Archive for the ‘Detox’ category

Does Fasting Work For Weight Loss?

August 22nd, 2010

Many people would do anything just to lose weight. Others even resort to all those fad quick weight loss diets being pushed on television and the internet. Indeed this market is becoming a billion dollar industry. Too many advertisements you will see in the internet and televisions of weight loss systems that promise weight loss in just a few days. But is this really true? These claims are yet to be proven by many and some may work but others don’t. But unfortunately it does not work and is only there to get your money. That is why it is much better to stick to what you think is traditional way of losing weight.

The idea of fasting for weight loss has existed a long time already. Of course you will lose weight especially if you do not eat for a period of time. No matter what body type you are, if you fast you will surely lose those excess fats. The body burns up 2000 calories on a normal day without you doing anything so that if a person fasts, there are no calories thus your body burns up the ones stored in your body.

There is no question then whether you really lose weight or not. Yes you would surely lose weight but this is good for a short period of time. This can also help the body cleanse off all the toxins it has accumulated. However fasting if done for a long time can be very dangerous to the health and may lead to some medical conditions like Anorexia. Fasting then is highly recommended for periodical cleansing but not for weight loss. During the cleansing process, it is normal that you will lose weight but this is a result from cleansing and should not be your goal.

Thus fasting for weight loss is not effective since it is not designed for such purpose. There are lots of diet plans which you can check that can help you lose weight and at the same time healthy.

Cranberry Juice: The One Day Detox Diet

January 9th, 2010
Cranberry harvest in New Jersey.

Image via Wikipedia

We have the notion that we, as modern human beings, are living healthier and longer lives than our distant ancestors, but this is quickly proving to not be the case. While we have a definite edge on our ancestors in dealing with some ailments, the sheer amount of toxins in our food is a new challenge to the modern human; a challenge our bodies were not intended to handle. Luckily we can turn our minds and willpower against this troubling problem and overcome it with delicious juice. Mix pure, unsweetened cranberry juice with filtered or distilled drinking water in a two parts juice to one part water ratio. Abstain from eating food for the day other than your juice. Do not drink more than four cups of juice (1 liter) per day, though you can have as much water as you need. Try to avoid straining activities and exercises for the day. This would be a great time to catch up on your reading or watch some movies.

 Cranberry juice detox works on a twofold principal. The first half is that the rational for this fast track one day detox diet is that it is a form of fasting. Occasional fasting has been shown in studies conducted on lab mice, to significantly extend lifespan even more than the 40% calorie restricted diet it was tested against. The reason for this is that while fasting the energy your body would normally spend in the digestive process is turned towards healing and expelling toxins. So we have the first half of the rational down, but why cranberry juice specifically? Cranberries have been shown in studies to have numerous health benefits. They contain chemicals that promote heart health and prevent cancer. Not only do they offer this, but they have also been shown to have a strong bacteria inhibiting effect on the urinary tract. Your one day detox is as simple as relaxing to a good book and enjoying some tasty and healthy juice. Bottoms up!

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The Lemon Juice Diet

November 12th, 2009

Do you hope to lose a few pounds in a relatively short space of time? Have you had difficulty with conventional dieting? Your answer could be in the humble lemon. The lemon juice diet is a diet which helps the digestive system  start working properly. The process involved in conventional dieting tends to only exacerbate the problem of bad digestion. The lemon juice cleanse uses almost all of the lemon to try and help you to lose weight.

Lemon juice detox boosts the digestive juices in the body systems which the body uses to detox itself. If the digestive system is not working properly it will make it almost impossible for you to lose weight. There has been plenty of research into this. Poor digestion will prevent the body from receiving all the nutrients  it needs to not only be healthy, but to go into fat burning mode. Toxic buildup can also leave a person feeling sluggish and tired.  Depression is often only a step away.

