Stage 2 - Preparation

HealthPro personal training inspired me to do this detox and they provided me with the following advice:

1. 1 x shot of aloe vera juice per day - I bought a 1000ml bottle of maximum strength aloe vera from Holland & Barrett
2. 1 x Sulpher supplement per day (Methyl-Sulphonyl-Methane (MSM)) - I bought 1500mg MSM tablets (suitable for vegans) from Julian Graves
3. Multi Vitamins are to be taken twice a day; one in the morning and one before you go to bed - I bought Seven Seas Multivitamins plus minerals for vegetarians and vegans.
4. A banana every other day
5. Nuts & seeds, once a day
   
6. 2 Litres of filtered/bottled water a day - I got a Britta water filter jug to keep in the fridge
   
7. 1/2 pint fruit/vegetable juice a day - using my juicer and smoothie maker

It has ben going well, last week I managed to consume a lot of fruit, mostly pears (2-3 per day) and bananas (1-2 per day); I am working in our London office for 4 weeks and we get fruit delivered which is free for all the staff....fantastic! I appreciated it all the more because I was waiting for payday to come on the Friday and had a severe lack of food in our kitchen.

I also managed to get my water consumption back up to 2 litres per day in preparation. This, along with my usual Jasmine teas, I have probably done a lottle bit of oragan cleaning already.

Having to travel into London (from Milton Keynes to Islington), everyday with a semi- empty kitchen and withdrawing, it was a hard toil and my energy levels were very low, causing mood swings. But by Thursday morning I was feeling pretty good.

On Friday, the first thing I did was have a coffee with soy because I needed an energy boost and had literally nothing left in the house that I could have for breakfast. The coffee, because I very rarely drink the stuff nowadays left me buzzing for the whole trip to London. When I got off the tube, I popped into a shop and grabbed some snack bags of natural nuts; pistachios and cashews, a bag of pumpkin seeds and some hummus and pita for lunch. I also ate 2 pears through the day and one green tea. For dinner I ate cous-cous with roasted vegetables and drank a carrot juice. I felt great all day and I feel really mentally prepared for detox now.

The second part of preparation is to shop! There are certain foods to avoid and getting plenty of the right foods into you kitchen and planning ahead for what you will be eating is essential to succeed! I may not have mentioned yet that I am vegan, this actually makes a detox a lot easier to do because I already eat the foods that are allowed on a daily basis.

The next part of my preparation was to get a juicer so that I can make my own juices and smoothies and Fishcat (my partner) went and bought us a Juicer machine, a smoothie machine and a water filter jug thing because the water you drink has to be pure; not tap water because it contains added chemicals.

I have tested out the juicer already today with carrots, oranges, ginger and apple....wow!!! It was delicious and the smells were amazing. I also have a load of carrot pulp to use for making carrot cake when I finish the detox.