Eps 009: 10 Day Detox – 6 things that surprised me

Well, hello, they’re gorgeous. Today I’m gonna share with you six benefits to a recent 10 day detox that I did and some of the surprising things that came out of it.

But first off, you are listening to the Life Pilot podcast, which is all about where I’m gonna help you quit dreaming and start living your ideal life today.

You see, life Pilot is a simple, yet powerful strategic life planning tool that turns your big life vision into achievable goals and intentions that you can start on today. Not tomorrow. It’s designed for busy people who wanna know what to prioritize to get the results they want and live their ideal lifestyle.

That sounds good to you. Head across to lifepilot.co to find out more details.

Now let’s dive into this episode today. Can I first off just say that I am loving being back behind just the podcast mic, and not attempting to do a video podcast? It’s just giving me so much more freedom.

I have so many more ideas around topics that I wanna dive into and research and bring to you and also talk to you about, and it just feels like I’m back in my natural place. There’s no pressure, no stress, so it is the best decision I have ever made. And just remember that you get to make decisions about how you wanna live your life every single day, and this was a fantastic one.

So I am about a week past finishing a 10 day detox by Dr. Mark Hyman. And you might have noticed, if you look at the podcast cover artwork, that today’s cover is like a beautiful sort of teal green happens to be my favorite colour in the world.

That is because we have six life categories in LifePilot that basically give you a holistic overview of your life at any point. And these are growth, relationships, wellness, wealth, work slash impact and lifestyle. And so today’s episode is actually all about wellness because I can’t remember the last time I did a detox, actually no, I do.

I did it through Aroha retreats. And it was an online five day one where you just cooked really, really good, healthy, nutritious food, for five days and did meditation each day, and it was really lovely.

But this was a 10 day detox by Dr. Mark Hyman, and the whole reason I ended up doing it is that in May I decided to go alcohol free and sugar free as best I can, because as you probably know, there’s sugar in pretty much fricking everything.

No added or extra refined sugar and really limiting things that had sugar in them. And I felt really good and I leaned up a little and my workouts were great and I was sleeping better and all over just feeling good. So then I was listening to Mel Robbins podcast where she interviewed Dr. Mark Hyman.

And then I got his book because I have so many audible credits, it’s not funny. And I was like, oh, this sounds really good. It just feels like a really good extension of what I’ve just been doing. So, I’m gonna carry on. And I managed to rope Josh into it.

He was like, yep, I’ll do it with you so long as you organize everything, the food list, the, all that stuff. He was happy to prep on all the meals, which he did. And he came along for the ride. So the 10 day detox was essentially so no alcohol, no sugar, no caffeine, no gluten and no dairy.

I can already hear you probably going, Jesus, that sounds really boring. But essentially what it was was just whole real foods, fresh foods, a ton of veggies, lots of good salads, and you know, a really good quality protein.

And what I liked about it is because I’d already been doing this sort of month. It didn’t feel super restrictive to me and I was just up for it. I also was just really organized for once I listened to the audio book right up until the first day. So that was all the prep, anything you needed to buy, and I went into my.

Into our, I should say, food pantry. And we had a lot of stuff because we’ve, you know, we eat fairly healthy. Huh? I thought at least we did. And so I had a lot of existing stuff. I didn’t have to buy a heap more from the supermarket, which was really good. And it was pretty straightforward.

And the whole premise of it is that every single day you wake up and you do 30 minutes of exercise. He actually just suggests walking, but I was doing like head workouts and Pilates and strength and yoga because as you might have seen on a previous episode, I’ve got my kind of three or four favorite YouTube channels and I just do these workouts and just hit play every morning.

And it’s awesome. And I really like it and it’s great variety and it’s. Tough man, like they’re really challenging, good workouts, but they feel great and I’m getting really strong. So you’d start your day off for 30 minutes and then you would take essentially fiber. So psyillium husks just to make you feel a bit fuller before your first meal, but also to get you more regular and get your fiber in for the day.

