My two weeks on the Conscious Cleanse are over and I’ve reverted back to eating chocolate, eggs, sugar and coffee. While I never achieved that amazing, weightless feeling some cleansers describe, there are definitely some benefits to this cleanse and I noticed a few changes in my body.

My biggest take away is how good my digestive system felt. The process of combining foods outlined in the conscious cleanse has made a huge difference for me, specifically not eating protein and grains together. I ate leafy greens at every meal and plan to keep up with this. I realized I don’t need a lot of complex carbs, like quinoa and rice, in a day. I like carbs in the morning and can stick with veggies and protein for the rest of the day. I do need more carbs after a few days of intense workouts and after long runs, but packing my diet full of simpler carbs like fruits and vegetables has definitely helped a lot of my digestive issues and significantly improved how bloated and heavy I feel after eating.

I broke myself of a bad snacking habit while at work and significantly curbed my sugar cravings. Sure, I still want the sweet stuff but the mental “oh my gosh I need chocolate” after lunch and dinner is totally gone. I also haven’t baked in three weeks, my waistline is thankful for the break.

I did loose a little weight over the last three weeks. This is definitely a combination of stress, working out 7 days a week (sometimes twice a day), and the overall reduction in calories. Weight loss was definitely not my intention for doing this cleanse but cutting out sweets definitely cuts back my weekly calorie intake. Plus, it is really hard to over eat when your diet consists of at least 75% fruits and vegetables.

I did not participate in either of the purification weekends. I knew that wasn’t going to work for my lifestyle and was afraid of becoming really calorie deficient during the two days (Saturday and Sunday) when I am most active and have my long run. My biggest compliant is that it is really hard to plan nutrition far enough ahead of time on the cleanse while maintain a high activity level. I realized I rely on bars a lot for a quick 200 calories before a run or the gym after work. I’m still trying to figure out what I can eat that will settle in my stomach. (Hard lesson learned about smoothies with apple and celery less than an hour before a long run.)

Will I do this again? Yes. It’s a good way to check in and clean up my diet. There a certain principles that I’m going to keep in my day to day life. I liked that this is a whole food cleanse and not totally radical like going raw or vegan or just consuming liquids for two weeks. Sure it was challenging but not unmanageable. It’s also a really good mental exercise. I realized I had very few food cravings that were real. Most were something in my mind, like “oh it’s 8am, I want some coffee” or “Hmm that piece of candy looks good.” I miraculously survived the two weeks without either, and realized I don’t really need the caffeine in coffee but do like the taste (and social aspect) of it. I love that my mornings start with a green smoothie and have adapted that as a lifestyle change. My favorite smoothie combo right now is greens, pear and cinnamon. I love that it has warming spices that I’d normally have in my morning oatmeal.

Pear Cinnamon Smoothie

• 1 handful mixed greens (I like “power greens”)
• 4 romaine leaves
• 1 celery stalk
• 1/2 pear
• 1 medium banana
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 date (optional)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 1/2 cups coconut water (or plain H2O)

Blend away!

If you’re interested in trying the Conscious Cleanse the next supported session begins June 1st! For more info and to get signed up checkout the Conscious Cleanse website: http://consciouscleanse.com. Use the code RFCC613 for 20% off! If you don’t want to make such a big financial commitment the book is just as helpful and provides great insight. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Disclaimer: My good friend Holly hooked me up with a free cleanse experience in exchange for blogging my experience, but the opinions are all my own.

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