When To Do Detox Diet
A detox diet after vacations or after holidays is an excellent way to get back into a fitness routine.
--
Last weekend, over coffee and those Pineapple-Ginger-Muffins, I decided to start a detox diet. It had been on my mind for a long time now, basically, since I realized what a strain this Glandular Fever is on the liver. My naturopath had advised against one back in February because the liver was busy dealing with the onslaught of toxins from fighting the virus. Now that the worst seems over, the time is right to give my liver a helping hand to get rid of some of the toxins accumulated. I’m good enough to risk releasing more toxins into the bloodstream during the cleansing. My training load is not that high, yet a restricted diet could jeopardize proper carbohydrate fuelling.
I researched and found the diet I wanted to do and set the start date for Friday (yesterday).
Wanted to do? Who am I kidding? I didn’t find the detox diet I wanted to do because none of these diets allow coffee! AARGH! There is possibly no human being on earth more addicted to coffee. Ask me! Giving up coffee — for seven days — me? No way!
All articles I had read warned me of the caffeine withdrawal symptoms and advised me to reduce coffee slowly over several days leading up to the detox diet to reduce discomfort. I didn’t! I couldn’t! Every time I tried to eliminate the second cup, I had a minor panic attack.
Yes, I paid dearly.
Discomfort? Do they call this discomfort? It was just about lunchtime of day one of my detoxes, maybe five hours after my usual caffeine fix, when the headaches started. And let me tell you: They were the worst headache in my life — for 24 hours! It was bearable when riding my bike, but I couldn’t keep riding for 24 hours straight.
So here I am, two days in, and I questioned myself more than once about why I’m doing this. I was close to giving up twice, once for coffee, the other time for bread.
And yes, I did warn all my friends, too, and Alberto scheduled some volunteer overtime.
The headaches eased up this afternoon (day two) and are gone now. I take the headaches as a good sign that the detox is working, but I’m glad…
