During an intense, full body cleanse, the goal with your diet is simple: it’s to minimize the workload on your digestive organs while supplying your body with enough energy to carry out its everyday activities. Cleansing is performed primarily by your body’s self-regulated cleansing mechanisms, not by the nutrients in the foods that you eat.
Vegetables, fruits, and their juices are excellent food choices for an intense, full body cleanse for the following reasons:
1. For most people, vegetables and fruits are extremely easy to digest.
2. Vegetables and fruits are naturally rich in water; staying hydrated is an essential requirement for an intense, full body cleanse.
For the vast majority of people, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and all cooked animal foods are harder to digest than vegetables and fruits. These can be eaten sparingly.
How to Prepare for an Intense, Full Body Cleanse
Before beginning, it’s ideal to take a week or at least a few days to taper your intake of the following:
- Coffee
- Alcohol
- Salt
- Sugar and other sweeteners
- Reduce animal foods, including dairy, eggs, fish, shellfish, chicken, beef, pork, and all other flesh meats. Ensure these are only grass fed-organic ones that you eat or wild caught. Have a protein at every meal.
These foods put significant strain on your digestive organs, and avoiding them “cold turkey” can sometimes create withdrawal symptoms that are too powerful for some people to tolerate.
It’s fine to eat grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds right up until the day before you begin your intense period of detox – these foods are rich in fiber, and their remains should move through your digestive tract without too much difficulty during your intense cleanse.
If you don’t wish to spend up to a week to taper your intake of the foods listed above, it’s fine to begin right away; just be aware that you may experience highly uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal, like strong headaches, lightheadedness, and nausea.
Other than tapering the foods-to-avoid during your cleanse, all that remains during the preparatory phase is to make sure that your kitchen is well stocked with vegetables and fruits that you enjoy.
Here is a list of organic vegetables and fruits that can be used for a highly effective cleanse:
• Dark green, leafy lettuce (romaine, red leaf, green leaf)
• Avocados
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Celery
• Carrots
• Red beets (one or two will last a week)
• Zucchini
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Corn
• Yukon gold or new potatoes
• Sweet potatoes or yams
• Acorn or butternut squash
• Watermelon
• Honeydew
• Cantaloupe
• Pears
• Apples
• Bananas
• Mangoes
• Papaya
• Peaches
• Plums
• Nectarines
• Grapes
• Coconut
• Oranges and grapefruit
• Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, goji berries, and any other berries that you enjoy
• Any other fruits or vegetables that you enjoy raw or juiced
• Grass fed-organic meats and organic nuts
Clearly, it’s best to choose fruits and vegetables that are in season. Organic varieties are best, but my experience has been that non-organic produce can also be used to experience an intense period of detox.
Cleansing spices to add to your diet include: cinnamon, oregano, turmeric, cumin, cilantro, fenugreek, ginger, fennel, cayenne pepper, black pepper, clove, parsley and rosemary.
Regarding liquids: Have on hand plenty of water, you can add lemon or lime to it to alkalize your body. It’s fine to drink warm or hot water. Have lemon water in the morning before you eat anything, squeeze ½ a lemon into water and drink this.
Regarding medications: Please do not taper or stop taking prescription medications without your Doctor’s consent.
Regarding nutritional supplements: Please avoid any supplements that contain synthetic nutrients, protein isolates, grains, nuts, seeds, or lecithin. It’s fine to take whole food supplements that contain nothing but vegetables and/or fruits. It’s also fine to take a probiotic as long as it doesn’t have added protein, grains, nuts, seeds, or lecithin.
Regarding equipment: If you can chew your foods well, you don’t need much by way of equipment. If you have access to a strong blender and a juicer, you can make smoothies and juices during your intense cleanse, but these aren’t absolutely necessary.
The Full Body Cleanse Diet
Morning
- Eat any raw, ripe fruits that you desire, along with any combination of lettuce, celery, and avocado, if desired.
- If you have trouble staying full on just raw fruits and vegetables, be sure to have avocado with your fruit, as the healthy fatty acids found in avocado should help you stay satisfied until your next meal.
- If you’d like, you can blend up your morning meal into a smoothie.
- You can also have water, sparkling water, or a hot drink made with boiling water and peppermint or chamomile tea.
Afternoon
- Eat a large vegetable salad with as many different vegetables as possible. If you would like a salad dressing, use extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice or any combination of extra-virgin olive oil and citrus juice. Try to avoid vinegar, honey, salt, and spices.
- If you have trouble feeling full, again, try to include an avocado with your salad.
- If you don’t think you can make it to dinner on a raw vegetable salad with avocado, have a steamed Yukon gold potato, new potato, or sweet potato after your salad.
- Feel free to have water, sparkling water, or peppermint or chamomile tea after your lunch meal.
- Also feel free to have any fresh, ripe fruits that you desire after your vegetable salad.
- Grass fed-organic meats, wild caught fish or organic nuts.
Evening
- Eat any combination of raw vegetables and fruits that you desire, but aim to have at least as many vegetables as fruits.
- If you’re still hungry after eating raw vegetables and fruits, have any steamed vegetables that you enjoy, such as steamed broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, corn, and asparagus.
- If you’re still hungry after eating steamed vegetables, feel free to have steamed root vegetables, such as steamed potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots.
- Have as much water, sparkling water, or peppermint or chamomile tea that you desire.
Grass fed-organic meats, wild caught fish or organic nuts.
Snacks
- Any raw fruits, vegetables, their juices, and smoothies made with raw fruits and vegetables are fine snack choices. For a dip to eat with raw vegetables, have guacamole made with avocado, red onion, and lemon or lime juice.
- Organic nuts.
