That's all folks! The end of my 30 Day Mind & Body Detox

So, it's the end of my 30 Day Mind & Body Detox programme... Or is it?!

Yes, the 30 days are up. Yes, it's been quite a journey with some big ups and downs and (cheesy though it sounds) I've really learned something about myself and my relationship with with food, my body and what goes on inside my head.

With Week 4 came a certain calm, a peace with leaving things on my plate and accepting that, better than 30 Days of Perfection, is a life long series of changes and better choices. My bum feels firmer (hooray!), my skin feels incredible and my boyfriend even commented today how he could really see a change in my shape. Yes ok, I still have a way to go before I feel uber-energised, cellulite-free and slim as a whippet but I'm SO on track for that and if I keep going on this journey then that is surely the direction I am heading in.

To that end, I am going to keep up with many of the facets of this programme ongoing. I do feel that there is benefit in short-term detoxes however what has become clear is that a gradual change is more sustainable. What isn't going to happen is the classic annual 'detox month' each year that allows me to "cheat" the other 11... remember, I'd only be cheating myself and I can honestly say that my desire to eat sugary or processed or wheat-filled foods has diminished hugely so resisting should be much easier.

But more importantly than all this outer bumpf (and yes, it really is more important) is the greater sense of inner calm and contentment and faith in my own ability that has come into it's own recently. I always said that age 26 was the age at which most women seem to make their final "adjustments", reviewing the character traits they dislike and learning to accept the ones they cannot change, perhaps even becoming fond of their quirks and idiosyncracies. It is then you can learn to love yourself and be at peace with yourself...

I now realise that this happens more than once as here I am feeling the same way about more recent changes aged 32. (I'm now also certain it will happen again and again through life). I'm excited to keep this personal development going as I feel I'm right on the brink of something big and exciting although i haven't a clue what... but I'll keep you posted :)

For now, I'm off out to celebrate a rather lovely piece of news I've just had but I'll be posting again in the next few days with the dreaded 'After' photos and a review of how I found each aspect of the programme and what I'll be keeping up with.

Until then, cheers! x

Sarah is an Holistic massage & beauty therapist, owner of Edge of Eden and Senior Consultant for Neal’s Yard Remedies. You can call her on 01277 220301, email at sarah@edgeofeden.co.uk or comment below and she’ll get back to you x

Detox or No Detox - Confessions from a Detox

Wow it's a long drop to the floor when you fall off the wagon...

So on Thursday my partner and I went to see Deal or No Deal being filmed in Bristol (I love this show

so much and we were super lucky as it was a Halloween special they were filming... incredible AND we were front row right by Noel!!) Anyway, it was the morning from hell - the printer wouldn't print our tickets, we were late, the traffic was horrendous, we ended up snipping at each other... gaaaahhh! To cut a long story short, we thought we had missed the filming and arrived only to find that they had delayed it by 2 hours so we were second in the queue! (Thank you universe).

With time to kill and literally not a bean in my stomach as I'd gotten up at 4.30am that morning I was tempted by the studio diner van and when I say I fell off the detox wagon I couldn't have done any worse had I shovelled freshly pesticided soil into my mouth! A huge bacon and sausage wheat bap with sugary condiments (oh, and a cup of caffeinated black tea) later, I was feeling like I didn't know how I was going to undo this damage!

Now my normal reaction would have been to say "ah well, I've blown it now; might as well try and cram at least 6 of everything I'm not allowed to have into today and then start again tomorrow" but I didn't do that and managed to get back on track straight away (and yes, DOND was incredible). Part of the impetus for correcting myself was the thought that I can't just fall off this wagon and not get up again because I have to blog about it for another 3 weeks (accountability - a very useful tool for sticking to something), but I also just felt like this time is different. This time, it's my programme. This time it's not really about losing weight and toning up (well it is, but it's so much more too). This time, the change is secure, and yes I might screw up but then I'll fix it.

I also can't be totally hard on myself as I went for a run the other day too (something absolutely unheard of for me... I loathe running, mainly because I am bad at it!)

Now so far I've been doing exercise almost every morning incorporating interval cardio and strength training (usually a workout DVD or playing on my pole dancing pole) but the other day my neighbour and owner of tri247.com (a great triathlon site, check it out) invited my partner and I for a run. Everything in my body was screaming not to go but I said yes... the funny things you'll do for a blog! Prefacing the warm up stretching with advance apologies and protestations that I would only hold them back we set off together and we ran (on and off) for 4 miles! I was delirious, but in a good way(!), and can honestly I didn't hate a single second. And the views from the high points of Thorndon Country Park were spectacular...

'The Reluctant Runners' as we call ourselves are even planning to go again! Wonders will never cease.

It'll certainly help me get toning on my legs which had lost the least in terms of inches after week one, and are certainly a key area of concern for me. It'll also help me get my 6 sessions of exercise per week in, a recommendation made by the chaps who wrote 'Younger Next Year', a brilliant book that they have now released in a lady-specific volume too. It's certainly worth a read but essentially deals with the fact that our modern sedentary lifestyles encourage the signals in our cells to read "decay" rather than "grow". It seems keeping active (and I mean REALLY active) can turn back the clock!

Before I go, a quick note to mention which should definitely be classified under 'Too Much Information' so read on at your own peril.

I am more regular on this programme than I have been most of my adult life! I suffer from IBS which bungs me up (for weeks) if I have cow's dairy, eggs, coconut and various other things, but even when I avoid these things I'm lucky if I go 4 times per week. Well at the moment it's 1-2 times per day! It's great! You can definitely tell I'm a grass-fed animal though...!

Now I have to dash as I'm teaching massage all day in London today at, in my humble opinion, the best school of massage in the UK, Essentials for Health. If you want to come and learn how to massage friends and family in one day for just £67 then visit their site and come along! It might even spark a career change in you like it did me... ;-)