Carol Vorderman's 28 Day Detox Plan

Author's product rating:   

Taste	Delicious
Effectiveness	Excellent
Price level	Medium

Advantages:	You will feel healthier, more positive and you will loose some weight .
Disadvantages:	You have to give up some foods you love .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Well as you may know, up until a few weeks ago I was doing a detox. I’m still trying to incorporate some of the principles into my day to day life. So here it is. You’ll find out all about the 28 day detox plan (Laid out by Carol Vorderman) and you’ll find out all you want (and then some) about my experiences with it.

The plan
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My sister wanted to do this Detox thing. It sounded more than a bit gimmicky to me, but to keep my darling little sister happy I sat and watched the video of the plan with her. Basically what I took away from the video was this:

No-No Food & Drink

Wheat
Meat
Sugar
Dairy
Artificial additives
Caffeine
Alcohol
Cigarettes

For many, the last three would cause the “Oh my Goodness, I could Never give that up!” But for me it was the prospect of giving up my bread and dairy that set the fear of God in my heart. However we carried on watching and found what we should consume in the meantime!

Yes-Yes Food & Drink:

2 litres of Water a day
100% pure fruit juices
Vegetables, Lots of
Fruit, in vast amounts
Grains such as long grain brown rice, millet and bulghar wheat

So when you weigh up what you’re giving up and what you’ve got left to eat. It looks sort of bleak. Well this is where the personal experiences bit of the video came into play. All these women started off positively, had a bad time about a week in but by the end they looked healthy and had lost some weight.

It’s wasn’t necessarily the weight loss that caught my attention it was the healthiness of them all. I’d had a run of bad health and I was sick of being ill and tired and run down. I wanted a boost and this had convinced me that it wasn’t a gimmick, that it was perfectly healthy and that I could do it. I especially liked the fact that you were told to eat as much as you wanted of the good stuff whenever you need to and to rest too. No vigorous exercise regime at all. YAY!

So A few days later I did my first shop. Now I don’t remember exactly what I picked up but here is my list of Detox starting essentials:

A Detox, Dry Brush (more details to follow)
At least 160z Long grain, brown rice
A small packet of a new grain you’ve not used before, (I recommend Millet!)
A variety of fruit you like (Not too large an amount, you’ll have to buy fruit in regularly)
A variety of Vegetables that include:
Carrots
Celery
Onion
Garlic
Tinned tomatoes (these are the basis for many meals)
Varied pulses (dried are best but canned will do.) Kidney beans, haricot beans and butter beans are all good.
Lentils (red worked for me)
Barley
Non wheat pasta (this is expensive but worth it!)
Sunflower oil/ground nut oil (any tasteless oil)
A good olive oil
Cider vinegar
Ryvitas, Oat cakes, rye bread (Any alternate to wheated bread really)
Honey
Mixed Seeds (linseed, sesame seed)
Nuts (not salted for snacks)
A water filter jug (if you can’t stand drinking tap water like me)

Some of these things you might have already but I do realise you’ll do a big shop at the beginning of the Detox. It is a little expensive BUT that’s only the first shop. It stays pretty economical there on in because you’ll only have to buy certain ingredients once.

OK So now I will tell you my experience of this detox. I will break it down into weeks for you, so you can see some of what to expect as you go through this plan.

WEEK 1
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What happened?

Well Day one went well but I was hungry all the time. I was constantly munching on fruit and veg and I did a mountain of food at tea time for myself. I drank plenty of water and found myself running to the toilet a lot.

This wasn’t just a wee thing I’m afraid I found I had to poo a lot and that poo was well runny. Ok, Ok I’ll try not to go into too much detail but I thought I should warn you. The very runny poo lasted all week. It wasn’t like a diarrhoea experience, I didn’t feel that throbbing urgency but whenever I went for a bowel movement very little of substance came through. I guess this was from the massive change in diet and as it didn’t make me feel ill I didn’t worry about it.

I felt hungry a lot in that first week until I began to work out my portion sizes. I found myself eating twice the amount that I’d normally serve up to satisfy me; Especially if it was a dish which was all vegetable and no grain.

I felt an immediate positive effect too. I could tell I had more energy, I felt a lot better psychologically and I could see I had already lost a bit of weight.(I’m guessing drinking all that water flushed a lot of toxins out of me) Also my skin was looking a lot softer and shinier from the effects of the Dry Brushing.

Dry brushing was emphasised as something very important in the video I watched. I picked up a Detox Brush from Boots; I think it only cost me around £4. You don’t need to get a specific brush, you just need something with fairly stiff bristles or apparently a dry loofah will do the same trick. Don’t try using a scrubbing brush, hair brush or Basil brush though. These won’t work!

