I just wrapped up a serious 3 week cleanse called the Ultimate Reset. It was a long three weeks and I never would have gotten through it if I hadn't somehow talked my friend Jessica into doing it with me. This is my very detailed review of that program. It is not for everyone and if you are interested, you need to know what you are getting into.

First, let me explain why I did this craziness. Most of my readers know that I have severe eczema. If you aren't familiar with it, let me explain. No there is too much. Let me sum up. Its a skin condition that feels like the worst sunburn you've ever had combined with having poison ivy from head to toe. Fun, huh? In addition to being very painful, its also embarrassingly unattractive. In my research on the disease, some people see an improvement by reducing the inflammation in their gut and restoring the proper pH for their body. That's what this Alkaline cleanse is meant to do- heal you gut and get your body back to be slightly alkaline.

Jessica did the program with me because she has been having a lot of digestive issues. She'd missed a lot of work and she had tried special diets for IBS, but she could never really pinpoint her triggers and it seemed to be getting worse. She wanted to see if healing her gut and replacing the good bacteria in her system would help.

In addition, both of us had been feeling generally blah, fatigued and bloated. We both were drinking a LOT of coffee (ahem, I may have been up to 4 cups a day) and we were both having trouble focusing and concentrating throughout the day. Personally, I had started drinking way too much alcohol on a daily basis and my food portions and "treats" were getting a little out of control. Unsurprisingly, the scale and my waistline were inching up in a disturbing way, despite my rigorous training schedule.

So this was our motivation. We both had some serious reasons to want to feel better and I knew I needed to reset my body and my cravings before my old bad habits took over. Here are the visual results:

For the record, I hate posting pictures of me in a bathing suit. I always swore to myself that I would never be *that* kind of fitness person, because I believe there is so much more to fitness than how you look in a bikini. In this case, I only did it because so much of this cleanse revolves around the gut and reducing the inflammation and bloat that goes there. Don't worry- I promise not to make a habit of it! if you want bikini pics, check out instagram. There are a million there, but I have discovered that looking at these "motivational" pictures just makes me want to drink a beer and take a nap.

Let's start with the good news- I did lose weight and inches. My students started mentioning that they could see a difference about mid-way through the second week. After the second week, I started functioning better in the mornings without my coffee (which I really hate to admit). Jess said that she felt like her digestion did improve and the she is absorbing food more efficiently than she was before. I remembered just how much I do enjoy vegetables and fresh fruit. We both found some new recipes that we will definitely keep using. We are craving fresher, healthier foods. I survived 3 straight weeks without wine or beer and the world didn't end.

The bad news- it didn't help my skin at all. In fact, the pain got so bad, that I had to get a cortizone shot in the third week. My condition is genetic, so it was a long shot, but I believe in trying everything I can to heal my body first before I rely on drugs. I've finally given it to my specialist's advice and I'm starting an immune suppressant drug. I'm hoping its temporary.

Let's be honest- this was HARD! It was a lot of work, a lot of shopping, a lot of cooking, and I didn't always like the food. Detoxing can be an uncomfortable process and their were days I wondered why the heck I had started this. Just so you REALLY know what its like, let me give you the highlights:

The first week was the hardest because I spent FOREVER in my store looking for unfamiliar ingredients and food prep felt like a Cooking Boot Camp. I cook from scratch often and I know my way around the grocery store, but this was a challenge even for me. My advice- give yourself time to order some of the more obscure ingredients online instead of running all over your store looking for something they may not even carry. As for the recipes, they do have videos for how to prepare every meal. We didn't figure that out until mid-way through the first week and then after that, I was just stubborn about not using it.

OMG, some days I was so hungry! Now, I need to qualify this. When you do this program, you are not supposed to do any strenuous exercise. As your body is healing and you are detoxing, you are supposed to keep it light with a walk in nature, yoga or tai chi. I continued to teach throughout because it was just not practical to take 3 weeks off from work. To some extent, light fasting is necessary to get your body to detox. This is not a meal plan for life, it is a temporary tool to better health. My biggest complaint with it was that Jessica (teeny, tiny, petite, 5'2) had the exact same meal plan as me (5'10 and built like an Amazon). Obviously, my body requires a lot more calories to function than hers. In order to keep from killing anyone in my hangry state, I would add extra nuts and avocado and sometimes a small portion of grains.

This was one of the most expensive programs I've ever done. I know that it has supplements for the full three weeks and I understand that supplements aren't cheap, but it was still a bit of sticker shock. I believe in investing in my personal health, so I'm used to spending money to be healthy and enjoying the fact that I rarely have to spend money to deal with sickness or missed work. As ridiculous as it sounds, I was kind of glad it was so expensive. If it had been cheaper, I would have been much more tempted to quit mid-way. The fact that I had spent my hard earned money to do this made me stubbornly determined to stick to it.