Has anyone tried the cleanse recommended in Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston?



I have been l/o vegetarian for over a year. I recently came across this cleanse and wanted to try it for five days, but after 2 days I had to give it up because I felt awful emotionally and physically. In the cleanse you have to give up caffeine, sugar, alcohol, animal products, and gluten. I had no problem with the animal products, since the only ones I consume are a minimal amount of dairy and eggs. I don't drink much caffeine, so that wasn't hard. And I consider sugar and alcohol to be extras, they are fine, but I don't have to have them.



Which leaves me with gluten - I think it was giving up bread that made me feel so awful. Which of course makes me more determined to do this, because if I am addicted, I'd like to not be.



The other reason I think I had problems is because I wasn't consuming enough calories. I am going to post what I had those two days, so you can see what I ate. I am open to any suggestions on how to get more calories within the confines of the cleanse or any other suggestions about the cleanse. Thanks.



Day 1

1 banana

corn tortilla chips & salsa

1 big bowl homemade white bean and zucchini soup

1 plum

1 handful almonds

3 pieces baked tofu

1 serving green beans

1 large homemade fruit smoothie - rice milk, strawberries, & bananas



Day 2

1 big bowl homemade white bean and zucchini soup

1 apple - sliced with peanut butter

4 dried fruit leathers

1 handful almonds

1 big bowl homemade black bean soup

**this is where I gave up, felt like I was going to die, and ate 2 pieces of bread



I realize now that I should have made some homemade guacamole, hummus, etc. Was I eating enough and just detoxing or should I have tried to incorporate more calories?

slow release carbs? i'm quite partial to some carbs myself. what about some brown rice/quinoa/kasha/millet/something like that with your dinner, and some gluten free chickpea and rice flour scones with your soup, or a baked potato topped with hummus in there somewhere, or something else a bit carby?

I am not familiar with this cleanse, but it really doesn't even look like a cleanse to me, as I usually do a juice or water fast as a cleanse! Most of the food based cleanses I am familiar with feature lots of raw fruits and vegetables, and don't even include cooked soups, tofu, or beans. The idea behind restricting calories in any cleanse is to give your digestive system a rest, and allow your body to divert digestive energy towards working on eliminating the toxins stored in your liver. So increasing your calories will defeat the purpose of your cleanse.



You will feel bad, physically and often emotionally, when you alter your diet by removing all those things you mentioned, and thus initiating even mild cleansing. You may need to eliminate one item at a time, in order to be more comfortable, even though that will take a lot longer than five days. When you become more accustomed to the feelings you may experience, it will be easier. They may not go away, or be reduced substantially, because that is part of the process, but you will be more familiar with them, and they won't phase you so much.



You could try this again in the future, and maybe you will be able to do it for longer. Its not a failure that you could do it for only two days, it just shows that you need to be more gentle with your body. I wouldn't alter the program, though, since this will stop the cleansing process. Cleansing is not an easy thing to go through, no matter what the authors of cleansing books say. Its hard work, and you will assuredly feel much worse than you normally do, before you start to feel better. This is unavoidable, and it is unfortunately what stops most people. It understandable, because people want to feel better the minute they eliminate a problem food, but that's not how the body seems to work.

Thanks for the suggestions!



hoodedclawjen - I don't know why it didn't occur to me that I could have a baked potato, it seems rather obvious - so thanks for pointing that out, and your other suggestions were great, too.



SomebodyElse - I liked your idea about removing one item at a time. I kind off thought maybe feeling yucky at first was a natural reaction to the change in diet, but I didn't realize how horrible I would feel. She kind of glosses over that in the book. I'd like to someday try the kind of cleanses you were talking about, but I don't think I am ready yet. I guess I was hoping I would feel how I felt when I first went veg (which was nothing short of spectacular ), and I was disappointed when this didn't have the same effect. But I'm going to give it another try.



Thanks again.