Detox done

There's always satisfaction in seeing something difficult through to its completion. In this case it was the Wild Rose detox program, which Miss Muppet and I finished on Saturday. We enjoyed a celebratory glass of red wine with our hearty beef barley stew (delicious, I must admit, which is a relief since I sweated over it - not in it, mind you - for 4 hours).

Now that I'm back to regular eating, what can I say about the effects of the program? Do I feel "detoxified" and "energized", as the herbalist folks claim I should?

I would say that I feel fine - no worse or better. I can't really sense any manifest physical changes, except that my weight might be down a pound or two (not desirable, but inevitable). I do feel some minor "psychological" improvement, if you want to call it that, but that effect could be either: (a) renewed energy and vigour thanks to more regular digestion and elimination (I won't go into details, but this has always been a troubling issue for me); or (b) general satisfaction at having completed a challenge. I suspect it's a bit of both. I am willing to accept that this program has health benefits, but I suspect that the same benefits could be achieved just by eating a comparable diet for a week and not spending your cash on their concoction of alleged detoxifying herbs.

Does this mean that I finally agree with the hard-humanists out there who mock the idea that natural/holistic health approaches can be beneficial? Not really.

Other people may find that this type of wheat-free, dairy-free, low-sugar, yeast-free program gives them greater benefit that it gives me. I suspect that the results would be better if you were sensitive to gluten, had allergies, had a family history of diabetes, etc etc (I'll let the doctors work on that one).

So what's good about Gned having done this? Well, the most obvious benefit is that I've learned that one can prepare delicious and cheap food using all those crazy veggies and lentils that doctors and nutritionists (see the Canada Food Guide) are always recommending. In the future we will make these meals again, except that I won't care if I have bread on the side, vinegar in my salad dressing, or milk in my coffee. Having large amounts of high-vitamin, high-energy, low-glycemic food in the fridge is great when you're training at endurance activities 8+ hours a week and you're trying to avoid both poverty and Skeletoritis (that's the syndrome whereby I lose all body fat and turn into a less-muscled version of Skeletor). Other benefits may arise - we'll wait and see. If I crush my division at the British Universities Triathlon on May 1, I'll give thanks to Wild Rose and its petulie-smelling founders.