Most types of "juice cleanses" and "colon cleanses" out there are NOT
smart and can even be dangerous to your health in some cases.
One of my trusted advisors, Dr Walsh, explains 3 types of "detox cleanses" to AVOID here.
Now
as you'll see in that quick video, Dr Walsh also shows you what type of
cleanse that he thinks is a much SMARTER approach. As you see, Dr
Walsh's type of "cleanse" that he recommends includes a ton of healthy
veggies and fruits, but this is NOT "juicing", and that's for a specific
reason, as Dr Walsh explains.
I was curious to see if my
girlfriend and I could handle doing this 3-day cleanse, so we decided to
try it out this week. It was fairly simple to do and just involved
pureeing a boatload of veggies and fruits in our blender each day. Each
of the 3 days involved a different recipe, and we actually enjoyed the
taste of each puree drink.
During these 3 days we didn't eat any
grains (although we usually avoid grains anyway), and no meats, dairy,
eggs, alcohol, or coffee. We did do tea and lemon in between the pureed
smoothie meals.
Surprisingly, despite the lack of whole food
meals for 3 days, we found that we weren't that hungry and the cleanse
was pretty manageable. You're basically drinking a pureed smoothie
anywhere from 4-8 times a day, so it keeps you reasonably full despite
taking in much less calories than you're used to.
This cleanse
also contains a lot of healthy fats included in the pureed recipes
including nuts, coconut milk, and avocado, which greatly increased our
satiety because of the healthy fats. And the healthy fats serve an
important purpose since it increases your absorption of the fat soluble
vitamins from the fruits and veggies. So the fats are vital to the
success of this 3-day cleanse.
Although my girlfriend and I don't
watch much TV, the only time it was a little hard was if you saw a
commercial on TV showing pictures of burgers or something like that...
so make sure to ignore or fast fwd through food commercials if you don't
want to be tempted by other foods on this 3-day cleanse. Aside from
TV, it was really easy to stick to it since we purposely also avoided
any stores or restaurants during these 3 days and mostly stayed around
the house.
The theory is that this type of cleanse can really
help your liver detoxify and also creates a 3-day window of allowing
your digestive system to "rest" a little more compared to processing the
usual large meals.
Also, since this plan is extremely low
protein for 3 days, there's a theory that it can help your body to
better utilize protein once you switch back to a higher protein plan
again after the 3-day cleanse.
The only supplements I used during
this 3-day cleanse were a few grams a day of fish oil, to make sure I
was still getting adequate animal-based DHA and EPA, which I feel is
very important. And I also supplemented with about 2 grams of BCAA's
about every 2-3 hours throughout the day (probably a total of 15 grams a
day) to help prevent excessive muscle breakdown considering that this
was an extremely low protein plan for 3 days straight.
All in
all, I felt great during the 3-day cleanse, although I was seriously
craving some REAL protein by this morning, our first day after the
cleanse, so going back to an egg-based breakfast was awesome today!
I also had good energy levels at the gym during this 3-day cleanse, so nothing was negatively affected there in terms of energy.
And
lastly, I dropped about 4 lbs in the 3 days, but that was expected, as
even though I was filling myself with a boatload of pureed veggies and
fruit for 3 days throughout each day and was full most of the time, I
was definitely at a much lower calorie intake overall than I'm used to.
While
a normal "juicing cleanse" might be detrimental to your hormones
because of the lack of essential fat for 3 days (a definite problem),
this cleanse on the other hand, was loaded with healthy fats, so may
even help some people to improve their hormones.
Overall, I think
3 days was just right on this, as I was definitely ready to return to
normal meals today... but this was certainly a fun experiment, and I'll
probably repeat this every few months for the benefits that Dr Walsh
talks about.
If you want to experiment with this 3-day cleanse
yourself, and experience some of these benefits, including detoxifying
your liver, dropping a few pounds, and increasing your antioxidant
status of your body, you can sign up below and also get FULL support
from Dr Walsh himself as you go through the 3-day cleanse.
I'd
suggest starting this 3-day cleanse on a monday, and to start it this
coming monday might be perfect as it leads up to the Thanksgiving feast
that you'll have on Thursday, your first day after the cleanse! So make
sure to start getting prepared for the cleanse in terms of reading how
it works and also getting your groceries this weekend, and then start on
monday morning...
Get started on the 3-day cleanse here (and enjoy full support from Dr Walsh himself online)
I
really think you'll enjoy this experience like I did, and see the
health benefits! And what better time to cleanse your body than right
before the holidays.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer