De-Tox

I've been hearing a lot of people talk about all kinds of detox diets with all kinds of crazy stuff in them ranging from nothing but maple syrup to some olive oil lemon juice concoction. Whenever I come off a long stint of travel or a weekend of junkfood excess I do my own super reliable detox diet which I've decided to share cause it actually works and really isn't that tough to do. If you can keep on it for a couple weeks your colon and skin will love you, but the key is making your own food, and making it taste good otherwise you'll be off the diet in a flash


Here are the basic pieces

1. Hydrate, you have to drink a ton of water, minimum 3 liters a day ideally 4-5. You don't realize it but you get a lot of sodium in your diet regardless of how well you eat, especially when eating packaged foods. Drinking lots of water takes some strain off of your kidneys and liver since everything's more diluted
   
2. Get some exercise. A lot of detox can be assisted with good cardio health because your body works it's way through everything faster. It also helps your body regulate stress which can make the whole process easier
3. Manage your blood sugar. This means a lot of little things but the basics are don't eat refined sugars and starches because they cause your blood sugar to spike which is rough on your system. If you're going to have starchy or sugary things make sure you get some nuts or seeds or olive oil with them to slow down the sugar processing. Also eat many smaller meals over the course of the day instead of 3 bigs meals
4. Be nice to your kidneys and liver- avoid alcohol, caffeine, tylenol, kava, etc.
5. Eat fresh foods- most prepackaged food has been designed for taste and shelf life, not nutrition. Whenever possible go for raw fruit and veggie snacks over packaged ones and stay way way away from processed meats. Cooking your veggies is okay, but you're gonna want to lightly steam them if possible just to make sure you still get most of the vitamins
   
6. Eat clean proteins- chicken, fish, eggwhites, soy, are all excellent sources of protein.
   
7. get your fiber- leafy vegetables, fruit, bran cereal, undercooked oatmeal, etc.
8. Eat some bulk starch but stay away from the refined stuff. White rice and pasta are bad, and small boiled potatoes are borderline ( lots of skin, high water content), so brown rice, cracked wheat (tabouleh), quinoa, and whole wheat cous cous are the way to go
   
9. Misc extras: don't drink too much water with meals ( do it before or a couple hours after), avoid dairy and fried foods. Make sure to adequately season your food!!! lemon, salt, pepper, onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, chicken broth, fish stock, etc. All of these add a whole lotta flavor without making things bad for you, but remember with more salt you need to drink a lot of water
   

Example menus

breakfast:

• all bran with soy milk and apple slices
• eggwhites with spinach, onions, and mushrooms
  

midmorning snack:

1-2 pieces of fruit
home roasted almonds ( just toss em on a cookie sheet with no oil)
preservative free dried fruit

lunch:

• Salad with oil and vinegar dressing with grilled chicken or fish and fruit
• brown rice sushi (sad, I know but sushi homma has made a name doing it)
• Chicken Wrap on whole wheat tortilla/chapati
  

Afternoon snack:

Carrot/celery sticks, fruit, homemade jerky

Dinner:

• Steamed black cod w/ ginger
  wilted peasprouts with garlic
  brown rice
  
• sashimi
  raw tofu with ginger (go easy on the bonito flakes)
  cucumber sunomono
  
• Grilled chicken w/ a little rosemary and olive oil
  lightly steamed french green beans ( with salt pepper and a squeeze of lemon)
  boiled potatoes w salt a little fresh garlic and just a little olive oil

You get the idea. It's tricky to follow when going out with friends, but you can usually do okay by sticking to a salad with grilled chicken or fish. Eating at home gives you the option of customizing the meal to make it a little more interesting.