21 Pounds in 21 Days (18 page)

Sauna

One time for each week you're on the detox, try to sit in a sauna. Saunas help you lose weight by increasing your metabolism. They also rid the body of toxins, including heavy metals like lead, mercury, and nickel, and increase the flexibility of your muscles and joints. If you don't have access to a sauna through your health club or can't afford to go to a spa, check out your local YMCA/YWCA to see if you can buy a day pass.

Nice Treatments to Get If You Have Time and Money

Body Wrap

For each week you're on the detox, I suggest you give yourself a home detoxifying body wrap or get one at a spa. Body wraps are designed to take off inches rather than pounds. I like that you can concentrate on specific areas, such as heavy hips and thighs or a protruding abdomen. They also eliminate a myriad of toxins that have caused you to bloat and gain flab. To give yourself a wrap at home, soak Ace bandages (to cover your whole body, you'll need between twelve to fifteen and twenty to twenty-five bandages, depending on your size) in an herbal solution and wrap yourself up, apply a cellulite cream to your body and then apply the Ace bandages, or follow the procedure on the specific product that you purchase.

If you go to a spa they may use special mixes of herbs and mineral salts that slough off old skin, stimulate circulation, and reduce toxins; compression techniques; or products that actually penetrate the skin. If you feel bloated, overweight, or flabby, I suggest an Inch Loss Body Wrap. Your skin will feel tighter and firmer as the weeks pass. After a few treatments you will notice the bumpy appearance (cellulite) in your skin start to smooth out. For good results, have one body wrap per week.

Cellulite Treatments

As the skin ages, it begins to stretch and the space beneath it fills up and becomes clogged with excess toxin-filled fluid and fat cells, impeding the flow of blood and oxygen. When this happens, fat rises from the lower levels of the skin to the upper skin level, creating fat lobules (the dimple-like appearance beneath the skin). Eating foods that contain an overabundance of toxins, such as fried foods, alcohol, caffeine, salt, sugar, preservatives, and toxic chemicals, keeps the body from eliminating correctly, allowing these substances to build up in our fat cells.

Cellulite treatments are performed by first rubbing the area with a special cellulite cream that penetrates deeply into the skin,
opening pores and allowing nutrients to penetrate and feed the skin. As this happens, the therapist applies specific movements, from percussion to vigorous palpation, circular movements, and pressure and stroking, to help dissolve lumps. To be effective these treatments must be performed by a skilled therapist. This therapeutic treatment should be done once per week or more for a time frame that varies with the treatment. Most people choose between cellulite treatments and body wraps.

The Gallbladder and Liver Flush

Cleansing the liver's bile ducts is a very powerful way to detox your liver; however, it is not for everyone (see below). Bile travels from the gallbladder through the bile ducts and into the liver. After you cleanse your kidneys, colon, and liver, it is important to cleanse this essential part of the system. This procedure will help to eliminate any liver crystals or stones in the gallbladder/liver system. Most people do this at the end of the detox, but you may choose to do it at any time after you've cleansed your other major eliminatory organs.

To prepare for this treatment, you must stop all herbal cleanse formula and kidney cleanse drinks the day before.

Note:
If you have parasites or have chronic illness, DO NOT try this treatment. If you have parasites, this flush can actually stimulate their activity, causing them to move from one organ to the next, causing illness. You must check with your medical care provider before starting any treatments if you have a chronic or long-term illness.

