What do I have to detox from?

Someone asked me the other day, "what do you have to detox from? You are a vegetarian!". Have you ever met an optimally healthy vegetarian? I rarely have. The reason being, if a person doesn't eat meat they usually eat more refined carbs, dairy and sugars.

Personally, I thought it would be easier to just eat meat. After a lifetime as a vegetarian I became a meat eater. Yep, just one day I started eating meat. At the time I was teaching 18 yoga classes a week and rock climbing 4 days a week. I was doing a horrible job of meeting my nutritional needs. My body easily accepted the switch. I ate my first hamburger with no problems what so ever. Yet, it turns out I was just as bad at being a meat eater as I was at being a vegetarian. The bulk of my diet came from processed food, dairy, and sugar. Two years later I went back to being a vegetarian. In huge part due to the documentary Forks Over Knives.

Last year I cut out sugar completely. I never realized how extremely addicting sugar is until I tried to stop eating it. I did allow myself to eat fruit. But, at one point I found myself wanting to brush my teeth because of the sweetener in the toothpaste! My quest didn't last long but it did open my eyes to the role of sugar in my life. Now I read labels and try not to buy things with more than 5 grams of sugar. That cuts out most dairy products too.

Coffee is my other addiction. Oh, how I love coffee!! I drink one cup a day. Not bad, right? Well, one cup a day (sometimes 2) every single day for the last 20 or so years adds up. Just look at what caffeine does to a spider! In a study where spiders were exposed to different drugs the most chaotic webs were produced on caffeine. Yuck! Is that enough to make me quit? Unfortunately, no. The ONLY way I have been able to stop is when I make a fresh raw juice first thing in the morning. Some how the nutrient rich drink allows my addiction to calm the freak down.

A juice fast gave me just the kick I needed. Check out Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead about juice fasting. I went about 14 days on mostly fruit and vegetable juices. I lost a few pounds but gained control over what I was eating and had a much greater mood. This was right before I started a month long yoga training where I was fed a vegan diet.

Veganism was something I never considered. My love of cheese and generalization of vegans put it out out of the realm of possibility for me. However, I had vanquished my cheese demons when I cut down on dairy because of its sugar content. Now, I was more willing to check it out. Then I watched Vegucated and lost my sh*t. Eating meat was no longer an option for health or ethical reasons. One month of eating vegan and doing a lot of yoga and I lost 10 more pounds. I am now 5'6" and 145 pounds. At one point when I was eating meat I felt like I was getting too big. The addition of animal proteins and fats was really bulking me up. The elimination of them helped me to slim down again. As my journey progresses I learn new things and my views change. I didn't know how much I had to detox from until I started to cut things from my diet. I am now trying to repair the damage that has been done from a lifetime of macaroni & cheese and ramen noodles. The best way that I am finding to do that is with whole fruits and vegetables and juicing.