Dieting V/S Cleansing! What do you need?

People often get confused between dieting and detoxing and tend to use them interchangeably.

According to oxford dictionary the word “diet” is a noun and “means the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats”. Therefore, the word diet means the food that an individual needs to consume to sustain life. However, thanks to the media, advertising and plastic so called gorgeous Barbie dolls the word diet changed and became dieting or in other words starving.  A diet plan is devised for weight loss and, in some cases, has nothing to do with cleaning the body of any impurities. Some diets are in fact so restrictive in nature that they can have an adverse reaction on the body or add additional toxins to it.

A detox diet is not losing weight, but healing the body from inside out, first by helping it get rid of impurities, then sustaining a lifetime of eating clean for maximum health. The added benefit of a detox plan is weight loss. This leads to confusion between dieting and detoxing.

Diet plans focus on counting calories and sometimes food deprivation. “Short-term cleanses may restrict the types of food consumed for the purpose of helping the body eliminate toxins. However, long-term detox plans are not restrictive, but rather aimed towards a cleaner way of eating - whether it is organic food, raw food or regularly consumed fruit juices - that those interested can sustain for a lifetime”¹.

When you eat properly and provide your body with proper nutrition, your body stops thinking that it needs to hold on to every ounce of fat you consume to keep you from starving. It no longer believes that you’re in danger of dying and it begins to utilize the nutrients that you consume instead of saving them up and creating more fat.

If you provide your body with enough nutrients, it will even begin ridding itself of all the toxins that exist in your body and also get rid of the excess fat. All of this happens naturally without deprivation or eating a grapefruit for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Here is a great info graphic that points the difference between a diet and a detox.

 

Image Courtesy: Healthy Living Coach

For ease of understanding I will list the difference in a table format.

Diet	Cleanse or Detox
Starving the body	Feeding the body
Counting Calories	Counting nutrients/ not calories
Body holds on to the weight with fear of deprivation	Body is getting all the nutrients, releasing toxins and excess weight
Lot of Effort/ No results	Minimal Efforts/ Great results
Feeling hungry and craving food	No hunger prangs after first few days or cravings
Feeling tired/no energy	Feel more energetic
Rebound weight gain	No weight gain if following a healthy plan

So instead of focusing on dieting, change your frame of mind and try a cleanse. Your system will thank you and you will be proud of your achievement.

My Smoothie Plan:

My smoothie detox was not as I intended it to be. I wanted to stick to only smoothies and herbal teas for a certain period of time. I however cheated and then towards the end just swayed away from my original plan. But I was happy with what I achieved. My skin cleared up, I could sleep better and not to mention I even lost few pounds.

But there is more I can achieve and for that I need a more structured plan backed by medical doctors. I love this quote from one of my favorite books Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho, “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”.

I found out about this great plan called complete transformation which is more comprehensive , well researched and backed by medical doctors. I have already ordered all my products and as soon as they come I am ready to nourish my body for what it needs.

If you need more information on the plan feel free to check the website:
http://www.recipe2health.com/complete-transformation/

Have a Healthy week ahead.

Sources:
“Difference between Diet Plans and Detox Plans”, Available Online at Web Diagonsis