I'm new here, and just wondering what the rest of you think of "detox" diet regimens... I know they're lacking in scientific support, and if overused it's easy to see how they could become very unhealthy, but I also know that I've done short "cleanses" before and always felt fantastic by the end. There's the scientist in me screaming that the plural of "anecdote" is not "data," but even so... I'm thinking of embarking on a more ambitious "detox" when i get home from vacation on Thursday. The point isn't to lose weight (since crash diets are generally a terrible idea for that purpose) but to get into a more "clean" state to hopefully facilitate setting some more ambitious plans in motion.
I'm thinking of a structured ten-day plan:
Thursday: Buy groceries for the next few days; get a good night's sleep.
Friday-Sunday: Shift from current omnivorous diet to a vegan, organic one. No meal plans or calorie counting... just eat nothing but fresh produce (cooked into yummy dishes) and drink mostly pure water, juices, and nut/seed "milks." This is the prep stage... I'll still allow myself some coffee during this phase, since caffeine withdrawal tends to make me functionally useless for a day or two, and I want to clean up around my apartment during this time. For some reason, it seems important to be in a metaphorically "clean" place for what's to come.
Monday-Tuesday: Caffeinated beverages are out. So are cooked foods. Eat raw/dehydrated vegan foods, drink water, juice and the aforementioned "milks"... no drugs from this point on. I don't normally do a lot of recreational drugs, so here I'm referring to over-the-counter drugs; although if I get headaches from caffeine withdrawal (I don't always) I'll make an exception for aspirin.
Wednesday-Friday: The hard-core phase. Nothing but fresh-squeezed juice, nut/seed "milk" and pure water. I'm not going for a starvation diet here; remember that juice has plenty of calories. It may not meet all my nutritional needs, but I don't think three days of it will have any adverse consequences. I've done this before for one or two days with no ill effects. Not even aspirin from here on.
Saturday-Sunday: As Monday-Tuesday. Shift back up to raw, organic vegan food, juices, and "milks." Still no drugs, not even coffee.
After this, the body of the program is done... I'll try to keep my diet vegan for a while, gradually re-introducing dairy and eggs however it feels best to do so.'
I'm thinking of this as a short, sharp shock to my system to pave the way for developing a healthier diet. My goal is to eventually reach equilibrium at "semi-vegetarian," sticking to a mostly-vegan diet with some eggs and dairy thrown in, and the occasional bit of meat as a treat. Why not go totally vegan? Because I've tried it before, and while I can tolerate it, I'm trying to work up to a healthy lifestyle I actually enjoy. And given my experiences with this sort of semi-vegetarianism in the past, meat is delicious when you only eat it every few days. The morning cup of coffee will find its way back in as well, but I want to strive to keep my consumption low.
So, any thoughts on this? Too drastic? Too abrupt for a serious lifestyle change? Alternatively, should I be doing more? In my experience, the "short, sharp shock" method works better for me than a more gradual approach, and throwing in the "detox" aspect is just an extra kick in the "might help/couldn't hurt" vein. Has anyone else tried something like this? Am I being foolish relying on pseudoscientific nutritional theories when I could just as easily implement the plan without the "hard-core" phase? Is there anything else I should keep in mind, like supplements? All comments appreciated (okay, not all, but from what I've seen so far you lot seem smart).
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