Detox for the Rest of Us

Of all the detox books I have read/seen this is one of my favorites. Although there is more programs than just traditional detox programs (it also includes some diet programs), it does have a lot of useful information and the recommendations it gives make sense. There are various programs ranging from 3 day to 30 day programs that are safe and won’t make you feel like you are starving yourself. Each detox program includes an introduction that tells you why the particular program is important and provides details about the program, a meal plan, and recipes. The meal plan is nice because it helps you easily figure out and plan what you need to eat. Under the recipes are little tid bits of information such as why zucchini is good for you, what is in vegan parmesan cheese, and why brown rice is healthier than white rice. I found this book interesting and helpful. I like that the detox diets and recipes include foods that I can actually buy in my area and are not crazy exotic things that I would never normally eat.

Here is a breakdown of the detox programs included in this book:

Chapter one – 3 day juice detox. I like that this program doesn’t say to just start drinking only juice for 3 days. It has a getting ready period in which you transition your body to only drinking juice (not conventional juice but juice created in a home juicer) for three days. Recipes for the juice detox include things such as papaya strawberry juice and blueberry banana juice.

These next few chapters I do not consider to be detox programs but rather diet programs.

Chapter two – 15 day vegan detox. Although I would never go vegan all the time (I like to eat meat, eggs, and milk and I don’t like eating soy – but this is a topic for a different discussion) but a vegan detox would be nice if afterwards we could start eating only organic, cage free meat and eggs and raw milk. The vegan detox includes recipes such as roasted tomato and red bell pepper soup, double chocolate brownies, curried vegetable stew, and more.

Chapter three is a 10 day raw foods detox. This detox is full of raw fruits and veggies, nuts, seeds, sprouted beans and grains, pure maple syrup, vinegars, raw nut butters, raw nut milks, cold pressed oils, etc. This chapter includes some great tasting recipes including blueberry blast smoothie, kiwi mango juice, sprout salad with sunflower seed pate, corn chowder, and arugula with strawberries and hazelnuts (yum!).

Chapter four is a 15 day Mediterranean detox. Mediterranean diets are suppose to help lower high cholesterol, help some heart problems, loose weight and more. It revolves around fruits and veggies, whole grains, monounsaturated fats, fish, and small amounts of meat. I think the Mediterranean diet sounds yummy and many of the recipes are good (such as baked chicken with olives and tomatoes, minestrone soup, and ricotta cheesecake) I’m not sure why this is considered a detox program.

The next few chapters are elimination detox diets. Chapter 5 is a 10 day gluten detox. The gluten detox can help people figure out if gluten is the culprit of symptoms such as bloating, nausea, and diarrhea. Chapter 6 is a lactose detox. Chapter seven is a five day acid balance detox. This detox revolves around alkaline producing foods that help restore the body’s healthy acid/alkaline balance. I believe this is extremely important (just google acid/alkaline balance in the body or body pH). Too high of pH your body becomes a fertile environment for microorganisms to thrive. Chapter 8 is a 30 day heavy metal detox. I think a heavy metal detox is extremely important as well as heavy metals are all around us in the environment, in cleaners, in household products, and even in personal care products.

The next section includes chapters which are flushing detox diets that say they will help lower cholesterol (chapter 9), flush carbs out of your body (chapter 10), a protein flush (chapter 11), and a water retention flush (chapter 12).

The last section is about organ detox diets including a 7 day liver detox diet (chapter 13), a 10 day gallbladder detox (chapter 14), and a five day intestinal detox (chapter 15).

I received this book for free to facilitate my review. However this did not affect my opinions.

(Posted on 8/8/12)