Detox-Diet

CLEAN yourself from inside.

My New Year always starts with a week of detox to clean old metabolic waste.
An alkaline cleanse involves consuming raw, fresh vegetables, green juices and smoothies, alkaline soups
for a period of between 3 and 10 days or more.

You may not realize it, but you are taking toxins into your body each and every day. Processed foods contain toxins in the form of artificial additives and preservatives; beauty products contain toxins in the form of chemicals and hormones; even the air you breathe may contain toxins like pesticide residue and pollution.
When the body is overloaded with toxins, it is more prone to becoming acidic. If the body body pH becomes too acidic, it could lead to a number of significant health problems. Acidic imbalance reduces our body’s ability to absorb minerals and nutrients. It reduces the cell’s capacity to repair itself. It also prevents the body from detoxifying naturally.

The tiniest upward shift in pH will have a positive impact on your wellbeing.

The pH scale, ranging from 0 to 14, is used to measure hydrogen concentration. The middle of the scale — 7 — is considered neutral. Anything below that is acidic, and anything above is alkaline. Your body’s pH level also relates to the concentration of hydrogen atoms in your cells. This level is strictly controlled by the body to keep a neutral blood pH of approximately 7.4.

Benefits of an alkaline detox:

• Reduce inflammation, sluggishness, and overall body toxicity.
• More energy and increased stamina
• Increased concentration and focus
• Improved digestion, less bowel distension
• Clearer skin
• Weight loss – reduces water retention and swelling

Some rules to a successful Alkaline Diet:

• Go vegan if you can. Meat or large quantities of animal products, especially red one along with pork and lamb can be very acidic and produces a lot of metabolic waste.
• Keep in mind that around the third day you may feel tired and irritable – but don´t give up.
• Eliminate dairy products, most fats and oils, wheat, processed foods, sugar and artificial sweeteners from your diet.
• Omit coffee, tea, soda, alcohol and fruit juice.
• Start the day 15 minutes before breakfast with a grapefruit or lemon. Grapefruit, source of Vitamin C like lemons, are great to alkalinize the body. They actually leave our bodies more alkaline due to their mineral content. Eat it like an orange and without sugar though, as it’s in the very thin skin between each grapefruit segment that contains the bitter detox substance. Its alkalizing effects offset the acidity of proteins and carbs you may eat later in the day. Squeeze lemon or lime juice onto salads, into water and over rice.
• Fill more than half of your plate with raw or slightly steamed vegetables for meals. Vegetables are alkaline and help to balance your pH. They also add bulk to meals to replace the acidic foods you are avoiding.
• The greener the better – spinach is the most alkaline vegetable !
• Green leafy vegetables like kale, collard greens, turnip tops, mustard greens and spinach are very alkalinizing for the body. Try to eat it raw by making a big salad mixed with other alkalinizing food like cucumbers, lettuce,celery, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots or onions.
• Eat celery before or during every meal. Celery is highly alkaline and helps counteract the effect of any acid you eat.
• Replace dairy products with almond milk or coconut milk products. Use these substitutes in cooking and baking, on cereal and as drinks. Cow’s milk has shown to produce an abundance of mucus in the human body. Many people also suffer from a hidden allergy or intolerance, which can increase the acid wastes in the body.
• Include healthy fats to get enough calories per day. Avocado, raw nuts and raw seeds are good sources of omega-3 oils, which strengthen your heart and promote healthy skin and hair. Dress salads with olive oil or flax oil.
• Avoid sugars. Artificial sweeteners are the worst, followed by refined sugar. Natural sweeteners like honey or dried fruits are generally safe, but if you try to alkalinize your body, it would be a good thing to reduce your natural sugar intake as well for a while.
• Drink dailly at least 210 ml water or herbal teas for each 4,5 kg of your weight, means 2,8 l if you have a weight of 60 kg. Chamomile is a good relaxant, Aniseed and Mint are good for the digestive system and Dandelion tea is excellent for purifying the blood and detoxifying the liver. Sage tea is a blood cleanser and Nettle tea is a wonderful cleanser for all the detoxification organs.
• You can add a pinch of baking soda to your water or take alkaline supplements. Dissolve ½ teaspoon in 200ml of water and drink every morning until your body’s pH has returned to normal.
• Don’t eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day.
• Reduce stress. Implement a daily practice of a stress reducing activity like yoga, tai chi, meditation or even simple deep breathing.  Stress plays a huge role in the body’s pH.  Stress also speed up ageing, so it’s a good thing to learn to let go.
• Get yourself moving. Being active is essential to good health.  Exercises improve blood circulation and help to detox naturally.  The sweat produced during exercise also contributes to flush out toxins including acidic waste.  Try to exercise daily, at least 30 minutes a day.
• Sweat in a sauna or steam bath if you can, as that helps push toxins out of the body.

