Detox - what are the benefits and what should you eat? (Part I)

Spring has always meant for me spring cleaning at my home and this year, I decided to extend it also to my body and go on a detox diet. Detoxification in general means having high quality (preferably  organic) unprocessed food, drinking lots of water or green tea and complete elimination of bad food for a certain period of time to allow your body to get rid of those toxins.

I have read articles about cleansing diets and opinions on their effectiveness vary. Some sources promise you will feel better and lighter after toxins are removed from your body, others claim there is no scientific proof detox diets really work. So I decided to check it out myself. I think eating only healthy food and banning solid fats and added sugar for some time will certainly do no harm to me and maybe there will be positive results after all.

Through my research I have found a few different options: short detoxes lasting only 2-3 days, very strict ones or detoxes that require spending long hours in the kitchen since they give very precise directions as to what and when to eat. I decided at the end to implement a gentle detoxification that I found in an old Elle Magazine article. I liked it because it gave overall guidelines and it was not too detailed like some other ones that make you weigh each and every ingredient.

For clarity and simplicity I divided the products/recommendations into 3 groups:

Banned products:

• sugar and sweets,
• acidifying products that intensify production of free radicals: dairy products, simple carbohydrates (e.g. white bread, rice and pasta), saturated and trans fats (butter, fatty meat, sausages, processed food), alcohol, coffee, ready-prepared meals, fried food.

To be kept under control:

• animal proteins as they should be limited to 150g per day,
• salt.

Recommended:

• Ecological, high quality food,
• Alternative sources of calcium: almonds, whole grain wheat, green leafy vegetables,
• Products with favorable alkaline: green vegetables, sprouts, seasonal fruit, brown rice, rice milk, quinoa, eggs.
• Olive oil – source of unsaturated fats.
• Drinking lots of water and green tea,
• Daily physical activity – at least 30 minutes of walking or running.

And here is the suggested detox diet plan for 2 weeks:

Just after waking up:

• 1 glass of warm water with juice from 1 lemon,

Breakfast:

• Green tea with ginger and lemon,
• 1 slice of spelt bread with almond butter OR 1 mushed avocado with sprouts,

Lunch:

• 1 bowl of cream soup made only with vegetables,
• 1 portion of brown rice or quinoa with vegetables cooked al dente,

Snack:

• 1 portion of fruit mousse,
• a few almonds,

Dinner:

• 1 portion of vegetable soup,
• choice of 1 portion of proteins: fatty fish e.g. salmon (3 times per week), poultry (twice per week), 2 eggs (once per week), goat’s cheese or mozzarella (once per week),
• cooked vegetables.

So with all the research sorted and shopping done, I am ready to start my detox!