Which by the way, full disclosure, I have no problem with being regular, but apparently some people really do. In fact, a lot of us aren’t going regularly enough in terms of number twos to the toilet. So there you go. And then half an hour after having that, you would have your breakfast. And breakfast was always a detox smoothie and there were about five recipes to cycle through.

So one thing about this 10 day detox is there was lots of optionality for you, depending on what you felt like. And we tended to stick to two or three of the ones that were really good and very, very little sugar. Again, like half. Not even half a cup of blueberries and some of them there was kiwi fruit sometime there was always lemon and ginger.

There was almond butter, coconut oil, avocado, and grains and seeds. So really good nuts and things like that. And they were just like really filling. And I wouldn’t say delicious because initially they tasted really bitter, but as the week went on, everything just started to taste so flavorful, including vegetables, which just tasted sweet.

It was amazing. And it actually took me way back to my days of body sculpting. Fun fact here end of 2004 I decided to try something completely different and train for a body sculpting or you, what you might know is a figure competition. So I wasn’t a body builder. I was very, very strong and muscular, but very lean.

And I pretty much remember that being just eating chicken and broccoli all the time. And I got down to like 10% body fat, super lean. Um, Yeah, it’s not a healthy place to be, but there was certain points throughout when I was leaning up and going through that training that I felt so amazingly sexy and strong and vibrant and clear-headed and just really excited by how I felt and how I looked.

And I had moments of that throughout this 10 day detox actually, of just that feeling of full clarity in my head and just feeling Lena and really great. So I highly recommend if you want to change things up in the wellness area.

If you are not in your ideal state of health right now, if you’re not in your ideal body in terms of vibrancy and strength and vitality, and flexibility, then this 10 day detox might be something that kickstarts you into better habits, and that’s essentially what I was using it for.

I think any challenge that you go on is to kickstart a better way of doing things or a better possibility or opportunity for you. And yeah, as I said, it was, it was really helpful. So every day started off with the smoothie and then you could have, a handful of nuts, particularly macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews, all raw and unsalted.

And then lunch. What I liked again, is you could make like a good meal and he had a recipe there for you, but you could also just do a soup again, recipes for that or a salad bar, which was essentially two cups of salad and there was specific ones in there cuz some are just like iceberg lettuce is just literally, you might as well not even eat it.

So really good salad options and then veggies to go with it. And then a good clean protein like baked chicken or pan fried fish, whatever it may be. Or just boiled eggs. So it was really every single day we had salad pretty much because, I don’t know why I didn’t make soups. We just, it was easy and the biggest thing was just prepping and having things on hand.

And there we are super lucky that we live two minutes drive from a market garden. So I was literally getting top ups every couple of days of, you know, spinach, peppers and mesculun salad and tomatoes and onions and all those things. So that was incredibly handy. Must admit there were more trips to the supermarket than I thought for this 10 day detox

Even though I had prepped and ordered my delivery for the day before it started. I thought I had everything but no. And then dinner was something essentially the same again, you could have, A basic kind of meal where you could have, he called it the adventure plan, which was more herbs and spices and a little bit more creativity in terms of toppings and sauce that were always healthy.

And afternoon snack, I forgot to say, was usually a dip with veggies and, oh my god, the best sun dried tomato dip I have ever made. Like a sun dried tomato pesto, and a tahini pesto as well. And just both really delicious and just used to cut up carrot sticks and. No way. And Leo loved them as well. So I just found it really easy to get into that flow, and I really loved that.

It took kind of the guesswork out of everything. Kind of made life simple every single day. It was this rhythm and routine. And the results. I lost three kilos and I’ve still got that three kilos off. And, I’m actually at a weight that I haven’t been for fricking ages, and that was my goal to hit this year over the space of a whole year.

