It's finally SPRING!
The birds are singing, the air whispers freshness and we are itching be outside here in Northern Ontario. It’s a time of birth, growth and yes, spring cleaning. People are shedding their winter coats and with it want to shed some winter weight and get summer ready.
The call to “detox” is everywhere, with a promise of shedding pounds in the process! This leaves people wondering, can I actually lose weight on a detox? How do I do a detox? How does this all work?
Let us help make sense of the madness and debunk some of the detox myths.
Your MD might balk at the word detox, mostly because when the word is used people think it miraculously increases toxin removal. The fact is, there is no hard scientific evidence that “detoxing” removes MORE chemicals or toxins from the body than day to day activities.
Huh? Yup, you read that right.
There isn’t much quantitative evidence supporting that!
However, detoxifying as a verb means: “to remove toxins from, or abstain from toxins”. So when someone says to you “detoxing doesn’t work” you can say “well, actually smarty pants, it does. I just avoid the toxins and give my body a rest and some more tools to help my liver, kidneys, lungs and skin do a more effective job at eliminating. That’s detoxing!” (O.K, maybe leave out the smarty pants part when you say it).
FACT: Detoxing is more about abstaining from toxins and adding nutrients to help the body do its job more effectively. Think of a great detox as more of a “cleaning crews super charged spa day” than actually adding staff to the crew.
Here’s what we mean:
1. There are a number of herbs, foods and isolated nutrients that help the liver and kidneys do their jobs more effectively. The research behind these facts is extensive. Top detox food picks include Kale, Spinach, Avocado, Cucumber, Celery, Berries, APPLES, Bananas, Parsley, Cilantro and Citrus. How do they do this? They all contain special active ingredients that help support Liver function like betaine, fiber, pectin and diindolylmethane. In addition, in almost all circumstances of toxic liver overload there exists a condition of elevated oxidative stress and the herbs and berries provide much needed anti-oxidants to reverse this
2. We know that decreasing calories overall increases longevity and slows the aging process. This is part of the reason detoxing makes us feel better. We eliminate a lot of the “junk and excess” when we detox and this give our body a lighter feeling. It’s doing less of the heavy lifting sort of speak by reducing caloric content as well as heavy and more allergenic foods like dairy, grains and sugar.
3. The act of abstaining as a means of giving the body rest works for weight loss if your body is NOT suffering from nutrient deficiency to begin with. What this means is, if you are caloric restricted already, or adrenally challenged, detoxing doesn’t always mean weight loss. This is something people aren’t always aware of and why for some of our patients, when we alter the diet for a depleted person, they think “HOLY MOLY I can’t eat all this food!”
NUsisters Detox Made Easy
Daily for 1-2 Weeks:
- 2 cups of homemade beef broth every 2 hours until 2-3pm
- Between the hours of 2-7pm eat 1 light snack of veggies and fruit and 1 larger meal with a healthy portion of your favourite fish, 3-4 cups of veggies, 1-2 tbsp of healthy fats (grapeseed oil, avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil) and fruit for dessert
- Supplements: Élever+ 2 cap 3x/day and 1 tbsp of Psyllium fibre in 1 cup of water on an empty stomach before bed.
This calorie reduced, antioxidant rich, easy to follow detox is sure to put a spring in your step. Enjoy!
