Note: It is quite possible to do the 14 day express detox without making major changes to your diet. The herbs and fibres will provide a deep cleanse without the need for a strict detox diet. HOWEVER - if you want to optimise your 14 day cleanse then I would recommend following my dietary suggestions as set out below.
STEP 1: Foods that I would like you to avoid as much as possible
No wheat This affects your intake of bread, pasta and cereals. What you can have is bread, pasta and cereals made from: rice, corn, millet, spelt, quinoa, gluten free flour, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat. Spelt is also an option but please do not have it more than three times a week as it is still a variation of wheat (albeit an ancient form). Gluten (wheat) free pastas and breads are available at most UK supermarkets and big UK health food stores. Take a look at what your local health food store has.
No cow's dairy products. That is no: milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt, cream from a cow. I am able to offer you alternatives. You may have goat’s, sheep’s, soy, almond and rice products. There are some great goat’s cheeses and sheep’s yoghurts on the market. Try a few organic soya milks till you find one you like. I like Bonsoy brand.
NO yeasted or sugary foods: Marmite, vegemite, pickles like pickled onions, beer, champagne, fizzy drinks like cola, fruit juice unless organic and fresh, mushrooms, bruised fruit, old jams that have been in the fridge for a while, leftovers from the fridge, vinegar or ferments like tamari, soy sauce, sugar, honey, malt, molasses, maple syrup, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, glucose, etc.
BUT also no! artificial sweeteners at all.
Other foods you would be better off avoiding * most animal fats i.e. any fat that comes from chicken, cow, pig, duck, sheep and so on. * cooked oils. Don't fry your foods unless in olive oil. * margarine and butter, peanut butter. * NO diet drinks or artificial sweetener products. * sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, molasses, treacle, golden syrup. * white bread, white rice or other processed cereals, pies, cakes, pastries * salt or any other condiments like tomato ketchup, mayonnaise. * commercial breakfast cereals (Kellogg’s is a no go!). * soft drinks or other drinks that are not just pure fruit and freshly squeezed. * most canned, packaged or frozen vegetables and fruits – some of the organic canned and frozen produce is OK at a push. * jam, jellies, sweets, chocolate, candy, crisps, ice-cream. * catsup, ketchup, tartare sauce. * mustard, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise. * coffee, tea, alcohol, cocoa, sulphured dried fruits * packaged goods, or any food or drinks with preservatives, colourings and flavourings
Note: if you have headaches from coffee withdrawal use the homoeopathic Coffea 6x.
STEP 2: The diet plan - work with my suggestions to come up with a diet that suits you and your lifetstyle. Do your best.
First thing upon waking · half a fresh lemon squeezed into a glass of warm filtered water (not hot as this will kill the lemon). This wakes the liver up and starts the ball rolling. Add some grated ginger for added zing!
Breakfast These are just some suggestions for breakfast. · soaked grain muesli - soak one kind of grain overnight in either soy milk, goat’s, sheep’s, almond milk or non-acidic fruit juice (i.e. not orange juice). Cook it until soft. Choose between millet (ground), corn, buckwheat, brown rice flakes, spelt, corn or kamut. No wheat, rye, oats or barley or cereals based on these grains. If you have a small appetite make small servings. · 100% corn/millet flakes with soya, rice, goats, almond or sheep’s milk. Most good health food stores have a range of boxed breakfast cereals similar to Kellogg’s but from the allowed grains.
(Add a teaspoon of RICE bran to your muesli or cereals. I recommend topping the muesli or cereal with a tablespoon of goat’s or sheep’s milk natural organic yoghurt. Yes, you may have a little yoghurt with breakfast – BUT, it must be goat’s or sheep’s and make sure that the yoghurt has live acidophilus bacteria as a culture. Some brands use live bacteria to make the yoghurt and then pasteurise the final product, killing everything. These products are normally made by the huge dairy corporations, who want to jump on the bandwagon and make some money out of consumers. Acidophilus, bifidus and the other bacteria used are beneficial for digestion and need to reach the gut alive to be of any use. Most health food stores stock organic yoghurt.)
