The 21-Day Cleanse: Oprah's Blog 1

Oprah's Blog

Oprah.com | June 04, 2008

In her book Quantum Wellness, best-selling author and spiritual counselor Kathy Freston suggests trying a 21-day cleanse as a way to jump-start an inner makeover. Oprah has decided to give it a try! The plan is to eliminate caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten and animal products from your diet for up to 21 days. Read along as Oprah blogs for three weeks about the highs and lows of her experience.

Week One: Sunday
There was a passage in Kathy Freston's book that so related to me, I thought for a moment she was talking about me.

In the passage, Kathy talks about an overweight friend who would gain and lose. She didn't conquer the weight issue until she became a "conscious" eater.

Conscious eater. That struck a nerve. I had recently come to the conclusion that after spending weeks reading and rereading A New Earth and being on line with Eckhart Tolle that bringing a higher level of awareness to my eating was the solution I'd been avoiding. My idea of a conscious eater, however, was not quite the same as Kathy's.

I thought it meant not allowing yourself to eat emotionally and filling the void of anxiety with food, as I've struggled with for years. I thought it meant taking your time, making healthy choices and chewing slowly—being conscious of every bite and not scarfing down a meal and then thinking about the next one.

That is one level of consciousness. But what she talks about in her book is a higher level. She speaks of "spiritual integrity." How can you say you're trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?

So this 21-day cleanse gives me a chance to think about it differently and see what my attachments are to certain kinds of foods—and what I'm willing to do to change.

Don't know if I'm going to feel better or worse, but I'm willing to try to see if my body at least feels differently.

So this first day wasn't hard at all. For breakfast, I had steel-cut oatmeal with fresh blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar. For lunch, chunky mushroom soup with wild rice and pecans. As a snack, a handful of roasted almonds. And for dinner, a baked potato drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper with a salad of shredded lettuce, cranberries, pine nuts and tiny orange slices with a vinegar and oil dressing.

Very satisfying. Day 1 also started with the meditation mantra that Kathy suggests in her book. I'm ready!

— Oprah

Kathy Freston's Comments
Some other great foods to eat are brown rice, quinoa, steamed or sautéed vegetables, chickpeas, yams, rice cakes or flax crackers with peanut butter or almond butter, apples, blueberries, hot whole grain cereal with chopped nuts and fruit with soy milk poured over it.

Week 1
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

Week 2
Sunday
Monday
Thursday
Saturday

Week 3
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday

Week 4
Sunday

Printed from Oprah.com on Wednesday, June 19, 2013