I don’t know about you, but I’ve been struggling to drop my extra weight gain from the winter. So I decided to start a detox.

7-Day-Spring-Detox-2

My primary objectives were to clean my palette, alleviate the feeling of heaviness and bloat, and gain some discipline with my eating.

I saw a 7-day detox in the premiere issue of “Thrive” magazine that really captured my attention. I like the simplicity of it. It was really easy to follow. Since we’re into spring and most of us are still trying to get in shape for the warm weather, I wanted to share this detox with you.

You can consume veggies, fruit, nuts, water (at least half your body weight in ounces daily) and plenty of fresh, organic, local produce. You should avoid: sugar, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, artificial sweeteners (dairy, soy and egg are optional).

Day 1-7

7-8am: smoothie

10-11am: – snack

12-1pm: steamed veggies and nuts for lunch with olive oil, lemon and sea salt

3-4pm: snack

6-7pm: smoothie

Snacks: a piece of fruit and nuts, celery and almond butter, snap peas and nuts, rice crackers and hummus, plain rice cake with almond butter, steamed veggies and nuts, avocado with sea salt. Even just a few nuts will do if you don’t have time.

For your smoothie, choose fresh or frozen fruit with 2-4 veggies, a handful of hemp seeds, almonds or walnuts. It’s also recommended you add two scoops of protein powder – simple whey or rice will suffice.

Optional items for your smoothie are greens powder supplement and Gymnema. You can add Gymnema Sylvestre 400-1000mg three times a day with meals/smoothies to help balance the blood sugar and eliminate sugar cravings.

Since this is a detox from a yoga instrucor, she recommends yoga 3-6 times/week and meditate at least 10 minutes per day.

The most important items recommended are preparing the smoothies, not eating after 7pm and taking the herb Gymnema.

The hardest part of this detox for me was to eat nuts in moderation. I seem to lack the capacity to eat just a few. Though full of nutritional value, nuts are calorie dense. Consequently, they can sabotage weight loss efforts if not eaten in moderation.

Unfortunately, I really over did it on nuts.  Despite the fact that I noticed my clothes fitting better I didn’t lose weight on the scale. I plan to continue it for a couple more weeks, so I’m making modifications. I’ve got to get rid of the nuts. For me they’re like potato chips, I can’t eat just one. I also plan to cut back some of the protein powder in the evening. Some protein powders are also calorie dense.

The one thing I wasn’t familiar with was the herb Gymnema.  It’s designed to curb your appetite. It’s typically recommended for diabetics because of the effect it has on blood sugar. It’s hard to tell if it was this herb that curbed my appetite or the nuts. Now that I’m cutting out the nuts, I will be able to tell if it helps. It’s not likely you will find this herb in a regular store. I recommend going to a natural foods store. I found it in the vitamins section in Whole Foods. It cost about $15 for a bottle of about 30 tablets.

The greatest benefit that surprised me was how easily I was able to function without caffeine. Prior to the detox, I was consuming about 2-3 cups of black or green tea per day. I thought I would miss it. I didn’t have a single problem. It has me questioning whether or not I need caffeine at all. I didn’t miss it or need it.

So, those are the highlights. You now know how it worked for me. Do you think this is a detox that could work for you? Even if you can’t complete the full 7 days, a condensed detox of at least 3 days will benefit you.

If you decide to try it, I’d love to hear from you. Please let me know how it works for you.

References Links:

For more information on this 7 day detox, go to http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-2567/7-Day-Spring-Detox.html

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