Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Detox... My Way

Detox. DUH DUH DUH. 

What is the point of a detox? You hear about people that drink lemonade for like 3 days and lose like 10lbs… but is this healthy? NO! Your poor, poor starving body. I would cry every day without food. I decided to do my own detox – the healthy way. The point of a good detox is to give your digestive system a “break” from all the hard-to-digest foods we put in our bodies and instead fill it with easily digestible pure nutrients that are cleansing and refreshing. I decided to do my own detox using smoothies. Smoothies are a great way to break up your food, releasing nutrition, and a great way to add all kinds of different healthy ingredients to one easy drink. 

Detoxes that don’t provide proper nutrition are just stupid. Not worth the 5lbs of WATER WEIGHT you are losing. Because that’s what it is. Water weight. When you are working out often or working out hard (like my bootcamp Saturday… I literally fell onto the floor inside my door and didn't move for a very, very long time) you are setting yourself up for disaster by depriving your body of protein like most detoxes. I have worked super hard for the little muscle that I have and I am not willing to lose it! So you will see that I used whey protein in my detox. This isn’t necessarily easy for the body to digest but will help keep you full and energized and is ESSENTIAL to your diet no matter what. 

Plan to spend a few hours on a Sunday grocery shopping and prepping your food for the next 3 days. I had many of the ingredients already in my fridge so this detox cost me about $50. The Aloe, protein, Olive oil, chia, flax and psyllium are the most expensive ingredients. Everything else is cheap. So if you already have those you are in luck!! I bought everything for this detox at Sprouts. One stop! 

Don’t be scared by how many ingredients are on the list. It’s not that bad!! I’m sure you have some of the ingredients already. You should also note that I am not a fan of using any kind of frozen fruits and vegetables. I would rather use fresh things that are in season.  Frozen fruits and vegetables usually are blanched in hot water before freezing (this means they lose some of their nutrients). Look at the vitamin contents on the back of the packages of the frozen food you buy. You will be surprised at how little it really is. 

If you don't want to do my detox, here are the most important ingredients to include in a detox: cayenne pepper, ginger, tumeric, fennel, aloe, lemon, grapefruit. I added fruits and veggies that I know have cleansing properties as well. 

Sunday Preparation: 
1. Peel and freeze 3 bananas  
2. Make detox soup (recipe below) 
3. Put smoothie packets together (recipes below) – basically, take a medium size ziplock bag and stuff it with all the ingredients (except main liquids) for each smoothie. 3 packets of your RED smoothie and 3 packets of your GREEN smoothie. The post-workout smoothie can be prepared at home after your workout if you work out. 
4. Pack up Nutribullet, smoothie cups/straws, lemon juice, Orange juice, grapefruit juice, aloe juice and almond milk to take to work or have handy wherever you spend your days! These need to be refrigerated. 

Shopping List: 
Nutribullet 
3 bananas 
1 container of strawberries
1 container of blackberries
1 pineapple (OR frozen pineapple if you want to save time) 
1 bunch of long-stemmed kale 
1 bag of spinach leaves
2 bags of mixed veggies (I bought broccoli, carrots and cauliflower) 
1 rutabaga 
1 jicama 
1 fennel root 
1 onion
1 bunch green onion
Tumeric 
Garlic powder
Onion powder 
Sea salt
Cayenne Pepper 
Olive oil 
1 jar of chopped ginger 
1 jar minced garlic 
1 container of dried figs or prunes (whichever you prefer) 
Flax seeds (small bag)
Chia seeds (small bag) 
Psyllium (small bag) 
Box of green tea 
Box of dandelion root tea 
Vanilla Whey protein – no fake sugars or creepy ingredients 
One little container of lemon juice (or lemons if you want to deal with squeezing them) 
One bottle of pure aloe vera juice 
One carton of unsweetened almond milk 
One carton of pure orange juice 
One carton of pure grapefruit juice 
6-8 cups vegetable broth/stock 
3 packets of MacroLife Naturals Macro Greens 
3 packets of MacroLife Naturals Miracle Reds 

