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The body is a wonderful self-healing, self-regenerating creation.
You can influence its healing processes by making certain choices
about what to eat and drink. And spring and summer are great times
to begin thinking about cleaning out your body by cleaning up what
you eat and drink. There are many different approaches to detoxing
or cleansing the body. In this article I’d like to present an overall
approach incorporating seven levels or steps that you can tailor
to your own life and living circumstances.
Let’s suppose that you have, for many years, eaten what’s often
called the standard American diet, or SAD. In that situation, never,
I repeat never, do a water fast, because you can become very sick
by doing that. The reason is that, whenever you begin to eliminate
lower quality foods and replace them with higher quality foods,
the body will begin to build new, healthier cells and discard the
old cells. This process can manifest in your body as nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea, constipation, skin eruptions, headaches, and more. Below
I have listed the seven steps of detoxification. Depending upon
where you currently are in your usual eating habits, you can begin
with that step or with step number one, below.
Step 1: Eliminate all foods with artificial flavors and
colors. These are lower quality foods made to look and taste like
better quality foods by adding these artificial, laboratory-made
chemicals. How will you know these foods? By reading labels which
will say “Blue #2 or Red #40, or artificial vanillin, or artificial
flavors unspecified.” Do not eat or drink these foods for they could
be called “poisonous.” In other words, they can be injurious to
your physical, emotional, and mental well-being. If you’re interested
in more information, read A Consumers Dictionary of Food Additives
by Ruth Winter, MS. Her book lists 8,000 additives!
Step 2: Eliminate foods and beverages with caffeine. Caffeine
is a highly addictive substance that gives us more energy in the
short term, but with an overall decline in our natural energy. It’s
a bit like mashing the gas pedal of your car to the floor (drinking
caffeinated beverages) while your body has the brake on (to slow
you down). If you give up caffeine and experience headaches, then
you are certainly addicted to it. You can free yourself from coffee
gradually by mixing regular coffee with decaf when you brew it or
when you order at the restaurant.
Step 3: Eliminate foods with refined sugars. Here, again,
you must read labels to find out which foods have sugar and how
much. Here’s a crash course in label reading for sugar content.
Look under carbohydrates and find how many grams of sugar there
are in one serving, i.e. Fruity Pebbles cereal has twelve grams
in a 3/4 cup serving. Divide the twelve by four (grams per teaspoon)
which equals three teaspoons per serving as you pour it out of the
box. Eat 1 1/2 cups and that’s six teaspoons! Coca-Cola Classic
12-ounce can has 39 grams of sugar or 9 3/4 teaspoons. Be careful
of Mello Yello and Mountain Dew which call eight ounces a serving—that
has eight teaspoons of sugar. In other words, you’re getting one
teaspoon per ounce or twenty teaspoons in a 20-ounce bottle! Americans
drink the majority of their sugar!
Step 4: Eliminate refined foods which include those made
with white flour, such as most breads, pastas, bagels, cookies,
cakes, and many cereals, as well as white rice. For example, when
whole wheat flour is refined into white flour, 22 vitamins and minerals
are removed. Four (yes, I said four) nutrients are added back and
the food is labeled “enriched.” By my arithmetic, whoever eats the
“enriched” food is still eighteen nutrients short, and that translates
into nutrient deficiencies and poorer health for many people.
Step 5: Eliminate your individual food sensitivities. We’re
all individuals and not everyone is supposed to eat the same way.
How can you tell for yourself? One way is to look at your cravings;
a person may crave a food to which s/he is sensitive. The top five
foods to which adults and children may be sensitive are all dairy
products (yes, even yogurt), wheat, sugar, soy, corn. Another way
is to eat according to your blood type as described in a new book,
Eat Right For/4 Your Type by Dr. Peter D’Adamo. Some of my
clients have found the method he outlines to be a life-transforming
dietary change. And a third way is through a special blood test
to assess food sensitivities.
Step 6: Eliminate animal-based foods. While I’m comfortable
with people being vegetarian or not being vegetarian, removing animal-based
foods for a short period of time as part of the cleansing process
can be very helpful. “What is left to eat?” you may ask. Let’s stop
here and see where you are. Some whole grains like rice and quinoa,
plus whole fruits and vegetables, both raw and cooked. This is a
stage that many people can hold at for a longer time, giving their
body an opportunity to cleanse while the fruits and vegetables stabilize
blood sugar and enhance bowel function so essential to “getting
the crud out.”
Step 7: Eliminate all foods but water. With no calories
coming into the body, this final step is best done when you’re on
vacation and/or can get lots of rest. Give the body and mind and
emotions time to really clean house. What’s the timing for all of
this? Some people may want to do one step a week, while others may
decide to do one step a month. It all depends on how hectic your
life is, how focused you want to be on the process, and how rotten
you feel right now. Remember you can make yourself much sicker by
going at this process too quickly. And finally, add back in only
whole foods! Eat one new food every three days to assess the overall
impact on your health and well being. You and your food choices
powerfully influence your health.
© 1999 Elizabeth Pavka, MS, LN is a wholistic nutritionist who
does individual nutritional counseling, in person and by phone.
She may be reached at PO Box 926, Asheville, NC 28802; phone (828)252-1406;
fax (828)254-2286.
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