Dr. Oz 3 Day Detox Review & Final Results

The results are in.  From a weight perspective, 4.5 pounds lost in total, which is damn impressive considering how long I've been working out, eating right, and trying to lose those "last 5 pounds".  In addition, I'm now four days coffee free.  I am drinking green tea, so I can't say I'm caffeine free, but that was not my goal.  I've had 3 good nights of sleep, and overall feel significantly less bloated, in total control, and have good strong positive energy.  Cutting out the high glycemic fruit was important for me personally, but if sugars in general don't bother people, it's fine.  I'm going to continue the concept with the shakes for breakfast, lunch and snack through the weekend to see how I feel, but I am going to have a normal and light dinner every night.  All in all I have to say I am impressed and give Dr. Oz a two thumbs up.

What I liked:

• This cleanse was SUPER easy for me because I already do green smoothies every day, so I was familiar with them (and their taste!).
• I loved that what to shop and drink was all defined  for me.  It took out all the guess work of what I would eat each day.
• The drinks were REALLY good. I've read a lot of people don't like the lunch.  I liked them all!
• The green tea made the cleanse a lot more enjoyable because I had ZERO caffeine withdraw.
• Everything you need for this cleanse you can find at the grocery store and everything is recognizable.  No crazy ingredients or stops at expensive healthfood stores! 
• I lost almost 5 pounds and a lot of bloat (it's almost a big bag of sugar I am no longer carrying).
• 3 days was the perfect amount of time. I was feeling like quitting mid-day but by the third day with added protein powder instead of high glycemic fruit I was able to keep it up.
• I felt "great" every morning.  I did try to take it easy with activities since I wasn't getting a ton of protein.
• I was able to make the shakes ahead of time and put them in a large shaker cup or camelbak cup and have them later.  And they were still good.

What I didn't like:

• There wasn't enough protein for me.  For someone who has blood sugar and insulin resistance issues, I had to reduce the high glycemic fruit more and more each day.  By the third day, I had it figured out and actually felt great. not hungry at all.
• Because of the high gylcemic fruit (pineapple, mango, banana), by mid-day each day I was starving and craving protein.   I had to change it up and have a different dinner, but kept it vegan and almost raw.  
• I was dying to each something solid.  Others I know who did this chopped up all the ingredients and ate it as a salad - that's an option.

 Detox breakfast drink

• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp flax seeds - powder
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 banana (note: by day 2 I left this out and added a scoop of raw vegan protein powder)
• ¼ cup spinach
• 1 Tbsp. almond butter
• 2 tsp. lemon juice

Lunch drink recipe

• 4 celery stalks - clean
• 1 cucumber – unless organic, peel the skin and remove the seeds to reduce bitterness
• 1 cup kale leaves
• ½ green apple
• ½ lime – squeeze the juice only
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
• ½ cup almond milk
• 1 cup pineapple (note: by day 3 I left this out and added a scoop of raw vegan protein powder)

Dinner detox drink

• ½ cup mango (note: by day 2 I left this out and added a scoop of raw vegan protein powder)
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 ½ cup coconut water
• 1 cup kale
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• ¼ avocado
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 Tbsp flax seed powder

Why Detox?

The purpose of a body cleanse is to put your body into a state of rest of digesting whole foods, proteins and other things that you usually indulge in. It's supposed to kickstart your metabolism to help you start a diet, and to eliminate unnatural sugars from your body.  A suggestion when drinking these drinks is to sort of chew your drink to generate saliva in your mouth to help in the digestion. This detox will clean out your system but in a natural way.

The program also includes taking an Epsom/Lavendar detox Bath each night using Epsom salt and lavender oil. I just couldn't fit it in, even though it would have been lovely.

One of the side effects that I noticed after three days is that I am sleeping better and have more energy, and a better attention span.  I also feel like I'm addicted to the think shakes and substance of all the veggies.  I definitely want to keep up 1-3 shakes a day.  Prior to this I didnt' put as much in my shakes, and now I realize how many nutrients I can actually get.

Sugar Free for 60 days vs. Dr. Oz's 3 day detox

Most people know I am recovering sugarholic, who is proud to say I am sugar free for 62 days!  When I looked at my calendar this morning and realized I'm past the two month challenge without sugar, I was so happy.  Then I began to think about which was harder - following the Dr. Oz 3 day detox which I am now on day 3, or cutting out the sugar for 2 months.  I have to admit, it's the Dr. Oz 3 day is so much harder.  I've managed to survive it, but not following it completely as written.  My body craves and needed protein. Each of the first two days I did well until lunch, ate the lunch drink, but then by 2-3pm was absolutely starving. I'd drink the mid-afternoon drink but my energy level dropped and my need for something solid was overwhelming.  So for dinner, instead of the shakes I'd have one and a half of my homemade paleo protein bars.  That seemed to do the trick, and stayed within the vegan/raw restrictions of the Oz challenge. 

Today I replaced all the higher glycemic fruit (pineapple and mango) with the Sun Warrior Protein Blend (vanilla).  What a difference!  I am so much more energy today than I have had for the past two days.  For those of you who want to do this detox who know that sugar doesn't agree with you, leave out the high glycemic fruits.

I can't believe that giving up sugar is easier than following any 3 day diet, but for me it was and continues to be.  I'll be sticking with my no-sugar plan for the foreseeable future.  Dr. Oz and I will be breaking up after today.

Day 1 Results - Dr. Oz Three Day Detox - 3 pounds gone!

