Spring Clean your Body

Hey Everyone

Hope you had a great weekend and if you're joining me on this journey, you made it through, with no slip ups, although if you did slip up, don't let that put a halt to a healthier, leaner you.

Just start again, today or tomorrow, get back on the horse as it were.

I had a good weekend, which ended up with me 'spring cleaning' my  house.

A job which was long overdue, I may add (but them I am a guy ha ha)

This got me thinking about the Elimination Diet and the 30 day journey, which in essence is a spring clean for your body.

Let me explain

I had decided on Saturday night, I wasn't allowing myself to leave the house, until I had tidied all the mess, that had accumulated - discarded clothes on the floor, books, dvds out of their covers, laundry that hadn't been put away.
The whole house just felt cluttered, which definitely affects my sleep and just makes me feel uncomfortable being in the house.

Then dusting, hoovering, polishing, cleaning and mopping every room, plus laundering my bedding.

I woke up on Sunday, ready for action, prepared.

Once I had started, the task all of a sudden, became a little bit daunting, there seemed to be a lot more to do, than I had anticipated, I started by piling all my clothes on my bed, ready to sort, into proper piles and  laundry.
Very quickly it piled up, I started feeling a wee bit stressed, just leave it I thought, start another day, it can wait, all these thoughts crossed my mind.

But, I was determined, I had been moaning to myself all week about the mess, it was getting done.

So, on ward I went, half an hour or so later and the clothes were all folded and put away or in the utility room ready to wash, my bedding was in the washing machine too.

First step complete.
I was starting to feel better already.
Next stop - rubbish, again round ever room, sorting letters, old newspapers and magazines, anything lying about, either got bagged or filed.

After that the house was actually looking nearly minimalist ha ha, well compared to 1 hour before that.#

I was in full cleaning mode now, next up, dusting - 20 minutes - DONE, Cleaning Bathroom 30 minutes - DONE,  Hoovering - 30minutes - DONE, Mopping - 20 minutes - DONE, Bedding out the machine and hung up - 5 minutes - DONE

Job - DONE

Once I was cleaned and changed, I spent a great afternoon, browsing round Glasgow's West End, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, then I had the joy of returning to a clean, fresh smelling house, with the added delight of sleeping in freshly cleaned bedding, a full nights peaceful sleep was had, the first time in at least a week. No clutter in my space or head.


So, why is this like the 30 day  ED journey ?

Lets look at the similarities and what you can help to make both tasks a success

1. Set a date for the cleaning to begin

2. I mentally prepared myself for the task ahead and made a plan of attack

3. Although it may seem daunting, looking at the BIG picture, if you break it down into little tasks (or days in ED case) and then do 1 step at a time

4. Having too much rubbish, lying around the house (your body) slows everything down, it takes longer to find things (digest foods)

5. It drains you physically, sapping your energy being surrounded by clutter (your gut, intestines, become sluggish and drained)

6. Once the cleaning begins, it may get worse before it gets better, making pile of clothes, before tidying away ( detox symptoms, headaches, flu like feelings)

7. It doesn't take long to start seeing (feeling) the benefits, the house starts to look tidier, cleaner (you start to feel more energetic, lighter)

8. The feeling of everything inside my house (body) being clean, rubbish free

9. Sleeping in a dirt, dust free bed, with no clutter leads to better, more peaceful sleep (  the same goes for your body, it's free to do all the proper tasks it has to do, while you are asleep, repair, regenerate)

10. Its very easy to maintain, once its done, you (your body) feel much better in that environment, so you want to keep that state of cleanliness.

So, this is why every now and then, we need to  have a serious 'spring clean' of the body, the rest of the time is simply keeping that cleansed environment, which is a little easier than the journey getting it.

Here is a great picture to help explain, what I mean by a cleansing diet

If you follow, a calorie or points adding, type 'diet' you aren't neccesarily removing all the toxic food from your diet, you're more than likely reducing the amount, but it's still 'allowed'
So you will never actually reached that 'clean state'

It's like if I had stopped after tidying my clothes and collecting all the rubbish, yes my house would've looked better, felt a bit cleaner, but it would still be dirty, dusty, but it would not pass a health check.

That's one of the major points of eating a clean diet, to above all, get you healthy, your internal environment.

Which has the added bonus of been an incredible way to lose body fat.

Your body, doesn't need or want to be carrying all the excess burden, the extra weight etc and I'm pretty sure you don't want to either, I know I don't.

So, hopefully that will make sense as to why, the Elimination Diet works  (in a round about way of explaining it) and why I highly recommend it, not just as a 30 day 'miracle diet' but as a lifestyle choice.

If you aren't already joining me on this journey, isn't it about time your body  had a 'spring clean'


Craig