Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Body Burden Detox Challenge

I'm over a week into my month long detox to further reduce my toxic body burden for my book and many of you were interested in following along for the last two weeks of my detox. So far, things have been going well except for some uncomfortable symptoms that I can't tell whether or not they are due to the detox process or the change in diet, etc.

In any case, here's the breakdown of what I'm doing. I'll be writing posts all this week explaining most of the following sections (except for the obvious ones). If you have questions, just ask! When the challenge starts on the 15th, you can do as much of what I'm doing as you feel comfortable.*

Food and Drink
  • No alcohol
  • No coffee or tea (regular or decaf)
  • No processed foods
  • No fried foods
  • No refined grains or sugars
  • 60 - 70% total food intake is fruits and vegetables
  • Focus on cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower)
  • 15% protein sources (lean meats, beans, nuts, seeds)
  • 15% grains (brown rice, oats, quinoa, buckwheat)
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or flaxseed oil) per day
  • All food is 100% organic
  • No dairy (or, if you must, choose non-fat)
  • 2 - 3 liters of water (dependent on sweating) a day
  • Yogi Detox Tea
  • Juicing

Detox Actions
  • Sauna or hot bath (Epsom or Bentonite clay) at least 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes
  • 30+ minutes cardio exercise every day
  • Daily dry skin brushing
  • Detox foot pads
  • Professional massage - at least 30 minutes once a week

Supplements
(Choose organic supplements, follow recommended dosages on bottle or less, depending on what you can tolerate)
  • Ginger
  • Turmeric
  • Cinnamon
  • Chlorella
  • Vitamin C (1,000 mg per day)

Remember to use all non-toxic body care products, household cleaners, make-up, etc. during this time. You don't want to add in more toxins while you are trying to remove them. I'll go into more detail on this later this week. Also, make sure you get at least 7 - 8 hours of sleep a night.

If you want to officially participate, feel free to sign up in the comments of this posts. Otherwise, you can follow along and just check back this week for more posts detailing the how to's of this program.

*I am not a physician nor do I play one on the Internet. If you have health concerns, please consult a doctor before embarking on any kind of diet, exercise, supplements, or sauna routine.

19 comments:

Aimee said...

holy crap are you serious?

Okay, not to be cynical, but really I am curious - are all of these lifestyle modifications (which seem to ordinary old me to be pretty extreme) born of true believer-ship or are they part of a commercial experiment?

I guess I'm curious either way to learn how it affects your health, but you must know that it's a purely academic curiosity. There's no way in holy old hell I would ever adopt such an extreme regimen myself.

Bucky said...

It would be interesting to try, but the problem is that no one else in my house would go along. Particularly on the food -- which would mean cooking two meals.

Ugh.

Tricia said...

I'm definately in. I've done detoxes in the past and love the way I feel after. But I struggle to find the motivation. Joining in withothers should help. Thanks for the motivation. :-)

Bullwinkle said...

Interesting - some find it extreme and some (me) find it ordinary.

I admit I fail miserably at the no coffee or tea part but the rest of the food and drink isn't even a stretch. (How's the Yogi Tea taste?)

I'm not a fan of juicing (I believe in eating food as it was grown) but I understand its value in certain areas.

As for the other actions - I don't know what a detox foot pad is and I don't regularly take time for the others. Unless I'm ill, which is not very often. But I feel a cold coming on so I'll have to do something about that.

Big issue is the Man - he misses his bread/pasta. But he works and gets most of it outside the house.

Robj98168 said...

>8\ Go ahead and give me the Hsir Shirt...
Or Hell just kill me now and get it over with. This just doesn't look like any fun. I can go with the no alkyhol though

Lisa said...

Oh, yay! I'll be hanging on your every word as far as this Detox Challenge goes (i.e. where the heck does one find "detox foot pads," I wonder??)! I don't know if I can get everything together before the 15th or I'd totally be "in."

One thing I do wonder is which (if any) of the items on your lists are negotiable? For example, I've never been a fan of massages and would easily skip that item unless it was super important ...

Thanks once again, Crunchy! :)

Anonymous said...

Are you planning on sharing a sample day of what you'll be eating? I'd definitely be interested in reading.

Anonymous said...

Do foods that are whole wheat (whole-wheat pasta as opposed to regular, for example) count as a refined grain?

I'd like to see an example of what you're eating, as well.

One meal I already make would fit perfectly -- roasted cauliflower & quinoa.

Jessica

fragmentaerie said...

Hmmm. I'm glad I haven't gone for groceries yet. I have two bottles of shampoo and conditioner I'm trying to use up, but other than that, I'm in.

Lori Alper aka Groovy Green Livin said...

2 weeks in...you are over the hump! A month long detox is so challenging-especially with family around that needs to eat!

My usual detox is a week long liquid detox in the spring. Not sure a month is in my cards. Curious to hear about your journey. Best of luck!

Carmen said...

Can you join for the massage only? That part sounds good to me. :)

Just curious, what's the science behind this. Most peer-reviewed material on the subject conclude that these Detox diets are not backed by science.

Crunchy Chicken said...

Aimee - The only scientifically studied detox regimen that I'm aware of is the Hubbard Protocol that this is based on. I am definitely not following the sweat therapy of the protocol to the extent that would match the scientific results. All the rest of what I'm doing aids in detox, but to what degree I can't say. Well, there are a few things that I'm dubious of, but I'll cover them this week in other posts :)

Bucky - Suffice it to say that no one else in my household is following this regimen as well. So, yes, there are multiple meals going on but mostly we've been doing meal planning so that I just need to do a little variation. For example, I substitute brown rice for pasta, etc.

Bullwinkle - I love the taste of the tea. I sometimes double it up with their Licorice tea if I want something more sweet.

Lisa - I'll be discussing the foot detox pads later this week. Massages are negotiable - I need them for back problems, plus they do help. The only non-negotiables really are the diet and the sweat therapy. But, I've already negotiated away the sweat therapy business to a minimum, so who am I to say :)

Shortstylee - Whole grains are okay, just no more than 1/2 cup cooked per meal. I'll be posting a sample day or two diet of what I'm eating.

Carmen - True dat! I'm very skeptical when it comes to this stuff. Like I told Aimee above, little science has been done on these regimens (the only one being the Hubbard Protocol) and so there isn't much science-based evidence backing them. As I post about each of the things I'm doing, I'll be discussing this issue since it is something that I struggle with. But, I'm game for trying them out either way.

Melinda said...

LOL, we are definitely in the same boat! Wait til you see my post tomorrow.

Good to read up on how you've been doing - sounds like you're doing well!

Earthdrummer said...

Honestly it looks simple and easy. Although the coffee part I will struggle with I am sure. I tried to go off of coffee once...just once. I rose off the couch two days later with a headache that would kill a normal person.

Yes, I'm addicted.

I'm in.


Peace!

simply_complicated said...

i'll be watching this next little while with interest. As i'm still nursing my youngest, detox is out for now, but i've convinced hubby that when littlest is weaned, we'll go on a (slightly more lax than yours) detox followed by a slightly restrictive diet to help induce weight loss (gotta get rid of the last of the baby weight!)

thank you for posting your experiences!

oh, and regarding epsom salts baths, which i know was talked about recently, i am a HUGE believer. I was taught different variations of them in massage school, and we 'pseudo-scientifically' tested epsom salts vs same temp, same time, no salts added.... i can't say how much toxins were released, but the epsom baths had MUCH larger ring-around-the-tub... which to me says that more toxins/filth (topical or otherwise) are being removed from the body.

Tanya said...

Giving this one some serious thought. Questions: Is the olive oil a minimum or a maximum? It sounds like from your examples you would use more than 1 tbsp of olive oil, so hoping its a minimum :) No fried food - does that just mean deeply fried? Ie is a stir-fry okay? You do mention sauteeing so I'm thinking lightly frying is ok?

Wish I had a sauna (sweating is awesome) but will try to see if a hot bath works as well. Also wishing pro massage was cheaper :)

Jenette said...

I think I could do this but might start to twitch at the lack of bread/pasta/Cheese. I will you be giving more info on the Juicing?
Is there a type of Detox foot pads ... I don't want to get a chemical burn from bad detox foot pads.

@Jessica, Can you give your roasted cauliflower & quinoa recipe.

LynnieBee said...

I'm going to do my best :)

Anonymous said...

Something to consider...there's an interesting book out there that does talk a great deal about the need to detox--but from Benzene contamination more than anything. You may want to check it out..
It's called "The Cure for HIV".

She is strongly supportive on the need to eliminate contaminates in your life because of its effects on the immune system. The book may help to inform some of the choices you are making in your detox.

Blessings!