One of the main reasons I started this blog, back in 2012 is so I could share all my little health experiments I love doing so much!  I love trying things out and then reporting back on whether it’s worth it or not.

Enter The Medical Medium 28 Day Cleanse! A friend of mine introduced me to the MM back in November and as we all know, whenever I do something, I go all in. So, I read all 3 of his books in about a week and just got more and more intrigued. The MM gets his knowledge from what he calls “Spirit”. He doesn’t have any medical training whatsoever. Everything he knows he knows because Spirit told him. I know this sounds absolutely bizarre, but I read the books, I read the success stories and I became a believer. His approach can cure all sorts of ailments from skin disturbances to arthritis to fibromyalgia. Now, I didn’t have any ailments I was hoping to cure (although my skin could always use some improvement) but I do love me a good cleanse from time to time so I jumped in.

What it is: Pretty much it’s just all raw fruits and vegetables for 28 days with 16oz of celery juice first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. His book gives some menu options but this is what I ate pretty much every day.*

Upon rising: 16 ounces of fresh celery juice

Breakfast: Smoothie consisting of 2-3 bananas, 1 cup blueberries, spinach and maybe some cilantro in there too.

Snack: Medjool dates.

Lunch: Salad consisting of 1 whole orange/apple/pear, red cabbage, red onion, spinach and butter lettuce. Dressing was avocado, orange juice and garlic blended together.

Snack: 2 apples.

Dinner: Another salad. For this one I would make a salsa out of mangoes, cilantro, little tomatoes, lime juice and red onion and serve it over red leaf lettuce.

After dinner: I would say sometime I had some chocolate but it’s more accurate to say I had chocolate every day except for 2.

*Now, FULL DISCLOSURE. I did this for 33 days to make up for the days I went out to eat, had wine, cake, tater tots and the like. I was by no means perfect. Like, not at all. I have done a lot of cleanses “perfectly” and I know what that experience is like and that’s not what I was after here.

I get that this may not look like a lot of food. Or maybe it looks like an insane amount of fruit. Eating 7 pieces of fruit in a day felt insane to me. In the book he recommends eating a lot more than this but this is the amount of food that would fill me up so that’s what I ate. If I was hungry I’d eat more. It’s definitely not meant to be a starvation cleanse!!! I can’t say that enough. It’s not about that. In fact, he recommends eating 2 of those smoothies for breakfast but I just couldn’t eat that much. Plus I’m not terribly active any more so I’m not as hungry in general as I used to be.

So what was the experience like?

• The first 2-3 days felt a little challenging and I felt hungry but it wasn’t real hunger, it was more like emotional hunger or like I felt like I “should” eat more.
• Surprisingly, I didn’t really get tired of eating the same things every day for a month. I found the meals really satisfying and tasty. I never went hungry. I don’t like being hungry.
• I did start to crave cooked food by the end. Cooked vegetables in particular. For some reason I was really craving vegetable soup and roasted Brussels sprouts.
• Otherwise, I didn’t really have cravings. I’m as surprised as anyone by this because I know that meal plan doesn’t look like much. After a few days cravings fell away and I didn’t find myself wanting anything. The times I did eat off plan it wasn’t because I fell off the metaphorical wagon, it was more because of circumstance.
• Since I wasn’t trying to heal anything I can’t give any real testament to the healing powers of the cleanse but I certainly feel good and I have really good energy.

Now that it’s over I’ve found I really like eating a “high raw” plant based diet. My digestion especially loves it! In summary, I think I can say that I am fully back to a plant based diet just like I was when I started this blog 7 years ago. I really enjoy getting in the kitchen and making plant based food. It just feels good to me and it makes me happy! I realize I can’t call myself Vegan though because as I’m learning, the times have changed and Veganism is now more of a complete lifestyle, not just a way of eating. So while I eat a completely Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet, my car has leather interior and I own a leather belt (it’s probably 15 years old), a few pairs of leather shoes, 3 down coats and I have a dog* which I think is technically not allowed either. I am however, committing to changing the way I shop and considering where items come from before I buy them. 10 years ago, even though I was plant based I didn’t really consider where my clothing, shoes or car interior came from. But now I’m realizing there is no reason we need leather or down goods because there are TONS of good alternatives and I just need to pay better attention and think before I buy.

*As for having a dog, I’m still not sure who exactly has ownership of the other. The way I see it, my husband and I go to work all day so the dog can have a nice house to live in, take nice vacations in his travel trailer and receive a monthly Barkbox subscription. I chauffeur him around while he rides in his comfy little car seat-bed. And of course there’s the part where every morning he walks me around outside on a leash, poops and then I pick it up (in a biodegradable bag) and dispose of it. It has never happened the other way around so I’m somewhat convinced that dogs actually run the world.

Alright, well I’m just rambling on now, so I guess it’s safe to say this 28 day cleanse had a bigger impact on me than I thought it would.

PS: I’ve been thinking about recording some vlogs for YouTube just for fun…

PPS: There’s a new Medical Medium book coming out next month called “Celery Juice” and I can’t WAIT!

Bye for now!

Laura