I do my dry brushing before bed, but it doesn’t matter what time of day you do it. Simply you brush your skin, always in an upward motion towards your heart and you brush all of you that you can reach except the face. Take care over delicate area like your palms and your soles and also round your neck, don’t press to hard in these delicate areas. You do need to put a fair bit of effort into your brushing and at first it might not feel too nice. Once the slight stinging stops though your skin will tingle with wonderfully refreshing warmth and you will be able to see the difference straight away. Your skin will look and feel smooth and soft. Dry brushing needs to be done just once daily. It exfoliates your skin and promotes blood flow. All good things when you’re getting the toxins out of your body.

I was in a very positive frame of mind and this alone made me feel good. I think.

What was I craving?

Bread. I wanted something to really fill me up. I found eating potatoes helped for that (but the plan says not to eat too many potatoes…so don’t eat them more than once a day)

Did I give into temptation?

Yes. We went for a day out to West Kirby and my husband bought some of this marvellous cheesy bread and I had some. Only a little piece mind and I did dip it in hummus. The bit I consumed actually made me feel bloated but I enjoyed it as I ate it and didn’t give myself a guilt trip (Something else Carol herself recommends)

What did I discover?

Old vegetarian cook books!

I picked up a few from charity shops and they were invaluable! So many interesting recipes and many of them vegan, or easily adapted to be vegan. Get hold of as many recipes as you can, use the internet (I found some great ones on allrecipes.com) ask your friends and search the charity shops/car boot sales as the more ideas you have the better. You need variety to make this work and I know that I didn’t have a clue about vegetarian food at the beginning of my Detox.

How to cook brown rice.

It takes a lot longer than normal rice, it takes 1 hour to cook in my steamer with 1 cup rice and 2 ½ cups water and it takes 45 mins in a pan, same measurements but you boil it up, put on a pan lid then turn it down to simmer for 30 mins then leave in the pan, turn of the heat and leave for 15 mins to steam and plump up the grains.

WEEK 2
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What Happened?

At this point, the video warned me, things could get a bit hairy. I could have headaches, feel sick, get lethargic and generally feel like crap. I assume these things are caused by going cold turkey and giving up things like alcohol and caffeine. I didn’t feel any of this. I was ready for it. I was getting myself all psyched up to work through it but I just carried on feeling really REALLY good.

You’ll be glad to know that my bowel movements had some substance to them by now but I was still going to the toilet lots, though I could now go through the night without having to get up for a widdle. (Note…don’t drink water close to bed time for this reason!)

This was the first time I noticed how much fitter I felt. There is a little hill up to my home and usually I’m a bit puffed out and need to stop at the top of it for a moment. For the first time I managed to go all the way up the hill and not have to stop! Woo hoo!

What did I crave?

Dessert! Fruit is all well and good but I longed for some yoghurt or ice cream to go with my fruit!

Sweet snacks. I had got a bit sick of nuts by now. They made a nice snack but you can only eat so many before you need a break!

Did I give into temptation?

Nope! Aren’t I good? I think I may have had the odd sweet my darling daughter offered me but nothing big enough to confess here!

What did I discover?

I discovered a staple! Oh yes I did!

1 big clove of garlic
1 onion
2 big carrots
1 celery stick
1 tin of tomatoes.
Mixed veg (courgette, sweet corn, peas, swede , parsnip)
Pinch of paprika
Mixed herbs and spices.

Sweat the onion and garlic in some flavourless oil (cook on a low heat) and then add the carrot and the celery. Cook for a few minutes then add your herbs and spices. (Make it as hot and herby as you like. Use what YOU like but paprika gives a lovely richness and a bit of heat so I suggest you definitely use some) and then add your chopped tomatoes from the tin.
Now you can do several things:

Add water or vegetable stock and make a soup.
Add Kidney beans and make a vegetarian chilli.
Add Lentils or barley and make a thick curry type dish (you will need to add water if you do this)
Add butter beans and make a nice casserole.
Blend it down and use it as a sauce for your what free pasta.

Whichever option you chose you now need to bring it all to the boil, then turn it right down to simmer, put a lid on and leave for at least 30 mins for the flavours to develop.

Millet isn’t just for the birds!

Millet is a beautiful yellow grain which looks similar to cous cous. It tastes a little like cous cous too but is much lighter and fluffier in consistency.

To cook you place 1 cup millet in a pan with 2 ½ cups of water and bring it to the boil. Once it’s vigorously boiling you turn it down to a simmer and put on the lid. Simmer for 15 mins till all the water is absorbed then turn off the heat and leave in the covered pan for 15 minutes to steam. This makes lovely and springy Millet which goes wonderfully well with any vegetable casserole or curry or sauce that you can do and is also good as a bed for dressed salad.

WEEK 3
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What Happened?

