1. Fruit-Flushing: Getting Started
Spend 3 days eating fruit, salad, and protein, and you’ll cleanse your system, kick food addictions, and lose up to 9 pounds. Plan developer Jay Robb, a clinical nutritionist, says Fruit Flush gives your digestive system a break from over-processed foods; lets low-calorie, fiber-rich fruits (and some vegetables) clean your system; and puts your body into fat-burning mode.
- The first day of Fruit Flush consists of a protein shake every 2 hours between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., followed by 8-12 ounces of water. Dinner is a raw salad (no starchy vegetables) with olive or flax seed oil, or half an avocado, along with 3-6 ounces of lean protein or egg whites.
- The next 2 days are all about fruit from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.: one 100-calorie serving of fruit every 2 hours. Dinner is either salad or half an avocado, plus one protein shake.
- If you’ve got a caffeine habit or enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, you’re out of luck. Seasonings, sweeteners, and salt are off this plan.
2. Whole-Food or Vegan Eating: 30 Days or More
Whole foods are plant foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Examples of whole foods include whole grains, tubers, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. Whole-food eating may also include lean meats, such as chicken, turkey and healthy-fat fish (i.e. salmon, halibut, cod) 3-4x per week in smaller lunch or dinner portions than usual.
On a vegan diet, you can eat foods made from plants, including:
- Fruits and vegetables.
- Legumes, such as peas, beans and lentils.
- Nuts and seeds.
- Breads, rice, and pasta.
- Dairy alternatives, such as soy milk, coconut milk or almond milk.
- Vegetable oils.
With either option, it is important to incorporate a B-vitamin complex supplement (with B6 and B12), as well as a lot of plant-based proteins, such as chick peas, nuts, avocado, etc.
3. Rhythmic Eating
The latest science is showing that when we eat is as important as what we eat. That’s because our metabolism actually changes throughout the day because of our circadian rhythm (your body’s clock, which tells your body to do the right thing at the right time).
Here’s an example:
- 5 AM-Noon: Consume 4-6 servings of fruit, and only fruit.
- Noon-4 PM: For lunch, eat a big leafy green salad with lots of veggies. 2 PM snack, try celery, carrots and hummus or guacamole. 4 PM snack, a handful of unsalted almonds, walnuts, pecans and pumpkin seeds.
- 7-8 PM: Try a dinner that includes brown rice, quinoa, steamed veggies, a baked sweet potato (and a lean meat, like salmon 3-4x per week, or every other day, if you’re doing whole-food eating).
4. Incorporate Enzyme Supplements
Digestive enzymes play a key role in breaking down the food you eat. These proteins speed up chemical reactions that turn nutrients into substances that your digestive tract can absorb. Your saliva has digestive enzymes in it. Some of your accessory organs, including your pancreas, gallbladder, and liver, to the digestive system also release them. The consumption of processed food products can cause your accessory organs to go into inflammation, and they won’t work as effectively during the digestive process.
5. Enzyme Co-factors (Additional Supplements)
Some enzymes require the addition of another non-protein molecule to function as an enzyme. These are known as co-factors, and without these enzymes remain within the inactive “apoenzyme” forms. Co-factors can either be ions, such as zinc and iron ions, or organic molecules, such as vitamins or vitamin-derived molecules.
