With fitness being a primary focus for everyone, there is always a myriad of diet plans floating around. However, if you’re tired of super strict diets that aren’t doable and leave you irritable, then it’s time to follow the perfect detox diet to lose those extra kilos. New age health guru and nutritionist Suman Agarwal shares her tried and tested tips to recover from any excess you might have indulged during the past few months. Her time tested dictum has always been to choose foods wisely and mindfully to ensure weight loss rather than fretting over calorie counting. “It’s only human to throw caution to the winds when you’re surrounded by your favorite foods,” says the fit and gorgeous nutritionist. But it’s important to start a detox plan to recoup your health and embrace fitness as a part of your lifestyle once more.
Detoxification, says the good doctor simply means flushing out the bad and letting all that’s healthy and good for you in. Do you know for instance, what’s the best remedy for a night of too many gin and tonics? “Just drink lots of water flavored with a dash of lemon juice”. Similarly the best way to rid your body of the ill effects of overindulging in fried snacks and sweets is consuming fiber-rich foods that release energy slowly, keep you full for longer and help the body to use energy more efficiently. “The focus should be on simple fat-burning foods that are also a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals,” she says.
Read on for an ideal one week detox diet:
Breakfast options
For vegetarians:
- Sugar-free muesli + one cup low fat yoghurt
- One glass milk + Whole Wheat Bran (Flakes)
For non-vegetarians:
- Two egg whites + two whole wheat, unbuttered toast
Lunch options
- One bowl dalia khichdi + buttermilk
- One bowl rice-dal khichdi + raita
- Two chapattis/one katori brown rice + one katori dal + big bowl of vegetables + one glass of buttermilk
Evening snack options
- One fruit
- Fistful of channa (roasted chickpeas) and five to eight almonds or pistachios.
Dinner options
You can look at repeating the lunch options because cutting down on carbohydrates at dinnertime will help you cleanse your system.
For vegetarians:
- One bowl of dal/two dal chillas/ a bowl of mung sprouts+
- Big bowl of vegetables /soup/salad+
- One katori of fresh yoghurt
For non-vegetarians:
- Two pieces skinless chicken/fish+
- Big bowl of vegetables/bowl of vegetable soup/big bowl of salad without dressing+
- One katori fresh yoghurt
- Have a glass of warm water with lime and one teaspoon honey every morning on an empty stomach
- Sip water through the day. Apart from being needed for efficient food digestion, water helps produce feelings of fullness. It’s the easiest and cheapest way of reaching your weight loss goals AND flushing your body of toxins.
- Drink a glass of coconut water mid-morning. This electrolyte-rich drink will help the kidneys flush out toxins.
- Eat at least one orange daily. This vitamin C rich fruit is also full of fiber.
- Drink two cups of green tea everyday (This is not applicable to pregnant women).
- Say a firm ‘NO’ to fried foods such as samosas, bhujiya, pakodas, dry namkin.
- Avoid cakes, pastries, tarts, muffins, mithai, ice-cream, kulfi, cold drinks and milk based desserts such as shreekhand and kheer.
