So, I’ve finished my cleanse! I ended up doing 16 days of the full Clean cleanse (but 17 days off alcohol and 18 days off coffee — I tapered off of those early). In order to slowly add back in enough foods to eat dinner at my cousin’s upcoming wedding, I ended the cleanse a little early. You can’t not have wedding cake at a wedding, right?

The first 14 days of the cleanse were not great, I must say. The first week was quite painful, with lots of aching in my legs and lower back. I had such bad chills every night that I was sleeping with a heating pad in the middle of July. I kept finding new rashes (my wrist, my inner arm, my ankle). I tried remedies like Epsom salt baths and magnesium supplements (these two are essentially the same thing), but they didn’t really help. The second week, I just felt really foggy. The only mistake I made was accidentally eating some sweet potatoes, which I guess you are not supposed to have despite one of their lists only banning “white potatoes.” (I guess sweet potatoes create mucus?)

But days 15 and 16 were quite good, and I can see how going the full 21 days would be no problem. My constantly stuffy nose cleared up, my skin cleared up, I didn’t wake up completely exhausted like I usually do (even after a full night’s sleep), I wasn’t bloated anymore, I stopped getting daily headaches and I lost 5 pounds. I felt good enough that the idea of adding foods back in was worrisome. But I want to know which foods agree with me and which ones don’t.

So far, alcohol makes me more prone to headaches (which I knew) and dairy makes me tired, stuffy and bloated (which I suspected). Today is coffee. That’s my first macchiato up there — in my itty-bitty-kiddy handmade mug. I’m trying to switch from lattes to macchiatos in order to reduce the amount of dairy/soy I have. I don’t like almond milk in my coffee. I just finished that coffee, and I’m already feeling the tummy rumbles from that little dab of milk.

I’m also now completely wired — hence the wordiness of this post. Maybe I should have made it a single macchiato.