By Rachel Berman, RD – Director of Nutrition, CalorieCount.com
Spring time is here and your spring cleaning may already be well under way. This year, in addition to tackling your closet and cleaning underneath the couch, focus on ‘detox’-ing to spring clean your health. No, I’m not talking about expensive drinks and celebrity cleanses which can be harmful to our bodies with short-lived results. These are marketing gimmicks to get you to shell out money for something you will have to do time and time again. By making changes to your diet, you can naturally ‘detox’ with healthy foods. Add these foods on a regular basis to optimize your health and feel your best inside and out.
Leafy Greens such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale contain cancer fighting compounds called glucosinolates. They are also a great source of calcium which is important for muscle contraction and therefore, can improve the ‘spring in your step.’ Frozen veggies can often be even more nutritious than fresh since they are frozen at the peak of ripeness. Try always keeping a bag in your freezer for quick and easy addition to meals.
Citrus Fruits are loaded with soluble fiber. This type of fiber increases the amount of healthy bacteria in your colon to help flush out toxins from your system. They are also loaded with immune boosting nutrients and antioxidants such as vitamin C, which can improve the health of your skin. Choose the whole fruits, not juices, to get the maximum fiber benefit and improve satiation.
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In January, when people are dieting and exercising their way back into their skinny jeans, dietary cleanses that promise quick, effective weight loss can be tempting. In today’s edition of her GOOP newsletter, actress and health aficionado Gwyneth Paltrow promoted her new The GOOP Cleanse by Clean kit, which retails at $425.
The cleanse program instructs you to drink a special protein shake for breakfast, eat a balanced meal for lunch, a protein shake for dinner and take GOOP “clean” supplements throughout the day. Though popular cleanses like The Blueprint Cleanse, The Master Cleanse and The Zen Cleanse purport a number of health benefits, doctors have told Hollywood Life that there is no “scientific proven” value to cleanses.
While the cleanse kit is designed to give your digestive system a break, eliminate toxins, rebuild beneficial bacteria and give you more energy, NYC internist Dr. Robert Bos said that there is no medical evidence that your digestive system needs a break.
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Don’t you wish you could be like Alice in Wonderland and drink a magic potion and you’d be smaller? Many diet aids claim to do just that. But before you go running to the diet aisle here are a few things you should know:
BUYER BEWARE!
1. They are not evaluated or approved by the FDA. This means these products do not go under the same safety and efficacy scrutiny as a prescription you get filled from your friendly neighborhood pharmacist. If you are someone who has diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or any other health conditions or are taking any prescription medications you definitely want to check with a doctor first before you start to take anything.
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As the weather warms and more skin starts to show, the promise of quick weight-loss makes cleanse diets and liquid fasts all the more appealing. But can a cleanse really deliver other health benefits? Most cleanses promise to flush out built-up wastes, rid the body of toxins and promote weight loss. However, many cleanses go even further, claiming that they will help you think better, get sick less often, have more energy, suffer from fewer allergy symptoms and sleep better. Can drinking a special juice really deliver on such high promises? Here’s a run-down on some of the most popular cleanses, accompanied by expert health opinions.
The Master Cleanse
Also known as the “maple syrup diet” or the “lemonade diet,” the Master Cleanse remains one of the most popular cleansing systems. It was created by alternative medical practitioner Stanley Burroughs in 1941, and consists of water, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and maple syrup, all mixed together into a kind of lemonade. Burroughs promoted the plan in his 1976 book, The Master Cleanser, but there are also a number of sites that detail how to best do the detox, plus different strategies of how to “ease in” and “ease out” of the cleanse. In the 1974 text, Burroughs recommends following this diet for a minimum of 10 days.
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Valerie Waters is an American personal fitness trainer who lives in Los Angeles and has been offering fitness and workout regimes to celebrities for seventeen years. She is best known for being “Hollywood’s Hot Trainer,” according to US Weekly and for her amazing diet and fitness plan, Red Carpet Ready.
The Red Carpet Ready diet is a three-day detox program that helps uses lose weight rapidly, reduce bloat, and boost energy. The diet supplements are composed of three blends of herbs. There is not an exercise component to this diet.
Valerie has also created an exercise tool called Valslides. Valslides are portable foam or plastic disks that users can use to perform sliding moves that tone their abs, thighs, and butts.
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