Are you following a trendy new detox diet?
It’s that time of year again. It happens every year – the post Christmas detox. The media is full of celebrity fitness videos, new diets, and which juicer/blender to buy. With the vast reach of social media, we see it even more, but believe me, this has been going on every January for years. I’ve been doing what I do for thirty years, and the word DETOX was around when I started, although not as trendy, and with no juicers! It was more for the promoting of the cabbage soup diet, or the pineapple diet. Oh, yes, remember those?!
Lets get a few things straight.
The other day I saw Hazel Wallace aka The Food Medic, slating Jason Vale, The Juice Master, on Twitter, because you can’t detox by doing things to your body. She says your body will detox itself. That’s what the liver and kidneys do.
YES. They do. BUT if your body is over worked, and sluggish because you have filled it with stacks of alcohol and high sugar foods, you will have put your digestive system under STRESS. Your body will have to work harder to process the naughty foods you are eating. YOU need to reduce this stress to allow your organs to do their job properly.
Secondly, the word DETOX is really now more of a word, used as a phrase.
‘Are you detoxing after Christmas?’
‘I need a little detox’.
We have been using the term DETOX for YEARS.
It just means we are reducing the foods that cause us to put on weight and hold fluid. We are giving the digestive system a rest, and eating some lighter foods. If this means we are going to do a three day juice plan or start the 5:2 diet, then so be it. People have been DETOXING for years before the lovely Hazel was even born. She is correct, but she must realise it’s a phrase, and it’s what we do! We eat lighter, stopping the alcohol, mince pies, peanuts, crisps and other high fat, low value foods.
As you know from previous posts, I am a huge fan of juicing. Not blending, as I don’t have a nutribullet. There is a place for blending – if you are following the new SuperBlendMe Plan from Jason Vale, you will obviously need a Nutibullet where you can add high fibre, and protein laden foods to help keep you full and satisfied for longer. It’s a superb programme for those wanting to lose weight, and follow a diet programme after Christmas. He has a huge following and I love everything he stands for. However, I personally don’t need this after Christmas, so I will continue with my usual routine. I’m a morning juice girl!
Juice diets are limited in fibre.
Yes, I know that pure juicing doesn’t have as much fibre as blending, but I use juicing as a daily pre-breakfast. Lovely high alkaline veggie based juice straight in to belly. I love my apple, ginger and kale or spinach first thing in the morning, sometimes adding beetroot and carrots for a red rainbow juice.
I do have a second breakfast of porridge with chia seeds or overnight oats for my fibre and gut health.
In the past, juice diets used to add an avocado and banana (that can’t be juiced) to a blender with a pre-juiced green concoction. A bit of a palaver. This new programme is a great one as you can zip it all together. adding seeds and other dry ingredients to make a more substantial drink.
There is a place for pure juice – like the ginger shot – and a place for a more substantial belly filling blended juice.
If you ever go to a retreat, they will often put you on pure juice cleanse for a day or two. This does you no harm at all! You get vitamins, minerals and micronutrients, straight into your belly which giving your digestive system a little rest. No harm in that once in a while!
Which juicer?
If you are wondering which is the BEST juicer to purchase, this is a great review, that may give some guidance, and saves me writing it! I have a Retro slow masticating juicer, but there are many on the market, and new ones being developed all the time.
Choose the programme that is right for you.
Find a programme if you need to. Lots of people need a focus and something to follow, but steer clear of what I would call fad diets. There are detoxes that work alongside exercise programmes. There’s the ‘new’ Ketone diet – that’s actually NOT new! It just means you don’t snack between meals to ensure your body starts to burn energy from fat. It’s like intermittent fasting, leaving a set amount of time between eating. They just have medical research that gives it a name.
Eat the right foods, reduce sugar so you don’t get hunger cravings, hydrate, and you shouldn’t need to snack. Sometimes snacking is a habit or boredom.
Some choose a short juice detox.
Some people need a little cleanse, others think it’s going to help them lose lots of weight. Once you have completed your little detox, you will need to look at your lifestyle. There is no point drinking green juice and going Vegan for a month, if when you have finished, you start drinking a bottle of wine a night, and eating high fat take aways.
We all eat food that is deliciously naughty from time to time. We are, after all human! Try not to beat yourself up about it, and find something to follow that suits you. Look for a nutritionalist, or even a hypnotherapist if you feel that habits for snacking are getting in the way.
Remember too, that after Christmas we all need a reboot and a de-stress. There have been a lot of bugs and colds around. Give yourself time to recover. If you have been poorly, then get those ginger shots inside you….and keep drinking them. Every day. All year round!
Look at the bigger picture. Be kind to your body. You have it for life.
You know where I am!
