A cleansing diet can shorten our path to a slim figure, but also boost our health by detoxifying the body of harmful substances. Throughout our lives our body accumulates various types of toxins, negatively affecting our health and well-being. Their source is various factors, primarily environmental pollution, unhealthy food we consume, but also our lifestyle – stress, lack of exercise, lack of sleep and relaxation. Harmful substances accumulated in the body weaken the immunity, and thus contribute to the development of various diseases.
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Body cleansing diet – why is it so important?
Our body, in addition to absorbing nutrients necessary for life, also accumulates various “garbage” remaining after them and after the process of metabolism. In a natural way, they should be completely removed by the organs intended for this, the liver and kidneys. However, the modern lifestyle causes that natural mechanisms cannot keep up with cleansing the body. We eat too few vegetables and fruits, and too many flour and high-protein products, fats, sweets and processed food. We have too little exercise and too much stress, we breathe polluted air and additionally burden our bodies with stimulants.
For these reasons, the modern human system is often deprived of essential vitamins and minerals, acidified and burdened with toxins. Cleansing the body is designed to regenerate, hydrate, deacidify and oxygenate every cell of the body. By following a cleansing diet we strengthen our immune system and minimize the risk of developing one of the many diseases of civilization. The cleansing diet can be used from time to time, in the form of a one-day treatment or in the form of a several-day, longer detoxification, for example in spring or autumn.
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Toxin cleansing diet – rules and contraindications
The treatment should be carried out during the weekend or holiday, when work does not require us to be very active. At least a week before starting the diet, you should give up eating highly processed food, limit sugar and fats.
The whole mechanism of the detox is based on two factors – excluding specific, unhealthy foods from the menu, and at the same time providing the body with valuable substances, which will cleanse and regenerate it. In this way we support the natural detoxification processes in the liver, kidneys, intestines and skin and at the same time we regulate and improve the metabolism.
During the cleansing diet you have to reckon with some inconveniences, which are the effects of the detoxification process, namely headaches, sleepiness, fatigue, excessive sweating, problems with bowel movements or diarrhoea. In order to avoid these unpleasant symptoms, you need to prepare yourself properly for the treatment, as mentioned before, and do not implement a restrictive diet from one day to the next. The cleansing diet also requires drinking plenty of water and herbal infusions, and after its completion, in order not to waste the results achieved, the diet should be gradually enriched, but taking into account the principles of healthy eating.
The cleansing diet is not recommended for children, pregnant and nursing women. It should be generally used by healthy people, but definitely avoided by those suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, all acute inflammatory conditions.
The cleansing diet and losing weight
Striving to get rid of excess weight, we often reach for very radical solutions, in the belief that in this way we will eliminate the problem of excess weight once and for all. Nothing could be further from the truth, starvation very rarely brings the expected results in the long run.
Although prolonged starvation causes rapid weight loss, it weakens and debilitates the body. What’s more, not providing the body with necessary nutrients makes metabolic processes slow down, and after the hunger strike is over, every calorie consumed will be immediately stored in fat tissue. From here it is only a step to quickly return to the old weight, or even exceed it.
Meanwhile, the cleansing diet can be an excellent instrument in the fight against overweight, because it not only detoxifies, but also promotes faster metabolism while providing the most valuable nutrients to our body. Of course, to achieve the desired results, the cleansing and slimming diet should last a little longer.
One-day cleansing diet, which consists of eating only vegetables and fruits and drinking water, will only allow the body to rest and get rid of some toxins and, for example, swelling. A cleansing diet of several days will certainly enhance the positive effects. But if we decide on a long-term fruit and vegetable therapy, such as Dr Dabrowski’s diet, we will not only thoroughly cleanse the body of toxins that interfere with its proper functioning, but also lose weight.
With the cleansing diet slimming is admittedly a bit slower, because we can not expect rapid burning of fat, but the same regulation and acceleration of the metabolic rate favors the slim figure, in addition, has a good impact on our health and well-being.
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The basis of the slimming and cleansing diet are products with a high content of fibre, i.e. vegetables, fruit, herbs, wholemeal cereal products, water and herbal teas, seeds and seeds. It is recommended to eat 5 to 9 portions of vegetables and fruit a day, especially including root and leafy vegetables, pickles and fruits with low sugar content.
In the first week of the diet we should limit ourselves to vegetable dishes, while in the second week we can introduce wholemeal cere als – brown rice, bran, buckwheat or millet groats and dairy products. These are all natural products low in carbohydrates and fat, but abundant in vitamins, minerals, fiber and other valuable bioactive substances.
As for the vegetable part, the menu should include:
- root vegetables – carrots, celery, beets, turnips, radishes, parsley
- leafy vegetables – lettuce, kale, parsley, watercress, spinach, rocket, herbs
- Brassica vegetables – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi
- Onion vegetables – onion, garlic, leek
- Squash vegetables –pumpkin , courgette, squash, cucumber
- Solanaceae – tomatoes, peppers
- leguminous vegetables – soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, beans
Week 1
1 day:
- breakfast – celery, cucumber and pepper salad, beetroot juice, green tea
- dinner – cabbage soup, tomato salad, fruit tea
- supper – steamed cauliflower, carrot salad, ginger tea
2nd day:
- breakfast – roasted vegetables, carrot juice
- dinner – Ukrainian borscht, apple and leek salad, beetroot juice
- dinner – fat-free stewed leeks, salad of radishes and tomatoes, green tea
day 3:
- breakfast – boiled cabbage with tomatoes, stewed apples, herbal tea
- dinner – vegetarian medley, steamed broccoli, celery juice
- dinner – stewed courgette, rocket salad, rosehip tea
Week two
Day 1:
- breakfast – tomato and pepper salad, baked apple, yogurt
- dinner – kohlrabi soup, celery, cucumber and chive salad, beetroot juice
- supper – millet groats with blueberries or raspberries, herbal tea
Day 2:
- breakfast – carpaccio of boiled beetroot with lemon juice and rocket, slice of diet bread, vegetable juice
- dinner – roasted courgette, turnip salad, fruit tea
- supper – cooked asparagus, salad mix, carrot juice
Day 3:
- breakfast – vegetable casserole, bread Graham, yogurt
- dinner – lentil meatballs, tomato and onion salad, baked apple
- supper – cabbage soup, carrot salad with ginger, herbal tea
Between meals you can eat raw or pickled vegetables, salads with the addition of herbs, in principle without limits as to quantity. However you should definitely exclude fats, meat, white bread, potatoes, sweets, strong coffee and tea, stimulants. Drink plenty of fluids, i.e. still water, herbal infusions, vegetable juices.
A cleansing diet – recipes for several vegetable dishes
Vegetable cottage cheese
Cut the onion into feathers, pepper into strips, tomatoes into cubes, add chopped squash or courgette and stew together until soft. Add spices – salt, pepper, garlic, allspice, bay leaf, or lovage or basil and oregano.
Gazpacho
Dice red and green peppers and fresh cucumber, add finely chopped red onion and a clove of garlic, chopped, peeled tomatoes, fresh herbs such as dill, parsley, chives, salt and pepper. Mix all together, season with lemon juice, chill in the fridge. You can add natural yogurt or kefir.
Vegetarian stuffed cabbage rolls
Prepare cabbage as for traditional stuffed cabbage rolls. For stuffing use cooked and shredded vegetables – carrots, parsley, celery, onion, tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and herbs. After rolling, place in a saucepan and stew in vegetable stock. You can add buckwheat groats or brown rice to the stuffing.
