It’s a wedding and holiday season, and there are high chances that you feasted on calorie dense meals and snacked on junk food. Feeling heavy, bloated and out of sync? Looking out for a quick reset? Here is All About Diet to rescue.

The good news is you don’t have to follow a crash diet or need to spend hours in gym to get back on track. Our body have a natural mechanism to detoxify and heal itself. But there are times where in intake of processed and junk food are too frequent and then body needs gentle ways that can help along way.

How does detox diet helps?

Detoxification, is a process where you aim to flush out toxins from your body. Due to frequent intakes of junk and adulterated foods we eat and it’s impossible for the organs to keep a tab on all toxins and that’s how a detox plan helps you.

Simply cutting down portion of your meals like cutting down roti and rice won’t be helpful as it makes your brain believe that you aren’t getting enough food. So the real trick is to eat same portions but replace it to low calorie options so that you eat foods which are nutrient dense but not calories dense. E.g. replacing bowl of rice pulao with bowl of sprouts vegetable salad. Including more of fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits helps to meet your nutritional requirements, boost metabolism and cleans your system hence it should be major part of detox diet.

 

How does a detox diet work?

• Generally a detox plan revolves around fruits, vegetables , juices, water
• Most detox diet restricts the intake of dairy, eggs, poultry, meat and grains
• You can choose a detox plan of your choice. It ranges from once a week to thrice a week or even a week long detox program.
• You can even follow modified versions of detox which do include dairy foods.

 

Highlights of detox / Cleansing diet

• Fasting for short periods of time
• Consuming only fruits and vegetables
• Cutting out wheat and dairy foods
• Consuming more of fluids and less or no salt.
• Avoiding caffeine and alcohol

 

Some powerful ingredients to detoxify?

Water

Keeping your body hydrated is utmost important step in flushing out toxins from your body. Aim at drinking at least one glass of water per hour to ensure your body is well hydrated. Proper liver and kidney filtration process is also largely depend of optimal water intake.

Lemon water

Drinking warm lemon water early in the morning alkalize your body, curb your hunger and revs up your metabolism. You can also consider sipping lemon water throughout the day esp. after meals to get better cleansing effect.

Green tea

Having 2-3 cups of green tea per day ensures faster metabolism and smooth functioning of digestive track.

Fennel seed tea

Fennel seeds are one of the best ingredient to cleanse your system. It gives relief from all digestion related problems like bloating, constipation, flatulence, gas, indigestion etc, It has soothing effect on body and hence best cure of acidity.

Ginger/ Cumin/ Turmeric tea

These ingredients have anti-inflammatory effect. It contains antioxidant, help you better digestion and improves your metabolism.

 

Detox waters

It can be easily made at home and the common ingredients used in detox waters are  lemon, cucumbers, orange, apple, mint, lime, strawberries, watermelon, ginger, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar etc.

Benefits Of  Detox water

• Improves Metabolism
• Weight loss
• Removes toxins from body
• Energy booster
• Mood enhancer

 

Few detox water ideas

• Lemon ginger detox water
• Strawberry lemon mint detox water
• Cucumber Lemon lime detox water
• Cucumber, lemon, mint and ginger detox water
• Lemon, mint and basil water
• Turmeric, lemon mint water

It’s always better to follow a healthy and balanced diet for long term. Though occasionally following detox diets to give a push to your weight loss is still fine but it shouldn’t be used for a longer run.

 

Foods to avoid during detox

• Poultry, Red meat and any meat product.
• Dairy – Milk, cheese, cream, butter
• Any food that contains wheat including bread, croissants, cereals, cakes, biscuits, pies, pastry, quiche, battered or bread crumbed foods, etc.
• Crisps and savory snacks including salted nuts.
• Chocolate, sweets, jam and sugar.
• Processed foods, ready meals, ready-made sauces and takeaways.
• Alcohol.
  • Sauces, shop bought salad dressing, mayonnaise
• Salt
• Fizzy drinks and squashes, including diet versions.

So we just saw how the detox diets work. Now let’s discuss about Do you really need a detox?
If you are struggling with weight loss plateau for a long time even after following a proper weight loss plan may be it’s time for a detox plan now. `There’s no harm in trying detox diets occasionally. But in case if you are suffering from certain medical conditions. You can always consult your doctor/ dietician regarding it.

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Do these detox diets really work?
Well few people have reported that they do lose weight and feel better and energetic after detox plan. It may be due in part to the fact that a detox diet eliminates highly processed foods that have solid fats and added sugar. Simply avoiding these high-calorie low-nutrition foods for a few days may be part of why people feel better.

But don’t follow these diets for a longer term as You’ll definitely lose weight, but a detox is not the best method for permanent weight loss. Any diet that involves fasting or restricting food groups cannot be followed in the long run. A one- two day detox plan is enough to blast the plateau effect.

My suggestion would be rather than following a detox diet completely you can opt for detox drinks or detox waters even they are beneficial for your weight loss.
Detox drinks are a combination of  fruits and vegetables with water that  detoxifies the internal system .

 

Few recipes to be included in detox plan

Kale Detox Juice

Green Apple -2

Celery Stalks -½

Cucumber -6

kale Leaves -¼

Lemon -½ inch Ginger

Almond & Berry Juice

-4 Cherries

-10 Blueberries

-4 Raspberries

-3 Strawberries

-4 Blackberries

– ½ cup Almond milk

-1 Tbsp. honey

– 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Sleep Juice

-1 large oranges

-1/2 large lemon

– 1/4 bunch of watercress

– 4 stalks celery

– 1/4 head romaine lettuce

Power Juice

– 2 Cups of Spinach

– ½ Cup Blueberries

– 1 inch Ginger

– ½ Mango

Green Salad

Ingredients

Lettuce – ¼ head

Avocado – ¼

Cucumber – 5-10 slices

Peppers – ¼ tsp.

Cherry Tomato – 5

Baby Corn – 2

Red Onions – 1

Flax Seed – 1tsp.

Chia Seeds – 1tsp.

 

Here’s just a glimpse into the feedback I received from those who have completed Detox diet with us.

“Improved energy”

“Lost weight”

“Lost inches”

“My cravings subsided”

“Better skin”

“Less bloating”

“Less water retention”

“Less cellulite”

“More focused and motivated to eat well”

Feel free to contact me if interested in adopting healthier lifestyle and start getting weight loss result. Begin 2019 on a different note, on the right note, at least as far as health is concerned. Leave the past behind along with that extra, unwanted weight and those insidious and harmful toxins.

Dietitian Farzana Chauhan

+919773870930