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I had been planning my approach for several days before that Tuesday morning. This wasn’t my first attempt at detoxing, as I had done a cleansing diet in September. Last time, the brain fog was also somewhat lifted, but I didn’t take the time to properly determine my food allergies. So I took the time to research using books and the Internet, finding a significant amount of disparity between different approaches. In the end I customized my own plan that combined a low glycemic index (GI) diet with a food allergy elimination/challenge diet, and I decided to commit to it for at least a month.

To kick-start things into action, I began with a slightly modified “caveman diet”. Here’s what I cut out:

• All processed food
• All foods made from flour
• All grains other than quinoa and amaranth
• All fruit (and juices) except avocadoes, lemons and limes
• All dairy, including cheese and yogurt
• All fermented food
• All condiments
• White potatoes
• Yeast
• Peanuts
• Chocolate
• Alcohol
• Coffee and tea
• Sugar

So what could I eat, you ask? As much as I wanted of the following organic items:

• Most vegetables, with a focus on low GI and dark greens
• Nuts and seeds (other than peanuts)
• Almond butter (and lots of it)
• Olive oil
• Fish
• Chicken
• Eggs (which I later retracted)
• Tofu and legumes (also later retracted)
• Quinoa and amaranth
• Filtered or spring water

Having a Whole Foods two blocks from my home has been a godsend; I can visit their salad bar before or after work and get my fill of veggies, alternative grains, and nuts.

The first three days were tough but I got through them just fine. Having detoxed in September, I experienced fewer “withdrawal” symptoms compared to the first time around. I had a headache most of that time, my brain fog was thicker than ever, and I was often hungry at weird hours even though I was eating plenty. I knew from my previous experience that drinking a lot of water combined with time in the steam room or sauna did a great job of clearing the toxins out of my system. Then, just like last time, I woke up on the fourth day feeling great.

I had successfully broken through to the other side.