We're at day 20 of the detox - the longest I've ever gone on any kind of eating plan. I'm still waiting for my Crazy Sexy Diet book to arrive and I see it's now backordered for up to two months on Amazon. It reached number one on the site a few days ago and it's number 12 on the new releases list today, so wow.
According to Natalia Rose, of the Detox 4 Women variety, post-detox can involve incorporating more grains, sprouted breads, certain cereals, nuts, fruit and nut milks. She recommends continuing to follow the light-to-heavy eating rule during the day and eating your fruit in the morning. Other books I've read agree with this, some even pushing only fruit all morning and as much as your gut can handle.
As for grains and nuts, she says ideally at dinner, but if you want to throw some raw nuts into your lunchtime salad or have a sprouted grain veggie sandwich at noon, then go for it, dude. If you're a cereal nut, try having it after lunch and stick to whole grain kamut, spelt or amaranth and stay away from ones containing white rice, white flour or potato starch. And ditch the cow's milk for almond milk. Pretty please.
If there's one gigantic thing I've learned over the past seven months, it's that cow's milk is the devil, and more so than I originally thought. It's been tagged as being responsible for doing everything from building up mucus and aggravating allergies and stomach upset to causing asthma and juvenile diabetes. And this is just by the light-hearted scientists who have only scratched the surface of the stuff. In a shitload of studies (the reputable, non-bloggy ones) introducing and eliminating dairy can turn on and off the production of cancer cells. To sum up? Get off the crap. If you're over three years old, your body can't digest the calcium, so don't use the bone-building excuse anymore. Get your calcium from almond milk, beans, fish and veggies (even blackstrap molasses) - stuff that your bod can process.
There's no good reason to drink the stuff other than it's a multi-billion dollar industry and in every grocery store. Why we drink cow's milk over other mammal milk is the stuff of forgotten legend. It's just not necessary. Hell, I know it's hard to get over something you grew up with and is pushed at everyone as the perfect food and completely natural to drink, but unless you feel the need to suck on a cow's teat the next time you're at a farm, you need to think twice about why you're really drinking the stuff.
Honestly, I could write a book on this dealio. Take a moment, look up "why is cow's milk bad for you?" on Google and do your own research. Nothing other than websites for milk companies and other pro-industry sites will argue in favour of it. So be duped no more. Hells, even Dr. Spock warned against it back in the good ol' 90s.
And I swear to you - almond milk is delicious in cereal. Stay away from soy milk... that's a whole other book.
I switched to almond milk after reading one of your earlier posts and yes, it is yummy. In fact, I am managing to help my boys make the transition too. It started with putting it into blueberry smoothies for them...blueberries + almond milk = super yummy. Now they are adapting to it in their cereals too so progress is being made. In the meantime, I am surviving on the Detox 4 Women quite well, lost 8 pounds of Christmas baking in the process too!
ReplyDeleteAwesome, LC.
ReplyDeleteIt took me about three minutes to get my three-year old to switch and six months for my six-year old to get off the stuff. I did the smoothie thing too and then graduated to chocolate milk. By the time I got to Christmas I promised there'd be no more milk buying in the New Year and then pulled the ol' almond milk = snowflake water and said Santa even switched cuz he's lactose intolerant. She thought about that for a day or two and then made the leap for good.
Congrats on the eight lbs, girl!
Wow, Leslie, great going ... I have dropped about 5 lbs and those who are juicing with me are also losing weight but, I think for most of us it is the "feeling great" part that is so cool. Any of us can go on a "starvation diet" and lose pounds quickly, the problem is we just gain them all back when we go back to our old eating habits, but that was b.C. (before Carissa)
ReplyDeleteLove the almond milk and don't miss milk 'cause it has always been a problem for me. Sure I miss it in black tea, but I kind of like green tea better...and I'd like to go back to my one nice americano sans creams and sugar a day.
ReplyDeleteCheese was a hard one until I came around to goat's milk cheese.
The hardest part for me in this change of eating habits is the no bread thing. Once we are done I'll be back at making my own bread, but no white flour, all whole grains, all non-processed goodness.
Although I frequently awake dreaming of roastbeef and horseradish on a crusty bagette, I'm determined to keep on juicing and eating a (mainly) vegetarian diet. The one thing that kept me an omnivore b.C., is the fussiness of some vegetarians -- shit man, if someone goes to the trouble of making dinner, buck up and dive in. For godsake don't make a fuss. There almost always options to stay true without being rude.
Anyway, love the support I get from Carissa for staying the course. Being organized enough to make the big salad lunches and provide for my mid-morning juice-fest would beyond my capabilities. I get to enjoy all the good things this brings with little of the hard work.
Thanks m'love.
David educated me so long ago about milk and for Hannah's sake we don't have it in the house. I can't think of a dr or nutritionist who hasn't recommend it to me for the calcium, in spite of North Americans having one of the highest incidences of osteoporosis and being possibly the biggest consumers of milk.
ReplyDeleteS'funny you should say that ... I have osteoporosis and I am (was) a good little milk drinker. My endometriologist has actually cut down on the calcium pills she suggested because too much is probably my problem now ....
ReplyDelete