This procedure requires the help of your colon therapist or a trip to the health-food store. It should only be performed toward the end of the 21-day detox, preferably on Day 19 and 20, with the colonic or Epsom salt flush taking place on Day 21. You will need the following ingredients:

• ½ gallon organic apple juice (
  Note:
  If you have diabetes, just use all water, no apple juice)
  
• 1 gallon distilled water
  
• 4 to 6 ounces cold-pressed olive oil
  
• 4 to 6 ounces of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (do not use lemon concentrate)
  
• 2 tablespoon Epsom salt (
  Note:
  If you have any chronic illnesses, consult with your colon therapist and health practitioner)
  
• 90 drops Superphos 30 Drops help to soften any gallstones that may be flushed out
  

There are at least five different ways of doing this particular liver flush, but the following is my preference:

Add ninety drops of Superphos 30 to a quart of organic apple juice. Some retreaters like to add ninety drops of Superphos 30 to a gallon of half distilled water and half organic apple juice in place of their other water for the day. This also helps to lessen the sweetness of the organic apple juice. Drink this for two days to soften any stones or hard crystals you may have in your gallbladder or liver. Right before bedtime on the second day, drink three ounces of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about two to three lemons), mixed with three ounces of cold-pressed olive oil. Lie down on your right side for as long as possible.

In the morning you should have a colonic to remove stones. You may find gallstone-type objects in the stool ranging from light to dark green in color and varying in size (pea size to nickel size, sometimes larger; they may also be irregular in shape but mostly round, with a soft to moderately firm texture). If you are not having a colonic, then you may want to drink a solution containing one tablespoon of Epsom salt in one eight-ounce cup of water. Lie back down for two hours until you move your bowels or repeat the Epsom salt drink one more time.

S
herri had a beautiful designer kitchen in her suburban Chicago home. Not an appliance was out of place. She had a sparkling new, stainless steel Viking stove and refrigerator. Her cutlery was worthy of an executive chef. Her Italian marble counters were so spacious, clean, and clutter free that my son could have played air hockey on them. But Sherri didn't cook. I had come to stay with her for three weeks to help her lose weight and change her eating habits and lifestyle habits. As I opened her custom-made cabinet doors, toxin-filled food stared out at me, from bags of gourmet cookies and potato chips to cans of spaghetti and meatballs and pork and beans.

“This is not going to work,” I told her.

“What's wrong?” she asked.

“You can't detox in this kitchen.”

“Why not?”

“It's way too easy to fail in here, and I don't want you to waste your money,” I told her. “We have to set you up so you can succeed.”

With that I pulled out her trash can, climbed up on a stepladder, and started throwing food out: white-flour crackers, black beans, kippered herring, barbecue sauce, canned vegetables.

“But I paid good money for that food!” she cried.

“You're right,” I told her. “You did pay good money for these toxins.” I picked up an unopened bottle of her favorite salad dressing and read off the one or two natural ingredients on the label,
followed by the long list of synthetic ones. Sherri's eyes got wide: “I didn't know all those chemicals were in there.”

When she didn't try to stop me as I dropped it in the trash can, I knew that she knew she really needed my help.

“You have a choice,” I said. “You can keep on putting poisons in your body, in which case there's no way you're going to lose weight, or you can decide, ‘I'll just take the financial loss and chalk it up to experience. After I lose weight, I'll start over again with the right foods so I keep the pounds off.'”

She stood there with her mouth hanging open as I dropped canisters of powdered beverages, canned potato chips and onion rings, single-serving cans of fruit cocktail, an industrial-sized can of peaches drowning in high-fructose corn syrup, canned milk, and coffee creamer into the trash. To make a point I even threw in her can opener.

Then I opened her refrigerator and tore through the condiments. I tried to open the bottle of ketchup but couldn't—the lid was stuck shut. “When did you buy this?” I asked. Sherri couldn't answer. I asked the same of the mustard, relish, all the jams and jellies, horseradish, and bottled glazes and dips that lined her door and top shelf. She was shocked not to remember when she bought the food—and to realize how moldy some of it was. She said that some of the items had to have been sitting in her refrigerator for three years!

“You have to throw out old and toxic foods so you can replace them with good and healthy stuff,” I told her as I poured her condiments down the drain. I knew that I was pushing our relationship, but with a fridge full of moldy food, what was she going to say? Before long, Sherri “got” what I was telling her and started to pitch in. When we finished, we pulled all her appliances out of the cabinets and set them out on the counter. Her kitchen wasn't quite as pretty, but it was definitely going to work.

