Nettoyez en profondeur...

Yes, Canada is bilingual. At least on packaging and government forms.

I started a cleanse a week ago. I have done cleanses in the past like the not-eating-at-all-for-a week cleanse, which I did in Austria together with Maria, after several people recommended it to us. The promise was to feel fabulous after day 3. Day 3 came and I still felt like a half-dead fly on the window sill. Note to myself: "Not eating does not work for me. Need to eat."

In the past I have done the wild rose cleanse, a herbal detox combined with a mostly (80%) alkaline diet. You can
eat as much as you want (works for me),
but no sugar (okay), no meat (no problem),
no dairy (that was a little hard - don't love soy or almond milk in my latte and I LOVE yogurt!) and
nothing fermented (don't quite agree with that - what's wrong with sauerkraut or vinegar?).

Especially the "no-sugar rule" was interesting: up to that first wild rose cleanse, I had no idea:

• that sugar is pretty much in any processed food. Makes sense from a commercial perspective, after all sugar sends the message: give me more, give me more, so exactly what the company wants you to do: buy more of it. To look at the bright side: sugar is better than cocaine, which they used to put in food and drinks for the same reason back in the days.
  

and

• how strong the effect of sugar was: First the sugar high, which makes my thought race, I am enthusiastic, I feel great... until I experience the crash: I feel shitty, exhausted, I want to nap..or alternatively: have more sugar. The Vicious Sugar Circle.
  

The only time sugar is awesome for me is on a hike or long-distance bike ride. In that case, it's highly welcomed quick and fast-accessible energy.

I decided to say good bye to the wild rose cleanse for two reasons:

• the herbs are pretty strong and - especially the third time they made me feel sick to my stomach
  
• I tend to believe that my diet is pretty healthy as it is, especially when i see what most of my co-workers put in their mouths every day. In my experience yogurt or a little bit of milk is okay.
  

So, when Heather announced she was doing a homeopathic cleanse, I decided to join her, because

• it's more fun in a team
• I expected it to be more gentle
• it didn't restrict my diet, the only requirement is to drink a lot of water, which I do anyways. However I read a review that recommended to combine it with a high-fiber, organic diet, which I also do most of the time.
  

I was surprised, how strong the effects are though. In fact, I reduced the recommended amount of drops on some days, because I felt it was too much. In this past week, I experienced

• headaches
  
• tiredness - i felt really tired in the evening, but in a good way
• emotional weirdness - weird, weird dreams, and some emotional roller coaster rides during the day (like suddenly I decided that I don't love my job anymore and instead I should quite and move to the Netherlands to take a Masters Degree in Industrial Ecology...although... that would be exciting)

I hope these are all side effects of the detox due to toxins being flushed out of my systems, which will be gone by the end. 5 more weeks. Just in time for the Christmas Debauchery.