I’m halfway through a month long detox and want to share my experiences with you. A detox is where you aim to ingest less toxins through food and lifestyle. Every detox is different, and you can choose one to suit your own requirements. Detoxing helps to cleanse the system, reset habits and is a great way to kickstart weight loss. I detox regularly if I find ‘bad’ habits creeping in.
My personal detox started with a fortnight of no alcohol, meat, processed foods, chocolate or coffee (caffeine in general). I usually enjoy a good cup of proper coffee each day, but I found it was creeping up to two or even three cups on a busy day. Apparently 90% of the world’s adult population imbibes caffeinated drinks every day. And caffeine is one of the first things that can have a detrimental effect on energy levels. So it was the first thing to go. Avoiding alcohol is a no-brainer in the well-being stakes, and meat is less digestable by the body than a vegetarian diet.
Personally I like to ‘ramp up’ detoxing as my body adapts. If you are a regular coffee drinker, the first couple days without caffeine can cause headaches, mood swings and irritability. It also depends on the individual as to how you’ll react to eliminating different food and drink from your diet. Now I’ve adapted to the detox, I’m ready to ramp it up and eliminate dairy and wheat from my diet. In the past I’ve tried brown rice detoxing, where you eat only brown rice and drink herbal tea for a few days. It’s extreme but good for cleansing the system, the palate and the mind. I remember eating a Mueller Light after a brown rice detox and being able to taste all the chemicals; it put me off Mueller Light for life.
However you don’t need to subsist only on brown rice to detox. There are many fruit and vegetable detoxes and juicing diets that are great at this time of year when there’s nice stuff in season. You can simply try a weekend and make it your ‘health spa’ time. If you do detox, listen to your body. Weakness and tiredness from extreme detoxes can happen, but the end result is that you have healthier habits in place (and you may even lose a bit of weight). Remember that although detoxes should be short term with an end date in mind, they will have long term positive benefits.
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