Should You Be Considering The Lemon Detox Diet?

Also referred to as the master Cleanse, the lemon detox diet may not be a commonly referenced title, but this isn’t the latest addition to the host of diet trends. This form of body cleansing has actually been around for more than 50 years, with everyone from your colleagues to celebrities taking part. It seems we’re obsessed with the concept of cleansing the toxins from our bodies, but does it really work and could it result in the desired weight loss we think it does? This isn’t an everyday kind of health programme – it requires between 10 and 14 days to flush the toxins from your body, limiting your intake of food and drink to just lemon juice maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water, and also taking laxatives. The concept behind this liquid diet is that the acid levels in the lemons encourages your liver and gallbladder to rid themselves of toxins, boosting your metabolism and circulation, and giving the intestinal tract a break.  People who follow this diet claim that the result of this cleanse is that the body is returned to its natural and most balanced state, giving many other benefits such as mental clarity and improved skin and hair health.

The detox is easy to follow and you need to maintain it for up to two weeks, consuming the recipe for a minimum of six times a day. The recipe consists of two tbs of lemon or lime juice, two tbs of genuine maple syrup, 1/10 tsp of cayenne pepper and 10 oz of water which can be hot or cold, whichever you prefer. Mix equal parts of the lemon juice and maple syrup to keep as a concentration, to be kept in a dark container. You need to keep the mixture cool and make sure that you make enough concentrate for as long as you’re incapable of making the fresh lemonade. Each time you want to make a glass of lemonade, measure 4tbs of the mixture into a glass and add water and cayenne pepper, then mix. The maple syrup is supposed to preserve the lemon juice and prevent it from oxidising. You should down this mixture any time the hunger pangs strike, and in addition to the lemon drink, you should take a laxative in the morning and at night. This is to keep the toxins moving out of the body by encouraging bowel movements.

 

So the celebrities endorse the effects, but what does the research say? According to Natural News, there are benefits to the cleanse in that you end up with a clean slate and can begin making healthier choices, but the programme shouldn’t be used as a way to lose weight. Instead, it should be used as a form of healthy start to encourage a chain of healthy decisions, both in your diet and in terms of exercise. You will notice weight loss as a result of the limited amount of calories you’ll consume, but you can’t maintain the diet for long periods of time and when you return to a regular eating plan, the weight will come back. For many people, the idea of fasting is more mental than physical, and this has its own benefits to be considered. As with any diet change, you should speak to your GP before embarking on the cleanse to make sure that it’s safe for you to do so, and to ensure that you’re doing it for the right reasons.

Categories: cayenne pepper, detox diet, diet, Lemon, lemon detox, lemon juice, maple syrup, toxins, Trends, Weight Loss

The Detox Diet: Get Slimmer in Time for the Festive Season

At this time of year, there’s a whole bunch of upcoming events that you need to look fabulous for, but not very much time in which to get your wellbeing in shape. However, before you panic and attempt the latest fad diet, relax. You can lose weight fast without putting your wellness at risk by trying a detox diet. According to nutritionist Teresa Boyce, ‘Detoxing is the ideal method for losing a few kilograms. It also motivates you to take control of your diet and inspires you to continue eating well after the programme is over.’ Fast weight loss with long-term motivation? Sign us up!

 

Boyce explains, ‘We are exposed to toxins every day and a build-up can affect our neurological, immune and endocrine (hormone) systems. The most common offenders are air pollution, food additives, pesticides, alcohol, cigarette smoke and heavy metals. When large amounts of toxins are consumed over a long period of time, health issues arise. By following a detox diet you reduce the toxic load and enable the body to function more efficiently. Detoxing simply requires a little discipline and a fridge full of nourishing foods.’ For Boyce’s plan, you prepare for the first week, followed by two full weeks of detoxing.

