Remember Slim Fast?  Slim fast was actually a “health” fad in the early 90s.  I have to put health in quotation marks because we now know that there was nothing healthy about drinking two meals a day and eating only one – especially when the “meal” turned out to be a chemical cocktail.

In 1990, I, like many others, turned to Slim Fast for weight loss help.  During the spring semester of my freshman year of college, Slim Fast seemed like a good way to combat the newly gained “freshman fifteen”.  Determined to buy Slim Fast, I walked two miles to the nearest grocery store because I didn’t have a car.  The store turned out to be Bread & Circus, a large, natural foods grocery store (later bought by Whole Foods Market).   I immediately knew that something was wrong.

I was completely stunned at what they sold, and had never seen a grocery store its size completely devoted to natural foods.  I thought it was heavenly, but I felt like I didn’t really belong there.  Especially after I asked one of the workers to point me to the Slim Fast, and was quickly told (as if I should have known) that they didn’t sell it.  I soon left and bought my Slim Fast at a nearby Walgreens and walked all the way home.

I still remember the chalky chocolate flavor and my commitment to drinking it twice a day for two weeks.  It worked, of course.  I was barely eating.  After my self-prescribed trial, I had lost some weight, but had no idea what to eat without it.  I certainly wasn’t any healthier or any more educated about healthy food choices.  It felt like a farce, but I still had the image of Bread & Circus in my mind.  I always liked the idea of “health food”.  It felt real and attainable and uncomplicated.  As an 18 year old college student, I couldn’t afford to buy food at a store like Bread & Circus (I actually went back and tried.  The $20 price at check out for the $ per ounce salad left me in tears), but I knew I could get healthy salads from the school cafeteria and that’s where I turned.

I started shunning the “5 cheese vegetarian lasagna” and eating salads loaded with beans and veggies.  With added exercise, and a new focus on healthful eating, I felt great again.  Wandering into that grocery store changed me.  It opened my eyes to the possibility of eating healthy now that I was living on my own.  The awe I felt at the beauty and wholesomeness of the food was a sensory experience that has stayed with me.   The answer was right there.   I knew before I heard the worker say “No” that he was really saying “Yes”.  “Yes” to the clean, whole, nutrient dense food that was surrounding me, and “no” to processed chemical fake “food”.  That was the answer to my real question.  Is health as simple as eating real food?  Yes, it is.

Surprisingly, Slim Fast is still on the market.

Here are the ingredients (this is straight from the company’s website – all caps makes it harder for the consumer to read (not a coincidence):

INGREDIENTS: FAT FREE MILK, WATER, SUGAR, GUM ARABIC, CANOLA OIL, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CELLULOSE GEL, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, MALTODEXTRIN, SOY LECITHIN, CELLULOSE GUM, CARRAGEENAN, SODIUM BICARBONATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SUCRALOSE AND ACESULFAME POTASSIUM (NONNUTRITIVE SWEETENERS), SODIUM CITRATE, NATURAL FLAVOR (COCONUT), YELLOW 5, CITRIC ACID. VITAMINS AND MINERALS: MAGNESIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ASCORBATE, VITAMIN E ACETATE, ZINC GLUCONATE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, NIACINAMIDE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, MANGANESE SULFATE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, FOLIC ACID, CHROMIUM CHLORIDE, BIOTIN, SODIUM MOLYBDATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE, PHYTONADIONE (VITAMIN K1), SODIUM SELENITE, CYANOCOBALAMIN (VITAMIN B12), CHOLECALCIFEROL (VITAMIN D3). SWEETENED WITH NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS AND NONNUTRITIVE SWEETENERS. CONTAINS MILK, SOY AND COCONUT.

Slim Fast is full of chemicals that try to replace a real meal.  This flavor contains sugar as the third ingredient (the second, if water even counts as an ingredient) and two artificial sweeteners.  It also contains partially hydrogenated oil, thickeners such as gum arabic, cellulose gum, and carrageenan, artificial flavors, and artificial dye.  Is this really replacing a meal?  Who sits down to dinner and eats sugar mixed with chemicals?  If this is what you’re having for dinner, how will you know what foods nourish you and heal you?  How will you learn about new foods to love?  You won’t.  Instead, you’ll be drinking your “dinner”.

There’s nothing wrong with a liquid meal, but make it full of real food ingredients.  A smoothie with fruits and vegetables, nut butters, coconut or almond milk – that’s a real meal replacement.  Soups can also count as a liquid meal, but one full of nutrients that provide your body with the nourishment it needs to thrive.  Freshly made juices are also wonderful for a snack or quick meal.  Juice won’t satisfy you for very long because it’s missing fat and fiber, but if it’s made from real food , it will give your body a nutritious boost.

Please don’t mix chocolate or vanilla flavored powder into water or cow’s milk and call it a meal or a detox.  Read the ingredients.  If it’s a list of chemicals and synthetic vitamins and minerals, skip it.  Make your own liquid meal (smoothie, juice, or soup) or buy a premade soup or smoothie from a health food store or restaurant you trust.  Don’t let your day or your detox look like a bad Slim Fast commercial – two liquid drinks and one meal a day.  Sure, you’ll lose weight, but will you keep it off?  Will you feel your best and most vital?

