40 Day Detox

Following my decision to consume only liquids during the day yesterday, my weight stayed constant at 68.3kg, my Body fat dropped 0.1% to 18.0% while water content and body muscle stayed constant at 56.3% and 42.6%. It seems the new regime hasn’t made much of a difference, yet. Perhaps I ate too much last night when I did start eating solids. 

During the day I didn’t do a workout. I’m almost a week behind in blog posts and I want to focus the next few days on catching up on them before resuming my workouts. 

Throughout the day while I was sat at my computer I consumed numerous hot drinks. I also made a vegetable soup and snacked on that on a few occasions to give me something more satisfying while waiting for my evening meal. I’ve forgotten the exact details of what I consumed, however to give you an idea, I was sat writing all day and I pretty much always had something to sip on that was sugar free. I have no fruit in the flat at the moment so I didn’t drink any fruit juices. 

In the evening I had some whole grain basmati rice with mung dal chilka. Later in the evening I also ate an Anwar Retol mango and a handful of nuts and mixed seeds. 

No caffeine for 40 days

I’ve cut out caffeine for this detox. But what’s wrong with caffeine anyway? It is a diuretic, which means it takes water out of your body’s cells and causes you to urinate more. Dehydration can lead to headaches, feeling weak and muscle cramps. Caffeine in large amounts can also lead to the body losing calcium and potassium causing sore muscles and delayed recovery of muscles after a workout. Caffeine is a stimulant, too much of which can speed up your heart, cause nervousness, irritability, anxiety and disturb your sleep. Caffeine increases the workload of the liver as it is the main detoxifying organ for caffeine. It increases stress as it stimulates your fight or flight mode when it’s not needed. It increases the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood, which can lead to an increase in abdominal fat. It reduces the brains ability to problem solve. It decreases oxygen in the blood and overall blood flow to the brain.  There is a long list of problems with consuming caffeine and this is why I’ve removed it from my diet for the purpose of this detox.

Here is a list of caffeine free hot drinks I’ve been consuming along with their benefits:

1. Redbush Tea from the Redbush Tea Company: it is 100% natural and caffeine free. It has less than half the amount of tannin found in ordinary black tea which can prevent the absorption of iron and protein in your body. It contains nine trace minerals which gives it many healing abilities. It increases the memory and helps fight the ageing process of the brain. It has been used to treat skin allergies, eczema, stress sleep problems, indigestion, infection and inflammation.
2. Apple and Cinnamon Twist from the London Fruit and Herb Company: this tea smells and tastes great. I find it a particularly good choice during a cold night to give me a cosy Christmassy feel.
3. Winter Spice by Twinings: a similar effect to the above tea, this has been designed specifically with the scents of Christmas to make you feel warm on a winter night.
4. Cleanse by Pukka: contains organic nettle, fennel and peppermint tea to purify your skin.
5. Detox by Pukka: contains aniseed, fennel and cardamom to cleanse and revive you. I just love the taste of the aniseed in this tea and drink unsweetened.
6. Pure Peppermint by Twinings: I’ve been drinking this tea first thing in the morning when I’ve had no lemons left in the flat. It is also great after eating dinner as it is good at soothing the stomach and aiding in digestion.
7. A moment of calm selection by Twinings: this pack contains a selection of five different flavours from Twinings designed to soothe and calm you. Twinings are currently my favourite manufacturer of delicious teas.
8. Organic Dandelion by Clipper: to be totally honest this is my least favourite tea in terms of taste, simply because it doesn’t seem to have any. However, benefits wise it has many: it’s good for digestion; purifies the blood; enhances detoxification; reduces bloating and water retention; reduces inflammation of the gall bladder and bile duct; good for reducing rheumatism and arthritis; optimises liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and gall bladder functions; and reduces cholesterol. Dandelion has a long list of health benefits.
9. Pure Camomile by Twinings: This tea tastes great as does Twinings Apple and Camomile. Camomile is good for insomnia; anxiety; muscle twitches, stomach problems and skin conditions.
10. Fresh and Fruity Selection from Twinings: this pack contains a selection of five different flavours from Twinings designed to bring some fruity colour into your day. If I feel like something a bit exciting I’ll choose a tea from this fine selection.
11. Detox by Dr Stuart’s: this tea has dandelion, burdock, peppermint and spearmint designed to “spruce up your insides”.
12. Nescafe Gold Blend Decaf: though there is no mention of caffeine on the packaging of this decaf coffee I have just found out that decaf coffee as well as decaf tea still has caffeine in it. This means I should stop drinking this during this detox!

I had discovered earlier during the detox that decaf tea still had caffeine in it, however it has only just come to my attention that decaf coffee also still contains small amounts of caffeine. Luckily, I’ve only occasionally indulged in a cup of decaf coffee during the detox. But from now on I shall stop doing even that.