Healthy Detox Challenge - NO FASTING

Here is a little more information to get you started before our kick-off Friday.

Challenge Goal: To consume only natural food and food combinations, including fruits/vegetables, whole grains, eggs, organic dairy and meats while eliminating refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, additives, and processed foods.

Steps to Complete:
- (Optional, but recommended) Add those in this thread as friends.

- (Optional, but recommended). Open your food diary to be visible to friends. To do this, from your Home page, click on “settings”. Click on “diary settings”. Scroll down to Diary Sharing and select either “Friends Only” or “Public”. Click Save Changes.

- (Recommended) Remove temptation and cleanse your immediate access areas of processed foods, snack foods, unnatural sweeteners, and anything with chemical ingredients. You want to have access to foods found in nature without additives and processing. If the food is packaged, read the ingredients. If you don’t know what they are – don’t eat it!

- (Required) Start thinking about how you will accomplish a more natural approach to your food preparations for 14 days. This type of eating doesn’t lend to fast food fixes, and a little prep will take you a long way. (required)

- (Required) Commit to yourself that you will be a natural eater for 14 days. Our objective is truly NO SLIPS during this time… that’s the only way you will get the full benefits of the detox.

- (Required) Determine your minimum healthy water consumption per day. There are lots of websites to help you determine your personal goals. Find your goal, and plan how you will stick to it.

- (Required) Check back here at least TWICE per week and post something. It can be about your experience, a comment to another participant, a great natural recipe… but something. Stay involved and help motivate your peers. I will also commit to posting at least once a day.

(Optional) Begin thinking about what you are willing to do to deal with cravings as the pop up. Cravings should be anticipated, especially in the first few days.

- (Required) Review your current eating. Think about what needs to be eliminated for the 14 days. Personalize this challenge to meet your needs – as long as you are eliminating the processed foods, you will be in line with our goal. My list is as follows:

-- Foods to Avoid: Processed sugars, artificial sweeteners, food additives, processed foods
-- Foods to Include: Fruits, vegetables, organic meats and dairy, whole grains, lentils, beans, dark chocolate (as long as I understand the ingredient list!), spices, coffee (controversial, but I opt to include it)

(Optional) Read On to Learn More, excerpt from http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/natural-foods-diet/:

Similar to the Whole Foods Diet, the Natural Foods Diet endorses a way of eating that is free of additives and processed ingredients. Rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, sustainably and organically-raised poultry, dairy, meat and whole grains, the Natural Foods Diet is in direct contrast to the Western Diet, which is comprised of processed and highly refined foods and is strongly implicated in adverse health conditions.

PRO ________________________________________
• Rich in fresh and unprocessed foods
• A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and whole grains has been linked to a decrease in many diseases
• Promotes appreciation of food in their natural form
• May help to reduce weight
• Endorses growing home gardens or supporting locally-raised food
• Environmentally friendly
CON ________________________________________
• Way of eating requires discipline
• Requires that you have access to plenty of fresh food

The Natural Foods Diet is a lifestyle eating plan that avoids the use of additives, artificial flavorings, refined flours and sugars, hydrogenated oils and food colorings.

Heavy on fresh vegetables and fruit, whole and unmilled grains, organically-raised meats and poultry, legumes, nuts and seeds, the array of food in the Natural Foods Diet makes it a perfect way of eating that can be followed by someone who chooses to consume meat or not.

A typical day on the Natural Foods Diet may look like this:
• Steel cut oats topped with berries and honey for breakfast.
• Green salad with almonds, avocado and lemon juice for lunch.
• Organic chicken breast with broccoli, asparagus and wild rice for dinner.
• Desserts and snacks can be fresh or baked fruit and nuts and seeds.

Good Morning, Challenge Participants!!!

We are on our final countdown to kicking off our 14 day natural food detox. Are you ready???!!

I am sending this message as an email and also will post it to our message thread.

Hopefully you have had a chance to read all our posts thus far. Here is the link to our message board: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/183726-healthy-detox-challenge-no-fasting

The easiest way to get there quickly is to click on Message Boards, then click on “My Topics” at the top of the page. Then you can easily scroll through and find this thread. Remember, please post at LEAST twice a week.

Participants include:
CarlitaK
superhippiechik
partcho
nutrigaby
SlimNana48
MochaMixAZ

This is a tough challenge, but I know that we can do it! It’s important to keep the following in mind, beginning at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT:

1. If you don’t know the ingredients, DON’T EAT IT. This may rule out most restaurant meals, pre-packaged foods, anything from a vending machine, sodas, chips, some breads, crackers, etc.
2. Natural, natural, natural. Avoid processed foods. Read ingredient lists religiously or prepare at home. If you have any questions on the validity of a food, please post it here – we are all here to help.
3. While this is not a weight loss challenge, you may want to weigh yourself prior to beginning. During the detox, I don’t restrict myself as much on portions, but have always lost weight by opting only for real foods. (I think it’s true: eat naturally= eat less)
4. Maintain your food diary every day. Consider opening it to be viewable by your friends or challenge participants. As a participant, take time to review others’ diaries and provide feedback.
5. Prepare yourself for some initial cravings. Remember – our goal is 100% here. A slip up can bring you back to detox day 1. For the next 14 days, be excessively vigilant.
6. If you’ve been reading the posts, you’ve already started working out a plan for how you’re going to get your water in, prepare you foods, etc. Work your plan!

Congratulations on embracing our challenge. I am 100% POSITIVE we are going to feel GREAT!!! I’ll bet you’ll even consider adopting the natural option after our 14 days due to the amazing benefits you are about to experience.

Let’s do it!
Deon

Hi, Carlita! Here's my 2 cents:

Olive oil - yes, yes, yes. Great choice.

Grapseseed oil - I'd say yes again.

You do want to try to be aware of the extraction processes used. (Chemical vs. pressed).

Both oil choices are high in unsaturated fat, low in saturated fat, and cholesterol-free. The high smoke-point of the grapeseed oil makes it a great choice for saute'ing, too.

As for vinegars, I'm also a big fan. You do still want to read the labels and avoid common ingredients like: caramel, sugar, colorings.

LOL No Judging here. "Natural" is a tough way to classify wines, but there are some that would fit the bill. Usually, if you look for organic wines, that's a good first start. After that, you just want to look for no added sugards, no adjustments to aciditity, and no other additives. Again, check your ingredient list - that will help you most.

It's up to you if you want to include alcohol as part of your detox. Wine is high in sugars and alcohol, making it somewhat undesirable to overall detox. After detox, there is lots of research to *support* the consumption of drinking a glass of red wine a day.

Just as weight loss and drinking are personal decisions, so is detoxing. Make this regimen work for you. Bear in mind that drinking alcohol during the detox can greatly reduce the benefits. Consider steering clear of alcohol for the 14 days, then returning to whatever consumption is right for your after. In doing so, the body can reap the benefits of both the detox and the wine (Blatantly stolen from http://www.ehow.com/about_5409623_wine-affect-detox-diet.html )

Ok, I must confess I have a party on saturday! So I will keep on track with the food but maybe I will drink some "healthy" alcohol drinks like wine and 1 beer. I'm a registered dietitian and I think those are the better choices. I won't exceed the limit, just 1 or 2 drinks...after that I will stay on track, I swear!:drinker:

LOL. I hear you. I'm glad it's early in the detox. You still have to live, right? LOL

I was lucky enough to be able to enlist my boyfriend to participate with me. It helps that I'm the cook in the house. :-D