This week I got a bit of the blahs. I felt I was eating the same things over and over and I was fed up. To combat this I took a new look at my vegetarian cook books and found new things to try out.

I also found out that this detox was good for my sex life! Oh yes indeed! I am more flexible, I can stay in the same position for much longer and my stamina and dexterity have improved also. I’m not saying things were bad in that department before but now they are fan-bloody-tastic! Also I guess more energy means more of an inclination to be horny AND to do something about it!

What I craved.

Chocolate.

Did I give in to temptation?

Yes. It was my husband’s fault. He bought these chocolate mini roll things and they smelt so good I had to have one. I think I had 2 or 3 in the end. Oops! Never mind!

What I discovered!

Salads are not boring!

I have always hated salad. I saw lettuce as a food to eat as a penance for my sins. Horrid stuff. This week I discovered salads can be yummy and you don’t need lettuce to make a salad!

What really makes a difference is having a dressing for a salad. I made up just a simple oil/cider vinegar/ lemon or lime juice and mustard dressing and it made my salads taste so much better. Adding grapes, dried apricots, apple, orange and/or raisins brings a lovely sweetness to salads too.

WEEK 4

What happened?

I made extra efforts to follow the detox to the letter. I made sure I had a glass of water with every meal and I tried out yet more vegan recipes. When I came to the end of my 28 days I weighed myself. I had lost 18lbs! Just over a stone in weight! Not bad eh? I had also gone down a dress size from a size 24 to a 20/22! I was very impressed!

I still felt full of energy, I’d not been ill once over the whole 28 days, I felt happy and contented and positive about everything. My skin glowed and my eyes sparkled.

What did I crave?

Hot buttered toast. I was sick of fruit for breakfast ( I can’t eat porridge it is vile) and so I bought some oaty cereal and had it with Soya milk. Hmmm that was an experience. Sweet and caramelly flavoured Soya milk worked ok with cereal but I’d not drink it on its own!

Did I give into temptation?

No. But I did have hot buttered toast the morning after my Detox ended. It gave me heart burn!

What did I discover?

That the 4 weeks had been truly worth it. I was healthier all over! I also discovered that over all the time I detoxed I didn’t miss cheese at all (I thought I would), I didn’t miss meat except the one time I cooked steak for my husband and I didn’t crave chocolate and sweets half as much as I thought I would have done.

I was pleasantly surprised that I’d managed to do the whole 4 weeks. My Mother and sister hadn’t managed that at all. Mum managed a couple of weeks and my sister is yet to embark on the detox at all.

2 WEEKS AFTER DETOX.
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I am still feeling happy, healthy and positive. I have not been even slightly ill in the last few weeks. I have added everything back into my diet now but I am still eating a large amount of fruit and vegetables and I still eat brown rice instead of white and I use millet a lot too.

Detox principles I’ve kept to:

Drinking 2 litres of water a day.
Eating lots of fruit and veg.
I eat 1 vegan meal a day.
I eat when I’m hungry.
I don’t drink many caffeinated drinks.
I dry brush my skin every night.

CONCLUSION
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I believe that doing the 28 day detox plan has kick-started a healthier lifestyle for me. I don’t think I could have done this just by adding in the positive and not taking out the negative. I needed the month of complete detoxification to show me the benefits of it and to give me the energy and positive outlook to really get healthy.

I think I will do another detox in the future. Probably the same time next year. This is the great thing about this plan it is only necessary to totally detox for one month of a year and once you’ve done a whole 28 day detox you can just do a shorter 14 day one the next time. CAUTION: The Detox diet is not recommended as a year round diet…If you want to take up a vegan diet full time get some professional advice from a doctor or a vegan friend.

Should You give it a Go?

I say that you can only reap benefits from this plan. Of course if you are pregnant, have a long term illness (like diabetes or a heart condition or anything you have long term care for) or are worried in any way consult your doctor before embarking on such a drastic change in your eating patterns.

If you want to feel healthier, happier and you want to loose a little weight then I would really urge you to give this a try.

It really isn’t as difficult as you think to give up so many things. All you need is a good, positive out look and you’ll do fine. See it as an exciting challenge and a chance to learn some new cooking skills and you can’t go wrong.

You shouldn’t give it a go if:

You’re not prepared to prepare food from scratch. Ready made meals are a no-no here.
(A tip…prepare lots at one go and freeze the left-overs to eat at another time)

You don’t think you can go cold turkey. Caffeine, Alcohol and cigarettes are all very addictive and if you don’t want to give them up you won’t. You really need to think you can do it so you will do it.

Those are the only two reasons I can think of to not do this.

So what are you waiting for?

If you want any help or advice please feel free to contact me through my guestbook. I will do my best to help out anyone with any questions they might have!

Get a copy of the 28 detox plan book (or borrow it from the library or a friend) and give it a go!