Healthy Weight Loss

Healthy Weight Loss
summer weight loss

Summer is here and the fruit and vegetables are plentiful so it's a great time to change to a fruit and vegetable diet. It's a time when you can replace all those unhealthy foods that have crept into your diet with delicious fresh fruit and vegetables.

Fresh fruit and vegetables will supply you with a huge boost of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that scientists have discovered can rev up your system. Your body has an incredible system that breaks down and eliminates toxins every minute of every day but we are surrounded by so many toxins that it can become overloaded and fruit and vegetables will help detoxify it..

It's a known fact that toxins are everywhere. They get into your body through the water you drink, the food you eat, the air you breathe and the products that you put on your skin. Other toxins are produced in your body by the normal metabolic processes. Scientists know that they accumulate in your body from tests they have done on tissue and blood samples from people all over the world.

More and more research is showing that the underlying cause of poor health and many diseases is toxicity and deficiencies of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Some chronic illnesses such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ME, Parkinson's Disease, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity and cancer are due to failure of the detox system.

It's not hard to understand that we have to try to help the detox process to get rid of these unwanted and dangerous chemicals before they can harm us.

Detox to improve your health

By doing a body detox from time to time you will see an overall improvement in your health. Modern detox is not about fasting for a week or semi-starvation diets. It's about smart food choices. Fresh fruit and vegetables really do contain a power house of nutrients that are needed by the detox system to perform its work.

Fruit and vegetables are high energy foods. They nourish your cells with live nutrients and have great cleansing powers. It's their ability to rev up the detox pathways and revitalize cells that make them a must for any detox diet plan.

While you don't have to eat only fruit and vegetables to detox you can spend 2 or 3 days eating nothing but fresh fruit and veg as an initial cleansing phase. These foods contain fiber that helps to cleanse the entire digestive system too.

Apples, pears, lemons, oranges, pineapples, mangos, kiwi, peaches, apricots, blueberries, and melons are just a few of the fruit that you can eat to detox your body. (Read more about Fruit Detox)

Some of the best vegetables are carrots, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic, artichokes, beets, peppers, dark green leafy veg such as kale, collard greens, Swiss chard and salad leaves.

To get the most benefit from the fruit and vegetable summer diet you will have to lessen your toxic load. Avoid foods that are hard to digest and that rob your body of nutrients such as processed foods, fatty foods, red meat, sugar, wheat, dairy products, regular black tea, coffee, fizzy drinks and alcohol. Find a way to give up smoking.

Look for natural personal care products to replace your chemical laden ones. Avoid using chemicals in the home using only non toxic household products. Avoid highly polluted areas as much as possible.

Change your eating habits

Change some of your eating habits.when you get the urge to snack. Replace fatty and high calorie snacks with fruit or raw vegetables. Replace that caffeine and calorie laden soda with fresh fruit or vegetable juice. Eat a large salad for lunch instead of a fast food meal.

Replace wheat and minimize other gluten grains such as rye, oats and barley and replace with brown rice, quinoa, millet, lentils and beans. Eat tofu, lentils, beans, nuts and seeds that have been soaked overnight. Have a little fish and grass fed meat but make the bulk of your meals fruit and vegetables.

The Detox Summer Diet Plan

Start your day with a glass of filtered water with 1 – 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. Have a large green smoothie for breakfast and a bowl of fresh fruit later if still hungry.

Snack on fruit or vegetable sticks and bean dips like humus mid-morning and afternoon.

Eat a large vegetable salad for lunch with raw vegetables and a variety of salad leaves. Top with some sprouted beans and a handful of pre-soaked seeds. Add a little dressing made with virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

For dinner have a large raw vegetables salad or a small salad to start and a plate of lightly steamed vegetables, brown rice and beans or lentils if you are very hungry.

Drink plenty of pure water during the day – at least 8 x 8 oz a day. You can also drink herbal or green tea if you like. By following a summer fruit and vegetable detox you can gradually change your way of eating and greatly improve your health and vitality.

David Ogden
Healthy Weight Loss
Ph 386 308 1956 after 6PM EST