Eliminating toxins and possible allergens from your diet helps reduce intake of bad stuff, and by necessity, increases your intake of really great stuff, including nutritious greens, root veggies, fresh fruits and whole grains.
You can do this with the supervision of a naturopath or other doctor, but you can also do your own version which will save money and introduce a lot of great habits that you may find yourself wanting to stick with after your detox period is over. Shall we begin?
Make a plan for a month of elimination
Most elimination or detox eating plans last a month, which helps give structure to your new eating plan — and your shopping list. (Try to shop for everything you’ll need for the month before you get started.) Week one: Eliminate all red meat. Week two: Add poultry to what you eliminate. Week three: Eliminate all fish and seafood, and eat a completely vegetarian or vegan diet. Week four: Gradually add back in foods to your diet that you especially miss, and leave out anything that you felt better not eating
Resolve to eat whole foods for a month
This may be tough, but that means ditching all those convenient prepackaged foods, including microwaved meals, you love so much. Soon, you’ll find it’s easier than you think. Instead of buying fruit-added, sweetened yogurt, get creamy nonfat Greek yogurt, chop up your own favorite fruits (and nuts) and drizzle in a smidge of honey if you like. You’ll know exactly what you’re eating, which is far better for you than ingesting a lot of chemicals you don’t know. Read labels; if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.
So long, sugar!
Cut out as much added sugar and sugary processed foods as you can. Try baked apples or fruit salads for dessert and eat lots of fresh fruit every day. As you’re weaning yourself from sugar, you can indulge in a little honey here and there, but try to cut back on that as well. If you’re like many of us, you could be addicted to sugar, so withdrawing from it may take a toll on your mood. The good news is it’s honestly hard only for the first three days or so. After you’ve kicked it, you will not notice the cravings.
Ditch the soda
That means diet as well as regular soda. There’s growing evidence that the fake sweeteners and chemicals in diet pop can actually make you gain more weight than the sugar-loaded regular kind. The chemicals in the sweeteners seem to trigger the body’s cravings for sweets, so you may subconsciously be reaching for the candy dish at work even more when you’re chugging the diet soda. Swap in fizzy water, flavored seltzer and ice water flavored with slices of fresh lemon and cucumber.
Make a toast to no alcohol for a month
Yes, you heard right. No liquor, wine, beer or anything else in between. This will help your liver rest up and refocus; instead of working mightily to get the alcohol’s poisons out of the body, it can focus on eliminating other toxins. No pouting — taking a break from alcohol is also a good reality check to see if you feel different without drinking (and if so, how) and to see if your relationships change in any way. Bonus: You’ll save a lot of cash this month, and with the extra fizzy water or juice drinks you’ll be having instead, your skin is going to look amazing.
Get some pampering on your calendar
You might be tempted to feel sorry for yourself (or feel like you have too much extra time on your hands, what with not smoking, not boozing and not making late-night junk food runs). The solution: schedule something indulgent for yourself every week while you are doing this, more if you have the time and money. Have at least one massage (which also helps the body eliminate toxins); a body scrub (which removes the bad stuff eliminated by your pores from your skin and feels amazing); a mani-pedi (just because); a facial, or even a different form of bodywork you’ve always wanted to try, like hot-stone massage or cranial-sacral therapy.
Read up
There are some terrific books available for those who want to try detoxing on their own. Get a book that covers the general principles and also includes some recipes. Ones to check out: Kimberly Snyder’s “Beauty Detox Solution,” Daniella Chace’s “The New Detox Diet,” or Roni Deluz’s popular “Martha’s Vineyard Diet Detox.” Reading up on the body’s chemistry and how it behaves when fed pure foods versus chemicals and processed foods will help keep you on the straight and narrow.
