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To detox or not to detox

This is a new thing for me. I follow a lot of blogs but have never blogged myself. I felt like this was the perfect opportunity for me because I will be starting a new healthy eating plan in January. I want to document the whole process.

First of all let me tell you a little about me. I am a health educator working in Little Rock. I just recently graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with my Master’s in Health Science. For my job, I help a lot of people change behaviors. My favorite part of what I do is guiding people to healthier eating habits. I like to eat healthy! I love it when someone gets just as excited about healthy eating as I do. I know I’m a geek. Well, I get a lot of questions about certain diets and detox diets. I don’t like these words. I think they are scary. I just try to direct people to the basics, the food pyramid. But a coworker of mine has convinced me to try a 28 day detox. She convinces me to try new things and keeps me on my toes on all the latest health food. So we’ve decided to jump right in and experience this together. That way we will have a better answer the next time someone ask us if it’s really necessary to do a detox. This in not your crazy detox where you drink water with pepper and lemon for a week. It mainly focuses on healthy eating and cutting out the processed and “bad” food. You are to really pay attention to how food makes you feel. This eating plan was found on the whole living website and magazine. You can check it out here. 

Here’s the basics of the plan:
Week 1
Day 1-3 – Prepare your cleanse. Focus on whole grains, veggies, fruit, and fish and chicken. Avoid added sugar, dairy, and fried food.

Day 3- 7- Starting to detox. For breakfast have a fresh fruit/vegetable smoothie, juice, or soup. For lunch eat a healthy solid meal and back to the liquid for dinner. You can have snacks like raw veggies, fresh berries or raw almonds along with herb tea. No coffee or black tea!!! Aahhhh I’m a huge coffee drinker.

Week 2
Your system is cleansed and your mind and body will be reenergized by this week. Aim to get in 7 servings of fruits and vegetables. Choosing fresh produce over canned. Instead of animal protein aim for vegetarian options. 3 to 6 servings of high-fiber whole grains (quinoa, barley, bulgur, oats, and brown rice). No white bread, rice or pasta. 

Week 3
The top goal for this week is shaking off bad habits and taking on healthy ones. Still no added sugar, process foods or fried foods. Still no coffee but you can have chi tea or green tea. Focus on how food makes you feel. Concentrate on chewing slowly. Aim to make each meal 20min.

Week 4
Creating lasting change. Stick to your healthy eating plan and reflect on your positive changes.

More to come about my meal plan I’m making.

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