Cleansing is not a detour, but a new road.  You’ll start paving the way with the first day you commit to a detox program.  Once you choose the program and commit to it, you’re more than half way to better health.  Beginning is the hardest part, but if you pick the right program, then ending is even harder.  You don’t want to start a program that doesn’t allow you to continue on the new road.  What’s the point of undergoing a detox program if you’re forced to go right back to your old ways of eating?   Picking the right program is very important.  You deserve it to be the start of a journey that will fill your life with optimum health and wellness.  Choose a plan that allows you to eat real food.  It’s that simple.

1. Soy Protein Bars – Luna Protein Bars, Odwalla Super Protein Bar, PowerBars, ClifBar, Special K Protein Meal Bars – These (and other) bars are made from conventional soy protein that is extracted with hexane and concentrated and processed into soy protein isolate, a substance that acts like a drug in the body. Hexane is a solvent derived from petroleum that is neurotoxic. Since companies are not required to test for hexane residue in our food products, there is no way to know how much hexane we are consuming. Soy protein is a plant estrogen, and when concentrated, it can have estrogen like effects that can be harmful – especially to children, and to women with a personal or family history of breast cancer. It also can affect thyroid function. To avoid this hexane derived plant estrogen, eat only whole, fermented soy products (no soy protein powders or isolates) and foods that are USDA certified organic.

2. Sports Drinks – Gatorade and Powerade both contain sugars, salt, artificial food dyes, additives, and have only recently removed a flame retardant from the ingredient list. You aren’t able to drink something that is electric blue without the help of some serious artificial colors. Don’t run your first 10K or rally your friends for a breast cancer walk only to “refuel” with these toxic liquids. If you really need to replace electrolytes, eat a banana, drink coconut water, or have a cleaner version such as Heed by Hammer or Recharge by RW Knudsen. And please don’t give these drinks to children. Most little kids don’t need electrolyte replacement when playing sports. To decrease childhood obesity and to improve the health and nutrition of children, refuel with water, oranges, and bananas and avoid the glow in the dark sports drinks. They are rarely necessary and they may be harmful.

3. Breakfast Cereals and Cereal Bars – Special K and Kashi cereals and Quaker and Special K Cereal Bars – First, refined grains are not a health food. Even with the fiber boost they offer, it’s better to eat whole grains such as cooked millet or quinoa than to eat a processed breakfast cereal or a cereal bar. Many are loaded with sugars, artificial sweeteners and colors, trans fats, and preservatives. Varieties such as Kashi and Special K make big promises that don’t deliver. Read the ingredient labels to see that the protein in Special K and Kashi’s “high protein” cereals and bars is an overly processed and concentrated soy protein that may affect thyroid and hormone function. The rest of the ingredients are refined grains, synthetic vitamins, and teeny, tiny amounts of fruit that can’t possibly count as a fruit – often they are nutritionally empty dried fruit bits dyed to look like a healthier fruit. For better nutrition, skip the overpriced, over marketed, over processed cereals and cereal bars, and choose a cooked, whole grain alternative such as steel cut oats, quinoa, or millet. When on the go, choose homemade trailmix or a raw foods or homemade granola bar.

4. Flavored Yogurt – plain, unflavored yogurt is wholesome and full of gut healthy probiotics, but some processed varieties such as Danon Light and Fit and Yoplait Light Non-Fat offer little nutrition and lots of additives. The artificial sweeteners and food dyes provide a dose of chemicals that just aren’t necessary. Choose organic, plain yogurt and add your own sweeteners to taste. Maple syrup and honey are excellent choices or you can add fresh fruit and skip the sweeteners entirely.

5. Rice Drinks and Brown Rice Syrup – The sad, sad news is that rice products consistently test high for inorganic arsenic, a mineral that is absorbed into the rice plant during its growth. Inorganic arsenic is in soil and water as a byproduct of fertilizer and pesticide use, and it’s present in all types of rice, even organic rice. A consumer reports study measures inorganic arsenic levels in rice products, and makes recommendations for how much is safe to consume and how to cook rice to lower arsenic levels. You can find the most recent report here: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-is-in-your-rice/index.htm

Regular exposure to even low amounts of inorganic arsenic may increase risk for lung, bladder, and skin cancer, plus heart disease and type 2 diabetes.   Avoid rice from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas, and choose rice grown in California, India, or Pakistan. To be safest, avoid drinking rice drinks and avoid concentrated brown rice syrup (often a sweetener in protein bars – read labels!). Rinse rice thoroughly before cooking and eat a variety of wholesome grains including quinoa, buckwheat, farro, and millet.

6. Canned Tomatoes – Bisphenol-A, BPA, is a resin used to line most cans. Unfortunately it acts like a synthetic estrogen in the body, and can disrupt hormones and increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. The acidity of tomatoes causes more BPA to leach into the tomatoes than other, less acidic, foods. To be safe, choose fresh tomatoes or use only those tomatoes stored in BPA free cans, in glass such as Bionature, or in aseptic boxes such as Pomi.

