a weight loss program if that is something you feel you need to do but will only work if you continue the whole foods diet after the cleanse. There are many different types of cleanses and this one is designed to give the digestive system a break by not having to work too hard by digesting foods in their raw form. The cleanse also includes some herbal tinctures, teas and powders that aid in elimination and ensuring you get plenty of vitamins and minerals. The foods that we are eating extremely nutritious and healthy so there is no fear of depriving the body of anything.

Well this is the challenging part of the cleanse for me. The next three days are what are called the mono food part of the cleanse. Three days of only one food choice. Today I chose apples which means throughout the day I can only eat apples. I can eat them juiced, pureed with water or just sliced but they have to be raw. So no apple sauce which I love. And I have to eat approximately 5 lbs of them. I assume by the end of the day I will never want to see another apple. Apples are recommended for constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulosis and colitis. I chose apples from the list of foods because they are easy enough to get organic this time of year and I figured they'd be easy enough to consume for a whole day. I don't find them particularly filling though so it shouldn't be hard for me to eat 5 lbs of them. I will be back later to tell you how I did.

Later: Yes, this was a difficult day. It started out great, I actually woke feeling energized and clear. I did some yoga and some Kum Nye which is a routine I do most mornings although I haven't been this week because you need a fair amount of strength. I felt really strong though and although I rested in between poses I felt great after. I found out that although I don't hate apples I really don't like them enought to eat that many in a day. The problem for me was that I got tired of eating so much sweet food. I did get hungry because I would put off eating until I had to. Drinking was no problem and I drank a lot of unpasteurized apple cider. I was a bit crankier today too. I felt some old stuff come up that I just needed to get rid of.

Here are a few quotes sent to me by Savayda on fasting:

The freedom and ease you discover during fasting enables you to discover new undreamed depths to the meaning of life. Herbert Shelton

Dine with little, sup with less: do better still, sleep supperless. Ben Franklin

The body is the soul's house. Shouldn't we take care of our house so that it doesn't fall to ruin? Philo, Alexandrian Philosopher

Day 2

Well I must say I woke up feeling much better than yesterday. I didn't sleep that well last night. I slept soundly for the first part of the night and then I woke feeling extremely parched and a bit sick. I had a rough time getting back to sleep and went through some weird emotional cleansing too. I felt terrible. This morning was so much better. I didn't feel hungry and I didn't find that I had as many food cravings throughout the day. Physically I have been feeling achy joints, bloated and gassy which are all normal reactions to cleansing. My mind is much clearer today too, I feel very alert.

Day 1 - Raw Food Cleanse

We kicked off our 3 week cleanse yesterday by going for a 3 1/2 hour sweat at a sweat lodge on the property of Earthsea which is near Lunenburg. It's a fantastic place, which has unfortunately been sold so I don't believe the sweats will be continuing at that location. Earthsea was originally founded as an eco village in the late 90's and then shifted to a Shamanic Society and although the property has been sold the previous owners have continued to do sweats until the new owners take possession. The whole experience was pretty intense and long but felt cleansing and healing. I had been to a Native American sweat before but this was Celtic and differed slightly especially in length. It was a great way to initiate a cleanse and it was nice to be able to share it with the women from my herb class. It was open to anyone who wanted to attend so Natasha joined us as well as some others from the community.

Today I awoke to begin the raw food part of the cleanse. There is no shortage of food, you can eat as much as you want as long as it's in raw form. I have to say I absolutely love a good salad and I eat vegetables with all meals but I'm just not big on raw foods...except in the middle of the summer. So, why am I doing this then you ask? Well, because I trust Savayda, my herablist, and I know that if I can get through this that it will alleviate some of the health issues that I've had as of late. I have cleansed before although never successfully so this is a real leap of faith for me. It helps that my women friends are on this journey with me, I am definitely not al one. So, I ate a ton of vegetables and fruit today and by the end of the day I was feeling pretty irritable, downright cranky if you ask Hannah. Which brings me to the the children who are doing the cleanse with me although not as intensely. They each had a slice of spelt toast for breakfast and then raw food for the rest of the day. I believe Josiah picked up a parasite while we were in Mexico so this will be good for him while I'm treating his tummy upset. Hannah and I prepared a huge and beautiful salad for dinner with everything we could think of to put in it. She and I ate two big bowls while Josiah picked out certain favourites and left the rest. He finished off with an apple and a big glass of apple cider. I noticed in the morning that my head felt a little 'spacey' which I attributed to the sweat although I'm sure I'll be feeling that again by Day 3. I wouldn't say that I am feeling hungry but I do feel like my body could stand a little more food just not the raw kind. So one day is over, 20 more to go!

Looking out to the Salt Marsh

Hannah picking coltsfoot

Some pictures from our walks along the Heritage Trail in Cole Harbour

Spring!!!

Yaaaaaay! It's finally spring and the weather here has been incredible. So warm for this time of year. We spent a week in Cancun, Mexico and came home to snow our first night but then it completely shifted. Mexico was just what we needed. Lots of rest and relaxation. We didn't do anything we planned to but that's what was needed. We sat by the pool or played in the surf everyday. I can't remember the last time I spent so much time in the sun but I came home feeling revitalized. We all did. The resort, Crown Paradise Club was okay. I don't think I'd go there again because it was a little larger than I would prefer and it was the all-inclusive deal so there are some drawbacks to that too but no real major complaints because we just wanted to relax and hang out with the kids for a week and that's what we did. They had so much fun playing in the water everyday. There were kids clubs for both of their ages so they were able to go and do activities with other children their age and it gave Art and I a chance to be on our own for a couple of hours a day. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out very well because, as I learned later, there was sunscreen all over the lense which distorted most of them. We arrived home about 10:30 at night and then Art had to get up and head to the airport early the next morning to catch his flight back to The Fort. That was a big drag for all of us, no time to readjust to being home and Daddy had to leave while the kids were still sleeping. I think we all went into shock for the next week.

I'm getting ready to start a three week cleanse with my herbal group. I have spent the past week cutting out caffeine, animal products, getting lots of rest and staying close to home to keep the stress level down. The weather has been so nice that the kids and I have been taking walks on the trail in the mornings. It's so nice to finally shake off winter and move into milder weather. My cleanse begins on Sunday with a trip to an ecovillage where we will be doing a sweat lodge and then Monday morning we begin our first week of raw foods. I'm excited about it. It feels like such a great way to start spring.

Josiah taught himself to swim