Tips for a Healthy Detox

It’s Monday, January 4^th, and for me, this is the first day of 2010. I spent New Year’s Day with friends in Florida and I would be lying if I said we didn’t eat bar food and drink beer (the Gators were playing it and was Tebow’s last game). The second and third of January were spent travelling home to London so we’re talking salty airplane food and very little, if any, exercise, unless you count lifting my unbelievably heavy carry-on bag into the overhead compartment. 

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I will spend the next couple of weeks “detoxing” and the next couple of months getting back into shape. Not because it’s a new year and I plan to “banish belly fat in 2010” or “be the best new me” that all the magazines promise. But because while I’m getting back into the gym and eating like a normal human should eat, I think a kick-start detox plan, the healthy way, will give me the boost I need to feel like me again. 

Some might question why I slack on the gym and eat more than normal during the holidays if it means having to deprive myself a bit in January, but I think it’s worth it. The majority of the time I work out 3-5 days a week and eat a balanced diet. But from the end of November until beginning of January I eat whatever I want and spend more time with friends than with the treadmill. And when the New Year rolls around, I am ready to get rid of the bloated feeling as soon as possible.

I find the best way to “detox” is not actually by starving yourself, or by doing liquid-only diets, or by eating only watermelon and cucumbers (simply because for me, those types of plans are impossible). I’ve done my own little detox plan quite a few times in my life and it usually works by almost immediately eliminating the water weight build-up from weeks of salt and alocohol followed by the loss of the couple of real pounds that I gained by indulging for over a month. 

The body responds to change pretty quickly, so if you’re really looking to get back into shape fast or kick start a diet, the best way is to shock yourself a bit. I do this in the gym by adding an extra 20-30 minutes of cardio to each work out and adding plyo-metrics (jump-training). By doing jump lunges and squats, the body burns more calories and is forced to work harder.

And for the first few weeks of getting back into my normal, balanced routine, I follow some simple rules: 

• No eating after 9 pm
• Eat foods that help reduce water weight: apricots, bananas, green tea
• No sweets
• No fizzy drinks
• No booze at least for the first week (do this for a long as possible. Alcohol not only adds calories but slows metabolism and increases appetite.)
• Drink plenty of water with fresh lemon

To some people, this might seem like a bit much, but honestly it’s not that hard to do. You can still eat breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks. And I can assure you if you follow the rules above and get moving every day, you will see a change and feel better and healthier after about a week. 

I’m not saying I’m going to eat like this forever, or promise to go to the gym seven days a week in 2010. I agree with the Oliver Thring, it’s meant to be a resolution not a revolution. But I wouldn’t call my plan “stark asceticism” either. When I limit myself for a couple weeks and work harder in the gym, it means I feel healthy faster, and am back in the swing of things in no time.

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