 

When doing your shop for the next few weeks, include fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, nuts, seeds, gluten-free grains, legumes, soya products, lean protein, green and herbal teas, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, flaxseed oil, organic honey, and almond or cashew spread. Do not put any of the following foods in your trolley: grains containing gluten, non-lean sources of protein (beef, pork, shellfish, bacon, sausages and preserved meats), dairy, sugar, processed foods, refined foods, fast foods, unhealthy beverages (alcohol, coffee, black tea, soft drinks, cordial and commercial juices), salt, peanut butter, commercial dressings and sauces, artificial colours, flavours, additives, flavour enhancers or hydrogenated fats.

 

‘In week one, start weaning off caffeine and alcohol,’ Boyce instructs. ‘If you drink two cups of coffee a day, reduce it to one or every second day. This early stage is aimed at limiting potential withdrawal symptoms that vary from a light headache to migraines, nausea and low energy levels. Start to up your water intake.’ Throughout the next three weeks, you should drink at least two litres of pure water each day, eliminate alcohol, exercise daily and choose organic wherever possible. Boyce adds, ‘Onions, broccoli, kale and cabbage are top vegetables for cleansing. They help the liver convert toxins to harmless substances to be excreted out of the body.’

 

Boyce also has some useful tips for getting the most out of your detox diet:

 

1. Start the day right: ‘Start the day with a glass of freshly squeezed lemon juice in water,’ Boyce advises. ‘This enhances digestion and liver detoxification. Don’t throw out the peel; the nutrients in lemon zest further promote liver detoxification. Add the zest to salads, cooked quinoa or fish.’

 

2. Go green: Boyce recommends, ‘Sip on green tea throughout the day. It will help manage coffee withdrawal plus provide the body with antioxidants to help neutralise toxins. Green tea does contain caffeine, but it’s only a small amount and the benefits outweigh the minimal caffeine levels.’

 

3. Add some flavour: ‘Add fresh herbs to meals, especially coriander,’ says Boyce. ‘This delicious herb has a unique detoxifying action and goes particularly well with stir-fries, fish and salads.’

 

4. Eat slowly: Boyce points out, ‘Chewing each mouthful of food 10 to 12 times improves digestion and allows you to feel a sense of fullness without overeating.’ Take your time with your food and really focus on what you’re eating, rather than wolfing it down in front of the TV.

Categories: boyce, detox diet, diet, fast weight loss, foods, Getting Started, green tea, liver detoxification, nbsp, nbsp boyce, time

Liver Detox Diet: How Can It Benefit You?

There are many different diets that fade in and out of popularity. This is no doubt due to the current obsession with weight loss and trying to emulate the appearance of celebrities and models. This makes people want to do anything they can in order to drop the pounds that they feel are making them unattractive. But there is an obvious problem here in that if people are so obsessed with losing weight that they will try almost anything, how do we know which diets are safe and indeed how do we know which ones are the right ones to use?

 

One of the most popular diets in the world right now is known as the Liver Detox Diet. It is something that you hear many celebrities championing the benefits of, and it is clearly a diet that has been able to make a difference in the lives of many people. Rather than being a diet that you do every day, the liver detox diet puts forward the idea that a few days a month you need to allow your body to cleanse itself – and you do this by detoxing. This detoxing process uses a limited amount of food as well as colon cleansing herbs in order for your body to be able to better rid itself of some of the harmful toxins that accumulate through our intake of food. But the big question is: do they really work?

 

There is a lot of negative publicity and controversy surrounding detox diets and the reason for that is simple – people try to use them the wrong way. As we have stated, people will do almost anything in order to lose weight and that includes using diets incorrectly. Detox diets, as mentioned before, are designed to be something that you do only a little bit – perhaps a few days in a month, but unfortunately some people have been using them as a crash diet in order to lose weight very quickly. The idea being that if a little use of the detox diet helps you lose weight over a long period of time, then an extended use of detox diets will result in very quick weight loss.

