DETOX YOGA ; With Esther Ekhart
How to detox your mind and body
Detox diet recipes
Detoxing your body once in a while is good for your body. Detox doesn’t just mean abstaining from beer or junk food for a couple of days. Our body is a storehouse of toxins and dangerous chemicals build up over a time frame that render our immune system ineffective and damage other parts of our body. When the toxin level becomes high, they get transformed into free radicals and cause extensive damage to all other organs, damage the body’s defense and may cause lots of severe medical conditions such as diabetes, MS and even cancer. Now that we know how harmful these toxins are, how do we look after our body? One of the ways is with a detox diet. Body detox and its benefits is a well researched subject now. Research has also shown that a detox once or twice a year helps in lowering cholesterol in blood, counter allergies, improving skin, balancing the chemical levels in the body and effectively lengthens our life span. When you take a detox diet, you’re doing your body a service by helping it get rid of the toxins and useless chemicals that have accrued through out the years. This diet is used by many celebrities and people who were able to triumph over their various addictions. They assert this type of diet has improved their life quality by increasing energy levels, aiding weight loss, improving digestion, improving the body’s defense system, improving their mental mind frame and driving away the fatigue that was hindering their every movement. All the above can be obtained with a healthy diet and regular exercise but people normally recognize the magnitude of a healthy diet late in life and by then our body is already infused with a large quantity of toxins. At this stage, a detox diet is the best way to bring back normalcy to our body. There are a lot of variations in detox diets. One of the choices is liquid detox diet whereby you only drink water or fruit juices for a few days. Else, there are diets that increase the content of fish or reduce the calorie consumption per day. A herbal detox diet is a packaged diet that aid you in achieving your goal. So many detox diet combination are available that, as long you have the right fundamentals, you can also build your own diet catalogue. The grape diet is a straightforward detox diet recipe. This diet requires you to eat only grapes and nothing else. Eat it however you want, as a fruit with water or as juice. This should be followed for a few days to allow your system a thorough cleanse. It’s adequate if you use this diet for a few days if you’re healthy. Another type of detox diet is the lemon diet. It’s also one of the most popular. With this diet, all you have to do is drink lemon juice and nothing else for the whole day. Water is known as one of the best detox agents, so ensure that you drink more than 64 ounces a day. When you add lemon to water, you get the extra nourishment of Vitamin C. While it’s one of the simplest detox diet, the lemon diet is somewhat more complicated than the grape diet. The recipe for this diet involve mixing two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemons, 1/8th of cayenne pepper, 2 tablespoons of B grade organic maple syrup with a cup of pure water. It’s vital to be sure the water is fluoride free. Another type of detox diet is the cabbage soup diet. This diet is more forgiving as it’s more filling and thus able to keep hunger pangs away. The Gazpacho diet is similar to cabbage. This is a Spanish soup with a combination of tomatoes, bell peppers, fresh garlic clove and cucumbers. This soup is meant to be drink cold. While a detox diet is a great way of getting a whole new body with good eating habits; however, be cautious while choosing your detox diet and implementing it.
Detox Diet Ideas
There are several types of detox diets. There are those in which you can only eat fruits and vegetables, those in which you can only eat âcleanâ foods, those in which you can only drink fruit and vegetable juice, and the most extreme type where you can only drink water. You can also do specialized cleanses designed specifically for certain area of the body, for instance the liver, kidneys, blood or lungs. However, most detox diets just involve cleansing the entire body. Below, there is a sample of a seven day detox diet that you can try.
First of all, it is important that you have regular bowel movements during a detox because this will lessen the likelihood of toxins being reabsorbed by the body. A good way to make sure you will eliminate regularly is to take 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds in lemon water in the morning, and drink lemon water throughout the day. Flax seeds provide the body with fiber and lemon water has a slightly laxative effect.
It is also important to drink enough fluids on a cleanse. You should try to include at least 8 glasses of water daily to ensure that you are allowing toxins to be flushed out.
A sample menu of a detox diet follows below. This is a diet that allows some food, since this tends to be easier for beginners. Remember, you can modify this to fit your needs and preferences.
UPON RISING
·1/2 lemon squeezed into a glass of warm water
·1 tablespoon of bentonite clay and 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds in a glass of water
BREAKFAST
·breakfast smoothie made with pear, rice milk and rice protein powder
·supplements: vitamin C
SNACKS
·apple juice diluted with water
·water
·vegetable broth
·supplements: milk thistle
·celery sticks and hummus
LUNCH
·chunky vegetable soup made with vegetable stock and your choice of vegetables
·steamed broccoli with sesame seeds and beets sprinkled with lemon juice on brown rice
·apple sauce
·supplements: multivitamin
SNACKS
·dandelion root tea
·carrot sticks with hummus dip
·water
·supplements: milk thistle
DINNER
·curried lentils on quinoa
·salad with mixed greens, red peppers, artichokes and sprouts drizzled with salad dressing of garlic, lemon juice and olive oil
·vegetable broth
BEFORE BED
·1 tablespoon of bentonite clay and 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds in a glass of water
This can be followed for up to seven days. Have fun, and remember to be careful, because while you should expect to feel sluggish and slightly ill, if you are feeling very ill or fatigued, contact your doctor.

















