Summer Detox

Since I spent the first half of the year writing my book, I didn't have the time to do my usual maintenance juice fasts or cleanses. Now that I have some downtime I figured it's time to do some late spring cleaning. Thing is, I still had to work on new recipes so I needed something less painful than a juice fast. I had bought the book "Clean" by Dr. Junger and thought that might be a doable program to follow while I continue working in the kitchen. The basic plan is as follows:

Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: raw or cooked meal
Dinner: smoothie
Portions should be small (2 cups for smoothies) avoiding nightshades and allowing at least 12 hours between dinner and the following breakfast.

This was not that much different than what I already ate so I decided to follow the plan completely raw and see how it goes. After 6 days I didn't feel or see results. I guess I believe there has to be a certain degree of torture for it to be a successful detox. I've been raw for 3 years so this wasn't much of a challenge except for the portions were smaller and I couldn't have tomatoes. This would be an excellent plan for someone coming from the Standard American Diet though. The book has great information about why to detox and the plan is simple to follow. It allows one cooked meal a day if you choose and that includes some animal products.

I wanted to continue my cleanse so I modified it by skipping the lunch meal and instead having:
-1 quart fruit based green smoothie with superfoods and 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil or tahini paste for the first half of the day
-1 quart vegetable green smoothie with 1/2 avocado for the second half of the day.

I can't believe I hadn't tried this before. I feel amazing and yet I can tell I'm detoxing. My sense of smell always becomes more acute when I detox. I also start to breakout and this time around I had the unpleasantness of hives on my upper chest, thighs and around my temples. Thankfully it was only temporary. I've had loads of energy which is what I needed, not a detox that makes me crabby and fatigued. I've been able to workout as well but I do get crazy cravings. Often for food I haven't eaten in ages like In n Out burgers. I have 5 days to go but I think I can go much longer. With the summer heat and the abundance of local produce this is a plan I could follow for a while.

Has anyone else tried a smoothie cleanse? How were your results? I've done Frederick Patneaude's smoothie cleanse but it excluded fats and salt all together. THAT was hard. That little bit of fat is the difference between me being hungry in 3 to 4 hours or starving in 1 hour. I've only been using a pinch of salt in my one smoothie. I've lost a lot of water weight and my arms look toned again just by cutting down the sodium.

If anyone feels like trying this plan let me know your results. I'd love to hear your experience with it. If you're looking for a good book on detox plans I also highly recommend checking out "Raw Food Cleanse" by Penni Shelton. Do you have a favorite detox book? Let me know!