Hello, gang. I’m sitting here writing this on Day 5 of the Sakara Level II Detox program. This is the final day, the home stretch, and I wanted to share with you guys my experience. This was the first time I’ve ever done an elimination type cleanse like this. This past month I was experiencing crazy breakouts and couldn’t figure out why. I notice my body does tend to detox through the skin in the late fall and spring seasons, and after attending the Sakaralite Summit in LA last month, I learned more about this deeply cleansing program and was convinced I should give it a shot. If anything, I thought, it’ll be a good end of the year reset before the holidays when I plan to enjoy large amounts of organic wine and vegan pumpkin pies.
If you’re not familiar with Sakara, it’s a nutrition led, organic, and plant-based meal delivery service that uses the foundation of “food as medicine” to heal you from the inside out. I cannot recommend their meal program enough for anyone wanting to test out a plant-based diet. I wrote about my first time trying their Signature program here (plus a coupon code!) if you want to learn more.
WHAT IS LEVEL 2?
The Level II Detox is a 5 day program that eliminates all the common shiz that causes the body harm and triggers a stress response. Symptoms like blood sugar spikes and crashes, bad bacteria overgrowth in the gut, and chronic inflammation to name a few. The most common culprits are: meat, dairy, gluten, sugar (including even healthy sugars from fruit), grains, nuts, GMO soy, pesticides, chemicals, toxins, alcohol, caffeine, and nightshades (ya those things made famous by Gisele and Tom Brady- trust me, Google it.)
Nightshades are white potatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and chilli peppers. They are called nightshades because they grow at night by the light from the moon. Confusing though right? Because one would inherently think these are healthy for everyone all the time. But if I have learned anything from going to the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to become a health coach, it’s that everyone is different and bio individuality is key.
I pretty much don’t eat a lot of the stuff they removed here like meat, dairy, anything not organic, etc. I also avoid gluten pretty regularly if I can unless it is organic and sprouted (easier to digest the nutrients). But, this was the first time I’ve ever eliminated nightshades, coffee, alcohol, and fruit for an extended time period. Your body is like your own personal science experiment so I was pumped to see how I would react. I also video documented all the meals under the Sakara highlight on my Instagram profile here.
PSA before we chat more- you guys know I eat a really clean diet. So I felt ok going straight into the detox. But if after reading this you decide you’re interested, definitely have the Sakara Signature meal program for at least 2 weeks before diving into the Level 2 program.
You can learn all about the meal program and what to expect to be eating each week on their website, but here is a quick breakdown of a typical day with everything included in the program:
-Wake up and add the trace mineral drops to water
-Eat breakfast and take morning supplements
-Drink the peppermint digestive tea
-Drink more water
-Eat lunch
-Drink more of the peppermint digestive tea
-Drink more water
-Afternoon snack: coconut kefir drink (kind of like a blend of coconut water and coconut meat to keep you full until dinner.)
-Dinner time: medicinal broth (You have the broth for 4 out of the 5 nights on the program. I know this sounds scary and I was super skeptical because I have always eaten really big dinners but I was shocked at how this filled me up. The magical ingredient is the healthy fat MCT oil, derived from coconut oil.)
-Take nighttime supplements
-One more peppermint digestive tea
-Nightcap of water mixed with chlorophyll drops
-Dry brush ritual to stimulate skin detoxification (your body’s largest organ!)
-Hop in the shower and then go to bed early.
-Wake up & repeat!
I also did not exercise during this time except for walking about 40 minutes a day. Nothing too major.
How I Felt
DAYS 1-3
Now I won’t BS you. Day 1 was hard mostly because it was the first time I had cut out coffee, like, ever. They recommend you cut caffeine and alcohol a few days before starting the program and man did I have the coffee withdrawl headaches. Like I missed it so much. Monday and Tuesday leading up to the program I did not have coffee and only had 1 cup of green tea in the morning for a little caffeine. Then Wednesday was Day 1 of the program and I had NO. CAFFEINE. AT. ALL. Rough stuff.
Now I’m sitting here writing this on Day 5 at 9am and feel 100% GREAT on no caffeine. I definitely still miss the taste of coffee and that morning ritual but it’s crazy how much I noticed my mood being way more stable off of it, my anxiety more under control, and the occasional afternoon adrenal fatigue completely gone. I’m planning to slowly reintroduce and see how I feel, and will be more focused on gentler sources of caffeine from now on like green tea and matcha.
Other than that, the food on Day 1 was great. Honestly I enjoyed the food throughout the whole program but I think that’s because I already eat plant-based vegan. Days 2 and 3 were great as well. I was starting to notice my recent breakouts clearing up and since this way of eating basically puts your body into plant-based ketosis (a metabolic state in which fat provides most of the fuel for the body), I felt so much less bloat than usual.
Like, not gonna lie my stomach was giving off that “I just had the flu and lost weight and didn’t eat anything vibe” and I was wishing I had a vaca to go on and prance around in a swimsuit LOLZ. Not that I’m promoting that because this was a healthy way of de-bloating but you know what I mean! TBH, I was also more busy at work. I really didn’t have a lot of time those days to sit around and think about if I was hungry or missed my usual food.
DAYS 4-5
Then Day 4 came, and this was on Saturday, so at this point I had more free time and was missing my usual pancakes for breakfast and Dry Farm Wines (my favorite hangover free wine) in the evening. Also Day 4 is an all liquids day to give your body a total break from digesting. It’s definitely the hardest but the Carrot Ginger soup for lunch was delicious and way more filling that I expected! I just kept busy to keep myself from wanting to break from the cleanse. 100% honest though- the WHOLE TIME my stomach did not rumble.
And now here I am on Day 5. Feeling f*cking fab, grateful, and inspired. I have so much more respect for the true pleasure that is food. I’m also even more in awe of my Mom who did a complete 180 on her diet and lifestyle years ago to combat stage 4 ovarian cancer- a little more on her story here (she’s the true inspo behind this blog!)
Alrighty, I’m off to eat my Sakara lunch and brew some more peppermint digestive tea. Let me know what questions you have! Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me.
PS- you can use code XODANIELLE for 20% off anything at Sakara.
Until next time,
XOXO- Dani
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