 

Unfortunately, trying to do the detox diet over a long period is actually damaging to your body and causes a lot more problems that you might imagine. Nevertheless, if you use the detox diet correctly it can actually be an effective way of making yourself healthier. The idea behind the diet is that if you stop eating foods that are bad for you, it gives your body the opportunity to go through its natural processes and flush out lots of the bad stuff that has accumulated in your body. Once the body has gone through this process it is naturally healthier and is able to do all of its jobs better.

 

This can actually help you in terms of weight loss because there are many bodily processes that, if weighed down by months of eating bad food, do not perform as well as they could. This includes processes that are vital to us losing weight such as our ability to digest food and our metabolism. So if you do want to do a detox diet, there should be no real problem with that as long as you do it sensibly and in moderation. Do not believe that this is a quick fix solution – you’ll be using it to be healthier, fitter and slimmer in the long term and doing it with a method that makes your body better.

Categories: detox, detox diet, detox diets, diet, Liver, liver detox, long period, Lose weight, Losing Weight, Weight Loss

Considering Doing a Detox Diet? What You Should Know

Improving your wellness and wellbeing is often a matter of paying closer attention to your diet and nutrition. People often do this by doing some kind of detox diet to get them started. There are various different detox diets that you can do, and they all make different claims.

 

Generally, though, detox diets claim to help your body rid itself of toxins and enable you to lose weight faster. They are also thought to help you feel better and have more energy. Any detox diet is usually made up of a variety of different activities, such as fasting for a period of a few days, eating only juice for a few days, taking supplements and multi vitamins and cutting out unhealthy food and drink such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol and junk food.

 

Detoxes also go a step further for some people, and involve things like chelation therapy, saunas and colon cleansing. The Master Cleanse used by Beyonce, for example, advises people to drink cups of water with lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. Kate Moss, celebrity model, also follows another detox diet which advocates 21 days of eating soy, poultry, fish, steamed vegetables, brown rice, lentils, beans and drinking nothing but green tea.

 

In order to detox, you have to think about whether you are intoxicated in the first place. In truth, you probably are. There are so many different pollutants in the air and all around us. Drugs and alcohol can add to this.

 

Detox diets can have a significant effect on the body and can be a good start to get you into a healthier routine, but it’s worth mentioning that they are not a quick fix. You cannot lose significant weight unless you stick to a diet, and if you do a few days of a detox and nothing further then all that will happen is that you quickly regain the weight and feel the same as you did before.

Categories: days, detox, detox diet, detox diets, diet, nbsp, weight

How to Organise a Special Doggie Detox Diet for your Pooch

When you think about the topics that affect family wellness, you probably consider the health of a couple, and perhaps a child (or five), too. What you may not consider, is the wellness and wellbeing of the family’s faithful four-legged friend: the family dog.

 

When other members of the family are feeling lethargic or suffering from stomach or digestive problems, you may consider some kind of detox diet. When it comes to the dog, perhaps you should consider the same strategy?

 

Pets are surrounded by the same exposure to daily toxins and chemicals that can impair the ability of all living things to naturally get rid of all of the waste materials that they carry around, leading their bodies to feel heavy and sluggish. This can lead to illness, and a few days of a detox diet can help to improve the function of the liver, clear the skin, restore healthy digestion and improve overall energy levels.

 

Holistic pet care is a school of thought that believes that pet care should encompass the whole pet and every aspect of their mental and physical wellbeing. Many people believe that a lot of the health problems in pets come from problems with their kidneys and liver, brought about by chemicals in pet food, in the air around them (such as in cigarette smoke) in chlorinated water, in pesticides and in pollution. This can lead them to suffer from parasites, digestive problems, weight gain or loss, lethargy, skin problems and respiratory problems.

 

Prevention is best, so if possible, try to avoid chemical cleaners and insecticides, avoid smoking around your pet and use natural flea treatments and pet foods with your pet. If a detox is necessary though, there are a number of options, such as adding probiotics to their food to improve their digestion, giving them milk thistle to help with damaged liver and using dandelion as a detoxifier.

Categories: detox, detox diet, diet, digestive problems, dog, nbsp, pet care, problems