When it comes to shedding pounds and maintaining healthy weight, “if you do not make a plan to succeed, you are going to succeed at failing.” Since we live in a society that makes it unconscionably easy to make unhealthy food choices, the lure of our
culture will pull you backwards unless you take bold and dramatic steps to resist it. To carry off the Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox, you will need to lay a foundation that's sturdy enough to support your transformation. My clients who prepare themselves in advance almost always achieve their goals. In fact, many exceed them. Those who don't set themselves up to win often find the change overwhelming. They run into obstacles and are not prepared to solve them, so they often find themselves getting sucked into old habits. Since you will need to make changes in your mind, body, and spirit, you need to prepare on all levels. Here, you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to begin.

Step 1: Plan Your Detox

Set Your Goals

You wouldn't embark on a trip without first deciding on a destination, purchasing your tickets, or looking at a map and filling your wallet with money. Nor should you begin the Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox without figuring out what you want to accomplish. Before you begin, set aside some quiet time to consider and answer questions like these in a journal:

• How much weight do I need to lose?
  
• Why do I want to lose weight? To fit my old clothes? Because
  
• I feel poorly? Is my health in jeopardy?
  
• Am I afraid that I'm going to get sick based on my current lifestyle or diseases that run in my family?
  
• Am I ready to make a permanent lifestyle change?
  
• Do I really believe that I should detox?
  
• What can detoxing do for me?
  
• How would detoxing change my lifestyle?
  
• Do I have the discipline to detox for 21 days or should I pick a shorter program?
  

Based on your thoughts and considerations, create some goals for yourself. Goals are the targets we shoot for, the end purposes
we have in mind. Here are some goals other Martha's Vineyard Diet detoxers have set for themselves:

• To lose 21 pounds in 21 days
  
• To jump-start my 75-pound weight loss by losing 21 pounds in 21 days
  
• To improve my energy level
  
• To take every step in my power to reduce my blood pressure and sugar so I don't have to go on medication
  
• To detoxify from all the ways I abused my body while on vacation
  
• To detoxify so I can start my new healthy lifestyle with a clean body
  

Pick Your Program

Since life is dynamic and people are at different levels of commitment and ability, I am providing three options in hopes that you will find one that works with your lifestyle. Of course, I'm hoping that you dive right in and embark on the 21-day Detox so you experience the enjoyment of achieving maximum results. If you want to lose 21 pounds or to make major inroads in detoxifying your body and improving your health, you must detox for 21 days. To cleanse itself thoroughly, the body needs three weeks of rest from eating toxic food. During this time your body will remind you of how energetic you felt as a child. Your healthfulness will return. Your coworkers, friends, and family will compliment your looks. But if you, say, travel on business consistently or have a new baby or your life is generally unmanageable, you may decide that starting with the 21-day program may not be realistic. Kudos to you for being honest! There's no need to set yourself up to fail.

The fact that you don't feel capable of doing the 21-day Detox right now doesn't prohibit you from making significant progress toward changing your lifestyle to shed poisons and pounds. Consider following either the 7-day Tune-up or 2-day Weekend protocols. You
will not
lose 21 pounds if you follow either of these scenarios, but you
will
put important lifestyle changes in motion,
begin cleansing and healing, and gain vital insider knowledge that will prepare you to detox longer later. Following the 7-day Diet Detox, you will be between five and ten pounds lighter, look visibly younger, feel more energetic, and experience increased overall wellness.

