Good afternoon… on request of a friend, I am starting a support space in my Facebook group: -
Mind, Body and Soul - for people who wish to join me on a general health kick and all systems detox. Maybe, we can all inspire and support each other, suggest menus and healthy eating plans. If we stick together, I’m sure we’ll reach our goals and stick to our plans! :-) As with any health kick and detox, you should consult your doctor first.
For the detox, you need to reduce to a minimum, or cut out completely, sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, red meats, dairy and starches. Sorry, but when you’re doing “system spring cleaning” they have to go. Good news is, you can substitute dairy milk with rice, almond or soya milk. I like rice milk but prefer to make my own fresh almond milk. There are also many soya/tofu substitutes around for other mainstream foods. However, I would caution about going from one addiction to another. I’ve been there, done that and bought the T-shirt. It doesn’t work. It’s better to stick to fresh 95% of the time. I’m leaving 5% for “time out” moments.
So, when you get up in the morning, aim to drink a glass of water. Visualise it going through your system, washing it and eliminating any toxins.
A great kickstart morning breakfast (on a detox) - and one of my personal favorites is a freshly made vegetable juice with:
3 medium size carrots,
1 green bell pepper,
5 runner beans,
1 small sprig of parsley,
2 tablespoons of soya protein
You can drink plenty of green tea and water as well.
Then, to get your metabolism up you should do some exercising. Cardio is the best. Not only will it help you burn any unwanted “padding, ” you’ll continue to burn calories long after you finish working out. You should aim to do a minimum of 30 minutes. 45 to 60 minutes is ideal.
My favourite exercises are swimming, biking and jogging. Today, I went out on my bicycle for an hour (or so) and burnt a total of 1476 calories. That’s a lot of calories compared to what I might burn in the same time on a treadmill. Plus, I find the outdoors and the fresh air revitalizing for the senses. Before I went out, I drank 35ml of L-Carnatine just to give my workout a little bit of an edge. When I got back, I had another mug of green tea and plenty of water.
If you’re on a diet, you need to know that you have to burn 3500 calories to lose one pound. If you go on a bike ride 5 or 6 times a week, you can potentially burn 9000 calories a week. That’s little over 2lbs in weight, which is a healthy amount to lose per week.
If you want to seriously detox your system in a very powerful way, you could drink 35ml of ACAI berry juice in the morning.
Another thing I find helps with exercise is to find something you love to do, then you won’t think of it as a workout. There are some days when I feel like dancing, so I put on a Zumba video in youtube and dance like a crazy woman for 30 minutes or so. You don’t need to get it right. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The aim is to just get the body moving and the heart rate up.
Any form of exercise is also beneficial to the mind because it helps you to concentrate. This can help us in other areas of our lives. It’s also a perfect way to train the brain to focus on a task at hand, which is also useful in other areas of our lives.
Exercise is also spiritually beneficial because, when we’re doing any activity for a prolonged amount of time, we reduce our stress levels, which in turn brings us more inner peace.
After a hot shower and my cup of tea, I snacked on a banana. That kept me going until lunch and provided me with a post-exercise boost.
For lunch, I made a fresh fruit juice consisting of:
1 medium grapefruit,
2 oranges,
2 mandarins,
2 tablespoons of soya protein
Between lunch and dinner, you can snack on any piece of fruit you like.
Dinner might be a vegetable platter - (if you’re a vegetarian or willing to try something simple)
It might be lean fish or lean meat (preferably grilled) with vegetables. Remember the golden rule of thumb is three quarters of your plate filled with vegetables compared to 1 quarter lean meat or fish.
The important thing with any detox or weight loss program is to treat each day like it’s the only day. Never think you’re in this for the long haul. You’ll never get there. A month, 3 months or a year seem like a very long time when you’re just struggling to get through the new eating patterns in one day. Yes, you will need to shop in advance. However, remember that you can’t eat what you don’t buy. So, shop wisely.
I try to only think about the one meal in front of me and never any further ahead. I find the more I think about food, the more I tend to obsess over it and the more I create an attachment to it. Then, I start to feel like I’m depriving myself and boom, my eating habits go all over the place.
By just taking baby steps, one at a time, slowly slowly we all eventually get to where we want to be.
Good luck to you all on your endeavor and remember you are not alone.
If you want to join in the discussion and be part of the group, please come and find me on Facebook.
The Mind, Body & Soul Group