Lemons are the solution. These natural powerhouses boost the detox systems, the digestive systems, and the whole health of the person’s body. The benefits of lemon juice are immeasurable. The pectin from lemons turns into a gel when it is digested and prevents any sugars from being absorbed into your system too  quickly. Organic lemon juice contains citric acid in abundance, about 8%, enzymes and Athens form complex interactions and can stimulate the juices in the stomach thereby promote problem free and healthy digestion. Vitamin C is great for getting rid of colds and flus but the main factor is that vitamin C has immense benefits for those who are trying to lose weight.

The lemon juice diet is a very simple plan to help you achieve sustainable weight loss. It involves drinking lemon juice throughout the day which is diluted in warm water. This helps to kick start your digestive processes. Water consumption is also essential for weight loss; it aids digestion and helps to eliminate all the toxins from your body. With this diet you must also eat plenty of vegetables and fruit. Most fruits, and indeed all vegetables, are low in calories and high in fiber. They will make you feel full, give you the vitamins and nutrients that you need, and definitely benefit you in the long term of  your weight loss program. The lemon juice diet is only recommended as part of a sustainable long-term approach to weight loss.

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Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits for Weight Loss

November 12th, 2009

Apple cider vinegar benefits have been known about for a very long time. It is very cheap to purchase, and the health benefits of apple cider vinegar are supposedly so many that there is really no harm in trying it out. It is one of those many remedies which the old folks have been talking about for years. It’s a nasty tasting concoction but, just like the old remedy of taking cod liver oil, it seems that apple cider vinegar has been around for that long that it just must be true. Why would people continue to take this foul concoction if there weren’t some truth behind the purported remedies stories?

So, what are the benefits of apple cider vinegar? Well, there are many, many health benefits that people have reported over the years through taking small doses of apple cider vinegar on a regular basis. These cures include allergies from pets, food allergies, and allergies from the environment. People with sinus infections and acne have also said that they have noticed a marked improvement when taking small doses. Another benefit of apple cider vinegar is reported to be lowering of cholesterol levels in people suffering from high cholesterol. Other cures have included relief from colds and flus, candida, contact dermatitis, and sore throats, as well as gout and arthritis. It is suggested by some health food gurus that a couple of teaspoons taken every day, stirred in with a glass of water, could have a lowering effect on high blood pressure. Apple cider vinegar is reported to alkalize the ph of your body thus releasing toxins.  This is why it is so successful in weight loss and just about everything else.

The benefits of drinking apple cider vinegar are also said to go cross species. Animal lovers who have managed to get apple cider vinegar passed the lips of their beloved animals have reported improvements in conditions from fleas to arthritis. It is also said to increase the vibrancy of an animal’s coat.  Some dogs like it poured over their kibble.

It is highly recommended that when you do buy your apple cider vinegar that should purchase the best brand which is available. Try and get the unpasteurised version, the one which doesn’t have any colors, preservatives, or any other additives. Look for the one with the “mother” in it.  The best place to buy this is in your local health food store. One of the most well known brands to buy is Braggs apple cider vinegar. Paul Bragg was the original health food store proprietor in the United States. Braggs apple cider vinegar benefits were first introduced to the country in his book “Apple Cider Vinegar “. If you can incorporate this into your lifestyle, you will notice the apple cider vinegar benefits in many different ways.  The best way to ingest apple cider vinegar is to make a tea of 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar vinegar, honey for sweetener and warm water.  Sip slowly.  Apple cider vinegar also comes in tablet form, but isn’t quite as effective as the real thing. 

Disclaimer: I hope my post helps, but I am not a doctor. You should consult a medical professional before acting on advice found on the Internet.

The Cabbage Soup Diet

November 11th, 2009
Cabbage from Bulgaria

Image via Wikipedia

The cabbage soup diet is a popular diet which gives the overweight person an opportunity to lose weight and improve their overall system. Obesity is a big problem in the western world these days. The reasons for weight gain are many. Some people blame the pace of life, everybody needs a lot more hours in the day, and most people just don’t have the time to cook properly. While this may be true, the implications of being overweight mean that there is a much higher risk of heart problems, liver and kidney problems, and blood problems, to name but a few. Using the cabbage soup diet is a good method of starting off your weight loss plan.

