The Cleanse That Changed My Life

“What started out as a 30 day cleanse with the hubs turned into a whole new way of life that we're absolutely loving .”

I had always thought about doing a 30 day alcohol detox in January as lots of people do to “dry out” after the holidays. Well, my birthday is January 30th so it never happened as I like to celebrate ALL month. Ha. This past year coming off the pandemic, a few things had transpired. I’ll spare you the details because it doesn’t matter as most of these things didn’t even happen to Chris or I. What does matter is the sequence of events encouraged the whisper inside to get louder. “It’s time” was all I heard. Thank you spirit guides.

So we did. March 28th was the last time we had a beverage. Now, close to 100 days alcohol free, we feel AMAZING. Mental clarity is through the roof, way more energy, weight loss, skin feels great and sleeping like a rock! What more do you need?

I find it interesting now that I am comfortable sharing that I’ve quit alcohol, the first response is “I don’t drink much or I only drink on the weekends”. I get it. I told myself that too. But the reality is, even if you jdrink once a week, it takes the liver about FOUR days to recoup. It never gets a rest. The liver is the workhorse of the body and is in charge of filtering out all of the toxins. Did you know that the liver is one of the only organs that can completely regenerate itself? Pretty cool stuff.

And let’s be real here… how we’re marketed to as a society when it comes to alcohol is a big part of the problem. We celebrate with it any chance we can, right? Graduation, bridal & baby showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, concerts, tailgates, weddings, brunches, work functions, dinners, play dates, holidays… The list goes on and on and on. What we don’t realize is that it’s a poison that wreaks havoc on the body, especially the digestive system. Fascinating to me because I associate the digestive system with food and chewing, not liquid or alcohol. Maybe, just maybe, if we saw commercials of what it actually does to your body instead of seeing someone chill on the beach with a Corona in hand, we’d think twice about just having that one beer.

Here’s a little breakdown of my first few weeks being alcohol free:

WEEK 1
I am not gonna lie, I was kind of obsessed with reading about it at first. I couldn’t get my hands on enough info. I joined alcohol free FB groups, followed hashtags, binged watched some interesting stuff on YouTube… I couldn’t stop. It unleashed a whole new world of knowledge for me. Why don’t more people talk about this? Why is it great if we quit smoking but if we quit drinking people ask why? Why is it not ingrained in us that It’s linked to cancer, dementia and wreaks havoc on the brain? Black outs, memory loss and vomiting are all signals that our bodies are shutting down. Scary stuff.
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WEEK 2
Oh my god the sugar cravings!!!!!!!!  I never really thought about wine being sugar but more of something I do socially with friends or at a nice dinner with the hubs. But since cutting out the wine, I have been ripping through my cabinets to get my hands on anything sweet WHICH IS NOT MY NORM. I did a huge sugar cleanse years ago and have been pretty consistent with it. Another moment of clarity…

We also knew 2 weeks in that we were DONE.
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WEEK 3
I had a few headaches in week 3 which are usually signals for me as I don’t get them often. It’s part of the detox process as I know because I had a headache for SIX days when I quit caffeine! BRUTAL!

We’re sleeping SO much better! Sleeping through the night, less tossing and turning and waking up feeling refreshed, not tired. GAME CHANGER.

Anxiety has gone down a significant amount. YAY.

Mental clarity. Wow.

Right: December 2020 Left: April 2021 (alcohol free)

We went to a really nice dinner and had sparkling water in a wine glass and it was DELICIOUS.Our drink has now evolved to adding lime and a slice of jalapeno to our sparkling water over ice! It’s AMAZING and SO refreshing! People actually stop us and ask what we’re drinking. The looks on their faces when we tell them is priceless, servers included! One of these days I’ll record it!

I’d have to say the biggest positive change for me is my skin. I used to have really dry hands where no lotion would help. Since being AF, hands and feet are so so smooth! Like it feels like I got a pedicure every day, that’s how smooth. Alcohol dries you out! For every alcoholic drink you have, 3 glasses of water is necessary to keep you hydrated. Cmon, nobody is doing that!!!!! No wonder we’re all dehydrated! Oh, and my face. Oh my. What a difference (see picture). The puffiness is gone. There’s a healthy glow to it. I used to say “I felt tired in the face.” I don’t feel that anymore.
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WEEK 4
Lost 8 pounds and I swear my belly is flatter. Flatter than it’s ever been and I am 45! When the liver is overworked, the fat cells migrate around the belly. Where do you think the term beer belly came from?

They say it takes 22 – 60 days to break a habit. After 21 days, blood pressure starts to stabilize! I really felt different. I felt like I was walking into a new life and I was ready. Ready to be honest and share my story.

I thought long and hard about whether I should or shouldn’t post. We all have different stories and scenarios. This is just my interpretation of it. I loved my wine. And I’ve been surrounded by alcohol my whole life, even though my parents didn’t drink. I knew what my life was like with it. But I was always curious about what it would be like without it. I gotta say, it’s SO much better on the other side.