Body Detox Progams that Work

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(Photo credit: SLPhilbrick)

The cleansing program I am currently undergoing is called the 5 Day Fast Forward Detox. This program is a jump start to the CINCH! weight loss plan by Cynthia Sass. I saw this protocol in a recent edition of First magazine and decided it would be ultra simple to try.

As always, drinking plenty of clean, pure water is crucial to any cleanse.

Day 1 went like this:

Breakfast

*1 cup of spinach sauteed in olive oil with 1-2 scrambled eggs for breakfast. No salt.....only salt free seasonings. I added salt-free Mrs. Dash.
*1 cup of raspberries (fresh or frozen). I used frozen mixed berries that were predominantly raspberry.
*2 tablespoons of almonds

UGH!!!!! Spinach is NOT a breakfast food. I repeat that spinach is NOT a breakfast food ! Did I mention I hate my spinach cooked? That worsened the experience exponentially.

But I survived. By noon (3 1/2 hours later), I was beyond starving. I could have cleaned out the refrigerator.

Lunch

*6-8 oz plain, unsweetened yogurt (organic if possible).
*1 cup of berries
*2 tablespoons of almonds

I mixed mine all together. The berries are tart and the plain yogurt is just plain gross. But because I was starving it could have been pepperoni pizza (ok, not quite). By the time I got to the end of the bowl, I was not as impressed as when I first dove into it.

Snack: 4 hours later I had a snack: yogurt smoothie

*6 oz of yogurt
*2 tablespoons of almond butter
*1 cup of berries

I blended this till smooth and considered it by far to be the best meal of the day.

Supper:

*1-2 hard boiled eggs
*1 cup of raw spinach
*2 tablespoons of almonds
*1 cup berries

You can add lemon/oil as a dressing, but I chose just a tiny bit of mayo with a few drops of mustard for flavor to make egg salad.

Over all; though I was irritable, had a bit of a headache, was lethargic.......I think I did ok with Day 1.

(Photo credit: SLPhilbrick)

Detoxing cleanses are not for the faint of heart. Most people feel lethargic, achey, irritable and experience other symptoms such as bad breath, dry mouth, mental fogginess and excessive fatigue.

Sounds like fun right? Not so much.

Take heart however, usually around Day 3 of most detox programs symptoms begin to ease up. Energy levels rise a bit, bowel movements are regulated and cravings diminish.

If you have consulted with your health care provider (if needed) and been given the green light; choose a less active time in your life so you can rest more and not expend more energy than your body has. Remember, it has been used to working off a larger amount of calories and with a cleanse; the calorie count drops.....sometimes significantly.

So how am I on Day 3?

Right now, dreaming of french fries and chocolate and pizza and bacon and......

That's because I'm rather hungry and my snack of a protein smoothie is due in about 40 minutes and I'd like to hold off if I can until my designated time to make it.

Otherwise, Day 3 is better overall. I'm still a bit fatigued, but the headache and lack of mental clarity are both very minimal compared to Day 1 when my body realized (or thought) I was starving it.

Stay tuned for Day 4 and 5.

Day 4 left me very very lethargic: more so than I've been all through the first few days. I had to take a look at what else might be causing it and all I can come up with is that I burned more fuel than I took in. Rest really IS very important to a successful detoxification process.

On Day 5, I was so eager to be ending the boring menu that I planned to have dinner with a friend that evening eating "regular" food.......albeit modified for me so that my digestive tract wouldn't rebel and cause issues I didn't want.

The dinner I made was a mock macaroni and cheese made with cauliflower. I added buffalo chicken which was the only thing I craved throughout the detox. I also had a salad with a very small amount of dressing on the side.

What is interesting is that the mac and cheese had no taste to me. I asked my friend how it was and was told it was "very good", yet my taste buds didn't register it as anything more than bland even with the buffalo chicken in it. Hm.

The next day after the detox ended, I had some meals that were those listed in the detox and some "regular". The regular foods STILL had no flavor to me. Yet the detox foods flavor was still vibrant. What the heck?

Two days later, I found myself eating eggs, nuts and spinach.........for breakfast.

Maybe spinach IS a breakfast food after all.

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Though I don't typically need to lose weight; I am not the poster child for healthy eating either. I do my best, but we don't always have the best food choices to work with and well.... I like my girl scout cookies okay?

That said, part of my New Year's plan is quarterly detoxification. And though I'm a few weeks early on my second quarter, I decided coordinating my cleanse with the change to daylight savings time was appropriate.

The detox protocol I'm working with this time is a slightly modified version from Robert Ferguson's Food Lover's Fat Loss plan. I do NOT follow the diets of any of the cleansing programs I use. I simply take the preparatory phase and use that to detox and cleanse my body - hopefully ridding it of excess toxins and speeding up my metabolism in the process.

Grueling.

Day 1 of this cleanse was far more difficult than that of the spinach (yuck) protocol noted above. Day 1 began around 8 am with 2-4 oz of unsweetened apple juice, preferably organic, with 2 tbsp ground psyllium and 1 tbsp aloe. Mix well, drink, sift psyllium through your teeth. It doesn't taste bad really, but the texture is less than desirable. Follow with drinking an 8 oz glass of water. Psyllium builds bulk in the colon and the purpose of it here is to rid the colon of excess.....well you know....excess.

9 am I drank a cup of green tea-unsweetened.

10:00 I had breakfast of a fruit smoothie. My smoothie consisted of frozen berries, natural peanut butter and low fat yogurt.

By 11:30 I was frantically checking for the next "meal". I'm not sure if this is in my mind or my belly, but it commands attention. Sadly, I found I could have nothing more until noon "snack".

12 noon I had 8 oz of apple juice - straight up

2:00 pm was lunch time. Yes, another smoothie.

4:00 pm snack time of broth. Absolute bliss, I swear.

6:00 pm- smoothie number 3

8:00 snack of broth

9:30ish was the final apple juice/psyllium/aloe mixture followed by 8 oz of water.

I forgot the detox tea. Maybe I was too full, I don't know. Totally joking here........

So how was day 1?

Excruciatingly brutal. My body and mind were screaming at me about how crazy I was to starve them yet again. I was somewhat lethargic though I managed to do my chores. (I had the day off from work so that helped.) My mind was fuzzy and I lost 3 games of Yahtzee. It was the perfect time to challenge me.

Hunger levels: HIGH other than after my supper smoothie. BUT I also modified this one to include wheat germ which adds fiber and fills you up more.

Though I was a bit lethargic, the mind numbing fatigue didn't seem as prevalent as with the Jan detox but remember, the daylight hours are longer now and that tends to energize most people in and of itself.

I felt great when I awoke this morning. That's unusual for me so I'm going to proclaim Day 1 a success !

Day 2 is exactly as day 1. "But I'm HUNGRY......." (from 101 Dalmations movie).... is my mantra. I AM hungry, but my mind is somewhat clear and I am functional. The chocolate chip banana bread on the counter baked to take to a meeting tonight is taunting and tormenting me relentlessly.

Days 3, 4 and 5 ( I stopped at 5 instead of 6) are not going well. I'm obsessed with the thought of food (or is that possessed by the thought?). Unfortunately, I'm also only losing weight in tiny increments. NOT a huge incentive ! Now if I felt like a million bucks, I wouldn't care about the weight loss because that, for me, is really a bonus more than a goal.

But, I don't feel like a million. I don't even feel like a thousand bucks so I'm going to say that this particular program......at least at this time......for me, is a thumbs down.

Total pounds lost: 4 lbs in 5 days.