5 Fat-Busters that Belong in Your Detox Plan
by JJ Virgin
Juice detoxes and master cleanses are all the rage as they promise you’ll magically shed fat in no time flat for that hot summer beach body. “It’s so easy!”
In reality, they leave you cranky, starving, and craving your coworker’s delicious pepperoni deep-dish as the sweet scent wafts into your cubicle.
Most detox plans are bogus, says NEW YORK TIMES best-selling celebrity nutritionist JJ Virgin, author of the THE VIRGIN DIET COOKBOOK (Hachette; Feb. 2014).
Detoxification happens in two phases:
Phase 1: a fat-soluble toxin becomes water-soluble;
Phase 2: your body actually excretes that toxin via urine, sweat, and feces.
Most commercial cleanses and detoxes are just sugar water and don’t provide the essential protein or nutrients your liver demands to effectively detoxify. Without sufficient dietary protein, your liver cannot perform phase 2, where you actually excrete toxins. Like Los Angeles rush hour traffic, those toxins just pile up and create a serious metabolic traffic jam.
Rather than living on sugar water AKA “juice cleanses” — or otherwise making dramatic dietary changes, JJ recommends adding certain foods to help your body effectively detoxify. Paired with an intelligent detoxification plan, these five flavorful, versatile foods provide a serious nutrient boost to ditch toxins and maybe a few pounds along with them:
5 Fat-Buster
Fat-Buster #1 Lemons – first thing in the morning, drink half a lemon squeezed into a glass of warm filtered water. Lemon helps your body remove toxins and gives you a vitamin C immune boost. Lemon can also rev up your metabolism. One study found supplementing with lemon polyphenols and body fat.
Fat-Buster #2 Asparagus – a diuretic that helps cleanse your liver, specialists have utilized asparagus’s anti-inflammatory properties for centuries to benefit numerous conditions including arthritis, cancer, and heart disease. One study showed asparagus extract protected liver cells against toxicity. (Researchers also found it might relieve hangover symptoms!) Most asparagus is green, but also look for purple and white varieties. Don’t discard the leaves. Bonus: they also have therapeutic value.
Fat-Buster #3 Cabbage – does double detox duty. Its diuretic properties help rid your body of excess liquid, carrying toxins along with it. Like other cruciferous veggies, cabbage is also sulfur-rich, helping your liver break down toxins so they can be more easily expelled. Researchers found among its numerous roles, sulfur — the third most abundant mineral in your body — helps “detoxify toxic compounds, free radicals and reactive oxygen species.”
Fat-Buster #4 Avocado – you’re constantly bombarded with synthetic toxins in water and food, including metals, pesticides, preservatives, and additives. Besides providing major flavor to salads, avocado offers glutathione, your master antioxidant that helps break down and expel those toxins. That same study mentioned above showed decreased amounts of glutathione impairs your antioxidant defenses. Rich in high-quality monounsaturated fat, one cup of avocado also contains a whopping 10 grams of fiber. Among its roles, fiber binds and helps your body more readily excrete toxins.
Fat-Buster #5 Broccoli – Another cruciferous veggie, broccoli hooks up with liver enzymes to more readily expel toxins. Studies show sulforaphane in broccoli works as an indirect antioxidant because it activates several enzymes in phase 2 detoxification. Among its other benefits, broccoli can also help fight cancer. Broccoli makes a great snack dunked in hummus, and you can convert pretty much any veggie-phobic person by sautéing it with a little freshly pressed garlic and coconut oil.
One more cool bonus: Cabbage, asparagus, and avocado all land on the Environmental Working Group’s “Clean 15,” or the least contaminated produce choices. Nice to know, since the last thing you want to do while dispelling toxins is to get them in your food.
Click HERE to Connect with your Daily Horoscope!
About the Author
JJ Virgin, CNS, CHFS one of the nation’s foremost nutrition and fitness experts, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Virgin Diet, a groundbreaking program that revealed the real secret behind weight gain: food intolerance. The Virgin Diet helped thousands and thousands of people overcome weight loss resistance by addressing food allergies, food sensitivities, and other food intolerances. Now, Grand Central Life & Style is thrilled to publish the eagerly anticipated companion cookbook, THE VIRGIN DIET COOKBOOK (February 18, 2014; $28.00).
Media appearances include PBS, “Access Hollywood,” “The Rachael Ray Show”, “The Doctors” “The Today Show,” LiveStrong, The Huffington Post, PREVENTION, FOX News, WOMAN’S WORLD, HEALTH, COSMOPOLITAN, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES and more
About the Virgin Diet Cookbook
THE VIRGIN DIET COOKBOOK brings JJ’s internationally acclaimed health and weight loss program into your kitchen. JJ shows you how to incorporate anti-inflammatory healing foods into your diet that will help you reclaim your health and reset your metabolism while avoiding the seven foods most likely to cause food intolerance. The recipes are not only easy to make, but also free of gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, corn, peanuts, sugar and artificial sweeteners—and they’re tasty to boot! JJ also helps you stock your kitchen, provides delicious substitutes for common ingredients, and offers up easy swaps for eating out and on-the-go.
Turning some of the most challenging weight loss resistant cases into major successes, JJ has made it her mission to better lives through expert nutritional and diet advice.
THE VIRGIN DIET COOKBOOK is JJ’s toolkit for every kitchen, outlining easy and delicious dishes readers will enjoy while losing weight fast.