· An organic free range egg on rice or corn toast (no wheat bread etc.) if you are still ravenous. No butter. You may use some Olive oil on your toast instead of butter. You may also use a margarine as long as it has NO trans-fatty acids and is organic. · You may also just continue with fruit until lunch time. Organic and washed.
· herb tea: Ginger, green tea, dandelion, nettle, fennel, chamomile, corn silk, peppermint, lemon grass to name a few. · If you like a hot drink you may have a coffee substitute like bambu. No coffee and no tea. No milk. You may use soya milk or rice milk.
Mid morning · Cleansing juice. · 275ml raw vegetables. An example would be four carrots and a small beetroot. Always add a little fresh ginger to your juices. Wash, wash and wash! Buy a natural bristle vegetable scrub to give the skins a good wash. Seventy percent of the pesticides and other nasties are removed by a simple wash. Do not eat unwashed fruit and vegetables. Man made filth, like pesticides and weedicides, will damage and compromise the immune system. · I would prefer you not to mix fruits and vegetables. Some naturopaths do not mind, but I prefer to stick to the older naturopathic ideas of not mixing the two. · You may buy bottled organic juice if you really do not have time to juice. The bigger health food stores sell these juices by the case). I would consider the programme incomplete without a fresh juice at least twice in the week. Have one on weekends please. · If you are not having a fresh juice please have one teaspoon of Green Magma or Udo Erasmus ‘beyond greens’ or Natures plus ‘green lightening’ (available from UK and health food stores worldwide).
Lunch suggestions ONE or more of the following for lunch. Do not overeat. Chew really well.
1. Nice big SALAD, well chopped to aid digestion - the secret of a good salad is to try and get at least three colours of vegetable onto your plate. NO pasta salads and no crazy mayo dressings. Mix five or more vegetables, raw, washed and fresh. I use all types of vegetables in my salads. My guests cannot believe at first that they are going to eat, and enjoy, a salad that contains raw broccoli, raw zucchini, raw beetroot, radishes, onions, garlic, lettuce, sprouts, red and yellow capsicum and thin strips of carrot. Most people only see vegetables as the 'boiled to death' blobs next to the meat on the plate. All vegetables can be salad. The only exceptions are probably potatoes and eggplant, although I have eaten raw potato.
I find salad by itself a little boring after a while and so I make a dressing of either apple cider vinegar or lemon juice with linseed oil, cold pressed olive oil or Udo's oil. Add fresh herbs to taste. A healthy mayonnaise is linseed oil with low fat plain goats milk yoghurt and a dash of lemon juice.
Make your salad at home and take it to work. Try and store it in the fridge at work. I know it is not easy but think of how you will feel when you get to six weeks - absolutely AMAZING.
Buy organic. Organic vegetables are jam-packed with all the right ingredients for health. No nasty chemicals to make your detox a nightmare. Organic farming is growing exponentially and I urge you to support those farmers brave enough to step outside of the established boundaries. The fruit and veggies are normally smaller and are 'insect scarred'. They make up for their small size with dynamite taste. I refuse to eat tomatoes the size of melons, with no taste and containing pig genes. Be brave and get on good terms with your local organic green grocer.
2. Add some PROTEIN if you feel like more than salad - choose from organic free range eggs, fresh fish, tuna (no oil, brine), organic salmon, grilled chicken, turkey, legumes, baked vegetables, baked tofu or tempeh, and unrefined grains like brown rice.
3. Essential with each lunch - five raw, organic almonds.
4. Soups are a great accompaniment to salads at lunchtime because they are warming and filling. Good health food stores and most supermarkets have organic soups. They might not be 100% pure but I don’t mind if they have a little pepper etc. because it is not always easy to make your own soups when you are so busy on the detox.
5. Sushi and sashimi also makes a good clean lunch. The white rice is fine once or maximum twice a week.
6. Alternate, allowed pasta with a vegetable based sauce like pesto.
7. A piece of fruit if you feel like it later on, washed of course. Wait at least an hour before you have fruit.
8. Herb tea or coffee substitute like 'Caro' or 'Bambu'. Use soya milk if you need to. Soya milk takes a bit of getting used to but try a few and see which you prefer. All your soya milk must be organic. Soya beans are amongst the most heavily sprayed and genetically engineered crops in the universe. Say no to GMO – genetically modified organisms.
