Graduation Day - What's Next?

Congratulations, Cleansers! It's the final day of the 21-day cleanse!


There's something rare and mysterious about finishing anything. It brings a sense of accomplishment; it can often give us a sense of calm, if only momentarily. But it always begs the question, "What's next?" As soon as we finish one thing, we begin another - it must be a law of nature. So when we finish cleansing, we must begin another way of eating and that's not always easy.


Whatever you decide, know that you have mastered an essential aspect of your life, your health, and your overall well being: Your diet. You have proven to yourself that you have control over what you put in your body. You’ve shown that you can face temptation and overcome it. And you’ve taken charge of – and responsibility for – your choices. Isn’t that empowering?!

Chances are we'll all go back to certain aspects of our previous eating patterns. How far back you go is up to you. In the past, some cleansers went back to eating meat but didn't care for the taste and texture as much as they did before. Others started purchasing only organic or free range animal products. Some people continued to eat all their meaty favorites, just not as frequently. And many started incorporating more meatless meals into their weekly menus.

Try things on for size and see what works for you. Maybe you'll eat fish and poultry regularly but keep beef and pork to a minimum. Maybe you'll continue to use agave or stevia instead of sugar or other sugar substitutes. Perhaps you love real butter and want it back. Fine. But maybe you'll continue to use soy or almond milk instead of cow's milk. These are things you can test and tweak along the way. See how you feel after you eat some of those old favorites - you're more in touch with how food affects your body now - let its widsom guide you as you make your choices.

You don't have to make all your decisions right away - this is an evolutionary process. And there's no right or wrong; whatever you choose to do is up to you. It's all in your very capable hands. Isn't it interesting how our choices seemed so limited when we started this cleanse? And now that we're almost done, we have more choices than when we began. That, my friends, is abundance at work!

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this cleanse - it's never easy and it requires dedication and determination. You've brought something into your life that can you can enlist at any time to serve you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually - how empowering is that?!!  Thank you for being a part of this process and for sharing your thoughts and experiences as you've gone through it. It's always better with buddies... Thank you all for being my cleanse buddies!

Susan's Observations - Holding Strong

I love your breakthrough moment. We don’t need others to validate what we are doing. I get multiple comments from my family and friends telling me that this cleanse is ridiculous. They all advise me that I should not be so extreme and that I should maintain a healthy diet – everything in moderation.

We are all cleansing and experiencing it differently. This is my third time cleansing and it is a piece of cake this time. The other times, I was consumed by it. I started this cleanse on 8/31, so technically my 21 days are up. Yesterday, instead of dipping my carrot and pepper sticks into the guacamole, I joined the rest of the family and allowed myself to have ten tortilla chips. I also had a Diet Coke. Well, this must have been a major shock to my system. I was up all night with a bad stomach ache. When you eat clean and good, you feel good. When you eat crap, you feel like crap. I’m back on the bandwagon today.

Jenny's Story - Attitude is Everything

Here's a post from veteran cleanser Jenny, who is visiting her grandkids in California...

I've been in babyland so too tired or too unavailable to post. Since I can't post right to the blog for some reason, I'll have to leave it to you to decide what you want to do with my comments, but here goes...

Having been in LA the past few weeks I got to enjoy a very fitness-minded atmosphere. EVERYONE takes care of themselves! Even the moms at Luke's school waiting to pick up their kidlets after class are all in their workout clothes - before AND after. What a test to one's self esteem! Still, it makes all the difference if you're making your own efforts.

That got me thinking about how your mind and your attitude is as important (if not more!) than every bite you're putting into your mouth. That it's important not only to cleanse our bodies, but our minds and spirits as well. I feel like the food part is a big and important step that leads us by the hand into the next level - then we have to kick it up a notch and really do some research, reflection and seeking.

Oh, that and spa treatments - don't forget the spa treatments. VERY spiritual. Bikini-waxes in particular. Did my first in 2 yrs - believe I screamed HALLELUJAH and saw Jesus- yep.

A Breakthrough Moment

So yesterday I was sitting in the Denver airport awaiting my final flight of the day to bring me home to Minneapolis. I’d been on the road for a week, visiting friends in Park City, my parents in St. George, Utah, and hitting Las Vegas for one night before the flight home.

That’s the primary reason I haven’t posted as much as I have in previous cleanses – it’s hard to steal away to write when you have limited time to spend with your loved ones. But in addition to that, I have to admit I haven’t felt the most inspired to post this time around. And after some serious consideration, I’m pretty sure I can blame that on my big fat ego. It wants people joining in and participating on the blog – I guess I believe that’s some sort of affirmation for me and my efforts. So when there’s not much activity on the blog I lose enthusiasm.

But I started thinking about that as Mark and I wended our way through the desert toward Vegas on Monday. I realized that I shouldn’t pin so much of my sense of self-worth on other people’s actions (or lack thereof), and that I shouldn’t rely on the affirmations of others as my sole gauge of my value. It also dawned on me that every cleanser has a different experience – some of us are gritting our teeth just to hold on through each day; others are sailing right through without feeling too much change. On top of that, everybody has a life to tend to – that’s challenging enough without adding cleansing to the mix.

I think that’s my lesson this time around – to remember that no one else is responsible for how I feel about myself, and that I can’t control what anybody else does, even if we’re all doing the same thing at the same time. Because even if we’re all doing the same thing at the same time, we’re all experiencing it completely differently.

One of the greatest things about cleansing is that it gives us the chance to wake up to –and through – mindful eating. As we give careful consideration to everything we put in our bodies, that mindfulness translates into other aspects of life. So after we wake up to mindful eating, we can wake up to mindful living – being aware of what’s going on around and inside us in every aspect of our lives.

By being mindful of my feelings of apathy and making the effort to understand them, I learned a valuable lesson about myself, I figured out how to deal with an issue that’s been haunting me my whole life, and now I have some new wisdom that I can carry into other aspects of my life. That’s why I keep cleansing – each time it delivers new, enlightening insights that help me move a little more gracefully through this life.