glow magazine my challenge group cleanse by shawna cohen

MY CHALLENGE

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER I’ll admit I was kind of jealous when a

group of friends bonded without me. No, they didn’t plan a crazy girls’ weekend or go on a giant shopping expedition or forget to invite me into their book club.

THESE WOMEN CLEANSED WITHOUT ME. For the uninitiated, a cleanse is the practice of removing unhealthy toxins from the body, mostly through diet. Cleanses have been around forever, but celebs such as Oprah, Gwyneth and Beyoncé have helped transform them into a mainstream

122 / GLOW / MAY 2013

phenomenon over the past few years. The latest trend involves cleansing as a group, just like my friends did while I was vacationing in Paris. As I stuffed my face with macarons, they detoxed. And they bonded like never

before. What Tupperware parties were to my mother’s generation, group cleanses are becoming to mine.

Several weeks later, a different friend asked me if I wanted to join her in another group cleanse. The decision to go 11 days without caffeine, alcohol, sugar, gluten, dairy and soy was a no-brainer. Sure, I was terrified of waking up without my beloved coffee, and the

thought of forgoing Popchips didn’t exactly thrill me. But, truth me told, I’d been feeling lousy. Like most women I know, I’m trying to balance career and family with some semblance of a social life, and maybe a workout or two. Not an easy task. And so, when friends raved about completing their cleanse—they claimed to have more energy, a clearer mind, better skin and far fewer emotional outbursts—I figured it was time to get with the program.

It worked like this: Nine of us—all women in our late 30s and early 40s, most with young children—gathered four times over a two-week period. At the first meeting, our fearless leader, Jodi Larry, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, told us how to prep

PHOTO: TRUNKARCHIVE.COM

‘Cleansing’ is the biggest buzzword among the health-conscious. Shawna Cohen didn’t want to go it alone, so she found strength in numbers.

MY CHALLENGE and explained that it’s important to cleanse (also referred to as detoxing). It allows the toxins that accumulate in our body—from what we eat and drink; from pollution; from modern life, basically—to be eliminated, thus taking a load off our poor, overworked liver. She also believes that a poor diet can have a significant impact on our mood, potentially making us tired, irritable, unhappy, or all of the above. A few days later, Larry took us on a guided grocery shop, during which we filled our carts with everything from quinoa to cocoa nibs.

The focus during the cleanse was on foods that help support the liver: grapefruit, beets, cabbage, kale, fish oil, nuts and seeds—the list goes on.

I WON’T LIE: THE FIRST THREE DAYS WERE BRUTAL. Deprived of coffee, I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. Fellow cleanse-mates fared far worse: At least a few were addicted to artificial sweeteners and so were convinced they had the flu. By day four, however, the clouds began to part. The toxins were leaving our bodies and with that came a renewed sense of energy and clearheadedness. I’d been drinking loads of water and tea (at least eight full glasses each day), and was hydrated for probably the first time in my adult life. And it showed.

“YOU’RE GLOWING!”

I was told more than once.

We gathered once again on day five, in the thick of it all, to share how we were doing. And on day 11—the final day—we discussed how to move forward post-cleanse: for example, how to “eat clean” while dining out (see “Order Up!” at right). Throughout it all, there had been a private Facebook group, where we posted recipes, shared tips and offered motivation.

What I learned very quickly is that “group cleanse” is pretty much synonymous with “group therapy.” It’s like a baby group, only better—mostly because there are no screaming babies killing the vibe. Yes, we had all signed on to improve our health, but the female bonding that took place over those two weeks was just the (sugar-free)

124 / GLOW / MAY 2013

shhhhh icing on the cake. We laughed, we cried, we shared our darkest secrets. (Get a group of women together to talk food and body image and, well, it’s going to happen.) At the end of each meeting, I’d start counting down the days until the next one. As we approached the finish line, I wondered how I’d function without these women in my daily life.

Alison Winton, 38, had a similar experience. Last November, she hosted a group workshop in her home, also led by Larry. “Within 15 minutes, you’re talking to strangers about things you don’t even discuss with your closest girlfriends,” she recalls. “There’s an immediate bond.”

“There’s something about coming together as a group—it’s like an AA meeting in that sense,” says Larry, who runs up to 14 group cleanses each season. “Most of us think we’re the only ones who need a drink at the end of a long day, or who gorge on candy late at night…. You realize you’re not the only one who has these habits. There’s something empowering in that.”

Pre-cleanse, Winton would frequent Chinese buffets or eat Hot Tamales candy for dinner. She’d also pick mindlessly at her children’s leftovers. “I never paid attention to what I was eating, yet I was always so concerned with gaining weight,” she says.

“Suddenly, I was able to make the right choices and eat more than I ever had before.

And the guilt—it was gone.” The aesthetic results of her cleanse were as encouraging as the mental results. “People were coming up to me and asking what I had done with my skin, saying things like, ‘You have a new face! Did you get Botox?’”

If I can fault myself for one thing during my cleanse, it’s that I probably spent more time glued to my computer than I should have. I was as curious about everyone else’s progress as my own and when others reported good news, it made me want to succeed that much more. Since my cleanse ended, I’ve totally revamped the way I eat, as well as my entire relationship with food.

For example, I’ve eliminated sweeteners and processed junk, and replaced them with real food. I haven’t gone back to coffee, either, though I do indulge in wine on weekends. And I’m still reaping the benefits, which has made me want to stick to this common-sense eating approach for life. The old adage is that misery loves company, but I’ve discovered that being in the company of the miserable can, under the right circumstances, be a great thing for all of us!

ORDER UP! Eating within the guidelines of a cleanse— or a new, post-cleanse diet regimen—is difficult enough in the comfort of your own home. Restaurants are a far greater challenge, full of temptation and a lack of control over what ends up on your plate.

Here are five ways you can maximize your resolve to eat clean, no matter where you are.

1 2 3 4 5

Have a pre-dinner snack. It might seem counterintuitive to nosh before mealtime, but eating a light, healthy snack about an hour before heading out the door means you’ll be hungry but not starved by the time you sit down in the restaurant. (It’ll also kickstart your metabolism.) My go-to is a brown-rice cake with almond butter and sliced banana.

Don’t be fooled by hidden sugar.

Most salad dressings and marinades are loaded with sugar. Play it safe by asking for olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the side.

Splurge on quality. When she indulges in a steak—usually around once a month—naturopathic doctor Jodi Larry goes for quality, which means buying organic. “It’s worth the extra money to know that your meat is antibiotic- and hormone-free,” she says.

Be liquid-savvy. Don’t waste calories on juice or pop, which are often filled with sugar and, in the case of diet drinks, artificial sweeteners. Water is always the best choice.

Get creative. At her husband’s favourite burger joint, Larry will order a grilled chicken burger wrapped in lettuce. “The staff look at me funny, but they do it,” she says, adding that there is always a healthy option when dining out. For example, you could order a burrito without the shell when eating Mexican food, or ask for brown rice instead of white when you get sushi.