6 Week Detox Program finishing with a 2/3 day juice fast – This is a gentle Naturopathic programme that will change your lifestyle and make you glow from the inside out.

Well done, week 6 already, I don’t know about you but I feel great, my skin is clearer, I’ve lost a few pounds but the main thing is I feel alive. It has been tough but the good thing about this Detox is that it has been slow and hopefully some of the lifestyle changes you have made during this programme will become permanent. I know that is the case for me.

Anyway it’s not quiet over yet, this week we need to quit Sugar then this is followed by a 2 day juice detox. Sounds hard yes? But it should be easy, you have already eliminated from your diet a huge proportion of where sugars, mainly hidden sugars lie – up to now you have eliminated Alcohol (full of hidden Sugars), Caffeine (you will have not had any Chocolate), Meat (processed meats contain Sugars), Dairy (again full of hidden Sugars, especially Yogurts & Cheeses and ‘low-fat’ options) and Wheat/Gluten (full of Sugars especially processed sauces and pastries). So if you think about it this week should not be as hard as you think as you have eliminated all of the above & hopefully processed foods. You are a Vegetarian eating mainly veg, fruits, fish, eggs, beans & lentils – easy. Plus your sugar cravings should have of diminished some what as you have not been eating cakes, pastries, chocolate etc…

Now it’s time to ditch the fizzy drinks, any processed cereals and bars (the added sugars in some of the ‘healthy’ bars is phenomenal), sweets (these must go!), concentrated juices and squash, dried fruits and jams and many high sugar fruits such as Apples and Bananas.

Five Sugar traps to avoid

These foods are health-food shop favourites and are filled to the brim with sugar:

• Low Fat Yogurt/Dairy – When manufacturers take the fat out of dairy they have to replace the taste and texture with something – that something is sugar. A ‘natural’ low-fat individual tub of yogurt can contain six teaspoons of sugar! ‘Low-fat’, ‘sugar free’ and ‘no added sugar’ labels are in fact full of sugar (fructose) and are highly fat creating; the ‘full-fat’ option is by far the healthiest!
• Agave – This is a fashionable sugar-substitute and is made from a South American plant and marked as ‘low-GI’ and healthy. Beware; this is 70-90% fructose.
• Muesli – Some muesli’s promoted at low-fat and healthy have recently been found to contain more sugar than Coco Pops – up to 44% sugar.
• Dried Fruits, Dates & Goji Berries – Any product containing a lot of dried fruit is going to be full of fructose. When you take the water out of fruit your left with a lot of sugar – about 50-70%, Dates are the worst culprits.
• Fruit Juice – A 375ml glass of Apple juice contains the same amount of sugar as the same glass of Coca-Cola – about 10 teaspoons. Some Vegetable juices such as Carrot and Beetroot are also high in Sugar. Eat your vegetables and fruits whole, Apples and Bananas are the worst culprits and Berries and Kiwis are the best.

Some Sugar facts…

Sugar comes in two halves – normal table sugar comprises of 50% glucose – which is safe (in moderation) and is easily metabolised by our bodies – and 50% fructose. Fructose is the issue. So when we say “sugar”, we are referring to the fructose component.

There is good sugar and bad sugar?

There’s safe and unsafe sugar. Glucose and lactose (in milk) are safe – they contain no fructose. They occur naturally in a lot of foods. Fructose, however, is, always bad. And fructose is fructose, whether it’s consumed in “healthy” forms or not – the body reads it the same way.

Honey is 40% fructose, agave is 70 – 90% fructose… these are often labelled as “good” or healthy sugars when they’re clearly not.

Fruit contains a lot of fructose too, but if consumed whole, the water and fibre content offsets things a little (although studies show we really should only be eating one to two pieces of low-fructose fruits each day).

What are some of the negative effects of too much sugar?

Weight gain is an immediate one. Fructose goes straight to the liver as fat. The issues spin off from there, primarily metabolic syndrome, which leads to diabetes, cholesterol issues and heart disease. Studies now link sugar to all these “modern” diseases, all of which have risen at the same rate as our sugar consumption.

My main aim of this detox programme is to quit sugar for good; there is an article in the Observer today titled ‘Is Sugar the new Tobacco?’ This is so true, look at the obesity epidemic that is apparent everywhere you look and especially with Children, re-education is needed to reduce our sugar intake and take charge of our health.

Eliminating Sugar will not only help you lose weight, lift your energy levels and get glowing skin it will have huge health benefits and help prevent against diseases such as Diabetes and Cancer’s.

I have discovered this woman in Australia called Sarah Wilson, she has an amazing book called ‘I Quit Sugar’, it really is amazing makes you realise the tasty things that you can create without sugar.

So good luck with this week, there will be updates throughout the week and on how to prepare for the 2 day juice detox.

Helena