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Every year, I make a pledge to kick off the new year with making my health more of a priority. This ALWAYS involves trying to lose the 3-5 lbs. I gained over the holidays.
I've learned over the years that the key to success is to avoid fad/trendy diets that are usually too extreme and unsustainable. The plan has to be something I can stick to for longer than a week or two.
What Is A 21 Day Reset?
This 21 Day Clean Eating Cleanse is a healthier approach to eating and involves choosing all-natural, healthy, whole foods and avoiding any processed, fake foods.
Clean eating isn't really a diet, it's a different way of looking at food.
Harmful foods like sugar, grains, hydrogenated oils, and conventional dairy can sabotage your metabolism, increase inflammation, and have negative effects on your body.
Persistent weight gain, low energy levels, muscle and joint pains, skin problems, digestive issues, imbalanced hormones, thyroid issues, and allergies are just a few of the conditions that can be directly related to your diet.
Avoiding these harmful foods for 21 days can drastically change your health, stimulate your metabolism, reduce inflammation, help control blood sugar, increase energy and mood, promote weight loss, and give you the body you desire and DESERVE.
What Can You Eat On The 21 Day Cleanse?
Enjoy healing, whole, real, fresh foods such as high quality protein, fresh organic vegetables and fruit, and healthy fats.
Eat High Quality Protein
Protein should be consumed at every meal and snack (grass fed beef, organic eggs, organic poultry, wild caught fish).
Eat TONS Of Veggies
Most of our vitamins, minerals, and helpful nutrients come from vegetables. I recommend low-carb veggies as they are higher in fiber. For my female patients, increasing fiber intake with veggies also helps to diminish excess estrogen levels in the body.
Too much estrogen often contributes to why most women have trouble losing weight.
The best low-carb veggies include broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, mushrooms, kale, celery, arugula, bell pepper, onions, zucchini, cabbage and cucumbers.
Buy Organic Meat & Veggies
It is important to buy organic meats and vegetables to avoid exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, and the pesticides and herbicides that are so commonly sprayed on the vegetables.
Organic foods can cost slightly higher, if this is a concern for you, at the very least, make sure to buy the "dirty dozen" as organic.
Apples, celery, bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, grapes, spinach, lettuces, cucumber, blueberries, and potatoes should all be organic. I also include kale and green beans on my list.
Manage Your Fruit Intake
Fruit is incredibly healthy for you, but it does contain sugar. I recommend keeping your total fructose levels below 15 grams per day. Stick with lower fructose fruits like berries and citrus fruits.
Consume Healthy Fats
We no longer have to fear fat. Fat doesn't actually make us fat. Healthy fats are critical for weight loss and proper hormone balance and are often the missing link for finding balance.
Coconut oil, olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, grass fed beef, grass fed butter, whole eggs, and ghee are great sources of healthy fats and should be consumed at every meal.
Adding a teaspoon of coconut oil is one easy, delicious way to increase your consumption of healthy fats.
Include a teaspoon of coconut oil into your morning cup of decaffeinated coffee or tea to increase energy, add flavor, and get a healthy dose of good fat before your morning work out.
Foods To Avoid For 21 Days
Eliminate harmful, inflammatory foods such as sugar, grains (including gluten), conventional dairy, processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, and hydrogenated oils (vegetable oils).
Avoid All Grains & Gluten
Eliminate all grains including gluten. Wheat, rye, barley and other gluten-containing grains such as corn, rice, quinoa, and oats. All flour products, bagels, pasta, and cereals should be eliminated.
Gluten is a protein found in wheat and grains. You have to completely take gluten out of your diet to begin to reset your gut. Gluten creates inflammation and can be the root cause of many inflammatory conditions.
Not everyone is sensitive to gluten. You may find that you can add this back into your diet slowly after the 21 day reset with little to no problem.
Avoid Hydrogenated Oils & Trans Fats
The damaging effects of trans fats is well documented. They are linked to increasing LDL (bad cholesterol), heart disease, clogging arteries, and Type 2 Diabetes. Avoid these vegetable oils: soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and grapeseed oil.
Avoid Sugar & Artificial Sweeteners
Eating processed sugar results in spikes in blood sugar. Excess sugar leads to insulin resistance which causes your body to store fat and is the root cause to most chronic diseases. Raw honey and organic stevia are healthy alternatives.
Avoid Dairy Products
Eliminate all dairy products including milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and butter (except ghee). Sensitivity to dairy proteins is more common than you think.
If you are allergic to lactose or sensitive to dairy products the immune system becomes reactive to the proteins found in dairy products.
The food sensitivity will lead to inflammation and can affect your energy and overall health.
Foods To Enjoy & Eliminate
High-Quality Protein: Grass-fed beef, organic eggs, organic poultry, wild caught fish | Sugar All Forms: Candy, Cookies, High Fructose Corn Syrup (It's in everything) |
Bone Broth Protein Shake | Grains: including gluten, rice, bread, pasta |
Fresh, Organic Vegetable & Fruit | Processed Food/Packaged Food |
Nuts & Seeds: Almonds, Walnut, Brazil, Chia & Flax Seeds | Peanuts (legume) & Peanut Butter |
Coconut Milk & Almond Milk | Dairy Products: Milk, Cheese, Yogurt |
Healthy Saturated Fats: Coconut, Olive, Avocado, Grass Fed Beef, Grass Fed Butter, Grass Fed Ghee, Eggs, Wild Caught Fish | Hydrogenated Oils & Trans Fats: Vegetable, Corn, Safflower, Sunflower Oils |
Decaffeinated Organic Coffee, Herbal Teas | Coffee & All Caffeinated Beverages |
Organic Honey & Stevia | Artificial Sweeteners |
Pure Filtered Water | Alcoholic Beverages & Sodas |
Other Helpful Detox Tips:
Below, you will find a few more helpful tips to aid in your detox success.
