Easy Lemon Detox Diet
The Lemon Detox Diet is a simple, do-able diet that will help you
cleanse release toxins from your body and re-energise you.
It starts with a warm water lemon (or lime) drink each morning as you
rise. Squeeze the juice of half a lime or a quarter of a lemon into some
hot water, top with distilled water. Drink the warm lemon drink as you
rise in the morning. The bitter taste stimulates digestive secretions
and fires up metabolism for the day. It also gently cleanses liver and
completes the body’s nightly process of natural detoxification.
During your detox, meat based protein should avoided. Instead protein
drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements should be taken as they are
in easily digestible forms, therefore providing us with the necessary
nutrients without adding to the toxin levels in our body. If preferred a
small portion of fish (not tuna) can be taken instead to boost protein
intake during detox.
 During the first phase of detox, which is predominantly on days 1 – 3 of
your detox program, it is recommended you take lots of payaya,
pineapple, lemon/ lime (in the form of dressings and flavourings),
melon, cabbage, carrot, ginger, cinnamon, garlic and mint. These fruits
and vegetables will help loosen the toxins from your body.
During
the second phase of detox, which starts from day 4 onward, the focus is
on loosening the toxics from colonic walls and at a cellular level. It
is recommended you cut out pineapple and cabbage from the above list of
fruits and vegetables, and add to the list green apple, beetroot and
leaves, celery stalk and leaves, cucumber, parsley and leafy greens. Other foods you should include in your detox diet include:
- Vegetables – broccoli, asparagus, spinach, pumpkin, avocado,
lotus root, kale, mushrooms etc. However, some vegetables should be
avoided as they are non-detox [link to Detox diet 2 article]
- Legumes - glass noodles (mung bean), but not other beans or soy
products
- Starch/ cereal - soba noodles, buckwheat products, rice (brown,
red or black, but not white)
- Nuts – flaxseed, pumpkin seed, sesame and sunflower seed
- Fruits – coconut, watermelon, mango, papaya etc. However some
fruits should be avoided as they are non-detox [link to Detox diet 2
article]
Some vegetables and fruits are not detox, for eg. eggplant, sweet
corn, tomatoes, prunes, figs, bananas and oranges (including
mandarins, tangerines) and should be avoided during your detox
program.
You may think feeling hunger is an unavoidable result of a lemon
detox diet. You SHOULD NOT feel hungry on your detox program at all.
If you feel hungry you should:
- Increase your fibre and liquid intake. Fibre when dissolved
in liquid will make up bulk in the stomach and give the feeling
of fullness.
- Chew your food slowly. Instead of having vegetable and fruit
juices, replace with fruit salad dressed with a squeeze of lemon
and lime and a dusting of cinnamon.
- Reduce intake of high glycaemic index (high GI) fruits and
vegetables eg, pumpkin and watermelon with low glycaemic ones
such as broccoli and asparagus. High GI foods are quickly
metabolized into blood sugars, leading to ‘spikes’ in blood
sugar, followed by rapid slumps in blood sugar levels and can
lead to hunger and sweet cravings.
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