Yellowstone + Detox

Sam and I are heading to Yellowstone National Park/Grand Tetons today for about a week and a half, and have decided to use our isolation in the forest as the perfect opportunity for a physical and mental spring cleaning. Or… fall cleaning, if you will.

It started out as a decision to do a liver cleanse. I know there’s a lot of controversy on the subject, but we’re not taking any cleanse supplements, just committing to 11 days of pure, clean living after destroying our livers with delicious beer all year. Our livers, and bodies in general, are extremely resilient, but sometimes it’s a good idea to give your body a break from toxins and foods that are difficult to process in order to let it naturally revive itself. We’re mostly going to be following the detox outlined in The Fast Track Detox Diet, by Ann Louis Gittleman. The diet itself, along with a bit of additional information, can be found here: http://experiencelife.com/article/fast-track-liver-detox/ for free.

Phase 1: Seven Day Prequel

The idea behind this is that before you detox, it’s a good idea to strengthen your liver and colon to get ready for the job ahead. It’s really not that much different than the way we normally eat, but starting tomorrow, we’ll be adding specific “Liver-Loving” fruits and veggies to our diet, as well as an emphasis on getting enough water, and adding a blue-green algae or spirulina for a week. We’ll also be avoiding excess fat, any type of sugar or artificial sweetener, refined carbs, GLUTEN (ack!), soy, and of course, alcohol and caffeine.

Phase 2: One Day Juice Fast

With our livers and colons in tip-top shape, we will advance to the juice fast. I, for one, am a huge fan of juice fasts. Last year, my bestie came and stayed with me while we experimented with my new juicer on a three-day juice fast. The first day was kind of awful, but I felt increasingly more alert and vibrant and by the end of it, I wasn’t sure why I ever ate real food at all! I wouldn’t recommend it for more than three days, and next time, I might even supplement all those vitamins with some almond protein, but I was hooked! That being said, I no longer have my juicer, so this will be way less fun. But hopefully productive.

Phase 3: Three Day Sequel

The Fast Track plan is basically to follow the guidelines from the first week, adding in probiotics and hydrochloric acid in order to help remove the toxins that were released during the juice fast. With the exception of yogurt or kefir for probiotic purposes, I will be following the Fast Track, but I plan to abstain from processed foods and animal proteins as well. And most importantly, NO ALCOHOL!

In addition to the diet, I’m committing to 11 days of yoga, which I have almost completely gotten away from. Many yoga moves, particularly twists, are already touted to remove toxins from the muscles, so it seems a match made in heaven with a detox diet. If there’s any way I can find a sauna in that time, that will happen as well.

Not entirely removed from yoga is the mental and emotional cleansing. I read a book earlier this year called the Power of Now that completely changed my life. It details out everything I believe about life and God and the most effective way to plug into the Source. I strongly believe that you have to be in the right place to appreciate that book. I gave it to Sam months ago, and he finally started reading it, and I can already see it changing his life as well! I’m really excited about what I foresee as a new chapter in our relationship, where we hopefully can get to a place of holding each other accountable for staying in the present, and staying connected to the Beloved and each other. I decided to re-read the book as well, and I’m anticipating our little retreat involving a lot of reading of truth, meditating and spiritually growing, individually and as a couple.

Here’s to Fall Cleaning! And lots of pictures in Yellowstone!