Detoxing Your Ills

Detoxing Your Ills

The way to heal many health problems is with a detoxification diet that cleanses the body and re-establishes the nutritional balance needed for optimum health, says Elson Haas, M.D., director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, California, and author of Staying Healthy with Nutrition. His diet should be practiced for only three weeks--it's not nutritionally balanced enough for longer periods. Do not undergo it if you are pregnant or suffer from deficiency problems marked by fatigue, coldness or heart weakness. Here's the detox diet.

Breakfast

Immediately upon arising, drink two glasses of water, one of them containing the juice of half of a lemon. Also have one to two servings of fresh fruit--apples, pears, bananas, grapes or citrus fruits such as oranges or grapefruit.

About 15 to 30 minutes later, have one to two cups of cooked oatmeal, brown rice, millet, amaranth or untoasted buckwheat. For flavoring, you can add two tablespoons of fruit juice, or use the Better Butter described below.

Better Butter Recipe

Stir 1/2 cup of canola oil (look for one labeled "cold-pressed") into a dish with 1/2 pound of butter, melted or at least softened, and refrigerate. Use about one teaspoon per meal for flavoring, and don't exceed three teaspoons a day.

Lunch

Have a big bowl (up to four cups) of steamed vegetables--potatoes, yams, green beans, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, carrots, beets, asparagus, cabbage or others. Use a variety, including stems, roots and greens. Better Butter can also be used. Then refrigerate the water from the vegetables for later use.

Within two hours, slowly drink one to two cups of the water from the steamed vegetables, mixing each mouthful with saliva. You can add a little sea salt or kelp for flavoring.

Dinner

Same as lunch, with a variety of vegetables.

Evening (after Dinner)

No food at all, but you can have noncaffeinated herbal teas such as peppermint, chamomile or blends. No caffeinated beverages.

Throughout the day, feelings of hunger should be satisfied by drinking plenty of water and eating pieces of carrot or celery. If you are feeling very fatigued or if hunger persists, then you may add up to four ounces of protein, such as fish, organic chicken, lentils or garbanzo, mung or black beans. Optimally, this should be eaten midafternoon, around 3:00 or 4:00.