One of many green smoothies

I am doing the Clean cleanse this month. I did 6 days of pre-cleanse following the program’s strict elimination diet. Now I’m on Day 14 out of 21 days of the cleanse, and afterward I will do a reintroduction period, bringing back restricted foods slowly so I can gauge if I have a reaction to any of them (please, not to wheat/gluten!). Despite having a work trip during week 2, Mikhail has been bravely following the program too.

Funny how it seems like suddenly “cleansing” is everywhere I turn. Do I just see it because I’m doing it, or is everyone else actually doing a cleanse too? Have I become so trendy?

January does seem like a great time of year to do this. You’ve got the New Year’s resolutions (formal & informal), you’ve got recovery from the indulgence of the holidays. And if you’re me, you’ve been getting 2-3 migraines per week over the past few months, and you’re getting really sick of it.

The main reason I’m doing the cleanse is to see if I can identify my migraine triggers. Since these can be pretty subtle ingredients, the idea of writing down everything I eat in a food diary didn’t seem like it would work that well (though I know many people do it that way). A year ago, my primary care doctor recommended an elimination diet. She said it would take 14 weeks to do the whole process. I balked.

This cleanse is a nutritional cleanse, meaning that you eat real food, not just juice or lemon/cayenne/maple syrup water. But of course it’s also very restrictive about the types of food you eat. No sugar, dairy, wheat, caffeine, alcohol, red meat, bananas, vegetables in the nightshade family… the list goes on and on.

On Day 3, I called Mikhail at work and said, “I just want some #$%^& scrambled eggs!”

Eggs have been one of the surprising things I’ve craved, but most of my cravings have been more predictable. I miss coffee with sugar and cream, warm bread with butter and jam, meatballs and spaghetti, and chocolate chip cookies. Mikhail misses beer.

This process has really focused both of us more clearly on the emotional aspects of eating, and how often what we crave is more about eliciting an emotional reaction (comfort, stimulation, energy) than satisfying a real physical hunger.

And, when you’re not eating any sugar, it’s amazing how good roasted acorn squash with some roasted garlic, sea salt, fabulous olive oil & balsamic vinegar can taste!

Mikhail has become an expert at cracking fresh coconuts, despite the fact that his machete is nowhere to be found (I can only hope that if it’s hidden deeply away from us, it is from Emry as well). Fresh coconut water truly is a revelation. It takes me back to a little coastal roadside stand in Mexico, where the señoras appeared to be able to crack a coconut with a rusty machete with their eyes closed. Except it tastes even better than I remember. And eating the meat out of the inside of the coconut is as close to eating dessert as it’s getting these days.

While I can’t say that I’ve been feeling great overall (this week was a little too low-energy/cranky/bloated for my taste), I have finally had a migraine-free week! From Friday to Friday, no migraines! Yippee! I don’t know how much of it is the actual cleanse, versus the other anti-migraine measures I’m taking: finally getting to bed at a reasonable hour (staying up late on a cleanse = going to bed hungry) and religiously eating a morning snack to keep my blood sugar stable. But in any case, I’m celebrating that small victory.

And plotting exactly what I will eat from the Cheeseboard Bakery once I can have bread again.