I am almost ashamed to admit that in my adult life, I have never bought or prepared beets as part of a meal.  I have

These are the whole food supplements in the purification kit.

thrown one on my salad a time or two, mostly because I thought my salad needed a little more color.  But my primary experience with beets has been following sugar beet trucks down the road during the fall harvest season, hoping a wayward root vegetable doesn’t fly from the back of the truck and crack my windshield.

Last week, though, I was inspired.  On May 7, my college friends Danielle and Anna and my co-worker Dee and I began the 21-Day Standard Process Purification Program (see http://www.standardprocess.com/display/psppurification.spi)  Like many people, I am aware that dietary and environmental factors take a toll on our bodies.  Doing a cleanse or purification program can be a powerful tool in allowing the body to heal and bounce back from those environmental tolls.  I know that this is a good thing for my body, and I know that it will force me to be more mindful about the raw materials I am supplying my body with as it detoxifies and heals.

From the clinical perspective, there are a variety of things I really like about this program.  One, you get to eat.  I am not a fan of the starvation diet/water cleanses.  Large quantities of high-nutrient vegetables, fruits, and a little bit of brown rice and lentils are allowed.  So are olive and flax oils.  After 10 days, you can also add high quality, free-range meats such as organic chicken or salmon.

In the meantime, the purification kit provides shakes and supplements that are giving your body the raw materials to support detoxification of the liver, kidneys, and intestinal system.  We have all commented, though, that it really is a gentle cleanse.   Increases in urination and bowel movements is a normal response, but no one has responded by having this in any way interfere with daily life.

The first few days of cleansing I noticed bit of a headache and some body aches. I was also pretty sleepy.  The peak of that was on day 4, and now I really, truly feel that I am back up at an energy level beyond where I started.

The other thing I really noticed in my first few days were the tv commercials for “food.”  Every single thing advertised (Klondike bars, pizza, yogurt, cookies, Hot Pockets) was a processed food that I could not eat.  And it reminded me one of the reasons that we eat the way we do as a society…we are sold the idea that trademarked, corporate food is what we should want.  This food is also filled with fats (and not the healthy kind, like olive oil), refined sugar, cheap sweeteners such high fructose corn syrup, refined grains.  Our brains start to crave these substances. Tonight, pay attention to the commercials on during your favorite show, and remind yourself that it’s tough to make a commercial for food that isn’t altered in some way for profit!   When was the last time you saw a commerical for beets?

If there had been one, maybe I would have tried them earlier.