The POWER of the early season healthy detox

This is my fourth year participating in a January detoxification. I choose to do a yearly cleanse due to the massive stress I put my body through during the race year. In addition, we all get exposed to an overload of toxins every day. I did a thorough metabolic test back in 2010 and found that my levels of tar and plastics were off the charts. The tar came from breathing the fumes from freshly paved roads and the plastics came from drinking water during my bike training from plastic bottles. So with my knowledge that I am a prime candidate for toxin overload, I start each year off with a full blood panel to see what my base levels are. Then I begin my detox. I have varied the number of days that I've participated in the detox over the years, but this year I decided to commit for the full twenty one days. There is a lot of misconceptions about detox's. Many people hear the word and they immediate think a juice cleanse that will catabolize muscle and change their metabolism. I, personally, favor participating in the Standard Process detox: This is a healthy cleanse that allows for plenty of good healthy calories throughout the 21 day process. While I'm on the cleanse I track a variety of factors: sleep amount and quality, weight, body fat, resting heart rate, energy level, and oxygen saturation. Well I'm currently twelve days into my cleanse and every factor has shown significant improvement so far. My sleep is very restful. I am sleeping straight through the night instead of waking frequently. I am down 6lbs after a bit to much holiday cheer. My body fat is down 2% and my resting heart rate has been averaging 36bpm. I feel great throughout the day. My thoughts are very clear and my energy levels are high. However when it comes time to go to sleep, I have no problems falling asleep. Also, my blood oxygen saturation readings are consistently 97-98. The idea of a cleanse can be a bit overwhelming but I am very happy that its part of my yearly routine.