The cleanse.

The cleanse. Somehow, I managed to live 27 1/2 years without ever as much as acknowledging the notion of a cleanse. But in early 2011, I met my now favorite New Zealander, we'll call her.. CrunchyBar. CrunchyBar is a big fan of the cleanse/detox outlined in Alfred Junger's book Clean. Incidently, Gwenyth Paltrow is also a fan. But, I digress.

After the Chicago Marathon, I had the feeling of emptiness. It's actually pretty common for me to feel this way after a goal race or the end of a "season." Because it consumes my life for a while and then, just like that, 26.2 miles later, it's over. The hours of weekly training, the schedule, the exhaustion, the obsessive conversations about shoes, hydration, carbohydrates, electrolytes. I needed something else to direct my energy towards. CrunchyBar is always up for a cleanse partner, so we gave her cleanse a try. I followed the book's recommendation to do a "pre-cleanse" by eliminating gluten and dairy for a week. I felt great! The cleanse followed, which included liquid breakfast and dinner with a solid food gluten/dairy free lunch in the middle. Snacks allowed. What did I learn? I felt the best during the pre-cleanse. Hmmm... maybe Tayler is onto something...

I started looking into some options. I bought a few books including Gluten-Free, Hassle Free and Diet Wise. Diet Wise, particularly, was the start of something. It is about how the food we eat can affect us systemically. Much of the book provided cases of people who overcame significant ailments (immune disorders, psychological disorders, headaches and more) by changing their diets. The reader is instructed in basically a two-step process. First, follow a diet with nutrient-rich, low allergen foods. Next, reintroduce new foods, one at a time. The goal is to determine which foods produce the symptoms you're trying to eliminate.

So when I received a daily email from Whole Living about the 2012 Action Plan, I was intrigued. It detailed a 3-4 week cleanse and outlined what could be eaten each week. Here are the basics:

Week 1: Fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts

Week 2: Add soy (organic), beans, lentils, seafood

Week 3: Add eggs and gluten free grains

Week 4: Add meat and gluten-containing grains

My goal, or New Year's Resolution, was to use the cleanse as the "elimination phase" of the elimination diet. Then, reintroduce foods that could be causing my symptoms. The main symptom I was trying to avoid was daily GI distress. 

How did it go, you ask? Amazing. So amazing that I have stalled at week 4 1/2. I'm currently dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten free. Amazing. I just can't think of another word to describe the difference. I have energy. I've always someone who needed a lot of sleep to function. Eight to ten hours plus a nap was not uncommon. Changing my diet has helped by energy more than iron or vitamin B supplements. Fatigue was a symptom I even didn't recognize.

I am egg free because in week 3, after 2 days of eggs, I became horribly nauseous for about a day and a half. Last April, I had a similar feeling the week after Easter. As I tried to eat my way through the extra hard-boiled eggs, I ended up with a 4-5 day period of horrible headache, nausea, stomach ache and general malaise. I wondered if it was the egg or if it was a stomach bug. I still wonder if it was just coincidence both times. But for now, I'm living egg-free. 

Yesterday, I decided I was ready to test dairy. Before this resolution, I always had GI issues with ice cream, Greek yogurt, and most cheese. I didn't seem to be affected by skim milk or regular yogurt. When I was a kid, my parents thought I was lactose intolerant. I drank Lactaid milk for a while, but I seemed to grow out of the intolerance enough that I could tolerate skim milk. So, what did I start with for this challenge, but a 16 oz. glass of skim milk. It didn't take long for me to realize that dairy is indeed a culprit. I'm a bit sad that I have perhaps eaten my last grilled cheese sandwich or cheese quesadillas. I think that is why I put off testing of any of the eliminated foods for a few extra weeks. I didn't want to know! But I am glad I tested dairy with elimination and reintroduction. I don't want to be a tired girl with a stomach ache!

So why did it take so long for me to try an elimination diet?  I was afraid of what they might find out by eliminating and then testing a food. I thought it was normal to sleep 10 hours, still be tired and have a stomach ache by lunch time. I still have tired days and bad GI days (hello, squash belly), but overall, I feel... I need a word... amazing! Quick PSA- if you feel as though any aspect of your health could be improved, I recommend reading a book on elimination diets and trying one. Don't be scared, be excited. It could be life changing. 

Next up? First I have to give the dairy time to get out of my system. Then, I have a list of foods I want to continue to test:

1. Goat dairy- is it the lactose or the casein?

2. Grains which are non wheat but contain gluten. 

3. Wheat

4. Soy

5. Peanuts

6. Bananas

7. Re-test eggs. Try brown and white eggs. Just whites and just yolks.

Items 3 through 6 will require another elimination phase since I am currently still eating these foods. It's a process but along the way, I am finding lots of other delicious foods that I never knew I loved. Like buckwheat!

The other truly great thing about this cleanse/challenge is that it gives me something to channel my energy towards. Since I am going on week six of not running, race goals are on hold. It has been about 15 years since I haven't had a race goal. It's weird. I mean, I still have a lonnnnnnng term goal, but I need something in the meantime. So for now, it's the food challenge. It's been interesting, educational, and well, challenging. In a good way.

Thanks CrunchyBar and Tayler.