Day 12: I made it!

    Well, I made it! (With only a relatively minimal amount of cheating!) And I have to admit…I actually don’t have the urge to eat a three ciabattas or mow a Hershey. (Psych! Obviously I’d never pass up chocolate…but I’m definitely not craving it, per se.) Here is my list of results, things I’ll keep up, things I’ll stop doing, and ‘key learnings’.

Results

• My fatigue levels didn’t change too drastically, except for about a day (after which I bounced back pretty quickly). I found I was not restricting my calories, so I wasn’t super exhausted all the time or unable to work out.
• Weight loss definitely did not happen for me. I guess I was a relatively slim person to start with, and this diet wasn’t too far off of what I was already eating. If you’re looking to loose weight, try something else. Maybe this would be different if you have a lot to lose and poor eating habits.
• It certainly did reduce my cravings for carbs & sugar. Big win on that front!
• My skin showed the most dramatic change over the course of the detox – perhaps this is because I was eating tons of good fats (salmon, avocado, almond butter, etc.).
• Unlike others’ experiences, I did not have and flu-like symptoms.

Keep

• I used to drink my coffee with flavoured syrups, artificial sweetener, and milk. I’ve actually become accustomed to simple coffee with cinnamon and almond milk, so I’m ditching my old overly-flavourful ways.
• I realized I don’t miss dairy. At all. So I’m continuing to not buy dairy products and use almond or soy products instead. While I won’t cut it out completely (heck, who doesn’t want to indulge in something cheesy once and in while?) I can definitely cut it out from the day to day stuff and reserve it as a treat.
• Sugar and bread was what I thought would be my biggest challenge. The brown rice, gnocchi and oatmeal I’ve been substituting have kept me incredibly satiated and have kept my cravings & sugar cravings at bay. Similar to dairy, I won’t strictly cut this out, but I plan on not buying bread and limiting my intake of sugary (real and artificial) things like jams, dried fruit, sweetener, and honey to special occasions or meals out.
• Using my spice rack daily has become an essential part of meal preparation, and this is something I’ll definitely continue to do. Fresh cilantro in the fridge at all times is also now a mandatory in my apartment!

Stop

• Oddly enough, one of the things I really miss is the fermented foods (which I thought would be no issue). This is mostly because a lot of the healthy stuff I have been eating (rice, salad, etc.) kind of requires something fermented to give it that extra boost. I miss being able to eat most salad dressings, mustard, and soy sauce.
• High fat (good fat) foods like avocado and almond butter have been my savior on this detox. But, now that it’s over, while I will keep enjoying them, I am planning on cutting back my intake since they are just so high in fat (and so addictive!).
• Welcome back to my life, wine! (No additional explanation required.)

Key Learnings

• Pick a time when your social calendar is relatively slow. Cottage weekends and meals out were the toughest things to manage for both temptation and social reasons.
• Brace yourself for having to poop in public. Unless you are a hermit, it will happen.
• Stock your fridge with detox-friendly foods so you always have options and aren’t tempted. Same goes for your office: I always had baby carrots and humus in the fridge and peppermint tea bags in my desk.
• Be realistic with your expectations. If you’re already healthy and slim, don’t expect to lose 10lbs. I’m assuming people writing those reviews either have more to lose or are restricting calories. If I had gone into this measuring my success in pounds, I would have been really disappointed at the end.
• Use the ingredient search function on All Recipes to help you come up with recipe ideas that use the detox-friendly foods you have in your kitchen. You plug in what ingredients have, and it gives you recipes that include them. Super helpful.

I hope this blog was able to give people a little more insight into my journey on the Wild Rose D-Tox. Would love to hear you feedback, reviews, or comments – hopefully it provided others some interesting info or tips. Thanks for following! Happy detoxing! :)