Day 10 – Eat More Meals

There is a good chance that you’re always hungry.  That’s perfectly normal once you take out all those filling junk foods that you are normally accustomed to.  The great part about this detoxifying program is that you are eating perfectly healthy and it’s ok to eat more!  It’s a good idea to snack so that your body is constantly being nourished.  This will help it to keep flushing out your system and clean it out.  I recommend fruits or vegetables as a snack.  Due to the fiber content, it is not uncommon to feel satisfied after eating these things so that you don’t over eat.  With this in mind, it is very possible to eat 6+ times a day and still keep losing the weight!

Day 9 – Cook with Garlic

If you are really serious about this plan and attempt to not add salt to your food, how are you supposed to flavor it?  The simple answer is garlic.  Garlic, when cooked gives a salty flavor to your food, plus it tastes great. 

On a side note, garlic contains a compound called asafetida, which is a powerful detoxifying agent.  This will help to work with your other foods and supplementation and help to reinforce the detoxifying capabilities of your liver.  It’s also great for your heart and consuming garlic can play a role in reducing  your chances of getting heart disease.

You can make this meal using the following ingredients:

• Salmon, fried with garlic
• heirloom tomatoes
• baby red, orange, and yellow peppers
• onions
• basil
• brown long grain rice

Day 8 – Get your Blood Tested

If you want to know objectively just how well this program is working for you, it’s a good idea to get your blood tested before and after you do the Purification Program.  I got my blood tested the day before starting my detox and found out that I had a high triglyceride level and high bilirubin.  I never would have known this if I didn’t check my blood for fun, and now I can see if this program will help to get me back to where I should be.

I recommend getting the standard CBC as well as getting a metabolic, lipid, and thyroid panel.  This will cover your sugar tolerance and cholesterol levels.  It will also measure liver and kidney enzymes.  The liver and kidneys are the 2 organs that filter out many of the substances in your body.  Detoxing helps to decrease the normal load you put on these 2 organs.  The thyroid exam is also important because the hormones the thyroid secretes controls your metabolism, which should be improved through this program.

Just don’t forget that you should fast 8-12 hours before taking these tests (therefore the best time to take it is in the morning)!  Eating can easily throw off your triglyceride and maybe even your glucose levels.

Day 7 – Shop at Costco

It’s not only because of this Purification plan, but I am a big Costco fan!  I believe that Costco sells some pretty top quality items and they have very good customer service.  With regards to this plan, since you know you’re going to be eating a ton of fruits and veggies, going to Costco is a very good bet.  Amber and I managed to just finish the 2.5 lb bag of spinach today.  That’s 7 days, but we didn’t let any of the spinach go to waste.  It definitely took a lot of space in the fridge, but that’s why you should clear space in the fridge ahead of time anyway.  The bag of spinach is something like $3.50 – what a deal!

Other great buys at Costco include (prices are rounded to the nearest $0.50) that you can eat on the Purification Program:

• Bag of baby bell peppers (yellow, orange, and red, the best ones!) – $3.50
• 5 lbs of beef steak tomatoes – $5.00
• 3 lbs bananas – $1.50

If you don’t like eating salads all the time, a great way to use your spinach is to cook it.  I personally get tired of salads really fast and prefer hot meals.  I have found out that if I cook the spinach, whether it be a stir fry or purely just microwaving it, it tastes better to me.  It’s a lot easier to eat too.  Try stir frying your spinach with onions, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and olive oil, which is the same ingredients as your normal salad, but see how different it tastes!

Day 6 – I am Losing a lot of Weight…

It’s day 6 and I have lost about 4 pounds.  This is great news for most people because weight loss is probably one of the reasons for getting on this program.  For me however, weight loss is not something I am interested in because I don’t have much weight to lose!  This does tell me though that the program is working and if weight loss is what you are looking for, then this program is definitely for you, as long as you can keep it up.

For those that do not want to lose weight however, you simply need to add more calories into your diet.  I am personally always hungry.  About 3 hours after my biggest meals my stomach is calling for more, shakes included.  This is probably because fruits and vegetables contain a lot of water, so eating them can be filling.  Water however is quickly taken into the body and fruits and vegetables generally don’t have that many calories as a whole.  My solution will be to drink a third shake during the day, up from 2.  Maybe to keep my sugar intake down, I will just add the powder into water and add half a fruit instead of 1.5 fruits.  I doubt it will taste very good though.  I might also start eating an egg a day as they are much higher in calories and last a lot longer in my belly.  People with high cholesterol issues however might want to stay away from this.  Other options would be to just eat a meal with the shake for breakfast and or eating a 4th or 5th meal during the day.

Day 5 – Know which Restaurants you can Eat at

Let’s all be honest, no one wants to cook their food for every meal for 21 days.  Even so, what if people come to visit?  How about special occasions, holidays, etc?  The truth to the Purification Program is that there is NO good time to do this program.  There will always be one day that someone is visiting, there is a big holiday, or there will be some sort of family get together where you know you will be eating some taboo food (even if it’s healthy for you)…if you are Catholic however, the best time is probably Lent because you can’t eat meat on Fridays.

Today I had to cheat on the program…it is a little sad, but before you judge me, my excuse is that I had my bachelor party tonight.  The culprit however was not alcohol or pizza, but unagi sauce (sauce put on fresh water eel).  I have to admit, that this wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been on this day and I am pretty proud of it.

