The 10 day Alkaline cleanse, how I found it

As some of you know I recently attended the Tony Robbins UPW conference in Sydney, with a radical mindset change and knowing it would put me in a good headspace I took Tony’s advice and embarked on a 10 day alkaline cleanse to help promote the natural energy and positivity in my body I was feeling when I walked out of the conference.

So here’s my low down on the diet and the cleanse

What is an Alkaline diet?
An alkaline diet is designed to use plant based eating and organic natural sources of protein to give you the nutrients and water based foods that help to alkalise all the acids in your body. Our bodies consume so much acid that forms toxins in our body, if these toxins aren’t flushed out regularly they cause a build up that kills the cells in our body and is linked to disease, cancer, heart attacks, poor health, diabetes amongst some of the scarier concerns, then things such as eczema, psoriasis, acne and other skin conditions. The everyday effects are low energy, headaches, poor concentration and exhaustion.

So the alkaline diet looks at the make up of your body, over 70% of our body is made up of water so to ensure we continue to work with our bodies make up, rejuvenate cells and remove built up acids from foods we eat the diet promotes the following areas:

Water – we should be consuming more than 2 litres on average a day, more if we have exerted ourselves with exercise or heat.

70% Plant based eating – when possible raw, green vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli, beans, celery, carrots, capsicum, cucumber, lettuce and fresh herbs.

20% High alkaline fruits – avocado, lemon, lime, tomato, watermelon, green apples, berries

10% vegetable and fish proteins – nuts such as almonds, brazil nuts, hazel nuts, pine nuts also seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds as well as legumes. Chickpeas, tofu and beans as well as certain types of fish, specifically deep sea fish inclusive of snapper, swordfish, halibut, tuna, salmon and ahi.

Smaller amounts of complex carbohydrates – non stored whole grains such as basmati rice, quinoa, spelt, buckwheat, millet and non yeast breads and noodles.

Oils- olive, flaxseed, Omega 2 & 6

The alkaline diet considers the following things as poisons for the body so completely removing or minimising them is required to help keep your bodies PH balance in place.

All meat besides deep sea fish
Processed sugar
Cow’s milk and dairy
Excessive caffeine – a tough one for me but I have been keen to reduce it
White – white bread, rice, pasta and potatoes
Drugs
Alcohol

What does the 10 day cleanse involve?

The ten day cleanse takes a more radical look at detoxifying the body so you remove absolutely any processed foods and stick to water, leafy green vegetables a range of water based vegetables and fruit with the addition of nuts, seeds and some quinoa and tofu for protein.

What did I actually eat?

The first few days I was a little unsure, I did a lot of research online for vegan friendly organic based recipes and discovered more food to my liking as I went along. Lentil curries with coconut milk, vegetable soups with no stock, green leafy salads with beetroot, capsicum and corn for different flavours, green juices and chickpea homemade hommus dips with carrot and cucumber sticks or a handful of nuts for a snack.

Pictured here: Scrambled tofu with tumeric and some himalayan sea salt plus some sauteed greens and half and avoca

I highly recommend before starting this diet or cleanse that you consider reading different variations of the diet online as there seem to be quite a few with varying options of what you can eat. Find what suits you and stick with it.

Recipe ideas?

Lentil curries are one of my fave hearty meal options, check this one out
https://www.theendlessmeal.com/creamy-coconut-lentil-curry/

Roast vegetable salads can be prepped and packed to take anywhere
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/warm-roasted-vegetable-salad/68616857-2ce3-4ad7-9954-a14d4d256787

This platter worked well for myself (minus the cheese) and the kids.

Did I struggle?

Boy oh boy, the no coffee thing really was a killer for me. The headaches that lasted for three days were awful, my exhaustion was taking over, my fuse was short. But on day 4 I woke and felt great, and I started to not be looking at the foods I couldn’t eat, more of my focus was on the fresh items at the markets that I could eat.

Being a cheese lover I struggled a lot not being able to dress my salad with a touch of feta, I did research and learn however that goats cheese in moderation is ok so I have slowly been changing over the cheeses in my fridge. Equally I am a lover of yoghurt and nuts for breakfast so changing that up was difficult for green juice, I have found a go-to combination for a morning juice which is easier than my yoghurt prep so I think I’m hooked. It includes a small green apple (skin on), a cucumber, spinach leaves and coconut water. I’ve also found some low sugar coconut yoghurt options to try post cleanse to see if I can keep cow’s yoghurt clear from my diet.

Would I do it again?
Absolutely, I feel a million dollars. My skin is clearer (my psoriasis has disappeared), my energy levels are incredible, I’m more awake and focussed. I am waking up of a morning with energy, even after a week long stint of my girls being unwell and countless wakeups during the night I would actually wake a 5:30 and get straight into meditation for the day.
The cleanse has completely changed the way I look at food. By researching the right foods you also learn so much about the everyday foods we consume that are killing off our vital cells. It was an eye opener and has already made a major impact on what I’m filling our fridge and our tummies with. I’m changing a lot of our yoghurts and cheeses to coconut (yoghurt) and goats cheese, offering almond and coconut milk options and we have drastically reduced any milk intake.

Please note the above is just a summary of what I have learnt from reading different variations of the Alkaline diet and cleanse online.  I thoroughly encourage you to do your own research as I didn’t follow just one source. Vegan recipes are a fantastic starting point just be sure to consider removing or swapping processed items out of the recipes you find and don’t underestimate how important preparation and taking the time to research and buy the right products can be.