And I got down to it in three days. Very, like effortlessly and some of that has been postpartum just weight gain from the baby and just leaning up again. But honestly, this weight that I wasn’t even at before getting pregnant, so, like 77 kilos, which is perfect cause I was born in 77. It all feels very, I don’t know, aligned and it’s just, yeah, feels great.

The other thing that happened throughout this 10 day detox was I just slept a ton better. I just had much deeper sleeps. And I’ll tell you why that is soon. I got better clarity in my head. I’ve actually been pretty good for ages, but I just felt more alert, more onto it.

And then the other thing that I thought was quite surprising, but in reflection probably shouldn’t have thought that, is that I was just way less reactive. So the whole week just felt less. Stressful. Sure. There was quite a lot of planning and organizing and having to do a different recipe every single night and read every single recipe through.

Like I never memorized the smoothies. There were so many ingredients in them, all healthy that I couldn’t always remember and tablespoons of this and teaspoons of that, but, On the whole, you know, 30 meals over 10 days was quite a lot.

We only ate out once and we had a salad and I think it was green fried chicken, so probably not the most ideal protein, but it was super great and it was still totally within our remit of what we could eat.

But yeah, I think that was the only thing was just having to organize all that for the 10 day detox. Even though Josh prepped with me, I was just reading all those recipes and making it orbit. At the end of the day, you do that when you’re cooking at home anyway.

And the less reactivity part was really interesting, just the spaciousness throughout the week, because the other thing that Dr. Mark Hyman suggested that you do was also go on a media detox throughout it. And I actually pretty much did. I didn’t post at all on social for 10 whole days, and it felt glorious. I suddenly realized I’m a sharer. I love to document, I love to bring people into the things that bring me joy in my life.

And, you know, I’m a  LifePilot founder and I’d like to show you what your ideal life can look like and how we live it. But there was something really lovely about just being private throughout this and enjoying that space and time.

I did go on social media a little but, but very little in the end, I just realized that I kind of stepped back from everything and I did more reading, and I did more relaxing, and I did more breathing in nature, and I just felt like the week was quite spacious.

So that was really beautiful.

6 things that I found quite surprising  during this 10 day detox

#1 Journalling

So a big part of this 10 day detox was journaling. So every single night you would answer questions from Dr. Mark Hyman on, certain things, every single. Journal entry had, how do I feel physically and what changes do I notice in my body?

And what thoughts and emotions are present for me today? So those three questions were always there every single day. And just even answering those was enlightening. Sometimes I didn’t feel any change. Other days I felt a bit more sluggish. The first couple of days I did have a bit of a headache and just felt a bit more tired, and then there’d be days where I was like on fire.

So I was just really feeling into and noticing that. And just the fact of journaling was beautiful. I would do my gratitude journal and then I would do my journal for this.

#2. Detox Baths

The other thing that I thought was awesome was the 10 day detox baths, which essentially we had every single night. It was one to two cups of epso salts, 10 drops of lavender oil and a bit of baking soda if you wished.

We bath Leo every single night and sometimes I get in and sometimes I get in after he is done it. But typically I reserve baths for Leo and here we were every night. Just, I loved it.

It was like my goddess time where I just got to soak myself in the silky water that smelled amazing and I’d put the candles on and I’d lean back and I would actually listen to talk to Mark Hyman’s audiobook for the day that was coming up so that I was like, Essentially getting myself into that mode for what’s coming tomorrow. And every single day had a different, title and theme.

# 3. Deep Sleeps

And so after that bath, I would go to bed, I’d journal on the questions, do my gratitudes, and then I was just having the best beautiful, deep sleeps cause I really didn’t have anything to worry about. I don’t know. It just felt like, as I said, a very spacious, detoxing week. So a huge benefit there.

#4. Media Detox

The other thing, that I felt was really great about the 10 day detox, so I’ve talked about the media detox, which I think was just an added benefit, that I was less reactive, that I felt more spacious, that the baths were amazing.

The journaling was just really helpful and something that I want to and am continuing with not necessarily every day, but just more regularly.

#5. Less Reactive

See above in transcript around my improvements on this front.

