I am officially DONE with Fresh Start Phase 1! Was it easy? No. But I wouldn’t say it was hard either. Yes, it sucked when I wanted a food I couldn’t have, but really the most challenging part was just making sure I planned ahead. However, if you’re someone who struggles with prepping food ahead of time, this would be a good way to get into the habit.

So after a week of raw fruits and vegetables and water, I am feeling AMAZING. It’s hard to describe exactly what has changed, but I just feel better, like cleaner. I haven’t had headaches like I used to, my skin looks and feels better, I’ve lost a little weight, I’m sleeping better, and my body just feels like it’s doing its job better. Like a whole system reboot. And I think it’s been totally worth cutting out some of my favorite foods for a week.

Phase 2 of the Fresh Start program is health-building. You gradually reintroduce foods, such as dairy and gluten, so it’s similar to an elimination diet in that sense. This allows you to identify foods that your body doesn’t process as well so you can choose to avoid them going forward. So, while it is tempting to jump right in after a week and eat all the cheese, that is not what I’m doing.

Today’s food is something like this:

Breakfast – a Shaklee Life protein shake with kale, berries, and almond milk. For the rest of Phase 2, I will be substituting a shake for one meal per day, but if I were looking for more dramatic weight loss, I would substitute two.

Snacks – healthy options like fruit, a handful of nuts, a hard-boiled egg

Lunch – lean protein and veggies (cooked or raw) and/or fruit. Today I had a salad with some grilled chicken.

Dinner – Half of dinner should be non-starchy vegetables, 1/4 a lean protein, 1/4 a starchy vegetable or whole grain

Essentially, you are eating clean for the next 4 weeks. Water intake continues to be crucial and things like coffee and alcohol should be limited.

I’m also taking a new supplement this week, the Shaklee Life Strip. This thing is amazing. Seriously, look at it! The dark-colored liquigels are a polyphenol blend to repair and protect DNA; the yellow liquigels are an omega-3 fish oil; the two dark yellow pills are multivitamins; and the last lighter pill is a B and C complex. That is some major nutrition!

So, how is this different from a diet? Well, the difference is that Fresh Start is not something that you blindly follow until you’ve hit your goal weight and then stop doing and bounce back. The primary goal of this program is not weight loss and you’re not going to lose 100 pounds doing it. Instead, you start out healing your body with food and optimizing your body’s functions. Then you reintroduce foods in a way that teaches you the right way to eat. And you don’t experience the crazy bounce back because you eliminated most if not all cravings during your first week by essentially rebooting your system. Your palette actually starts to change and your body starts craving the food it needs instead of foods that don’t fuel it and make it sick. It’s a great way to jumpstart your new healthy lifestyle and get you on the right track for sustainable weight loss.

This second phase of the Fresh Start lasts 4 weeks. I am excited to see the results at the end of it but so far I am really impressed with this program.

I refuse to recommend anything to my clients that I wouldn’t use myself – that’s not something to brag about (or it shouldn’t be); it’s just basic professional responsibility (or it should be). And that is why next week I’m going to be test driving a program that some of my amazing colleagues and I are running later on in the spring and I’m documenting it here for all to witness.

The program is called Fresh Start, a health-building program to help you get back on track dietarily. It’s a 5-week program with the first week being a nutritive cleanse to help eliminate those cravings that often get in the way of getting into a new healthy eating regimen and to help your body systems function more optimally in eliminating toxins from your body . The cleanse week is followed by 4 weeks of “health-building” – being coached through healthy eating habits with a different set of dietary supplements for nutritive support. After the 5 weeks, your body is functioning more optimally than before and you are in a much stronger position for pushing forward with a healthy lifestyle.

So, next week I start my cleanse week. That means no coffee, no dairy (no cheese!), no grains, no meat, no sugar, and no alcohol. I’m not gonna lie – I’m not looking forward to it! That’s not really true – I’m looking forward to what a difference I will feel during and afterwards as I heal my body with food. I’m also looking forward to being able to tell YOU about the experience and its impact firsthand.

So let’s be real: as someone with no food intolerances who firmly believes in the importance of eating a variety of foods, that’s a lot of stuff for me to cut out of my diet all at once, so I’m actually easing into it this week by cutting a little out at a time beforehand. Don’t judge.

The coffee  was a particular point of concern for me so I decided to cut that out this week to make next week less of a shock all at once. I’ve been drinking coffee since high school. I drink it black – no milk or sugar, just pure, unadulterated coffee goodness – and I have a three-cup-a-day habit. I tend to get headaches if I don’t get my coffee so I’m not expecting that I will be a pleasant person for the first part of this week. Don’t. Judge.

This is Day 2 of no coffee and I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by how easy it has been. I was positive that I was going to be wearing my cranky pants and guzzling Advil but I haven’t had a headache and I haven’t been an intolerable jerk to be around – at least not that anyone has told me. I also haven’t really been craving it at all, which really surprises me. I never would have thought that starting the day with a cup of herbal tea instead of coffee would do it for me, but it’s really just the habit, not so much the substance.

I’m also starting to cut back on dairy and grains this week in preparation for next. Like a step-down approach. I think it will also help me start thinking of meal ideas and recipes for next week.

One thing I want to point out that I’m NOT doing this week is going all out and overindulging before starting this program. A lot of people will do this before they start a diet or program and I don’t see the point. First of all, I don’t feel well when I consume a bunch of junk and sit around so it’s not worth feeling like crap to me to get in all the foods I won’t be eating next week. I have my whole life ahead of me to eat those foods if I choose to so I don’t need to eat them like there’s no tomorrow.

I also think that this approach gets you in the completely wrong mindset. Before you even start you are looking at it from the angle of deprivation. Guess what? Shockingly, human beings don’t respond well to deprivation. Essentially, you’re setting yourself up for failure at worst and an incredibly unpleasant experience at best. Instead, I recommend looking at things like this as an opportunity or a new beginning. It’s exciting! You get to see your body functioning better and you get to pat yourself on the back for getting through it.

This is also the mindset that gets you into diet mode rather than lasting lifestyle change. You’re setting up the cycle of overindulgence –> deprivation –> overindulgence –> deprivation which is at the core of all crash diets.

Finally, if you’re going to run a race, why would you take 10 steps back from the starting line first? To me, that is what you’re doing when you have a crazy blow-out week eating all the things before you start a healthy eating program. By doing that, you are guaranteeing that you start off feeling like crap, you feel more deprived, and you may even be starting off heavier than you would have otherwise (if your goal is weight loss).

So that’s what I will be doing for the next month+. Be sure to check back here for updates on my progress – I’m sure it will be comical and may involve me sitting on the floor in a closet savoring a contraband piece of cheese.