Detox Soup: 
1. Use 1 large pot and heat your broth/stock 
2. Chop your rutabaga, fennel, jicama, green onion, onion and put in soup once hot
3. Add 2 bags of veggies to soup 
4. Add a few shakes of turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt and a couple             small pinches of cayenne pepper 
5. Add 2 T. minced garlic 
6. Add  ¼ cup olive oil 
7. Let simmer for maybe 10 minutes. 
8. DO NOT overcook the vegetables since you will be reheating and things get all                   mushy. 
9. Place pot/lid in fridge 
You can use your nutribullet to chop veggies, or I have this little guy that helped so much!! And yes, you can expect the chipped nail polish ALL the time. 


Every day: drink 8oz of grapefruit juice in the morning and drink organic green tea (hot or cold) and TONS of water with lemon – all day er’ry day. Many studies have also shown that the natural acidity of lemon speeds your metabolism by cleansing your kidneys and liver and also helps you sweat out extra toxins. 

Every night: drink dandelion root tea before bed 

Morning Smoothie: Reds All the Way   
o 3-5 strawberries 
o 10 blackberries
o ½ c. almond milk (unsweetened) 
o 2 T. chia seeds 
o 1 individual packet of MacroLife Naturals Miracle Reds 
o 1 scoop vanilla whey protein (not completely Paleo) 
o ½ cup of Crushed ice 
Berries for antioxidants, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, folate and potassium; almond milk for a little good fat, vitamin E and calcium; chia seeds for intense fiber/ some protein/good fat; vanilla whey for protein boost in morning and 1 packet of MacroLife for an extra boost of extreme added nutrients with the rip of a packet! 


Afternoon smoothie: Greens, Greens, Greens 
o Handful of spinach leaves
o 1 Kale leaf/stem 
o A couple chunks of pineapple (maybe ½ cup?) 
o 1 T. chopped ginger 
o 1 T. psyllium (ground) 
o 1 packet of MacroLife Naturals Macro Greens 
o ½ cup orange juice with pulp 
o 2 oz. of pure aloe vera juice 
o ½ T. lemon juice 
o ½ cup crushed ice
Spinach and Kale both provide Vitamins K, C, A and many antioxidants. Kale also provides sulfur which is a mineral essential for detoxification; ginger is widely recognized for aiding the digestive system and boosting the immune system, psyllium has a ton of fiber to keep things “moving” and help you feel full(9g per 1 T. serving!!), orange juice gives you a big boost of vitamin C and natural sugars for energy, Aloe Vera is an anti-fungal and anti-bacterial as well as a laxative and soothing agent for the entire digestive system, lemon detoxifies the entire body providing digestive support/cleansing and helps with fresh, glowing and healthy skin (score!). And pineapple just makes everything taste amazing. 

Post-Workout Smoothie  (Only if you worked out and burned over 500 calories – if you were mostly sedentary during the day, do not drink this smoothie) 
o 1 scoop vanilla whey (or 20-40g protein) 
o ½ large frozen banana 
o 4 dried figs or prunes
o 1 cup almond milk 
o 2 T. flax seeds 
o 1 t. cinnamon 
Bananas include a hefty amount of potassium which is great for post-workout; protein is also essential for post-workout; prunes and figs have fiber and natural laxatives; cinnamon is known to lower cholesterol, help with blood sugar regulation and provides manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium.


Detox soup for dinner. Dandelion tea for dessert. And voila – just like that… for 3 days you are set!  

I lost 4 lbs with this detox even though that wasn't really my goal and I literally am feeling great. I was EXTREMELY satisfied while I did this detox. I was so shocked at how full I was the whole time. I feel like I got to completely start over and I totally recommend this to anyone struggling with carb addictions or just having trouble with a diet!!! No before/after pictures from me… ain’t nobody wanna see that!! 

Thanks for reading and PLEASE let me know how your detox journey is going/went on my Instagram!! 

Follow me on Instagram @itspaleoonthego and remember to thank God for chocolate... after your detox. 

-Katie 

1 comment:

  1. I'm going to try this! I'm so excited. I really need something to help me with my caffeine habit. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete