every athlete needs a clean out….of the food junk

We are all athletes, working for optimum performance whether at work or out on the roads running and cycling, or on fields playing sports.  To get optimal health, and optimal performance you need to start to look at what foods you put into your body.  Oh, the occasional wine, cookie, treat, potato chip or french fry is not going to be your downfall.  But the ongoing barrage of junk food into your diet will!

If you ever watched Supersize Me, Fork Over Knives, Hungry for A Change or any other documentary about how we eat in today’s rushed society, you will notice that each one of them shows that unhealthy eating is the leading cause of our ongoing health issues.  Fatigue, foggy thinking, poor recovery, indigestion, migraines, headaches, GI distress including IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), constipation, high cholesterol, Type II diabetes and most auto-immune diseases including arthritis, lupus and MS.  We are what we eat!  So why not jump start your healthy eating with a little cleanse or detox plan?

I know there are plenty of detox plans out there, some with supplements only which tout that you do not have to change what you eat at all to be cleaned out.  Really?  Others will use supplements in addition to foods, while other are all food based.  I prefer and offer the food based detox plan as i find that they are the most effective in getting you to actually change what it is you are eating!  It will help to keep you from fully going back to what you were doing.  Isn’t that part of the reason to do a detox or cleanse?  To get rid of the toxins we built up into our systems and help keep them from getting back into the system.  If we go right back to how we ate before the cleanse, than it is merely a band-aid approach to health.  Yes, you may feel better while on the cleanse (or worse initially), but you won’t feel better for very long after going back to your old ways.

As athletes, we need to be mindful of what we eat more so than the average person because we want to perform at our best.  Not just today, but tomorrow, the next day, week, month and so on.  We want to feel great all the time!  But is a detox plan appropriate for an athlete?  Absolutely if it is done right.  I created a Mini-Detox plan which is 3-5 days long including exact menus and meal plans for you to follow for 3-5 days.  I am an athlete as well, and basically eat a modified detox plan all year around.  There is no supplement to add although probiotics are always suggested as are your Omega 3 fatty acids (aka fish oils/ EPA/DHA).

“Processed foods in the store (representing at least 80 percent of what’s available) are full of chemically-laden “food-like substances” which contain carcinogenic ingredients, hydrogenated and highly processed oils, MSG and other excitotoxins, are synthetically fortified and contain little to no nutritional value. You are getting less nutrition and more toxins.” — Agriculture Society

This Mini Detox Plan is perfect for the week or two after your big race when you want to get back on track and stop the downward spiral of junk food eating.  As the quote above states, most of the foods eaten today are processed foods which have labels and claims of real food, but there is nothing good in them but a bunch of toxins and chemicals!  We want to go back to eating real food.  Moreover, we want energy for training and recovery, not for processing the toxins we are ingesting!

We athletes do not have time to be tired!  We have to go train!!  As we get older, the same holds true!  I am now 46 and I can honestly say that I have totally changed my eating habits since doing my first 2 Week Detox Plan 3 years ago.  Each year, I learn a few more things about what my body likes or does not.  I do not have time to be tired, sick, have acidic stomach, or have any other GI issues or foggy thinking!  I want to be my best training and racing, but also in my daytime activities.  I want my brain to think clearly.  I do not want to make mistakes.  The detox plan helped to get me started on this healthier pattern and has helped many of my clients do the same.  In between holidays or races, I do the Mini to help keep me at my race weight (or help me get there)!

If you have considered a detox or cleanse (remember, this is NOT a diet plan – but a get the junk out plan), and are an athlete looking for that jump start before the New Year, try the Mini Detox first.  Then when we do the 2 Week Detox Plan in January as a group with supporting emails, you will be well on your way to your optimal weight and optimal performance before the serious training starts up again!

For more information about the Mini Detox Plan and the 2 Week Detox Plan, please visit www.nutrition-in-motion.net/detoxplan.html guaranteed to make you feel better, and lose some of that extra holiday or off-season weight!