Urban Remedy Detox Review: Day 3

LAST DAY OF MY URBAN REMEDY DETOX!!

I woke up this morning and had an absolutely disgusting fuzzy, white tongue. GROSS! ...but at the same time, that's a good thing too coz that means all those toxins are really coming out. The tongue was slightly white & fuzzy yesterday morning too, but I didn't think much of it, only when it happened again today, in full force AND throughout the day, that I realized "Oh, them toxins are all coming out!"

If you're planning to do this cleanse while you're at work, I'd suggest bringing a toothbrush around with you from Day 2 onwards (to brush the tongue with). I didn't really feel it on Day 2, but today... Oh boy! I was scrubbing that tongue throughout the day coz I had that icky fuzzy feeling. (Dunno if you're supposed to be scrubbing the stuff off but I couldn't help it. Plus, I didn't want to have... BAD BREATH!!) Eww.

I decided to treat myself, today, the last day of the cleanse - I took the day off work to have a ME day! I thought I'd run some errands, do some Christmas shopping, and just generally laze around and be nice to myself.

Can I just say - I actually found it harder doing this while staying at home.

In an office environment, you're at your desk, you're busy with work and the office fridge is but a few metres away for when you're ready for the next drink. Having something to do and keep your focus on (ie., work) keeps your mind off food. Or maybe it's just me... I associate staying at home and watching the telly with... erm... SNACKING.

OK, so scratch that.

I had a few errands to run in town, then realized I had to plan them within the 2-hour window when I didn't need to be downing the drinks. It was either that, or lug the cooler bag around town with me. That's fine if it's at the end of the day when there are hardly any drinks left, but at the start of the day, you're talking about approximately 3 litres (ie., 3 kilos) extra weight!!

Mid-way through the day, Emma from Urban Remedy emailed and asked if I would be up for trying out a new "Special" #5 drink concoction they were experimenting with... carrot, celery, radish, grapefruit, orange and green tea. Good for weight loss and boosting metabolism. This would replace the original #5 drink.

So I said "Sure! Bring it on!"


To be completely honest, I didn't really like the flavour of this drink. This is the very first drink of theirs whose flavour I was so-so about. It's quite bitter (from the grapefruit), and almost has a herbal-y flavour to it. It reminds me of when my grandma used to take me to the Chinese medical halls and the old men would pull funky herbs out of shelves behind them and mix up stuff for her to boil... and the resulting smell of all of that stuff boiling in the pot kinda reminded me of the flavour of the Special #5 drink. Very unexpected, considering how yummy all the ingredients sound. Anyways, I glugged it down really quickly thinking "this is good for me this is good for me this is good for me".

The one thing that really started to concern me at the end of yesterday's Day 2 that I hadn't mentioned earlier coz I was probably (a) too embarrased to, (b) too tired to mention it when I was writing that last post... was that er... I STILL hadn't done a #2 at the end of day 2 (and I'm not talking about the #2 Detox Drink y'all. Get with the program).

Knowing what I know of detoxes, I know a large number of toxins are dumped in the large intestine. So I was starting to FREAK OUT that I still hadn't gone... coz then... y'know... they'd all be reabsorbed back into my body, then what's the point?! Also, I'm pretty "regular" (EWWWW!) and I'm vegan, so I get A LOT of veggies and fibre in my regular diet. It's not like there'd be a reason for anything to not come out.

The email from Urban Remedy I received on Day 1 mentioned this might happen since I'm not getting much roughage on the cleanse, and if so, just add some flaxseed oil to one of the detox drinks to help move things along.

OKAAAAAAY. So at the end of Day 2, I had a flaxseed oil gel cap with my detox drink #6. On hindsight, I should've snipped it and poured just the oil into the drink like they suggested. Coz I had the hardest time falling asleep coz I could feel the gel cap, like a stone in my stomach. Duh. My stomach's not been digesting!

Anyways, the next morning, I emailed Emma from Urban Remedy to ask if I could drink some psyllium husk with water, and she said to try more flaxseed oil first. Lo and behold, right after that email, I had to run to the loo! Problem solved.

***DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU CAN'T STOMACH ICKY-POO STORIES***



It's not that bad, I'm not gonna go into detail, but some people are sensitive, y'know. On a detox, it's not like your #2's are your regular ones, you might go a few times a day coz there's less "elimination". This is what happened with me.



***OK TO CONTINUE READING NOW*** (I decided to self-censor quite a bit of that. HAHA!)

It still concerns me even though I've gone now... I still feel like I haven't eliminated enough though (which means a lot of toxins could still be there). Just from the previous 7-day fasting cleanse I'd done before and realizing how much can still come out from your gut after 7 days of not eating, this time, in comparison is er... hmm... not as great. (Perhaps it could be coz I was also eating meat and a bunch of other crap back then, not as mindful as I've been before this cleanse?)

I would suggest if you're doing this cleanse, to start with the flaxseed oil much earlier, from Day 1. In fact, I'll suggest to the guys at Urban Remedy to encourage the use of psyllium husk mixed with water as well (or even mixed with the detox drink), since psyllium is non-digestible, and wouldn't get in the way of the cleanse. All it does is provide bulk & fibre. Also, the great thing about psyllium is it acts as a gentle scouring pad, sloughing off yucky bits from the sides of your intestines. Exactly what you need on a cleanse.

If I had the guts to do a DIY home enema or colonics, I'd have ordered a home kit too. It's just the thought of DIY that's just a bit too... icky for me!

What I did instead, was chug down more water and went and sat in the steam room. I figured "OK, if these toxins aren't coming out through my colon, I'm gonna make sure they come out through my skin!" (I'm pretty chronic like that) While in the steam room, I sat in half-lotus and did some meditation with the mantra "Inhale: Purity. Exhale: Toxins." And then I also gave myself a mini massage - upward moving strokes to stimulate the lymph (since I hadn't been dry-brushing. Oops). Thank goodness it was only me in the steam room! HAHAHA! Back home, I gave myself a nice exfoliating scrub-down from head-to-toe... it's just a nice treat when you've got the time to do something simple like that. :)

On the yoga practice front, again I had a nice and strong practice. Can I just say: I think FOOD is getting in the way of my yoga progress in twists and binds! HAHAHAHA!

Only because again today, I was binding higher than my wrists in Mari D (on both sides now), and the Supta Kurmasana bind came extremely easily as well. Oh, and for the first time ever, I was able lengthen so far forward in Baddha Konasana, that my belly was resting on my feet and my forehead touched the floor... ON MY OWN!! It's making me think... Do I really eat THAT much? That it makes such a world of difference with less food in my gut?! I mean, I'm not exactly ultra-skinny, but I'm not chubby either. HAHAHA - obviously, this proves food gives me a BIG GUT.

Oh my... what a long post! At the end of Day 3, I'm now thinking... "That's IT?!" It feels like the detoxing has only just begun to kick in and I'm stopping the cleanse tomorrow. I think I might try the 5-day cleanse at some point, just to get more of its detoxification effects. Especially now that I realize how extremely do-able it is in fitting into the rest of life.

I've really enjoyed this detox process, and it's made me realize that maybe I do eat too much crap (the difference between "before food" and "after food" in some of the yoga poses is quite extreme!) Don't worry, I love food too much to stop eating completely... I guess it's finding that balance and knowing when to STOP eating!

I'll have a post-detox review of the first day back on food again to let you know how it goes. I'm planning a fruit smorgasbord. (I was already salivating when I was picking through cherries at the supermarket earlier today).

Gotta ease back into it, y'know?