Soup diets are highly recommended for people who are trying to lose weight. The cabbage soup diet plan involves making cabbage soup. You prepare the soup and eat only the soup three times a day for a period of seven days. One week is sufficient for this diet. The reason that this diet works is because it contains negligible amounts of calories. There are many other health benefits to eating a cabbage soup diet recipe. There are many recipes and some of them involve eating some combinations of food which can at times be quite bizarre. Some forms of this diet will allow the dieter to only consume water, as much of the soup as they can handle, and a selective number of other foods. Other forms of the cabbage soup diet allow for a wider range of other foods. The thing that a lot of dieters like about this dieting plan is that they can eat as much of this type of food as they want. Most cabbage soup diet recipes involve the addition of other low-calorie vegetables as well. The whole mixture can be flavored with an onion soup mix, tomato juice, and/or vegetable bouillon. Beef is even allowed on the first day with some of the recipes.

The 7 day cabbage soup diet is also good for helping with urinary dysfunction. Other common health issues that can be helped with this diet are headaches, digestive disorders, and insomnia. Drinking plenty of water with this diet also helps a lot. The cabbage soup makes people want to urinate more. This has an enormous impact on a person’s body during the diet is because of the high level of toxins which are released during weight loss.

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Raw Food Diet

September 15th, 2009

What exactly is the raw food detox diet, and how can it really benefit me? I mean, eating nothing but raw foods seems like it isn’t going to fulfill my nutritional needs, how can eating just vegetables really help my body? First, you have to understand how your body functions in order to properly understand the benefits of eating vegetables, and working them more and more into your daily diet as you progress to meeting your fitness goals. Vegetables have long been a staple of the Chinese and Tibetan diets, and they claim to have a big part in why they are able to live so long.

The way your internal systems work together develops over time, and with that, you end up storing toxins from food that hasn’t been completely digested, and plaque from fats that haven’t been passed through your bloodstream properly. When this happens, you usually end up suffering from a heart attack, or kidney and liver problems. The way to solve this though, is by getting the natural antioxidants, and chemicals found in the raw food diet that help your body to push the toxins out. This is why it is considered a detox diet, when in reality, it is just a natural diet that helps your body function the way it is supposed to. When you don’t have all of these leftover toxins stored up, you are going to feel better, look better, and generally have a better outlook on life all together.

When you are beginning the raw foods diet you probably aren’t going to notice much of a change, but as you gradually insert more and more of this diet plan into your life, you are going to notice that your hair is shinier, your face glows, your teeth feel whiter, there are so many benefits to eating natural foods, instead of man processed meats and frozen vegetables. The same goes for your animals as well, the dog raw food diet is great to keep their skin and coat healthy, remove that odor that follows them around, along with getting rid of bad breath. To top all of this off, eating natural vegetables is going to clear the enzymes and free radicals that build up in your blood stream, allowing both of you to live longer, happier healthier lives. If you haven’t taken a look at the raw food detox diet, what are you waiting on? There are some great raw foods diet recipes available where you won’t even believe you are eating raw food!  You can also incorporate the benfits of raw food throught drinking wheatgrass everyay.  Wheatgrass benefits are a great addition to a regular diet if you don’t want to go completely raw.   Either way, incorporate raw food into your diet as much as you can for a healthier body.

The Master Cleanse Diet

September 1st, 2009

The Master Cleanse Diet, also called the Master Cleanse Lemonade Diet,  is a full body cleanse which is divided into 3 phases.

1. The Ease In

2. The Lemonade Diet

3.  The Ease Out

The Ease In Phase

The Ease In is the start of the Master Cleansing diet.    For 3 days you begin to prepare your body for detox and less food.

