The Prudent Wife

One of the great things about summer is that it inspires you to get around to some of the health challenges that you need to deal with, but for whatever reason, choose not to. One of the things on my summer list was to try a gallbladder cleanse, the one where you drink apple juice for a week, to soften potential gall stones, eat a healthy whole food, mainly veggie based diet all week, then on THE DAY have breakfast/lunch, a dinner of berries with whipped cream, which is then chased down with an Epsom Salt concoction, and later olive oil mixed with lemon juice. This is supposed to be a simple, easy way to cleanse the gallbladder and the next day should be spent excreting stones. Sounds pretty weird! So why do I feel compelled to do it? I am not completely sure, it goes under that category of “that still small voice!” I have felt I needed to do this cleanse for over two years, and with a cross country move, a one state over move and starting a new life in TN, just never took the time. Plus, I will admit it, I was a little scared! But all the berries and whipped cream I can eat one night seems worth it at any price!

You know how it is when you keep coming back to something - the question is always - is this the Lord or I am merely obsessed? If it doesn’t contradict with scripture, then it goes down to the “will it fit in my life right now”and “is there a cost” or “do I already OWN the stuff to do it.” If I already own the stuff - I am usually willing to try it.

Over the years I have tried many herbal cleanses, most purchased from the Health Food Store (HFS) and usually run about $30. I always began my cleanses bright eyed and bushy tailed and sure it would give me stunning results. I never noticed a big change, but felt like perhaps I had so much gunk in me that I needed to do it several times to get great results. I have played with juice cleanses, with my Vita-Mix, following The Juice Lady’s recipes (which are made for a juicer that extracts the pulp and leaves the juice only). I have never totally given up food while doing them and had a water fast. I have done two since we moved to TN, but the reality that we lived on the road for almost 6 months when we moved, with the stark realization that we ate a lot of stuff I would normally NEVER eat, gained a lot of weight (stress and just plain piggle!) and that I haven’t felt great since the move leads me to suspect there is a lot of bad stuff in me that needs to come out!

So what to do?

While perusing a homeschool Yahoo group I am on, another HS mom was talking about her trip down the Epsom salt/gallbladder cleanse lane. She had phenomenal results - and was convinced that it set her back on her trip to health. I asked for her protocol and she wrote it up. It was very similar to the one I have been avoiding, so I decided to give it a try. That was the day of the teeth cleaning - so what better day to try something then when you get your 6 month exam (your teeth are all clean, why gunk them up with sugar and bread!)

So after the dentist, we dropped by the Health Food Store to get the stuff to start the gallbladder cleanse. They did not have half the stuff to do it, with my friend’s protocol, what they did have was terribly expensive. I had read about the Oxy stuff and had been interested in it for awhile, so decided to postpone that protocol and consider ordering online later. You know how you feel there is a constant whisper towards some things, including certain products and that email was the final straw! However, I simply did not have the cash to INVEST in the cleanse….especially since it would just be me doing it and that felt terribly selfish.

Incidentally, it seems the last time I bought organic apple juice by the gallon, it was $4.49 in CA….here it is $11.99. Now that was probably a bulk price at a great HFS chain back home, but still! Does this seem unreasonably high to the rest of you???

As I was talking to one of the women at the HFS and trying to figure out what was in my product wish list and if they had similar items, the HFS woman was talking about juice fasting. When she heard we have a Vita-Mix, she gave us some terrific ideas. My daughter Emily (who is almost 13) was SO EXCITED and begged me to do a juice fast with her. With the other being so pricey, it wasn’t hard to discourage me. I still need to do it, but was planning on buying fruits and veggies anyway (it was our food shopping day) We decided to do a JUICE FAST. Hubby will drink the juices AM and PM, but eat his homemade gourmet meals at work. For once in my life, I actually checked with a Dr. before starting something (now that we have one and all) Our new family physician is THRILLED and gave us the okay for 3-5 days - so off we go! Her brother is an NP and he laughingly said - “Tell them not to do it for 40 days and 40 nights.” They did say to eat a few almonds if we feel our blood sugar is vacillating too wildly - so that is good.

So juice fasting it is - and I will do the gallbladder cleanse later. I am really craving that bowl of whipped cream and berries….but I digress! LOL!