New Year Detox Ideas

The start of the year is, of course, the perfect time to do a clean up. It may be that your eating over the festive period was so off-beam that you need a few days to ease back into healthy eating (notice: we are 9 days in already!), or it may be that you are ready for something a little more radical.

Here follows some info about how to do a 2 day or a 5-7 day detox. Choose what feels right and then give it your all. Ready?

The best 2 day detox is to follow the classic “eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible” routine, but we must also take care that these are organic. Pesticides are hardly non-toxic! So we want the food to be clean, whole and untainted – also “live” (raw) foods as these still have the enzymes, oxygen, naturally distilled water and precious health-promoting plant hormones (that help us feel happier) as part of them.

As two days is really no time at all, it’s best to just go for it and give it 100%, so set two days aside where you don’t have to be out and about socialising, where there is no pressure to eat “normally” and when you can easily prepare your own foods.

Even though this will be largely fruits and vegetables, that doesn’t mean it has to be boring – far from it! And you’ll be glowing afterwards.

Here’s your plan:

Drinks – ideally the only drinks you should be consuming throughout your detox are pure water, caffeine-free herbal teas, freshly made fruit and vegetable juices and freshly made smoothies.

Day 1

Morning: As much fresh fruit as you desire – any sort – and/or a smoothie (eat always according to your appetite).

Mid-morning snack: A different type of fruit – as much as you desire – eat until satiated.

Lunch: A large salad made using any or all of the following ingredients:

Lettuce (any kind or mixed), watercress, grated carrot, grated raw beetroot, fresh corn shaved off the cob, chopped tomatoes, chopped red bell pepper, any sprouted beans or seeds (such as alfalfa, sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted broccoli, sprouted mung beans, etc.). Make your dressing by blending half a large avocado with the juice from 2 oranges and blend. Add water to reach your desired consistency if it’s too thick and creamy for you. Then pour over your salad, toss, throw in the remaining half an avocado if you wish, and enjoy! (Tip: Make sure this salad is big enough so that you are not starving 30 minutes later. Make more than you think you’ll want and you can dip into it up to an hour before dinner).

Dinner: Fresh juice made from 3 large carrots, 2 apples, small piece of ginger (optional), small piece of lemon, 3 oranges.

A large fruit salad made with as many fruits as you desire (banana is good for filling you up!) served in a large bowl. Make a sauce by blending a handful of raw macadamia nuts with the juice of half an orange (or a whole one depending on juiciness), 2-4 large Medjool dates (or 4-8 smaller soaked ones) plus and optional small piece of vanilla bean and pour on top.

Day 2

Repeat as for day one, but feel free to eat the salad meal in the evening and add in some slightly heavier raw foods – like some raw unsalted nuts and seeds, some olives and/or some more avocado.

As long as you are eating enough, enjoy every mouthful (i.e. don’t use ingredients you don’t like, swap them for something else of the same food group that you do like), and take care with your drinks then you should feel noticeably lighter and happier when you wake up on day 3, at which point you can either go back to normal or try something slightly longer…

Day 3

As per days one and two, ideally you want at least one juice and one smoothie in there (a green smoothie is the healthiest one of all), one main meal salad and one large helping of fresh fruit. Avoid eating fruit AFTER meals as this will cause gas and bloating in most people due to fermentation. So keep your fruit meals or drinks separate, or at least before a main meal.

Add in steamed veggies today to your main meal if you desire, but remember, they need to be organic!

Days 4-7

As per day three, but you can add in one or two other cooked items to your main meal salad which can be any of these:

• Cooked potatoes swirled in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and fresh basil
• Cooked beans or pulses
• Cooked veggies
• Wholegrain rice
• Any organic rice or rice crackers
• Non-wheat breads
• Oatcakes

At the end of this week you should feel very different, and probably a lot happier - as well as having lost a few pounds if you need to.

This can give you a feel for what is possible for you when you choose to not only lighten your toxic load food-wise, but also start to let go of stored toxins, which may have been lurking there in your cells and tissues for weeks or months!

© 2012 Karen Knowler WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com.

Comments

[j]

HI Karen,

just heard you on rawpalooza..thanks for many insights. I've lived, and worked, at two well known raw food communities, have been veggie/then vegan/then raw for ....going on 37 years now. can not eat avocado, cashews, coconut, dates .....which gets frustrating w/ raw recipes,but my main question is HOW does one have GOALS IN LIFE? I have basically coasted, took what came..main goal is inner/outer 'peace'. Clueless on the rest. My life is O.K. but no real motivation to do anything . Have been 'intellectual', 'sensual', 'intuitive', 'connscious' eater. have been extremely 'focused' in the past. Everyone talks of so much energy from raw foods. I guess I was pretty clean to start with and never noticed that, but lately..no energy. no ambition. (yes take b12). And food prep takes most time/energy..how to get to that point of desire for other?...and know what it is? I'd take you 11 mo. course but...have never ,and do not know how to get to identify goals. which seems to be a starting point. Is that just a 'functional' person thing and not to be expected from a relatively happy drifter like me?

[Sarah]

Looks like the regular raw food diet to me! How about juice feasting for a real deep cleanse? I'm on day 10!

[Rebecca]

Thanks so much for this Karen! You always make it seem so easy - and for those of us still trying hard to transition our diets, seeing how easy it can be is a huge help!

[Annemarie]

Karen, any other dressing you can recommend that don't use avocado. I am highly allergic.