Friday, February 12, 2010

The 7-Step Detox Diet

It's about that time of year. This is when folks slowly start dropping off from their workout program, or cheating on their diet.

And for a lot of folks, weekend eating - particularly SuperBowl weekend eating - is to blame.

When some folks binge eat, they go looking for a "detox diet", thinking that will reverse all their mistakes.

But I don't necessarily recommend that.

Instead, I have a great article from fitness expert Craig Ballantyne about a simple 7-Step Detox Diet that you can easily follow everyday...

...so that you never need to do an extreme 7-day or 2-week cleanse.

Here's Craig to tell it like it is:

I just got back from the SuperBowl and got a chance to sit in the front row right in the endzone. It was really cool, and I also got a chance to see "The Who" live in concert at half-time.

But, while I was there, I had a few extra "non-compliance" meals than normal, so it got me thinking about detox diets.

I have a pretty strong opinion about detoxing, and I put together a simple 7-step detox diet plan that you can easily follow so that you never have to do a 16-day detox ever.

You see, my biggest "beef" with the entire theory of "detoxing" is this...

It is simply NOT possible to EVER detox your body. Why?

Because it's such a vague statement.

  • What does "detox" mean?
  • How do you measure "detoxification"?
  • What do you even define as toxins?
  • And when do you officially become "detoxed"?

The answer is, "You don't." It's nearly impossible.

After all, every single second of every day your body produces carbon dioxide, which is a toxin. And if you have deep belly fat, research shows that this "visceral fat" is constantly releasing inflammatory toxins into your blood. Every second. The more fat you have, the more toxic you are.



Plus, every breath you take includes pollutants. And even the water you drink may contain "toxins".

So....what's the real deal on detoxing?

Listen, while every "expert" is out there arguing about tiny little details and "gurus" are trying to sell you on detoxing so they can sell supplements, the TRUTH is that you really just need to know a few steps to avoid getting toxic in the first place.

In my opinion, the #1 factor in living a "low toxin life" is simply to keep as much garbage out of your body in the first place, rather than depending on a 3-day, 7-day or even 16-day detox to be healthy.

So what do I do to prevent "toxin build-up" in the first place?

Well, I live the Turbulence Training Lifestyle of course, including my "7 Step Detox Nutrition Plan":

1) Start each day with a blender drink of berries, spinach or other greens, raw nuts (such as walnuts - rich in healthy fats), and other ingredients packed with antioxidants and healthy fats.

2) For lunch, have a large green salad with spinach, beans, broccoli,peppers, avocado, onions, etc.


3) Eat an organic apple a day. Certain fruits (i.e. apples, peaches,cherries, and strawberries) and vegetables have a higher exposure to pesticides, and you should choose organic when possible.

4) Eat RAW snacks only - of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Try using this one simple rule and limit all of your between meal snacks to raw fruit, raw vegetables, and/or raw nuts and I promise you'll drop the pounds because you'll be full on a smaller number of calories.


5) Drink Green Tea (2-3 cups) and filtered water (3 liters) instead of beverages that contain calories or chemicals.

6) Limit the amount of red meat you consume. You don't need to be a full vegetarian to live a longer life, but you should probably avoid eating meat 5 times per day, like people in Chicago.

(Hey Chicago, don't get mad at me for that...it was a born-and-raised Chicago native who told me 5 servings of meat per day was the average Chicago meat consumption.)

7) Minimize or completely eliminate alcohol intake. While research does show that for men, up to 2 drinks per day may help cardiovascular health (and for women, up to one drink per day), I'm not about to recommend you start drinking.

After all, if you go above those limits, you start to destroy your health...and you risk addiction. Alcohol killed my father, and I don't want to see the same thing happen to you. Tread cautiously with the booze.

So that's it. A simple 7-Step Detox Diet Plan.

By the way, it goes without saying that you should avoid:

- cigarettes
- trans-fats
- excessive amounts of sugar
- refined grains
- and 7-11 nacho cheese

Right? Of course.

And you should be exercising to lose the belly fat...using proven methods, such as high intensity interval training - which is proven to beat long, slow cardio when it comes to burning dangerous belly fat.

Plus, you should be using Turbulence Training resistance supersets to burn more calories and sculpt your body.

If you've never used Turbulence Training, you can try it out today for less than the cost of a Superbowl hot dog.

Click here to get Turbulence Training for less than 5 bucks:

TurbulenceTrainingSystem

Simply follow those 7 nutrition guidelines and use the short TT workouts to cut out as many toxins from your body - without detoxing.

Stay strong,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

PS - I also believe you should avoid toxic relationships... so you need to take a hard look at the people you surround yourself with in life.
 

Do you have the right work friends?
Are you in the right relationships?
Do you spend enough time with the right family members?

Or are they toxic too?
 

Remember - you need social support for success in life and in fat loss...so surround yourself with positive people, like the good folks on the TT Member's forum.

If you need to dump the toxic folks and get positive social support, we'd love to see you on the forum and help you out.

You will get a free 3-month TT membership access to the forum when you try out Turbulence Training for only $4.95 today:

TurbulenceTrainingSystem

Go ahead and click that link to get started losing fat & getting rid of the toxic baggage in your life.

1 comment:

Miss Jane said...

If everyone who wants to being healthy followed these 7 steps it would guide them to a healthy life. Once you begin following a guideline such as this you will not want to step off your healthful pathway.
When a person can think of the food they eat as prevention towards serious diseases such as cancer, heart problems etc., they will realize it is the best way to live life. Often people think of healthy food as expensive, however when you think of all the money spent on prescription drugs or extensive health care it puts things into perspective.
As for the stresses in life. This is a key component to balance in ones life. If people continue to live around the chaos that others like to create in their lives, they only welcome chaos into their own life. These stresses will cause one to eat poorly or not exercise and take them off their healthy pathway.
The key to eliminating the stress is to learn how to create boundaries with people who are creating chaos in your life. These people are at your work, your friends and often your family. Once these people learn your boundaries then you have successfully accomplished de-stressing your relationships. Of course their will be people who never learn your boundaries and you need to limit
your time with these people or cut them out of your life altogether.
Make some goals for healthy eating and exercise and see where it takes you!