The Weekend Detox helps you improve your appearance and energy level quickly. Your eyes and skin will brighten; your thoughts will be clearer; you'll feel less stressed out, frustrated, and angry; and any allergies you experience will improve. If your body isn't tremendously toxic, you may lose between one and two pounds. If you turn the Weekend Detox into a lifestyle and clean your body out, you'll notice yourself losing more weight over time. Most importantly, the Weekend Detox allows you to become comfortable and competent with the process, allowing you to springboard to greater weight loss later. So do what your mind, body, and spirit can handle. It's important that you feel safe, comfortable, and ready for change. I suggest detoxing the following number of days annually:

• 21 days one time per year, totaling 21 days
  
• 7 days four times per year, totaling 28 days, or
  
• 2 days every weekend, totaling 104 days
  

When you detox for a shorter period of time, it takes a longer time to achieve results. That's because each time you detox, your body ramps up into deeper and deeper cleansing processes. Even then, you cannot get the cleansing power from 104 days of weekend detoxes that you get from one 21-day detox. However, over time the light maintenance the Weekend Detox offers is very helpful. And even if you do the 21-day detox, I suggest picking one day a week as a detox day when you follow the program. Many people already naturally detox for a day or two a week; they find they just aren't hungry.

Once you settle on a program, I want you to understand that
you don't have to be perfect!
The less you stray, the more weight
you'll lose and the healthier you'll feel. But if you have a strong desire to chew and want to eat a salad in the middle of your detox, DO NOT DO IT! Drink free cleansing soups instead. The most important idea is to treat yourself significantly better than you've done in the past. If you do this, you'll do right by your body.

Talk to Your Doctor

Especially if you suffer from any illness, it is always prudent to tell your doctor before beginning any detox. I'll tell you up front that when you do this, your doctor will probably become alarmed. Remember: medical doctors are not educated in weight loss, nutrition, or detoxification. Your physician may warn you that the body naturally detoxifies itself and does not need any assistance. And while it
is
true that the body is designed to detoxify itself, it was not designed to live in this toxic environment. It cannot remove many of these noxious substances without an intervention. For that reason, you are giving it assistance.

I suggest that you explain these concepts to your doctor; however, I can't guarantee that you'll allay her concerns, which amount to fear of the unknown and belief that if they don't know it, it must not be true.

1. You will be removing junk food from your diet and learning healthy new eating habits.
   
2. While you detox, you will nourish yourself by drinking fresh vegetable juices and antioxidant drinks.
   
3. One of the side effects of detoxing is that you will lose weight.
   

Put Your Support System in Place

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that tells us we should “go it alone,” but because the power of our habits and culture are so strong, I encourage people to embark on any lifestyle change in the company of others who can support and reinforce them. Try to
get the entire family or your coworkers involved. Have fun. Start on a Thursday or Friday. Try to wean yourself off of coffee, cigarettes, and junk food, starting at least two days before the detox.

Clean Your Kitchen

Your body is never going to get clean if you keep shoveling toxins into it. One of the best ways you can support yourself is by cleaning out your kitchen. Now, I realize that not everyone can open up the pantry door and throw all the junk food out. Your husband and kids may not appreciate reaching for the corn chips or Cap'n Crunch only to discover they've gone the way of the plate scrapings from the night before. You can, however, discard the items that tempt
you
—the cookies 'n cream ice cream, the cheesecake topped with those cute red cherries.

If you eat the standard American diet, you may be wondering where to begin. Surprisingly, salad dressings and meat marinades are among the most unhealthy items in the average American's refrigerator. Read the ingredients listing and compare the short list of natural ingredients to the much longer list of synthetic chemicals and preservatives. It's shocking. To think that sometimes we put these synthetic chemicals on top of organic vegetables and meats that we mindfully select! Next, throw out your canned items, processed foods like frozen meals, chips, dips, crackers, non-whole-grain cereals, and all old food items including leftovers. You should throw out anything containing common processed chemicals such as high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and monosodium glutamate. We encourage you to research harmful chemicals in food. One resource I like is the Foods Standard Agency that serves the United Kingdom (www.food.gov.uk).

When you're done, you'll have plenty of space to store your supplements and other foods you'll use to do the Diet Detox. Finally, you'll need to clear some space on the front door of your refrigerator, where you can hang the daily schedule you'll follow during your detox and record how well you're doing.