Let’s kick off 2017 with 7 days of healthy! For those of you have followed our blog for a while, you will know that for the past two years, I’ve gone through a 7 day detox. Typically this is done in January to kick off a new year of healthy habits. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I’m about “sugared” out with all the holiday sweets floating around!
So what is a detox anyway? First, there are many many different ones out there. The one I’ve followed for the last two years uses real food… no juices or shakes. Basically, each day you are allowed to eat only a specific set of things that will be outlined below. The health benefits for doing this are to help your body flush out any toxins in your system, and personally I’ve found that especially after the holidays it will kick the sugar craving that I inevitably seem to get after this time of year! The other big bonus is that you lose weight. Most would argue that it is water weight, but if you’re flushing out excess salts in your system, and losing the water that is retained because of that, I’m good with that!
Water is a big component of this too. Lots and lots of water. Technically water is the only thing you are supposed to drink, but I will be the first to admit I drink black coffee in the mornings with this too. After all, a girl’s gotta live! The first year I did the detox, I’ll be honest I did it for something to write about. And I did it alone. On year two, I extended the offer to staff at Belmont Health & Wealth for whoever would like to join me and one brave soul gave it a try, too. This year, in addition to extending the offer to staff again, I am also extending it to you, the readers. Want to give it a try along with our group (so there’s support along the way?) Shoot me an email at hsalsman@gobelmont.ca or just participate quietly too! Below are the guidelines for the 7 day cleanse. Day One will be Monday, January 2nd. (You know, just in case anyone needs to get a last sugar blast in to deal with a New Year’s Eve hangover!) Best of luck to anyone participating!
7 Day “New Year New You” Body Cleanse!
Day 1 Parameters: Fruit Day - Eat all the fruits you want, except bananas. The lowest calorie fruits are watermelon and cantaloupe, so if you eat mostly melons you will lose more weight.
Day 2 Parameters: Vegetable Day – Eat lots of vegetables – fresh, raw, or cooked. Stay away from starchy vegetables such as peas, corn and beans. SURPRISE! You also get a baked potato with butter today.
Day 3 Parameters: Fruits and Veggies – Same as day one and day two, except no potato today
Day 4 Parameters: Bananas and Yogurt – East as many as eight bananas, and 8 glasses of skim milk or Weight Watchers yogurt if you aren’t a milk drinker, since it’s basically artificially flavoured skim milk. Yes, bananas are high in calories and carbohydrates, but on this day your body will need the essential calcium and carbs and protein that will lessen your craving for sweets.
Day 5 Parameters: Fowl and Tomatoes – Chicken, Turkey and 6 tomatoes throughout the day. Make sure you drink a glass of water for each tomato you eat to wash the uric acid out of your body.
Day 6 Parameters: Fowl and Veggies – Don’t be shy, eat to your heart’s content filling up with Chicken, Turkey and Vegetables – no potatoes today!
Day 7 Parameters: Miracle Soup! Miracle Soup Recipe: 2-3 Large Onions Chopped, 1 head of Cabbage chopped, 1 green pepper chopped, 5-6 celery stalks chopped, 2 large cans of diced tomatoes, and 2 packages of Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix. Put the chopped vegetables in a pan and pour the tomatoes (that have been slightly blended in a blender) over top. Add 4-6 cups of water, enough to barely cover the vegetables. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the Beefy Onion Soup Mix and cook until all the vegetables are tender.
Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay
Source Url: http://gobelmont.ca/7-in-2017/