If that’s what you were hoping to hear, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there is no such thing as detoxifying, and no one meal, drink, or magical remedy can be your medical miracle. Diet, exercise, and a healthy routine are the only ways to help your body recover post-festivity.
Think of festival indulgences to be a tournament for which you must prepare in advance. Lack of preparation would result in you losing the game and your self-confidence and self-esteem with it, but suppose if you had prepared well in advance, you might have easily won, and even if you didn’t win, you would be satisfied with yourself since you knew you gave it your best in that tournament.In our reality, a daily routine is a preparation we need to enjoy any festive indulgences guilt-free or without later looking for a quick fix.
Also Read:
Complete guide to healthy indulgence during the festive season
However, what we are made to believe is that detox diets are supposed to rid your body of toxins, enhance your health, and promote weight loss. However, you may be surprised to learn that your body is perfectly capable of eliminating toxins on its own without the need for special diets or costly supplements.
Having said that, you may still assist your body’s natural detoxification function by following a few measures that will help the process today but will need to be included in your daily routine in the future.
• Start your day with a glass of water with herbs, seeds, and spices like jeera, souf, and ajwain water in the morning to digest the food to help assist the binge eating from the festival.
• Do not cram yourself with food straight away after waking up; instead, wait until your body demands it – this may be at 8, 9, or 10 a.m.
• Once hungry, eat a bowl of fruits and then have vegetable juice like carrot, beetroot, or spinach; however, if you want to avoid vegetable juice because it causes health problems for you like diarrhea, you may substitute vegetable juice with raw veggies directly like carrot, cucumber, beetroot, and radish.
• For lunch, keep to the norm of one meal per day that is balanced with carbs, protein, and fiber, such as rice and dal or khichdi.
• Between lunch and dinner, you can nibble on makhana, chhana, or soups, as well as almonds and dry fruits.
• Dinner can be a repetition of your lunch or something light like soup, depending on your appetite. Check your gut health to see if you’re hungry for supper, and always listen to your body.
• Post-lunch/post-dinner jaggery with ghee can be consumed to help cleanse liver function and calm sugar cravings, which are normally high during Diwali or any other festival.
• Sugar cane juice which contains alpha-hydroxy acids like glycolic acids, helps in cell turnover and hence helps the body detoxify itself.
The bottom line is that no detox or fasting will address your problem. Quick remedies will undoubtedly detoxify your wallet and brainwash you, but they will not truly detoxify your body from within. Dieticians do not assist with weight reduction and instead sell detox goods to cleanse your organs or entire body. These items are costly, nutritionally inadequate, include hepatotoxic chemicals, and are not regulated for safe consumption.
As a dietician, I have always believed in creating an equilibrium that includes a whole-food-based balanced diet, frequent physical exercise, appropriate water consumption, sleep, and stress management to keep your in-built detox system functioning smoothly. Do not be deceived by detox frauds; instead, stick to science.
Contributed by: Lavleen Kaur is the Head Dietitian & Founder, Diet Insight, a nutrition, and wellness clinic
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