Three Day Reboot

So, if you know me at all, you know I’m not one to go in for fad diets or super trendy detox fasts. Because, well, science.

That said, I do absolutely believe there is a connection between my body and processed carbs and sugars. The more I eat them, the more I crave them and the less ability I have to say no to that additional piece of pumpkin pie. MOST of the time, I can keep this kind of eating in check, but come high stress times (ahem – I run a small business), and around the holidays, I tend to fall off the wagon and indulge in my deep love of from scratch breads and desserts.

I will also be 52 in about a month. Hello menopause and a very changed metabolism.

Which all brings us to the Dr. Oz 3-Day Detox Cleanse. When these types of programs comes up in my news feed, I love to look at them, and sit in judgement, poking holes in the nutrition and enjoying the commentary that usually goes along with them. It’s a guilty pleasure. Which is how I ran across this cleanse in the first place.

But, wading past all of the hype and snake oil delivery of Dr. Oz (who I would not trust with my health – period), the cleanse itself was clearly designed by a well informed nutritionist. It’s not a juice fast (which removes all of the fiber from those lovely whole fruits and vegetables), and it includes some fat, which many studies have shown helps stave off hunger pangs and makes people feel more satiated between meals. It contains lots of nutritious whole foods, a HUGE amount of fiber (37 g),  and totals a bit over 1,000 calories for the day, if you only make three drinks and not the optional fourth one.

This program also gives a nod to the typical cleanse ingredients, including lemon/lime juice and cayenne pepper (Master Cleanse – no, just no), coconut oil (over hyped in my opinion – and its kind of hard to get past when it’s in a cold drink no matter how much you blend it), and lots and lots of trendy kale and superfood blueberries and raspberries. Some of the ingredients are similar to the Fat, Sick and Almost Dead Mean Green Juice – but WITH the fiber, which is an improvement. Clearly the person who put this together had been following the trends but also knew something about nutrition.

I’ve actually done this cleanse about once a year for the past 4 or 5 years, usually in January, as I come off too much holiday indulgence. Do I really think you can detox your body? Absolutely not. I love this line, which I recently ran across. “Your body isn’t a toilet, and you can’t flush it”. Your body naturally removes toxins all day long, every time you use the restroom. But there is nothing wrong with limiting your intake to whole fruits and vegetables (and NO refined sugar or grains) for three days, as a way to jump start a trajectory back to healthier eating. Drinking your meals for three days makes a grilled fish fillet and some sautéed broccoli seem like a heavenly meal!

Remember those matching memory games we all played as a kid (and now, as adults on our phone). I love those games. I get great satisfaction when I can put like with like. And EVERY time I do this cleanse, I’m struck by how they don’t put like with like. Coconut oil with the apple, and not the pineapple? Almond butter with the raspberries and not the almond milk? It’s just always seemed a bit mixed up to me. So, this time, I rebooted the cleanse while I was doing the cleanse. Same ingredients overall, just in a different order (and if you ask me, a lot more tasty).

Breakfast Smoothie:

• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• ½ cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• ½ lemon, juiced

If your berries are frozen, add enough additional water to loosen up the mixture. I find this to be the least sweet of the smoothies. Feel free to add a packet of stevia if it seems too meh.

Lunch SALAD:

I’m not a fan of all those greens in smoothies. With all the fiber, you’re not quite sure if you should sip or chew. But I DO like them in a salad. Whether the ingredients are blended in a blender, or with my teeth, they are still all ending up in the same place in the same state. No reason you can’t eat them rather than drink them.

• 2 cups kale, chopped fine (if you are using the super curly kale, use two large leaves, removing stems, and call it good)
• ¼ cup baby spinach (small handful)
• 1 sliced cucumber
• 4 sliced celery stalks (or substitute some carrot if, like me, you hate raw celery), diced
• ½ apple, diced
• ¼ avocado, diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar of choice (add a touch of mustard to emulsify if desired. Add a light sprinkling of seasoning salt if you aren’t dealing with high blood pressure or water retention issues)

Kale, if you have ever eaten it raw, can be a challenge. It’s very dense and very fibrous. It gets more tender if you toss it with your dressing early in the day and let it sit for a few hours. Then just dump the rest of the ingredients on top and toss again before eating. Note: this is a BIG salad. It takes a while to eat. The apple adds a nice touch of sweetness. I never make this (or the original smoothie) with 4 stalks of celery. Just can’t do it. I’m substituting olive oil (more heart healthy – no matter what wellness mama tell you) for the coconut oil. Because the fat from the avocado is also in this meal, I leave the fat out of the dinner smoothie below.

Dinner Smoothie:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup pineapple
• ½ cup mango
• 1 ½ cup coconut water
• ½ lime, juiced
• 1 tbsp flax seed

Ah, the matchy matchy side of me is SO happy to have all the tropical fruits together. Originally, the dinner smoothie calls for 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Add it here (or anywhere else) if you like. I left it out.

Nutrition big picture (because some nice people over on a dieting group plugged it all into a nutrition calculator):

• Total calories for the day if this is all you eat: 1,012. (It’s generally not recommended to eat less than 1,200 calories a day for any extended period of time, even while dieting – so 3 day max please).
• Total sugars: 87.5 g (Yup, a lot. But at least they are all coming from whole foods)
• Total fat: 41.5 g (It’s recommended to get no more than 30% of your calories from fat in a day. One gram of fat is = nine calories)
• Total protein: 18.7 g (The lack of protein is really the Achilles heal of this cleanse. The general nutritional recommendation is 1/2 your body weight in pounds, turned into grams, per day. So if I weigh 135 lbs I need around 68 g of protein a day. Trust me, after three days, you WILL be craving a cup of beans or an egg or a chicken breast with your next meal).
• Total fiber: 37 g (general nutritional recommendation is 14 g of fiber per 1,000 calories we eat – most Americans get half that. This cleanse will make you poop like a goose).

A few notes. This three days of food is expensive if you buy fresh – especially out of season – and even more so if you buy organic. The original post WAY underestimated the cost. I normally have frozen raspberries and blueberries on hand from the farm, and I buy and freeze fresh pineapple and mango when I find them on sale – so this saves me a big part of the cost. Look for frozen over fresh fruit to save some money. I buy flax in the bulk section and grind it myself in a spice mill (it’s a regular addition to my smoothies anyway, so I always have it on hand). Be sure to buy unsweetened almond milk (vanilla is fine). Bottled rather than fresh lemon/lime is also fine. Try to find coconut water that comes in a resealable container.

Some of these ingredients may seem exotic if this isn’t how you normally eat, but trust me, any well stocked grocery or natural food store will have all of this on hand. But part of the beauty of doing anything new for three days is that you may discover new things you wouldn’t have tried otherwise, and if you hate it, its ONLY three days.

Interested in more information on nutrition? Check out the 5 part series I wrote a few years ago! Links can be found under “food & drink” under the DIY Homesteading tab.

Miles Away Farm Blog © 2018, where we’re miles away from our ideal weight, but we keep working on being strong and healthy and making good choices.