Just the thought of donating will make him shit.
I don’t know about actual data either, but my personal experience is the same. I find it difficult to change my eating habits, especially in regard to craving sugar, without some sort of drastic “reset.”
Well, OK, if you derive a psychological benefit of some sort from a radical break in your eating habits that might help… but it’s more like a placebo effect than anything else.
If taking a couple days break from sugar (or whatever) helps you keep a resolve to reduce the intake of something you think you eat too much of then hey, whatever works.
Plan for small healthy snacks that will fill you up. Carrots, whole grain crackers, hot tea…etc. Drink water.
Stay away from vending machines. They are death traps.
Check out Clean Eating Magazine. It is one of my top three mags on the importance of eating whole grains and nutrionally sound foods.
Start some kind of exercise that you will do on a consistent basis. Walking, swimming, yoga, bike riding, whatever. Consistency is best.
I don’t believe in detoxing per se. I am extremely invested in nutrition and my health though, and ‘eat clean’ full-time in my own way. It has done wonders for my health. Animal products, vegetables including roots and tubers, and somewhat small amounts fruits and nuts/seeds only. No sugar or ‘whole grains’ (well, in principle and 95% if the time - I eat a couple ounces of milk chocolate per week, and have been known to have a helping of white rice every so often with no ill effects) - personally, grains are the main trigger of my IBS and seemed to be the cause of most of my other health issues, as they all cleared up once I eliminated them. Provides tons of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty and amino acids. High in omega-3. High in antioxidants. Also high in natural fats, and I consider that very healthy after looking at human history and most research on the subject. No empty calories, very little fructose and glucose compared to most people’s diets (whether you’re eating ‘healthy’ and getting your sugars from whole grains and fruit juice or ‘unhealthy’ and getting it from white flour, candy and soda).
Not for fat loss in my case, I don’t have fat to lose. But anyone eating this way who has some extra seems to lose it. marksdailyapple.com is a popular website and in line with what I practice.
Uh, what exactly are “animal products” (for some reason this sounds less than appetizing)? And it’s a bit odd that you’d mention vegetables “including roots and tubers” as though the rest of us are only snarfing down leaves and stems and tossing out the underground parts (french fries technically are “tubers”).
Interesting how the link between many popular “detox” and fad diets seems to be the view that sugar and carbohydrates in general are satanic and must be eliminated.
Eating more fruit and vegetables, taking in fewer calories as a whole and exercising, while effective in improving health just sounds dull, I suppose.
Drink a quart of prune juice. Will clean ya right out.
I think her point was that her diet is not a low-carb diet and she doesn’t believe that all carbs are satanic.
I’m going to recommend the diet I’m on, the No S Diet. It’s simple: no snacks, no sweets, and no seconds, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and Special days (things like holidays and birthdays).
I’ll also suggest a limit on the number of times you eat out per week. Pick a number that is lower than the number of meals you eat out now, and don’t eat out any more times than that in a week (you can modify this number later if you need to). Find something else to do to get out of your apartment.
Looks like a paleo diet to me.
Eat something with lots of chilies. That’ll clean you out, and taste better than colon blow or prune juice.
You’ve identified some of your eating problems here. Why not take the bull by the horns, and try to fix those specific problems?
You eat out too much. Set a limit on how often you eat out. Find some other activities that get you out of your apartment without eating. Maybe get some new cookbooks, to make cooking at home more interesting.
Or, alternatively, your problem is that you eat too much or eat bad foods when you eat out, not eating out per se. If you’re eating at chain restaurants, Eat This, Not That might be helpful. It has lots of suggestions of healthier choices you can make at chain restaurants. Or think up some fairly simple rules to follow when you do eat out- such as, if something comes in more than one size, never order the largest size.
You graze too much. I’ve found No S very helpful with this, as it limits eating (except on weekends and special days) to set mealtimes, and you put all your food for the meal on your plate at once, before you eat. No grazing allowed. Maybe you need to stop hanging around the kitchen other than at mealtimes, and to not keep food anywhere in the house but the kitchen. Or maybe you need to not have certain foods in your apartment, so you can’t graze on them. Or maybe the answer is to have healthy things like carrot sticks available and convenient for grazing.
You eat too many dairy products. Set a limit on the amount of each dairy product you let yourself eat per week (maybe a single scoop of ice cream every night, or only eating ice cream on the weekends). Maybe don’t buy certain kinds of dairy products that you know you will end up eating too much of.
You want to make simple rules, that you can make into good habits that you don’t have to think about, you just do. Try some different rules, and keep the ones that work and don’t drive you crazy.
Anne ~ I am doing exactly those things. I would routinely drink upwards of two to three GALLONS of milk per week. It is a favored beverage. Since Sunday, I have had no milk in the house and have only been drinking green tea.
After a lunch meeting yesterday, when I would have preferred a delectable dessert, I came home and instead ate two dates.
I did cheat last night, as I was crawling in bed, with a few bites of cheese and a glass of port. But there is almost no cheese left in my apartment and when it is gone, I won’t be buying any more. Previously I would have snacked on cheese throughout the day. On Monday, I snacked on an endive spear and a dozen pumpkin seeds.
I am making the changes, slowly. And I’ve been walking every day.
Animal products=meats, seafood, dairy foods, eggs.
I added that I ate tubers and root veg (including potatoes, although I don’t eat anything fried in hydrogenated oils) to make it clear that I don’t follow a very low-carb diet that restricts starchy veg, although many people (mostly those who have a lot of fat to lose) who follow my sort of meal plan do, and only really eat green vegetables. I feel my best with a reasonable amount of daily carbohydrate, but grains and flour (as well as too much fruit) give me gas and indigestion and make me shit with urgency 4 times per day or more, so starchy veg is the solution.
A few years ago I became more health-conscious and went from eating a junky diet that included plenty of meat and dairy along with my donuts and pasta, to the sort of diet I suppose you consider most healthy: mostly vegetarian and low in saturated fats, full of those ‘healthy whole grains’, lots of beans and veggies and fruits, and tons of calories mostly in the form of 300+ grams per day of dietary carbohydrate, as I was determined to gain much-needed weight. During that time I developed IBS as well as suffering from ever-worsening hormonal issues and hairloss (!). Which led me to this way of life, which eliminated both those newer issues and some previous ones (acne, chronic eczema, gum disease, my usual very painful menstruation, and the migraines I started getting when I was 4 years old,to start).
I asked a similar question a while back. I posted a sample “detox” diet and was asking for input on what might be missing nutritionally. I was also looking for a simple diet plan to follow for about 2 weeks that didn’t include certain processed foods, to try and break myself of certain bad eating habits. But that just kicked off knee jerk reactions of “detoxing is stupid” comments.
I never seem to stick with anything. Crap happens and I want my comforting bad carb foods and sugar or I get too busy to prepare proper foods and I slip into eating the bad crap again but I have noticed that after a couple weeks of avoiding the processed “white” foods you crave it a lot less. And when you do eat it, it’s not as good as you remember and it makes you feel crappy. The hard part is sticking with something long enough to get to that point.
I followed a “detox” diet a while ago which I found really helpful - it was a six week programme, and for the first four weeks, you gradually cut things out of your diet, starting with caffiene, alchohol and red meat and progressing until you were virtually on a raw fruit/veg diet in week four. Then in week five and six you were allowed to re-introduce things slowly and note their effects as you did so.
I thought it was quite sensible - when I did it, I found that milk (although strangely not yogurt or cheese) made me feel really bloated, so I have cut it out completely now (not that I ate much to begin with). Also, thinking about what you were allowed to eat made you think about/aware of how much you were eating and moderate it…