Is What You're Eating Helping or Hurting You? Part 2

In part one, I informed you of how eating properly improved my skin and overall health. So in this post, I'm going to tell you what I was eating those first 4 weeks (broken down in 2 week increments) and how I went forward after that. I was able to tell a difference in just a few days. I won't go too much in depth because the post would be way too long, so I'll give you the basics and most important aspects.

Let me first give my DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a health care professional, nutritionist or expert in any way. This post will just include what I do and have done to improve my skin and health. It is advised that you check with a health care professional to be sure that you do not have allergies to any foods.

First Two Weeks Every day for 2 weeks:

Breakfast - eat a serving of fruit and drink a glass of water. A serving of fruit can include an apple, banana, grapefruit, a bunch of grapes or 5 or 6 strawberries. Whatever fruit you choose is fine.

Lunch - Eat a serving of vegetables and a serving of fruit. Can include a mixture of vegetables and fruit or just a salad and some fruit with that. In the first 2 weeks it is recommended that no salad dressing or sauces are used. That sucks...I know. And of course, drink another glass of water.

Dinner - Eat another serving of fruits and vegetables and include some seeds and nuts if you choose (peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc). Also, drink a glass of water. For dinner, you will want to eat a heavier vegetable that will fill you up a little more. I always ate potatoes or sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are the best. If you bake them instead of boil them, they will be sweet and juicy just like they would be if you put something on them. But of course, this is a detox, so no butter or sugar allowed!

Snacks - Throughout the day in between meals, you will want to drink additional glasses of water and eat some snacks. Great snacks would be small fruits and vegetables such as raisins and baby carrots, and also seeds and nuts. Don't worry, eating healthy snacks regularly and drinking water will keep you full in between the 3 small meals mentioned above. You will NOT feel like you're starving. You also do not have to worry about gaining a lot of weight. You are eating often, but you're only eating small portions of natural foods.

Notice, there is nothing other than fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in the first 2weeks and NOTHING else.

Last Two Weeks

The meal and snack structures basically stay the same however, you can add meat, beans, wheat/whole grain pasta, wheat/whole grain rice, wheat/whole grain bread and dairy to the mix. For meat, only eat fish and poultry. No beef or pork. Also, continue to stay away from sugar and junk food. I did however, eat Quaker's, caramel flavored rice cakes. They have very little sugar and contain whole grain, which is excellent. But that's it...no more junk food! You can also drink tea, and natural fruit juices that you make yourself in a blender or juicer. No store bought juices...they have preservatives!

Keep dairy intake to a minimum. A cup of yogurt and slice of cheese on a sandwich should be it. At this point, you still want to stay away from butter and milk. A good health friendly sandwich would be turkey with lettuce, tomato and a slice of cheese on wheat or whole grain bread. Do not add mayo or miracle whip. Also, notice how I mentioned wheat and whole grain breads, pasta and rice. Stay away from products with white flour.

After these 4 weeks are complete, you may start adding your regular foods into your diet. A good guide to follow is the food pyramid. You can find it at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pmap.htm. Also, you should only have 22 grams of sugar or less in a day. So when you buy candy and other sugar based items, look at the nutritional facts to see just how much of it you can eat in a day. You will probably notice as I did that you can't eat much! I follow this guide as much as I possibly can every single day. When I fall off track and start eating more "bad foods" than I should, I immediately notice the difference.

Please keep in mind that the things I talk about in this blog post were what I did and do to feel better health wise and have better looking skin. I did not do the things mentioned to lose any weight. Therefore, if your intent is to do a detox to lose weight, the things mentioned in the FIRST two weeks should work for you. Eating only raw fruits and vegetables and drinking only water will certainly help you lose weight. However, there will come a point when you'll need to eat something else! (I don't know if the things mentioned in the LAST 2 weeks will help with weight loss or not.) Whatever detox you decide to do should be a natural one. Taking supplements, drinking all liquids and doing weird things to your body is not good for the body, and often is not safe. That's usually why when all of those weird things are done to quickly lose weight...the weight usually ends up coming back with a vengeance!

If you are someone who suffers from problem skin or you just feel tired and unwell a lot of times, then you should certainly change your diet to a much healthier one. Eating well and living well will prevent most (not all) health problems. A lot of illnesses and diseases can be prevented just by eating well and of course exercising. We all know the saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"!

I hope the info in this post helps you as much as it helped me!