Editor's Note: Here is the second part of writer Randi Wood's experience with Jan Minter's “Detox-Cleansing-Fast-California-Retreat” at Lake La Quinta Inn.
Over the next four days my energy and hunger flowed in waves.
I went from being ravenously hungry at one moment … dwelling on the fact that I had no energy and felt lethargic… to the next moment being neutral on the subject… feeling light, having an empty stomach, but no real desire to eat and having a fine tolerance for doing day to day tasks.
On Day 3, in going back for my second scheduled colonic, I did not understand how it could any bit worthwhile. But I was shown that indeed, as recommended on the cleanse, that it still was worthwhile and it worked (hopefully you catch my drift).
By Day 4, I was feeling much lighter and was excited to go to my daily class at Lake La Quinta. I had been told the class would focus on food combining, acidity of foods, and quality of food.
In the class, we learned plenty on what foods to eat together and not together for optimal digestion. We were given a chart to keep on the acidity and alkalinity of foods. In recent years, Alkaline levels of food provide new information on how to keep the body free of disease and health problems (as studies have shown, disease cannot live in an alkaline body).
We also learned about GMO labeling (Genetically Modified Organisms) and what kinds of foods were essential to buy organic. All of this information was highly interesting and useful.
On the last day, we were privy to a cooking class… of sorts (except nothing was cooked and everything was raw) of new interesting ways to prepare and incorporate raw, nutrient dense foods into your diet. Shakes, salad dressings, and soups were on the menu (pictured above).
We also were instructed how to come off the cleanse properly… which is highly important and not to be overlooked by anyone. Because the cleanse is essentially a fast… gradually incorporating whole foods back into the diet must be done carefully and intentionally. If you do not follow potential guidelines, it may be harmful to your health.
By the end of the week, the No. 1 thing I noticed was that even though I could not wait to have solid food… I didn’t have any out of control cravings. I wasn’t craving ice cream, or pizza, or any sugar in general.
Actually the thought of having something remotely like that was completely unappealing. Also, when I did finally end up eating, I was satisfied with a very small amount of food.
Thanks to attending the classes and the knowledge gained, I feel like I now have a better understanding of food and how it affects our body and specifically digestion.
The outcome of the cleanse personally for me was a change in my diet – I now try to eat more alkaline foods, and I am definitely making choices moving forward on buying organic, farm raised, and foods with no GMOs.