#6. Mindfulness

The sixth one was mindfulness, so you’re more mindful around all your eating. It just really threw up for Josh and I, habits that we had gotten into that were just unnecessary and also, Before every meal, you were meant to take five deep, mindful breaths.

And I don’t think we ever did that, but I just felt like I took more time with eating my meals, more time appreciating what I just cooked or prepared and just really enjoying every single mouthful. I will say that Josh did not have the same experience.

I would put like yummy salads and veggies in front of him, and the first few days we were going like super clean, so like steamed veggies and like super simple proteins and I think he was like, this is so boring. Also he didn’t seem to feel any benefits throughout the week. He didn’t have extra clarity or feel that different. He had a bit of a headache at the beginning. Maybe he felt a bit clearer later on. He also wasn’t journaling.

Every night I would ask him the questions from the 10 day detox prompts, but you know, this is Josh. You don’t try and get, a stubborn Taurean to do anything that they don’t want. So I was just happy that he was coming along on the ride with me.

He also lost about three kilos and definitely both of us were more aware of just how we eat, what we eat, and how we probably weren’t getting the rainbow at all and not eating enough salads and vegetables over the space of the day.

What has stuck with me over the space of this almost week since finishing, is just, I’ve actually just been pretty much carrying it on. So at the end of the 10 day detox program, really what spoiler alert, what Dr. Mark Hyman wants you to do is say, actually, I want you to stay on this for an extra 90 days. This was my sneaky way to get you to change up the way in which you even think.

And how you feel your body and how you look at what you put into your body and how you move and all those things just to really get you thinking about your overall wellness. And he suggests that you go on to do a further 90 days if you can. And then he gives you three options, which is the super advanced plan, the advanced plan or the basic.

The super advanced is just to carry on as you have been with his exact same thing. And I do think that honestly, the way this book is written, you know, he very much talks about his target audience throughout it, which is. A lot of people who are at risk of diabesity, that is actually a word.

So whether you’re pre-diabetic or obese or with chronic health problems, and I think he’s trying to do something really good for the world here in terms of helping those people to help themselves. He is a doctor of functional medicine, so he’s all about healing your body from within using whole foods and your own abilities.

And that’s something that I really appreciated about him. So I looked at the advanced super plan. And I was like, Nope. And then I looked at the advanced plan and I was like, oh yeah, that allowed you to introduce a few more legumes and beans because beans can be quite toxic or harmful to some people.

Then the basic plan was you’re allowed to introduce back in a few more starchy veggies, like sweet potatoes or squash . You could just introduce back in a few more things, like if you really did want some coffee, I guess you could.

And the other thing you could introduce back in were a few more citrus fruits, because basically we just sort of had berries or kiwi fruits throughout in the smoothies.

I forgot that bananas, even though I love them, and I think they’re an incredible source of so many good things like potassium. They’re also super starchy and very sugary. So it was more veggies and fruits that could come back in that were a little bit more citrusy, but still not so high on the sugar and starch content.

And that was a basic plan. And then the final thing that you could do, so he did offer up lots of options for people, is that you could go onto his 10 day Blood solution diet, which is essentially just again, healthy whole foods.

But you could introduce if you wanted gluten and dairy over time and just not as regularly as you have had, and you could, essentially have caffeine and if you really wanted, you could have some alcohol.

But the whole point is, To just be way more mindful about what you’re eating. And in the week, since both Josh and I can’t eat as much, which is good, like he, the day after we finished, he immediately made a homemade pizza and had it, I was actually flew to Auckland to a friend’s birthday and I was really proud of myself.

I didn’t drink. I, kept to my really healthy eating and I just felt great about it. And I did two lots of exercise up there because I was Leo free, so I had the spaciousness and yeah, I realized that going out to cafes and restaurants was way harder than I thought initially to eat, right? Like there’s just so much crap and, and so many things that get piled on your plate that you don’t need.