Mid afternoon · Drink your No:Tox!
Dinner suggestions Dinner is broken up as follows, whether at home or at a restaurant: 1/3 (roughly)= organic salad, well chopped. 1/3 (roughly)= steamed vegetables, still crunchy. 1/3 = fish, stir fry (use water, not oil), white grilled chicken, grilled red meat, grilled fish, turkey, legumes, beans, soup.
NOTE: Use this same formula when eating out. Half to two thirds of your plate or meal needs to be steamed vegetables or vegies/salad of some sort. The other half needs to be SIMPLE - eg: a piece of fish or grilled chicken. No sauces and mad flavourings and crazy lashings of anything. Keep it simple!!!! Taste what you are eating. Grilled fish is just SO much better than battered and oiled and smothered in sauce or sloppy rubbish from a supermarket or poor restaurant!
1. SALAD. I always think that it is better to eat your salad first. Let the fresh food get down there and start to do some healing. Be inventive with your salads but stick to the guidelines of what is acceptable. A lettuce and tomato salad with ten tons of thousand island dressing is your quickest way back to being ill-health.
2. Lightly STEAMED VEGETABLES. Buy a steamer and learn which vegetables cook the fastest. Potatoes need a lot longer than broccoli for example. The vegetables need to be still crunchy. Do not boil your vegetables. If you do, throw the vegetables away and drink the water because that is where all the remaining goodness has gone. Intense heat destroys the vitamins and water leeches out all the minerals.
It is also fine to bake the vegetables. Please do not use a MICROWAVE. Do not heat anything in a microwave EVER again. This includes water for tea etc.
3. PROTEIN and vegetables only at dinner. No pasta, potato, bread or rice. · Legumes and beans are a great source of protein. Lightly steam the green beans. Bean salads. · Vegetable soup with a slice of corn, rice, gluten free or buckwheat bread. Stay away from wheat bread, even wholemeal wheat. · Chicken without the skin, fresh fish, grilled meats, turkey, tofu, tempeh.
4. If you feel like something sweet you may have fresh or steamed fruit and low fat live goat’s yoghurt, an hour after eating.
This diet tastes better as you become used to food that is unseasoned and unadulterated. Give your taste buds the chance to clean out and adjust. After a short while you will move out of the habit of eating rubbish and start to appreciate the taste of real, healthy food. Fat, salt and sugar are the main ingredients of normal food and they are very addictive substances. If you think of yourself as an addict it might make it easier to face the pain of changing your dietary habits. This diet can be difficult but so is being toxic. It is worth the initial effort and exercise of willpower to overcome inertia.
Additional things to do · Skin brush each morning or evening. Buy a loofa or a natural bristle skin brush from somewhere like the body shop. Gently massage the skin each morning, avoiding any areas that are red or sore. Your skin should be tingling when you have finished. Then have a nice shower/bath. This activates the skin and helps it to play its role in detoxing the body. · Deep breathing each morning. Stand in front of an open window and inhale deeply for a few minutes. Breathe right into the stomach. Do not hyperventilate or you will fall over. This may sound unimportant but I cannot stress enough just how ESSENTIAL it is to get oxygen into our systems. We live in a world of decreasing oxygen levels and oxygen is the element that the body uses to detoxify. It "burns" rubbish with the oxygen, just like a bonfire. So please take the few minutes each day. It is only for six weeks and we both want results. · Exercise. I really strongly suggest up to three sessions a week with a personal trainer for the duration of the detox (if at all possible!). Talk to your trainer as they are the experts. Tell them what you are doing and keep them updated all the time. · Decide on a suitable reward for the end of your first two weeks. This will help you stick to your schedule. Make sure that the reward is not food based, as we want to get away from food as a reward and punishment. · When you are feeling low it is a good idea to book in for a massage with a qualified therapists.
