Why did I do this…..

Here is the thing. I just got over Covid and I put more medicines in my body that I typically don’t take. On top of that I have had hormonal issues for a long time. I have been working on them with my functional doctor, but long story short I have REALLY low levels of both progesterone, and estrogen. 

A little backstory- I was put on birth control when I was 15 and took it forever, got off it for a few years around 2011 then got back on around 2015. That entire time I was off of it I never had a period- I took synthetic forms of the hormones per my Dr. but nothing helped. Then I got back on it and then stopped again at the beginning of this year and lets just say history has repeated itself. Being that Chad and I are now a year into marriage I want to get these under control. 

I am well versed on cycle syncing and have implemented many of those practices but it is hard to tell where I really am in my cycle if you will… I can definitely tell by eating and working out the way prescribed for cycle syncing I have the highs and lows when I should which makes me feel like things are moving in the right direction, I never imagined it would be quick, however it is taking.a hot minute. 

So ENTER this 4 day hormonal detox I found from Alissa Vitta – 

I am someone who is NOT a fan of juice cleanses or anything like that. I believe in autophagy where fasting can kill off cells however this is a different approach by eating more foods but WHOLE foods lots of veggies and not a lot of protein. Not to mention this is 4 days so I can do this….. Right? Ugh.

Here is how it went – 

It is funny how after you are sick or down it is so much easier to get motivated to do something healthy right?? Or maybe it is just me. Anyways the first day was not that hard. I woke up- was actually happy to have fruit to start the day. Yall I love my overnight oats and protein like it is my FAVORITE plus my nutbutter…. and I get none of that, and was excited. Who am I?

This was the first day I got to go back to work in the gym so I got to get out of the house. It was fabulous lol. Went and trained two clients then came home before my virtual ones and ate lunch. Lunch consisted of a salad that I would never typically eat – celery, cucumber, arugula, artichoke, carrots (all raw) with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Honestly it is not terrible, I just am not used to eating raw stuff like that and I do not believe my stomach likes them too much. I also had about a half cup of brown rice and cod. The brown rice made my life I had it with coconut aminos, green onions, radishes and olive oil. So that did not suck. However I was STARVING before dinner.

I worked out after clients – then had 1/.2 a scoop of my DNS powder because I felt like my blood sugar or something was low. Probably shouldn’t have worked out….. live and learn.

Dinner then consisted of a minestrone soup (she calls it that) with lentils. I honestly don’t think I have ever had lentils. Not bad though but definitely didnt fill me up. I realized this day just how much I do eat protein.

Went to bed hungry but was proud of sticking to what I did.

Woke up wondering why I did this once again I just wanted my damn oats! I had a half scoop of my DNS though before coffee (which don’t know if thats supposed to be allowed but oh well) then did my devotionals and reading and went for a run. Then had my fruit – this time though I heated it up! Much better btw. And I dont know if I added I top it with flaxseed meal plus cinnamon. I had half a suja green juice too like recommended and chlorella tabs.Then it was off to train.

Yall omg by lunch I have not been hungry like that in forever. I have been drinking a TON of water and I have been using ultima for electrolytes now because liquid iv sadly has made me nauseas since Covid. Weird how stuff like that happens. Anyways, I had a chiro appointment and had to eat before or I might die (no really). So I did something I have not done in a while and ate in my car. Same wild cod and brown rice and salad as yesterday and I instantly felt better. However it was short lived.

Got home and was starving again so I had another scoop of DNS powder – figure it is vegan and is used in the liver detox I have done so i doubt it is that big of a problem…. who knows- still proud of myself for doing good so far despite that. 

Did some work trained another virtual client and then my stomach started…. it took everything in me to wait until 7 which is around when I normally eat dinner to eat. Then I had my soup again…. and yes still hungry when I went to bed. I think it messed with my sleep too as I couldn’t fall asleep which lately has not been an issue. I even did a epsom salt bath like she recommended. Oh well. One more day!!

Woke up hungry again- slept like crap and had a headache, decided today I am going to take a rest day. I forgot to mention too that along with all of the food there is also self care things she recommends each day. Like decluttering something, going through the kitchen and throwing out anything with fake stuff in it, writing down things that you are thankful for, Epsom salt baths etc.