Needless to say, we all like eating out, but this program probably makes it very difficult.  If you can figure out where you can eat before you start the program, this will save you when you are tired of cooking.  Great restaurants are probably vegan and Indian restaurants.  Just don’t forget to keep the salt off.  My favorite option is an organic, brown rice Japanese restaurant.  They make the best salads and all of their chicken is free range, antibiotic and hormone free.  Plus, I can eat sushi there because they use brown rice!  They also make great unagi…but I guess I won’t be having any more of that for 16 more days.  No more cheating for me, I promise!

Day 4 – Prepare your Food in Advance

It is day 4 and we are doing pretty well so far.  I have gotten used to not eating meat and not using seasonings and I think I will be able  to handle it for the full 21 days!  I do miss certain foods though, but I have found out if you prepare your foods in advance you won’t give in to temptation.

In addition, we all have busy lives.  Being on this program means almost constantly making your meals.  If you work or go to school, you pretty much have to make your lunch when at home or you’ll be forced to buy your food at a local store.  Since you can’t eat anything at any restaurant, the best thing you can do is make your meals for the entire day before you go to sleep!  We have found that works best for us to prepare many types of veggies the night before.  This way when you wake up, it’s very easy to put together an awesome salad or stir fry type dish.  My personal favorite foods to prepare at night include:

• 

  Prepare much of different types of food to easily make several meals during the week

  broccoli – steamed

• onions – steamed
• bell peppers – steamed
• pinto beans – takes about 4 hours in a rice cooker
• tofu – chopped up so it’s ready to go
• tomatoes – cooked
• cucumbers and eggplant – cooked with the tomatoes to lock in the juices

You can easily cook some garlic and top your meal with extra virgin olive oil to give it a nice flavor.  If you load up on the tomatoes and do this, it feels like you’re eating a pretty good meal from your favorite Italian restaurant!  Sometimes I also throw on half an avocado onto the salads.  There are many foods that you can prepare in advance, the most important thing is that you do it!

Day 3 – Check out your Local Farmer’s Market

The Farmer’s Market is a great place to get organic foods and it can be a lot of fun to go to.  Farmer’s Markets are usually run by the community and invites local farmers to sell their products to the public.  Many of these farmers practice growing organic foods even if they did not want to pay to get the official certification.  What’s more important is that these foods do not need the extra preservatives that large farms use to keep their food alive as it is transported trans country, sometimes inter country.  This is important when trying to take toxins out of your system.

Finally, some Farmer’s Markets have amazing deals on food.  We ended up picking up strawberries, heirloom tomatoes, egg plants, cucumbers, and avacados.  Not all of these were steals, since you are paying for the organic product, but at least a third of these were cheaper than going to the supermarket when the same non organic produce is on sale (plus it’s organic!).  Support your local farmers and find a Farmer’s Market near you!

Day 2 – Plan Ahead

There is nothing worse than committing to this detox program only to wake up on day 2 and not have anything to eat!  My tip for the day is to plan ahead.  Plan your meals out, and know what you want to eat.  There isn’t much you can eat anyway, so knowing what you want to eat and getting to food to prepare it will really help you from cheating.

The hardest thing for me are snacks.  I personally like to eat chips and you can not have that on this program!  Plan to buy lots of different types of fruits so you do not get bored.  Carrot sticks are another great option.  My favorite natural one is the hard boiled egg from a free range (hormone and antibiotic free) chicken.  Just keep in mind that if you are trying to not take in any meat until day 11 (recommended by Standard Process), you will not be able to do this until then.

SP Purification: Day 1

This is the first day of the “detox” program and surprisingly, I feel great!  I got the day off to a great start with the smoothie, which could have been the best protein shake I have ever had.  I think the secret of the smoothie was that I put in freshly squeezed orange juice instead of water, which gave the smoothie a ton of flavor!  The program mentions that you should only drink water, but since you’re also supposed to put a cup of fruit in, and our orange juice is freshly squeezed by us, it in essence is like putting in the fruit and then blending it, right?  Anyways, great smoothie.  I believe the Whole Food Fiber supplement is very tasty and recommend it over the Gastro Fiber pills when ordering.

I must say, I was not very confident that I would be able to do the 21 day Standard Process Purification Program.  I mean it’s 21 days of a pretty strict diet!  Here is what I am supposed to leave off of my plate:

• Nuts/seeds
• Dairy
• Grains (except wild or brown rice)
• Processed or refined foods - pretty much anything coming in a can, box, or package
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Tobacco

This diet plan seems almost impossible to me for 21 days because what kills me are cutting out processed and refined foods.  All of my favorite snacks (chips, popcorn, anything with wheat, even pasta) are refined.  Eating mostly salads is fine, except I get extremely hungry maybe 2-3 hours after eating a salad, no matter how big it is.  The program recommends always having a handy vegetable or fruit available, but those only can curb my hunger for so long.  Oh well, we’ll see how it goes.  AT LEAST I CAN STILL EAT BROWN RICE!

My best advice for anyone who is considering doing this cleanse is to do it with someone that will support you.  In my case, my fiance is taking the plunge.  Luckily for me, she’s the best cook I know and is already thinking up cool dinners to make.  Here is an example of the salad she scrounged up:

• Spinach
• Tofu
• Garbanzo beans
• Avocado
• Balsamic vinaigrette dressing

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