Day 1:  Eat only fruits and vegetables.  Remove all meat, grain and processed foods from your diet.

Day2:  Drink only fruit and vegetable juice.  Here you start preparing your body for a liquid diet.    You may make soup broths if you do not have access to a juicer.

Day 3:  Mix  freshly squeezed orange juice with water and 2 tablespoons of real maple syrup to make 2 liters.  Drink all day.
 
The Lemonade Diet Phase
 
This phase  of the Master Cleanse diet is when you consume lemonade for at least 3 days minimum , hopefully 10 days if you can.  Some people do this diet for 40 days, even longer.  3 days gives plenty of benefit to your body, but it gets alot easier after the 3rd day, so you might as well go longer if you can. 
For the lemonade you’ll need the following:
2-3 large lemons
14 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 liter of water (alkaline of possible)
Be sure you make your lemonade fresh eash morning.  Whenever you get thirsty, drink your lemonade, but remember that’s all you get for the day so pace yourself.
Salt Water Flush
During the lemonade phase of the Diet, you will need to do daily salt flushes.  This is necessary because your body is removing alot of toxins and you want to flush them out of your system to detox.   For this add 1 teaspoon of sea salt to a liter of water, shake and drink .  An hour or so later you will be heading for the toilet and bring a book to read.  Most likely you’ll be in there a while.
The Ease Out Phase
 
The Ease Out phase is the same as the ease in only in reverse.
Day 1:  Mix freshly squeezed orange juice with water and 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup with water – enough to make 2 liters.  Drink all day.
Day 2:  Drink fresh fruit and vegetable juices all day.  Soup broths are okay too.
Day 3:  Eat only fresh fruits and vegetables.  Do not eat meat, grain or any processed foods. 
Try to maintain a healthy diet after your completion of the Master Clease diet.  Steer clear of all white and processed foods, sugars and anything that is not a whole food.

Detox Diet

August 22nd, 2009

Every now and then it’s good  to detoxify the  body with a good cleanse. Physically and spiritually, I find cleanses to be extremely beneficial.  When I slow my digestive system down, I can feel a window open to the Divine.  I am able to just be.  It’s amazing.  I feel my presence expanded and I am more at one with the world .  I totally get why Jesus fasted for 40 days.  Yes, it’s hard, but only for the first 3 days.  That’s when the benefits start to come.  It’s also good to lose a few pounds with too!  It seems to be a natural appetite suppressant.

Detox diets are a great way to cleanse your organs.  When your liver is de-congested you’ll find it much easier to lose weight.  You’ll be happier too because the liver holds on to anger.   When it’s cleansed, it also releases pent up emotions. I always shed a few tears when I detox, but after they are released, I feel soooo much better.  My whole being feels much lighter and present.

There are many detox diet plans on the internet claiming to cure all kinds of ills.  The raw food detox diet, the 3 day detox diet, a maple syrup diet, the master cleanse, the fruit detox diet, to name a few.  How do you know which is the best detox diet to follow?

Pick the one you feel most guided to.  I do a juice detox plan I made up myself.  The important thing is you release the toxins and rest your organs.    I start my mornings with a warm glass of lemon water with maple syrup and a little cayenne pepper.  An hour later I drink fresh squeezed carrot juice. At 1 pm and 3pm  I have fresh  apple juice.  If needed, I will give my self an organic coffee enema.  Sounds gross, but it really helps detox headaches and gets things moving.  I continue this same routine for at least 5 days and hopefully 7.

I was told if you must have food, have an avocado or banana.  Drink Plenty of water.  After the initial 3 days of feeling achy, tired and sometimes sick as the toxins are leaving my body, I feel very clear and present.  Once I get to this point I can keep going pretty easy.  It’s best to do this when you don’t have a whole lot planned.  Rest as much as you can.



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