ACID – FORMING FOODS (Avoid entirely while on a cleanse)

• Animal proteins such as meat, sausages, fish and eggs.
• Milk, dairy products like cheese and butter, soymilk.
• Wheat flour: bread, pastas, noodles. Corn.
• Cooked grains, except Millet and Quinoa
• Avoid nightshade vegetables: potato, tomato, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, cayenne, tomatillos, paprika, and pimentos.
• Sugar, all sweeteners, pastries, sweets, chocolate, jams, high sugar fruits especially orange juice, as it is mucus-producing.
• No simple carbohydrates.
• All fast food: processed, canned, refined, synthetic food and additives such as preservatives, dyes, flavor enhancers (glutamate).
• Salt, distilled vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup.
• Peanuts, pistachio, cashewnuts.
• Soft drinks and carbonated mineral water.
• Yeasts and Fermented foods
• Soy products especially textured soy and seitan.
• Toxins, which are secreted by bacteria and fungi.
• Mushrooms
• Trans fats, are a type of unsaturated fats commonly produced industrially from vegetable fats
  for use in margarine, snack food, packaged baked goods and frying fast food.
• Saturated fats: most animal fats are saturated. The fats of plants and fish are generally unsaturated.
• Chips and Crisps
• Anything frozen or microwaved
• Coffee, black tea, alcohol, nicotine

ALKALINE-FORMING FOODS (Consume freely)

• Low sugar fruits like lemons, limes, pomelo, grapefruit, unripe bananas, melons, coconut, fresh cherries, avocado, tomato.
• All raw vegetables, salad greens, dark and leafy greens, field greens, yellow and winter squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, turnips, beets, radish, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, chives, onion, garlic.
• sprouts: grains, beans, seeds, nuts..
• Fresh or dried seasoning herbs
• Following nuts and seeds: hazelnuts are the most alkaline nuts, almonds, chestnut, brazil nuts, pecans, macadamias, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, pumpkin seeds, flaxseed, hemp seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia, pumpkin seeds.
• Unrefined whole grains or legumes: quinoa, millet, barley, buckwheat, spelt, kamut, amarant, chickpeas, black, kidney, adzuki, white, pinto, lima beans.
• Occasionaly dried fruits: apricots, figs, raisins, dates or date syrop.
• Nori, hijiki, arame, dulse, spirulina.
• Raw, cold-pressed, organic olive oil, flax seed oil, hemp oil, avocado oil, walnut oil.
• Apple cider vinegar (raw), Miso.
• Ginge, turmeric
• Cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, star anise, fennel seed, dill, oregano, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, cilantro, sage, basil, marjoram.

DAILY

Drink every day a ‘green’ juice. Make your own from a combination of green apples, celery, kale, parsley and raw spinach leaves with high amount of Omega-3 fatty acids.

I start the day with a fresh lemon or grapefruit juice and than a green smoothie. I make my smoothie for 2 persons with 1 part of greens (celery) and 2 parts of fruits (apple or pear and banana), 1 lemon, 2 tbsp of hemseeds or 1/1 linseeds, 2 tbsp of barleygrasspowder or a green powdermix of barleygrass, chlorella, spirulina…covered with water.

Green-detox-shots

How to start a alkaline diet:

• Use all kinds of vegetables in all forms of preparation and colorful salads.
• Potatoes and chestnuts are great basic side dishes.
• Try green smoothies.
• Sprouts complement salads, Vegetable dishes.
• Quinoa, buckwheat and millet replace conventional grain products such as pasta and rice.
• If the desire for pasta or rice overpowering, then choose gluten-free pasta made from maize, millet or buckwheat, as well as long-grain rice varieties such as jasmine rice, but in the whole grain version.
• From nuts and seeds (linseed, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.) delicious patties can be prepared.
• Eat fruits instead of sugary snacks. However, eat fruits in moderate amounts. Ideally, fruits are eaten on an empty stomach and not as a dessert.
• From nuts and seeds even milk-like beverages, nut cheese, sour cream and yogurt can be prepared.
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice or unfiltered apple cider vinegar to replace the usual wine vinegars.
• If you like to eat yogurt dressing, then take in the future instead of yogurt white almond.
• Select only healthy oils and fats: olive oil for salads and for light sautéing, coconut oil and organic cooking oil for frying, linseed oil and hemp oil for raw foods and high-quality organic butter, raw butter, olive butter or almond butter on bread.
  Olive butter is very simple to make:
  salt lightly the olive oil, put into a bowl and place in the freezer for an hour, then take it out and use it immediately.
  – Pure-carbonated spring water or filtered tap water replace all kinds of juices, carbonated and alcoholic beverages.
  – Herbal teas or green tea occasionally replace coffee and black tea.
  – Almond milk replaced milk drinks.

Alkaline Herbal Teas

1. Yerba Mate Tea: A wonderful tea, native to South America, that can be really useful in detoxing and cleansing. It gives a slight energy boost, that is free from the jitters of caffeine-based drinks such as coffee and green tea and each infusion of yerba mate contains:
   • Vitamins: A, C, E, B1, B2, Niacin (B3), B5, B Complex
   • Minerals: Calcium, Manganese, Iron, Selenium, Potassium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc
   • Additional Compounds: Carotene, Fatty Acids, Chlorophyll, Flavonols, Polyphenols, Inositol, Trace Minerals, Antioxidants, Tannins, Pantothenic Acid and 15 Amino Acids.
2. Redbush Tea (rooibos tea): absolutely packed with antioxidants, nutrients including calcium, manganese, zinc and magnesium – all powerful alkaline minerals.
3. Peppermint Tea: very alkaline, very tasty and very, very good for digestion. It’s refreshing, natural and caffeine free and has been widely recommended for IBS, flatulence, bad breath, nausea and heartburn.
4. Ginger Tea: good for digestion and nausea – but also great for circulation, colds, flu, stress and headaches.
5. Rosemary Tea: native to the Mediterranean, Rosemary is another big hitter in the antioxidant stakes. It’s high in the following: beta-carotene/Vitamin A, thiamin/Vitamin B1, riboflavin/Vitamin B2, niacin/Vitamin B3, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, biotin, pantothenic acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E and Vitamin K.
6. Lavender Tea: the best smelling tea, lavendar is the great relaxer – helping ease you off to sleep, to ease anxiety and stress and to help unwind after a long day.

Sources:
i. a. Zentrum der Gesundheit
The Spruceeats