To shed fat with a cleanse target your liver and colon. Keeping the liver in good working order is the secret to revving your metabolism and losing weight. When the liver is stressed it does not metabolize fat correctly. Many people have overworked livers due to sugar and sweeteners, environmental pollution, caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, drugs, hormones and other factors. Your liver removes these toxins from the body, serving as its filter. Cleansing the liver can help you lose 3 to 8 pounds in one day.
However, it's important to correctly prepare your body properly to avoid releasing toxins into your blood stream and suffering ill effects, warns nationally known nutritionist and "The Fast Track Detox Diet," author Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D. For example, your colon needs to be working well to remove toxins as they are flushed from the liver.
Prepare Your Body
Step 1
Boycott foods that stress your liver. Ditch all forms of sugar and artificial sweeteners. Discontinue taking over-the-counter drugs. Temporarily blacklist soda, caffeine, trans fats, refined carbohydrates like bread and white rice, processed foods, gluten, milk foods made of milk and soy protein isolates.
Step 2
Support your liver with cleansing foods for a week. Follow six new food groups. Pick one food from the first five groups daily and have two servings from the sixth group each day. The first is a 1 cup serving a cruciferous vegetable such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli or broccoli sprouts, and cauliflower. The second is a green leafy vegetable or herb such as mustard greens, kale, watercress, parsley, dandelion greens, chard, cilantro, beet greens and collards. The third group is one orange or half the juice of a lemon or lime. Sulfur rich foods make up the fourth group. Choose from ½ cup onions, two eggs, a clove of garlic, and ¼ cup daikon radish. The fifth group has liver-healing foods. These are 1 cup beets, 1 to 2 cups dandelion tea, one whole or four cooked artichoke hearts, ½ cup asparagus, 2 celery stalks, a scoop of whey, or 1 to 2 tsp. yeast flakes. The sixth group actually helps your colon. It consists of 1 cup berries, 2 to 3 tbsp. flax seeds, 2 tsp. powdered psyllium husks in water, one raw apple, one raw carrot or one raw pear.
Step 3
Pep up your metabolism by simultaneously with 2 tbsp. of olive or flax seed oil daily, a water consumption that is half of your body weight and liver-friendly proteins. Proteins are fish, omega-3 enriched eggs, low-fat, grass-fed beef, lamb and skinless chicken or turkey.
Cleanse for One Day
Step 1
Take a day off from eating and concoct Gittleman's liver cleansing juice on day eight. To make the juice, mix 8 oz. 100 percent cranberry juice and with 56 oz. filtered water. Bring this to a light boil and reduce the heat. Add 1/4 tsp. each ginger and nutmeg and ½ tsp. ground cinnamon. Simmer 20 minutes. Add ¾ cup orange juice, ¼ cup lemon juice and stevia to taste. Every hour, alternate drinking 1 cup water and 1 to 1.5 cups of the juice.
Step 2
Add 2 tsp. powdered psyllium husks or 2 to 3 tbsp. ground or milled flaxseeds to your first cup of juice or water. Repeat this process at the end of the day with your last cup of juice.
Step 3
Do 20 minutes of light exercise, such as taking a walk, sometime during your cleansing day. You also can utilize the day to focus on "treats" for yourself that do not involve food, such as a manicure.
Keep the Cleanse Going
Step 1
Follow the same food regimen that you used during the week prior to the liver cleanse. Do this for three days after cleansing. This will continue to bolster your liver health. Skipping this step can cause damage because the toxins you've released into your bloodstream will stay in your body.
Step 2
Add a probiotic food to your diet by choosing either ½ cup sauerkraut or 1 cup yogurt. Also, starting on day two, take a hydrochloric acid supplement prior to each meal. It should contain at least 500 mg betaine hydrochloride, 130 mg pepsin and 50 mg ox bile extract.
Step 3
Buy 100 percent cranberry juice and add it to your daily regimen after the three follow-up days. Consume 1 cup daily. Cranberry juice helps to keep your liver's detoxification pathways open. Also drink lemon juice in hot water every day. Lemons and limes both invigorate the liver and help to liquefy fat, which aids in flushing it from your system more quickly. Also boost fat burn by adding a gamma linolenic acid supplement. GLA stimulates brown fat activity in the body. Rich sources are black currant seed oil, borage and evening primrose oil.
Tips and Warnings
- Use good posture to keep lymph channels flowing, exercise because movement keeps lymph channels flowing, and avoid tight clothing and sitting for a long time. It's the body's drainage system and works in tandem with the liver, the body's filter.
- Do not fast if you are pregnant or nursing. Don't fast if you have a weakened immune system, cancer, have been recently ill or injured, have anemia or are malnourished. Check with your doctor before adding any supplements, changing your eating plan or trying a fast, especially if you have any health conditions or concerns.
Things You'll Need
- 100-percent cranberry juice
- Cruciferous vegetables
- Citrus fruits
- Leafy greens
- Psyllium husks
- Flax seeds
- Lean proteins
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