Easy Cleansing Diets for Detox and Rejuvenation

by Janice White, Natural Healer

A cleansing diet is a great way to get in touch with your body and “get back to basics.” Cleansing compels you to give up the bad eating habits that you have developed, replacing them with healthy and natural ways of supplying your body with the nutrients it needs.

Diets that cleanse aid you in having more frequent bowel movements, because they clean your body from the inside. Good detox diets not only rid the body of toxins, but also help you lose weight as well as increasing your energy level.

Remember that your body seeks balance and health naturally. You simply have to allow your body to find the balance Mother Nature intended!

If you are feeling run down, chances are that in the course of your everyday life, your body is absorbing toxins from the atmosphere around you. The air we breathe, the chemicals in our food, the pollutants in the water we drink – all these things take their toll on the body.

Raw food diets not only help you slim down, they also help you to detox your body. A diet plan of organic raw foods is a great way to rejuvenate your body and remove toxins from your system.

There are a number of cleansing diet recipes that you can try to rejuvenate your system and take off pounds at the same time. For example, juicing for weight loss is one good way to detox and cleanse your colon.

What is the Best Cleansing Diet? Some Basic Guidelines

Doing a 7-day or 10-day cleanse is a good way to get back to the basics of eating and drinking only what your body needs. It’s an effective method of weaning yourself from food addictions and breaking bad eating habits.

During an intestinal cleansing, be sure to avoid foods that can cause allergies. For example, meat, eggs and dairy products (especially milk), white sugar and white flour, hydrogenated fats and all kinds of fried foods are basically no-no’s.

Instead, when on a cleansing diet to lose weight you should primarily consume whole grains, organic vegetables, organic fruits, brown rice and beans, and fresh herbs. The more natural your cleansing diet, the better. Also make sure you drink lots of pure water to further flush toxins from your system.

Complex carbohydrates in an unrefined state are great for cleansing because they provide vitamins, trace minerals, fiber, and protein. Good examples include brown rice, oatmeal, barley, and rye products.

Fruits contain important antioxidants as well as dietary fiber. Apples, pears and oranges are particularly high in pectin which serves as a natural cleanser for your intestines. Watermelon, another good cleansing fruit, contains important vitamins and minerals such as lycopene, beta carotene, selenium and zinc.

Vegetables contain vitamins and minerals necessary for maintaining a healthy body. Legumes, cabbage, garlic and onions contain high amounts of sulfur, which is great for liver cleansing.

Raw organic nuts provide healthy fats for the body, not to mention vitamin E, potassium, and folic acid. Flaxseed oil is high in omega-3 essential fatty acids, which are powerful antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties.

Try the Master Cleanse

The Lemonade Diet, also known as the Master Cleanse Diet, is another recommended method to help your body rid itself of toxins, lose weight, feel healthier and have more energy.

If you want to try it at home, here are the ingredients required for the Master Cleanse:

• lemon juice

• maple syrup

• pure water

• cayenne pepper

That’s it! By using these simple ingredients, you can take off weight and reinvigorate your body. It takes about ten days to complete the Lemonade Diet, and it’s important to see it through to the end.

The Sacred Heart Cleansing Diet

Another diet regimen worth trying is the Sacred Heart Cleansing Diet. This detox diet’s main feature is its vegetable soup, and here’s how you can make it at home:

1 or 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
2 pounds of carrots
2 green peppers
3 large green onions
1 large can of no-fat beef broth
1 package of Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup

Season as you like. Cover the ingredients with water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Then cook on low heat for another 20 minutes. Eat as much of this soup as you wish, as it contains very few calories. The more you eat, the more weight you will lose!

Regardless of which diet plan for detoxification you choose, after your cleansing diet is finished, you should have more energy and feel refreshed and revitalized. Then it becomes important to try and maintain these new eating habits for the long-term.

Hopefully, you won’t go back to the habits that got you into trouble in the first place. Eating colon-cleansing foods that help you naturally detoxify should now become a way of life!

(published April 4, 2010)