Читать книгу The 24 Hour Diet: Lose up to 4lbs in a Day - Joanna Hall - Страница 7

As well as helping you lose a little weight and a few inches, the 24 Hour Diet can actually help energize your body too. A long, hard winter or a really heavy stint at work can leave you feeling lethargic and wanting to lighten up on all levels. A full detox can be a grim chore. But you don’t have to go through such extreme measures to feel lighter and brighter. A simple cleansing programme can increase your vitality, bolster your immune system and leave you with healthy habits to live by all year long.

Detoxing is a perfectly natural process. In fact, your body detoxifies itself as it goes about its business. Think of it as a well-organized sanitation system: the lymphatic, respiratory and urinary systems, gastrointestinal tract and skin work in combination and, ideally, in harmony to neutralize and eliminate potentially harmful outside substances such as pesticides, food additives and airborne allergens. From inside the body there are free radicals and metabolic wastes to deal with. For example, the hydrochloric acid in our stomach kills bacteria; our colon readies wastes for expulsion; our skin secretes toxins via sweat; and the tiny vessels that make up our lymphatic system act like garbage trucks shuttling fluids, fats and waste throughout the body, channelling them to our liver. The liver is often described as the key to life as it constantly filters and purifies the blood, and decides which substances the body needs and which it doesn’t.

All this activity begins at the microscopic level of our cells and with a tiny protein molecule called glutathione. Just as we identify rubbish by placing it in our dustbins, glutathione binds with harmful wastes, labelling them up for expulsion from the cell. Normally the body adjusts levels of glutathione according to the amount of toxins present in the body. However, there are limits.

As we are exposed to ever-increasing levels of toxins, our bodies need to work harder. Glutathione gets used up more quickly and faster than we are able to replace it. If too many harmful agents accumulate, the body is unable to expel them. The mercury your liver can’t eliminate may well end up in your hair, while destructive hormone-like substances called xenoestrogens may make a home for themselves in our fat cells. This ‘body burden’ can result in immediate problems like fatigue, headache and lower back pain. Over time, some experts believe it may create conditions ripe for disease.

By following the 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse you will be helping to restore your body’s normal functions and elimination processes.

You may wish to use the 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse as a time to think about your body and your health. Clearing your schedule allows you to watch, moment to moment, the effects of food and lifestyle choices that often remain unnoticed in our busy day-to-day lives. It also provides an opportunity for fresh insights into how diet and lifestyle habits are serving to support or undermine your health.

The 24 Hour Diet and Three-day Cleanse provide the benefits of fasting without the physical hardships, which can often be quite uncomfortable. For example, when toxins are released from the fat cells during a fast, the body has insufficient nutrient support to rid itself of them. This often results in headaches, fatigue and other problems, which is one reason why anyone tempted to fast should consult their doctor first.