A Wren Says

I decided to take on the Sakara Level II Detox in a time in my life when I needed to reset. I was feeling burnt out and mentally exhausted. My diet was trash. I just generally wasn’t taking care of myself like I knew I should and could. Something needed to change, so I went drastic. And expensive. The 5 day detox it was.

When you read the word detox, do you roll your eyes? Just like I would have previously? When I hear about someone doing a detox, I think about suffering. I think about drinking olive oil, surviving only on juice, or eating nothing at all. That is not what this program was. I was grateful for that.  

It is not a shot of olive oil every day. It is not a pile of pills to take daily. And it certainly was not a juice cleanse. The Detox Level II through Sakara life is a food based fasting protocol. You are eating a reduced number of calories while getting the nutrients you need to support your body. The idea is that fasting helps reset your gut and body. You’re also given a specifically designed nutritional profile in your foods each day. To further support, you’re given supplements and tonics to consumer throughout the day.

I will say there were times that I felt hungry. It was after all glorified fasting. But I never felt ravenous. I just really kept daydreaming about getting a piece of plain fish. So maybe the protein was lower than what my body needed.

I noticed that I did lose some weight by the week’s end. I haven’t weight myself since, but I think a little bit of that weight loss stuck around. But even more than that, I think it was the mental effects that were more important.

Because I was detoxing, from a nutritional standpoint, I started to think about what else I needed to cut out from my life. I made the decision to eat my meals away from my work computer. I separated myself from that stress and savored my meals. I think that helped me feel more satisfied, even with the small portions. I was more intentional about avoiding late night and early morning scrolling. I finally found a way to ensure I consumed 64 ounces of water daily.

I don’t know if it was the protocol, or just me intentionally slowing down, but I felt like I had more energy and less fatigue throughout the day. The convenience of having everything planned out for me helped me keep going.  And more importantly, I learned that I could prioritize myself and my nutrition, instead of just eating whatever I could find.

I want to take the time to reflect on the lessons of the detox. For now though, I am happy with my experience and look forward to doing it again. Maybe I will do a January reset.