I posted yesterday about my designated D-Day starting Oct. 2nd, so I thought I'd explain:
After seeing that I'd shared a link on Facebook about always feeling exhausted, a friend from my university days recommended a book called Hashimoto's Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back, by Izabella Wentz. My friend was diagnosed with Hashimoto's while we were still in school together and she asked if I'd considered it as a reason for my exhaustion. She had just started the first detox cycle in the Protocol and had only good things to say about it.
So far, every word has seriously resonated with me. It seems that Hashimoto's isn't diagnosed very readily in Canada, but the inevitable progression of the condition, as described by Wentz, matches the last decade of my life perfectly. After several chapters of pure education on hypothyroidism/Hashimoto’s, she gets to the first step in her plan, the two-week Liver Detox.
This would be a good place to insert my little disclaimer: I have absolutely no experience in health. I didn't even take high school biology so I have a very, very basic understanding of the human body, how it works, and what fuels it. Please take that into account if any of my experiences resonate with you, and do your own research first!
As a complete novice in the world of healthy eating, I can only be thankful that Wentz is very thorough, right down to recipes to use, ingredients to watch out for, and advice on detoxifying your cosmetics. So Monday is my D-Day. I’ve been working up to it gradually, weeding out gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol from my diet. The first three triggers on her list have been the hardest for me, since they make up maybe… 50% of my diet? :) I started just trying to find obvious replacements for the foods I already ate, but I think I'm ready to step it up a notch, and plunge into the official Liver Detox.
She gives a potential meal plan for the day, and I’ve made some alterations to suit my schedule and my preferences. So, for accountability’s sake, this is my plan for the next 18 days:
(By the way, I’m not counting the Thanksgiving long weekend in those 18 days. I’ll be interrupting my detox for that, because no one has that much will power—not if they have a mom who cooks like mine! Also, I work from 10-8--when I wake up in time to get there for 10--so I’ve pushed Wentz’ schedule ahead by about two hours.)
9am: Hot Lemon Water
10am: Gluten-Free Oatmeal (This is a blatant departure from Wentz’ plan; I don’t think I could stomach her suggestion for breakfast. I’m also adding a few things for flavour.)
12pm: Green Smoothie (I'm kind of nervous about this one; not sure how I'll like carrots, celery, and cucumber mixed in with my berries and seeds!)
2pm: Salad (and a walk, per doctor’s orders!)
5pm: Macca Latte (very interested to try this recipe; will let you all know how it is)
8pm: (or around there; I have to get home first!) Dinner focusing on meat and vegetables
10pm: Detox tea (Wentz recommends a detox juice but it sounds gross and I don’t have a juicer; also, my dad gifted me with some really delicious, soothing detox tea that I think will have the added benefit of helping me wind down for bed, so I’ve made a convenient substitution here.)
I've been studying the first four chapters of this Protocol for a couple months now, trying to work out how to achieve Wentz' solutions in keeping with my own lifestyle. Of course, a lot of my lifestyle has to change, but there are things I know I can't change about myself. Like, how much I hate having to cook when I'm hangry, and how much I despise doing dishes. So this process has been prolonged as I tried to figure out how to streamline this Detox using mass food prep days, thus incurring only one massive dish-washing session. I'll be honest, I'm pretty proud of my freezer meal cooking strategies, so I'll definitely be talking more about that later.
In the meantime, I'm T-12.5 hours from commencement of D-Day with my first Hot Lemon Water. My fridge has never looked so healthy, but I still haven't prepared the vegetables for my Green Smoothie! I'd better hop to it! Wish me luck, everyone! I'm going green like never before!