This morning was a little different…. I decided to make my own juice. I have this nice breville juicer that I rarely use… mainly because it is hard to manuever it in our kitchen. Next home will be different lol. So I made a green juice and yalllll it was tart and sour af. Made chad drink some too…. he did! I also had my fruit again, coffee and DNS (I had to).

For some reason todays lunch was different. Quinoa, half an avocado 🥑  (insert happy dance) lentils and flax meal plus salad. It was a ton better than the fish BUT I was still hungry. Yall this is a lot of food honestly it is so I do not get it. Maybe it is because of sugars I don’t realize I have more of? Ugh.Anyways I ate it.

Dinner was another good ol serving of soup… I don’t really know what else to say about that one except I was hungry not long after lunch and then dinner did not help. I added some greens again and some broccoli which was good, but I was still hungry……

The last day was awful….. I do not know what is happening right now to be honest. It is really messing with my sleep I could not sleep at all woke up a ton to pee like before but it still was just not what I had envisioned this detox being like. 

I had the same breakfast but I added a whole 2 scoops of DNS on the side today to see if it would help. I think it did somewhat.

Fast forward to lunch and I was glad to eat the rest of my fish and brown rice but was still really hungry. The salad I think was messing with stomach too. To be honest not sure if this was exactly a great idea.

Dinner was a ton of cooked greens and quinoa so no soup thankfully. It was better but still tomorrow I CANNOT WAIT. 

My energy just felt off and I really felt SUPER anxious ALL day. It is weird because I have been on an anxiety medicine for years (there is NO shame in that yall). It also is not the time of the month where I should be anxious – this should be a few weeks…. so wondering if the detoxing is messing with my hormones but not in a positive way….. again not sure if I should have done this.

My conclusion/ Follow up with days after – 

To be honest – I really don’t know if I should have done this. I have always been on the super low hormone side (meaning I have low estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) I have been this way for years and part of the reason why Dr.’s always told me to take birth control because it helps you have a “fake” period so your body thinks its hormones are normal. That is also part of the problem, not having enough of those hormones then stopping after years its easy to understand that it is not just jumping  back to normal levels now. 

So as I am writing this part of it I am about 4 days after the detox. And up until literally today I have had anxiety and low mood (depression) like symptoms since. I have trouble turning my mind off to go to sleep and it was like I was wired and tired but my eyes wouldn’t shut. I hate that – and that is typically an indicator of cortisol imbalance. We have done a good job of getting mine under control so if I messed it up….. yalllllll I am going to hurt someone. 

I did some research though as well and found out that alot of these foods and I was also taking too much chlorella (which I didn’t realize was possible ) and as a result when I take them at certain times with my other meds it could have caused my liver to detox the other stuff too quick which means I was not getting my adequate dosing which could make me anxious after a few days (like it would be if I stopped taking it). Maybe it made my hormones too low too? I am NOT a doctor so I am just hypothesizing here. Luckily I do work for my doctor though so I am getting blood work later this week and we will see where they lay.

Overall I do NOT think this is a bad thing to do- but I think you really should ask a doctor before doing anything like this. I should have. I have done simple liver detoxes as mentioned before but none like this or none that made me feel this way. I am sure this could definitely benefit some people and who knows maybe I am just a pansy lol. 

I am definitely going to be adding more REAL veggies into my diet though, and it definitely helped me realize how important having a variety of plants in rotation on your diet is a big key in health. I need to get out of my same ol’ routine and try more things for added benefits. For example I am adding arugula to more of my salads now, and I am adding radishes and going to do more juicing with my Breville – seriously I do like that thing! I am still going to take chlorella at times too – there is a lot of research in how beneficial it is for us and our overall health you just need to take the right amounts! (whoopsie).

This also definitely re emphasized how IMPORTANT individualized health plans are. How important it is to work with someone who knows their stuff and not just read a blog and decide you are an expert (yes I have def done that). As I mentioned I do believe that this could be beneficial to a lot of women especially those with PCOS or are really estrogen dominant because it can help rid of those higher excess levels.

Anyways – thats all. If you want to find out more about what. I did head on over to Intheflo.com and you can find out more there! I do trust her!! 

PS – check out my video below of the recipes I did PLUS my thoughts after the fact.