Before you start your detox, have a couple of meat free days and try and stick to fresh salads, fruit and raw veggies. Eat as little cooked food as possible and drink plenty of fresh, pure water.
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This will enable your body to prepare itself and you will find that procedures like the salt water flush will be a lot smoother in a shorter period of time.
If you prepare your body for a few days, it already has the chance to expel a lot of the built up waste that can sometimes block a salt water flush from working within the first couple of days.
Many people are tempted to binge before starting their detox as they won't be eating for 10 days (or however many days you choose to detox for) but this won't do you any favors at all.
If you are starting your detox on a Monday, then pencil the start of your detox in for the preceding Friday. This will give you the weekend to gently prepare your body for the detox and it will make life a lot easier for yourself.
Think of these few days as the start of your detox, don't focus on the Monday as the beginning of your cleanse. This was a mistake I made in my first cleanse and I think that it hampered me at the start. I didn't binge before I started and I didn't drink for a few days prior either but this was because mentally I was so longing to start, that my body was already 'going off' junk in anticipation of what was to come.
But I didn't stick to a raw food diet and I didn't cut back on caffeine - man, I wish I'd cut back on caffeine! Why didn't someone tell me to cut back on the caffeine? But you live and learn and thankfully by reading this article, you are better prepared than I ever was!
So, to recap, lay off the cooked and processed foods, try to eat 80-90% raw if you can't manage 100%, cut out alcohol and start to radically reduce your intake of caffeine.
If you have a high intake of caffeine - over 3 cups of tea or coffee a day, then I would highly suggest that you start to cut back for a period of at least a week prior to starting the cleanse. Trust me, you'll thank me for this nugget of advice because come day 3, when your body is really succumbing to the cleanse, your caffeine withdrawal headache is going to feel like a marching band in your head.
Ever had a really bad migraine? This is worse and you can't take any tablets as they are off limits! I spent day 3 in bed wanting to cut my head off! You won't have to!
**TIP**
Make sure you have some soluble aspirin in the house. Your digestive system won't have to break it down and if your headache is totally unbearable then you'll be glad it's on hand!
One of the reasons that so many diets fail is because most people don't take the time to prepare themselves before starting a diet. By taking the proper steps to get ready for a new diet you can dramatically increase your chances for success while at the same time protecting your health. Here are a few things you should do before starting a diet.
First and foremost, before you go on any new diet you should talk with your doctor and make sure that the diet is a good fit for you. You might have health conditions or be on medication that could make a diet unsafe for you, so it is really important that you don't skit this step. Your doctor will be able to advise you whether or not a diet is a good fit and will how to stick to a ketogenic diet let you know if there are any health concerns you need to be aware of.
Next, you should take some time to mentally prepare yourself for the diet. Try setting a start date that falls on a weekend or on a day you have off work for a new diet and exercise routine. It will be easier to get into the groove of dieting if you can be at home in a more relaxed environment for the first couple days instead of at work where stress and just being too busy can cause you to "cheat" or overeat.
A lot of people find it helpful to keep a food diary or weight loss journal while they diet. This can be a really effective technique for helping you stick with a diet and stay on track with your weight loss goals. You can write whatever you want in your journal.
Some people just write what they have eaten during the day while others use it as a place to write about how good they will feel when they have lost the weight, their goals or their reasons for wanting to lose weight in the first place. Having to be accountable - even it if is just to your journal - can really motivate you to stay on track with a new diet.
Finally, don't go into a new diet with a negative attitude. If you start a diet with the idea in your head that "this will never work", or "I am going to blow this diet" your chances of succeeding decrease dramatically. Instead, assure yourself over and over that you have the willpower to stay on the diet and that it will work for you. Simply believing a diet will work can make it much more effective and can get you the results you want.