Are you on a Detox diet? Everyone here in Toronto seems to be at one time or another...
Recently, one of my clients told me about his detox plans.
For 7 days of the year, he buys a detox kit and follows the
instructions to cut out all alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and refined
carbohydrates - all while taking some supplements to help "detoxify" the
liver and kidneys and extra fiber to help cleanse the colon.
Now I don't mind this client doing this, because he is a model client and follows
a very healthy lifestyle all year round. At 40, his blood measures are very healthy,
he lost a few pounds of body fat last year, and despite being in a high-stress financial
job, he is a picture of great health.
Is the detox going to significantly improve his health? No, not really. And most
of them aren't dangerous either, but a 7-day detox won't reverse 40 years or even
1 year of a poor lifestyle.
I'll admit, Detox diets might help kick-start your weight loss program, but just
realize that they are not a quick fix to your health problems. The long-term fix
is dumping the Western Lifestyle.
Besides, if you think you can actually remove all the toxins in your body, you are
being fooled. It can never happen. Every breath you take, every move you make, you
are creating waste products in your body.
And many toxins are fat-soluble - meaning they are stored in our fat cells for months,
and slowly released over time. So you'll never truly detoxify...but enough of science
class...
Just remember: 7 days of the cleanest living can't reverse 51 weeks of the Western
Lifestyle - you have to make healthy living a full-time lifestyle. It is much better
to spend all year avoiding as much crap as possible, than to try and sort it out
in one week.
So let's take your new healthy lifestyle week-by-week with the 7-day fat loss plan.
Day 1
In today's Turbulence Training workout, choose an alternative form of interval cardio
for this workout.
For example, if you are a beginner, and you have been doing only walking for cardio,
try and use the elliptical machine or stairmaster today. This is called cross-training
and helps avoid overuse injuries caused by doing the same thing over and over again
when you aren't prepared for it. If you are advanced, try some of the bodyweight
circuits in place of running or cycling intervals.
To do bodyweight circuits, pick 3 lower body and 3 upper body exercises, and alternate
between them. Do 10 reps of a lower body exercise, then 10 reps of an upper body
exercise, and so on.
Go through the 6 exercise circuit 3 times for a 15 minute session.