But we did find a really great restaurant where, It was pretty much perfect. It was like sorted greens and really yummy veggies, and a really clean piece of yummy grilled chicken. So, that was awesome. I’ve kept off the coffee until, this week. I just had one and it tasted great and I’ve just really want to introduce that slowly.

I am staying off gluten, alcohol, dairy and sugar for the next month. Even though we’re heading to Fiji, I just feel like I want to stick with that, and that’s feeling really, really good. And I’m still at the same weight that I lost.

So, you know, we’re only a week down the track, but I’m definitely still less reactive and feeling more mindful and feeling less stressy about anything, and feeling good, feeling positive, and enjoying it.

So I just wanted to share. I guess the, the journey of the 10 day detox certainly have not done one in ages. And, I think it’s something you could do every single year. You could probably even do something similar each quarter. What I like about it is essentially it’s resetting your gut biome and detoxing your whole body.

It’s bit like decluttering, right? Taking everything out, going through that journey of just becoming this sort of, you know, much cleaner person and then you can start introducing things back in.

Because a lot of people have gluten intolerances, a lot of people have dairy intolerances, and until you strip it out and then continue on that longer, Journey of this detox, then you get to start introducing it back in and start to see and journal how your body feels.

And you might find some really surprising things when you might find, like Josh and I, that we don’t have any of those intolerances. So technically we can introduce them all back in. But also just what feels good for your body, what does it respond really well to?

And for me, one of the biggest questions that got asked as we went along in the journaling for the 10 day detox. The first few days were just kind of basic.

You went:

• How do I feel physically?
• What changes do I notice in my body?
• What thoughts and emotions are present for me today?

I talked about those questions earlier, but then as it went on, it was like:

• How did it feel to track my results and experiences during this program? How did it affect me?
• What surprised me the most about my results?
• Where, when and how will I, notice things about my body going forward?

This was on day nine, which was all about noticing, and some of the other days it was like, what is my why behind getting fitter and healthier? And I just love that because as you went, it was essentially gearing you up to leading a healthier life forever.

One of the biggest things was what is your why? And for me, my why is actually ultimately me. I want to live to over 90 and I want to live my life really freaking well. Like I’m in the second half of my life and I want to be thriving, and I want to be at my peak optimal. Health that I can be for my age and I wanna be kicking ass.

And, I don’t wanna be getting into my seventies, eighties, and nineties and having crippling diseases or chronic health problems just because I wasn’t prepared to look after my body earlier. I wanna literally be my best health throughout my life. And the second why is Leo, I don’t wanna just keep up with him.

I wanna. Literally be right beside him or ahead of him in terms of how I can handle, running and walking and hikes and playing at Adventures and sport. And it’s really important to me that I am a young fit, healthy mom in mind, body and soul. So, once you get into your wife for any area of your life, this is what we talk about in Life Pilot.

This is what we go through. The minute you get really clear on your vision for how you want to live in that area of your life, you get to start making really tactical and. Effective changes towards it. Nothing’s gonna change if you don’t change yourself. And I really like about 10 days. It’s very doable.

It didn’t feel long at any point. It definitely felt like, oh, okay, my God, we’re on day five, we’re almost there, but, but then it just kind of got into this flow and it was really, really lovely and I really appreciated it.

I hope that you have, Enjoyed this episode where I’ve shared a few more details. You can find this across at lifepilot.co/009 where the full transcript is there.

If you prefer to read instead of listen through. Or if you’d like to read more details, I’ll also link to the book. You didn’t need anything else other than that to get started. You didn’t need any fancy stuff. There were vitamins and things that you could take each day. We did that fairly regularly.

But other than that, it was just good whole foods and just so surprising to see how you can change so much in 10 days, both in your mind and your body, and your energy. So highly recommend you do something like this for yourself. And would love to know your results. Come across to at Natalie says, and hit me up on Instagram.

Let me know and if you have any other questions, fire away. Thanks so much for listening to the Life Pilot podcast.