I'm not exactly sure what I'm detoxing from, since I eat pretty clean to begin with, but I love switching up my diet every once in a while.  Why not give a Dr. Oz recommendation a try. We all love Dr. Oz, right?   I got the plan and recipes here: Dr. Oz Show.   For those who know me, I don't normally eat a lot of fruit, and this is A LOT OF FRUIT.  My normal diet is high protein, some low glycemic fruit, and lots of veggies.  Yesterday I started following his plan which is no coffee, four shakes, and that's it for three days.   My day 1 results and opinions follow:

Breakfast: Pretty good, gave me lots of energy, a little sour but I did add my 2 tablespoons of apple cidar vinegar (and a little stevia) that I have every day.  Started to feel hungry around 10am, but I usually have a snack around this time.  I had a cup of herbal tea and that held me over until noon.

Lunch: Loved it. Very green.

Mid-Afternoon snack.  I was starting to drag and have very little energy.  I was dying for a protein, but Dr. Oz's snack is to pick whichever shake you wanted.  I had the dinner shake as a snack.  It was quite good, very spicy with the cayenne pepper, but that made it interesting.

The biggest problem I had was that after this mid-afternoon snack I was done with shakes.  To begin with, I was freezing all day from all the frozen fruit.  I had no energy, a little bit of brain fog, and I was just downright dragging.  So for dinner I decided I had to have some protein.  I kept it vegan, and went with my homemade protein paleo bar.  That did the trick and help me over for the night.

Because I am scale addict, I did get on the scale this morning and much to my surprise I was down three pounds from yesterday morning!  That was a pleasant surprise because even though I was eating most fruit and some veggies, it was a LOT of fruit (in case you didn't figure it out, this is a lot of fruit - lol), and what felt like a lot of food. Some people will say it's all water, perhaps, but remember I do eat clean all the time and my weight has pretty much been holding for months, if not a year.  For me to drop three pounds in a day is pretty significant, and certainly motivating to do this for another two days.  My goal weight is really just three pounds away.  Will Dr. Oz help me get there?  We'll see.

Paleo Protein Energy Bar

I've been looking for a decent recipe for a homemade protein bar forever, and I finally found one here that I was able to modify to my own low sugar taste: Paleo Bar

I was very surprised at how amazing these tasted, and when they were warm, they were like I was eating a sweet treat that was so good for me.  Here's how I made them:

Ingredients:

- 1 Cup Mixed Nuts + Seeds (I used 1/2 c. pumpkin seeds, 1/4 c. raw sunflower seeds, 1/8 c. raw walnuts, 1/4 c. of Bob's brown sesame seeds)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup almond meal (I pulsed approximately 1/4 cup of almonds until it creates a coarse flour)
- 1 1/2 - 2tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Blend powder
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup dried goji berries
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top

Directions:

 

1. On a cookie sheet, toast nuts+seeds and shredded coconut until golden brown. In order for them to cook evenly, you need to mix them up a few times during the cooking time, and watch them closely so they don't burn.   I had the oven at 350 for this, but a little warmer would have made the process go faster. 
2. Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts+seeds are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground (sort of the consistency of bread crumbs)In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter (about 30 seconds). Remove from microwave and stir until smooth.
3. Add vanilla extract and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.
4. Fold in nut mixture, almond meal and protein powder until mixed thoroughly.
5. Add egg whites and mix thoroughly.
6. Fold in goji berries.
7. Press mixture into an 8 by 8 loaf pan.
8. Cook in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.  Note: Some of the oil will come to the top while cooking, don't worry about this.
9. Remove from oven, sprinkle the other ¼ cup of shredded coconut on top and place under broiler until top begins to brown.  This will happen quickly so watch it closely.
10. Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Cut into 9 pieces/bars.  If you cut it into fewer,  each will have less calories than listed.
11. Enjoy or stack on wax paper/parchment and store in an airtight container.  These can be stored out of the fridge for a few days, in the fridge for longer, or even frozen.  I had one I froze as a mid-morning snack and I microwaved it and had it warm.  YUM. 

Paleo Pumpkin Spice Protein Muffins (no sugar added)

I am not a pumpkin pie kind of person, and would have said I don't like pumpkin.  But I do like fall squashes and I decided to give these a try and I'm so glad I did.  These muffins are yummy.  I've adopted them from one of my favorite blogs which I recommend highly.  The original recipe called for maple syrup as a sweetener, but this would add whopping 70 grams of carbs to my total recipe and no fiber.  I've also heard how great and low glycemic coconut nectar is, and I tried that originally and they were good, but that also added a ton of carbs to my recipe.   Instead I used unsweetened apple sauce which only adds 10grams to the entire recipe.  If you want them a bit sweeter you can a little bit of stevia extract.  I also added protein powder, because I personally never eat carbs without protein.   My modified version, including the optional chocolate chips, give you a nice breakfast meal replacement or a mid-morning snack.  It was a lovely thing to have this morning with my cup of coffee.  

Adapted from: Detoxinista.com

Makes 12 large muffins

Nutrition Information per large muffin (including the choc chips): 197 calories, 11g total carbs - 3g fiber = 9 net carbs, 9 grams of protein.

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  15 - 20mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond butter (store-bought or homemade)
• ½ cup pumpkin puree (you can find this canned at whole foods)
• 2 whole eggs
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice*
• ⅓ cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 scoops sun warrior protein blend vanilla protein powder
• Optional: ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F, and line a standard muffin pan or mini muffin tins with paper muffin cups.
2. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix until a smooth batter is formed, folding in the chocolate chips last, if desired.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F, until the centers are firm and starting to crack.
4. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

*Note: You can make your own Pumpkin Pie Spice by using 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, and ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg instead.   

Why we need to give up sugar

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