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Dull skin, a tendency to catch colds, a few unwanted pounds, lethargy and general dissatisfaction with yourself? Winter is to blame for everything, its festive incontinence plus the boredom of armchair existence. By spring, we are not in the best shape, and this is an occasion to put ourselves in order with the help of a detox diet.
Toxins are substances that, when ingested, cause a negative reaction in the body. They can be “universal”, such as poisons, viruses, bacteria and products of their activity, or individual – like allergens. But the most dangerous for us, because they are invisible, are endotoxins that the body produces itself, imperceptibly, as a result of metabolic disorders and hormonal imbalance.
“Endogenous intoxication,” says Marina Apletaeva, dietician of the National Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists, “requires the appointment of special programs. The most affordable and safe way is detox diets combined with physiotherapy that improves microcirculation and lymphatic drainage. In the spring, our body is especially exposed to both external toxins and endointoxication, so detoxification programs are justified right now.”
Three weeks for health
American plastic surgeon and writer Maxwell Moltz, the founder of such a literary genre as self-help, noted that it takes 21 days for a patient to get used to his new face after surgery. “It takes about three weeks to replace old mental representations with new ones,” writes Dr. Moltz in Psychocybernetics (1960). Therefore, in order for the detox diet to not only improve the body, but also become the basis for a healthy summer lifestyle, you can fit your program into 21 days.
This, of course, should be an individual program, tailored to the needs of your body after consulting a doctor. However, the general principles of detox programs remain the same: a sparing vegetarian diet – Lent falls in the spring for good reason – plus modern cosmetic and physiotherapy procedures.
Week one, days 1-7
For those who have not been leading the healthiest lifestyle in recent months, abruptly entering a detox program can be a traumatic experience, both physically and psychologically. Therefore, the transition to a different lifestyle should be gradual, and for starters, you can simply return to your standard “correct” diet – the one where 200 g of protein per meal is combined with an unlimited green side dish. Well, luxury like coffee and chocolates for breakfast and a glass of wine with dinner is still available. However, the consumption of sugar and other fast carbohydrates and animal fats should be reduced to a minimum. It’s time to switch to another source of endorphins: resume regular physical activity. For those who behave this way right now, you can not worry about the transition stage and immediately start a detox program.
Our experts
Marina Apletaeva, dietitian, National Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists
Elena Zyatenkova, doctor of the Clinic of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Propaedeutics of Internal Diseases named after V.Kh. Vasilenko
Week two, days 8–14
Time for tough restrictions. No coffee or alcohol. No sugar or sweeteners. Refined foods are banned. No food of animal origin. Detox means that we get rid of old toxins, and wait until we acquire new ones.
“A daily intake of the amount of fiber found in a glass of oatmeal prolongs women’s lives as much as 4 hours of light running a week prolongs it,” says Dr. Michael Greger, a tireless advocate of the vegan diet.
A permanent vegan diet is not for everyone, especially in our climate. However, its effectiveness as a cleansing diet is undeniable. It includes vegetables, fruits (except very sweet and starchy ones like bananas), nuts, root vegetables, grains and green sprouts. The goal of this diet is to increase your fiber intake to 40 grams per day. It is worth remembering that soluble dietary fibers, which are found in fruits and vegetables, remove toxic substances from the body and help lower cholesterol and glucose levels in the blood, while insoluble ones, from cereals, normalize intestinal motility.
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Traditional methods of cleansing the liver, such as lemon juice with vegetable oil, are very unsafe: the pancreas and gallbladder can react very “emotionally”. Doctors in this matter are completely adamant: no experiments, only sparing methods.
“The liver cleanses itself by secreting bile,” says Dr. Elena Zyatenkova from the Clinic of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Propaedeutics of Internal Diseases. V.Kh. Vasilenko. – Unrefined vegetable oils and natural choleretics (plants containing bitterness) will help its natural cleansing: radish, radish, citrus fruits, mustard, arugula and other table greens, garlic and legumes. They cause the liver to give bile, and also saturate it with essential (essential) phospholipids, which prevent the formation of stones and activate the excretion of excess cholesterol from the body.
It is not recommended to abuse diuretics. Yes, you need to drink, and quite a lot: herbal teas (pay attention to nettle, rosemary, dandelion root), berry fruit drinks without sugar and sweeteners, green tea with ginger, still water. All these are light diuretics, they are enough to remove excess fluid without washing out useful trace elements such as potassium from the body. Puffiness – the result of a sedentary lifestyle and a diet rich in fast carbohydrates – will pass by itself. It is not necessary to additionally load the kidneys, they already pass through themselves 7 liters of fluid per hour.
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Only you (and your doctor) know if you need laxatives and enemas. If the intestines are already working like clockwork, then a diet rich in ballast substances will do him good, and no additional actions will be required.
However, it may also happen that the body reacts to a change in diet by refusing to give up what has been acquired, and then you will have to help it a little by adding prunes, beets, pumpkin, celery to the diet. Recently, the fashion for hydrocolonotherapy has passed: along with waste, beneficial microflora is washed out of the intestines, and natural peristalsis is disturbed. However, if for some reason you think that it is worth going through this procedure, be sure to first consult with a specialist.
The wisdom of the ancestors should not be neglected: a Russian bath is traditionally used for external and internal cleansing. If your health allows it, you can visit the steam room and go through the procedure of soaring with brooms. Steam combined with massage will open the pores, remove the top layer of dead cells and remove toxins from sweat.
At least every other day, you should take a warm bath with sea salt (pharmacy salt is preferable, it looks unpresentable, but it works excellently and does not contain unnecessary fragrances), use a body scrub, massage gloves and facial peels.
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Puffiness and cellulite can be the result of stagnation in the lymphatic system – it is one of the first to suffer from inactivity and malnutrition, and therefore excess fluid with decay products remains in the tissues. A course of lymphatic drainage massage will give an excellent result in combination with a detox diet.
If it is not possible to go for a massage, you can master one of the self-massage techniques – for example, lipo-drainage massage using the Japanese Zogan system. “Long-term fatigue and stress lead to spasm of the facial muscles, which makes it difficult for the lymph and blood flow to move freely,” says the author of the system, cosmetologist Yukuko Tanaka. – Excess fat and fluid accumulate under the skin, and it begins to sag. But if you remove the muscle spasm with a massage, then the lymph flow and blood circulation will return to normal, and as a result, the appearance of the face will improve much.”
There is no and cannot be recovery without physical activity. Half an hour of exercise a day is all that is required of you. Want more – please, just do not exhaust yourself. Yoga? Excellent. Walking? Fine. Swimming? Just wonderful. The main thing is to move, purposefully and every day.
Week three, days 15–21
If at night you dream of cutlets and brie cheese, you need to slowly return animal proteins and fats to the diet. But again, no fanaticism. Both entering and leaving the cleansing diet should be gradual, so that the body adapts step by step. Add some fish, an egg, a little low-fat cheese to your diet, one supplement per meal. And still: no alcohol and no sugar. Go to the bath again, weigh yourself, look at yourself in the mirror. Enjoy the result: do you feel good? Do you like how you look? Now you just have to decide what you will do when this week is over. What you will return to your life without fail, even if it is harmful. What do you leave for the sake of the result, and what – because you like it.
Now it will be easier to lead a healthy lifestyle – winter untrainedness is gone, others are complimenting and it’s just a pity to “let such a good job go to the wind”. “It’s better to do a little every day than to try to achieve a feat in two days,” says Natalia Rose, author of books on detox programs and healthy eating. “You have to move like a child, with small steps.” And then next year, perhaps, a detox will not be needed.