Don't Count Calories
Focusing on calories is missing the bigger picture for a healthy detox and weight loss. How much you eat matters, but the quality is of greater importance.
I know most of us want to be able to eat as much as we want AND lose weight. The good news is that you can do both of those on this 21 Day Detox, and you do not have to limit your caloric intake.
Just stick to the approved foods and the weight will come off.
Balance your hormones
(For the ladies!) The single most important (and most often overlooked) factor to losing weight when you are a woman near the age of 40 is imbalanced hormones.
There are certain hormones, that if out of balance, make losing weight impossible. They can put the brakes on your metabolic engine and it doesn't matter how little you eat or how much you exercise, the scale won't move.
The secret to weight loss is hormonal harmony. Unexplained weight gain is the first sign of hormone imbalance. 99% of persistent, unexplained weight gain is hormonal, and most women don't connect the dots.
Hormones control every aspect of how we gain and lose weight. Misfiring hormones could be the source of your weight gain. Keep that in mind as you move forward with the cleanse.
If you have more questions about your hormonal health, read more here.
Add High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
To aid with weight loss and to create a fat burning firehouse, incorporate HIIT with your 21 Day Detox. Research shows that interval training burns 4 times more calories and fat than traditional cardio.
HIIT can also cut your work out time by 70%. This is the HIIT that I personally use. It takes 20-23 minutes 3-4 times per week to boost your metabolism.
Try Our Bone Broth For Weight Loss Recipe
If you haven't noticed, bone broth has exploded in the wellness world lately, but it is anything but trendy. It has some serious next-level health benefits that can't be ignored.
Especially when it comes to inflammation, healthy weight loss and immune system health. It also helps digestion and leaky gut, joint pain and arthritis, hair, skin, and nail development and even cognitive function.
Bone broth protein powder is truly nature’s multivitamin. As a society, we lack vital nutrients in our food supply (collagen, gelatin, amino acids). Bone broth supplementation is the best way to enhance lifespan naturally.
A bone broth protein shake can be a fast, easy supplement to aid in weight loss. I drink a shake every morning for breakfast within 30 minutes of my work-out.
Try this recipe:
1 scoop bone broth protein
1 cup organic berries
1 cup of coconut milk or almond milk
1 tablespoon of flax seed or chia seeds
1 cup of kale or spinach
Add ice, blend, and ENJOY!
Essential Oils For Weight Loss
Essential Oils have plant based intelligence that can support almost any health concern NATURALLY.
Grapefruit, ginger, and cinnamon essential oils are the most effective for weight loss and can help stimulate metabolism and curb appetite.
I handcraft an essential oil blend for weight loss and appetite suppression. Take a look at that blend here.
Apple Cider Vinegar For Weight Loss Recipe
Does drinking apple cider vinegar help you lose weight? Maybe! The connection to weight loss is due to the fact that raw apple cider vinegar is a fermented food.
Fermented foods are known to be healthy and beneficial to the gut, and thus aids in better digestion.
According to one study, taking 1–2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar every day for up to three months helped adults lose an average of 2.6 and 3.7 pounds.
And those who consumed 2 tablespoons daily lost nearly twice as much weight in three months compared to dieters who did not take apple cider vinegar as part of their weight loss plan.
Apple cider vinegar isn’t a magic pill, but it can help reduce sugar cravings, create a feeling of fullness, and help balance blood sugar. It also works as a natural detox remedy to balance your stomach’s ph.
This easy Apple Cider Vinegar Drink Recipe is made with Bragg ACV, fresh lemon juice, water, ground turmeric and a drizzle of honey.
Ingredients:
2 cups (16 ounces) filtered water
2 teaspoons unfiltered raw organic apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg ACV)
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoons Raw honey (more for desired taste)
Instructions:
Add the ingredients to a glass.
Stir thoroughly to blend.
Enjoy throughout the day.
You can enjoy this recipe at night or in the morning, however, for weight loss it is best to consume it first thing in the morning at least 20 minutes before eating to aid in metabolism.
Summary
When you eat the way your body wants you to eat, and you avoid harmful, inflammatory foods and eat whole, organic foods, your hormones naturally fall in line, your insulin levels drop, and your belly fat melts away.
You lose weight because you work with your body, not against it. Conquering weight loss will take a commitment. What got you to your current situation, will NOT get you out of it.
Change is required. You will not succeed with this program without the commitment to transforming your health. It's time to take your power back.
Best of Health,
Dr. Angela
Dr. Angela's BEST RECOMMENDATIONS
PLEASE NOTE: I ONLY recommend products, supplements & essential oils in my posts that
1.) I have personally crafted myself and I know exactly what is in them.
2.) I personally use and love and trust the quality
3.) I have recommended to my patients and know the efficacy and have seen the therapeutic value.
Hi, I'm Dr. Angela Walk...
I have been involved in the health and wellness industry for over 20 years as a health & wellness physician. I have written extensively for health publications and I am keenly aware of trends and new developments in natural health.
I embrace an active lifestyle combining diet, exercise and healthy choices. My goal is to inform my readers of natural options available to them in hopes of improving their health and quality of life.
GET FREE ACCESS! Dr. Angela Walk is on a mission to provide you and your family with the highest quality natural tips and organic products...Join me on my Facebook Page or Instagram Page.
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