7. Veggie Burgers and Soy Meats – Boca Burgers, Garden Burger, Morningstar Farms, Lightlife – These animal product-free alternatives to meat (and others) are overly processed and contain a slew of artificial additives, potential carcinogenic caramel color, and preservatives to improve taste and maintain shelf life. Many contain excitoxic MSG (which may lead to neurological and behavioral dysfunction) in the form of hydrolyzed wheat protein, hexane derived soy concentrates, and yeast extract. They also contain MSG flavor enhancers such as disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. Always choose USDA Organic products, not products labeled “made with organic ingredients”. To avoid the negative effects of processed soy and the completely fake food experience of eating veggie burgers whose ingredient list reads like a chem. lab, skip those made with soy protein and choose a variety that uses beans, grains, veggies, and nuts such as Sunshine Burgers.

8. Crystal Light and Mio – These products are marketed as “water enhancers”, but contain nothing more than artificial sweeteners, colors, and preservatives. Water doesn’t need to be “enhanced”, especially not with a slew of toxic chemicals! For flavor, squeeze some lemon or lime juice into your water or add some whole slices of orange, cucumber, or other favorite fruit or veggie. Water is the perfect calorie free choice, and as a bonus, when unenhanced, it won’t cause cancer!

9. Processed Bread Products, even 100% Whole Wheat varieties. Read ingredient labels to avoid additives such as azodicarbonamide (it’s breakdown products are recognized carcinogens), caramel color (a potential carcinogen common in whole wheat varieties), and the artificial sweetener sucralose. Choose less processed bread products with fewer ingredients and less (or no) controversial additives and preservatives.

10. Quorn – This is the brand name of a meat substitute derived from a fungus. It causes serious allergic reactions in some people that may occur upon first exposure or after building up a sensitivity over time. It is safest to avoid this substance, and not be fooled by marketing claims that it is “natural” and a “healthy protein”. Be cautious!

Remember, if you’re nourished by real food, you won’t crave the fake stuff and you’ll be more satisfied. Count chemicals, not calories, and start feeling your best right now.

1. Green Tea is a super detoxifier. It contains a wealth of antioxidant rich polyphenols that protect the liver from toxin damage. Green tea also helps to reduce cholesterol, and may help prevent heart disease and certain types of cancer. It’s a great substitute for coffee while on the 21 Day Detox. The antioxidants are at their highest when the tea is caffeinated, hot (rather than iced), and has a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

2. Broccoli Sprouts are actually tiny broccoli plants. The sprouted broccoli seeds have 20-150 times the health benefits of broccoli. Research shows that daily consumption of broccoli sprouts enhances elimination of environmental pollutants. Broccoli and broccoli sprouts are rich in glucosinolates (transformed to sulforaphane = cancer fighters) that can enhance the liver’s ability to ready toxins for elimination from the body. As a bonus, broccoli sprouts lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

3. Kale – Like broccoli and broccoli sprouts, this brassica family vegetable also lowers cancer risk. Kale is loaded with vitamins and minerals, antioxidant rich flavonoids, and glucosinolates (cancer fighters). Most importantly, kale provides full support for our liver’s detoxification system – enhancing both phases of liver detoxification through the neutralization and elimination of toxins.

4. Turmeric – This yellow cooking spice contains the active component curcumin (the compound that makes it yellow and provides its health benefits). Extensive studies of curcumin have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to support the liver’s detoxification processes. Curcumin may lower cancer risk by inhibiting the activation of some carcinogens while increasing the neutralization and elimination of others. Supplementation with curcumin supports liver detoxification. In addition, adding turmeric to foods when cooking will provide some health benefits. A pinch of black pepper will increase the bioavailability of curcumin when added to recipes that call for turmeric.

5. Brazil nuts – Brazil nuts are high in selenium, a nutrient essential to our body’s production of glutathione. Glutathione is the head honcho of internal antioxidants and liver protectors. When overloaded with toxins, a poor diet, stress, and/or medications, our glutathione levels are depleted, contributing to toxic build up, inflammation, and chronic disease. To boost glutathione levels, adequate intake of selenium is important.   Eating just 1 brazil nut in the shell (you crack the nut) or 2 shelled brazil nuts (purchased without the shell) per day will provide you with roughly 100 mcg of selenium a day. To avoid excess selenium, don’t eat more than 2 per day.

6. Garlic and Onions – Sulfur rich foods such as garlic, onions, leeks and shallots raise glutathione levels, protect the tissues from oxidative damage, and support Phase II liver detoxification. Phase II detoxification requires sulfur containing amino acids, and sulfur rich foods provide their building blocks. To preserve the sulfur compounds in these vegetables, slice and let them sit for ten minutes before cooking. Kale, broccoli, broccoli sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and other brassica veggies are also high in sulfur and can be prepared in this way.

7. Beets – The pigments in beets, called betalain, support the liver’s detoxification processes. Beets increase the liver’s ability to bind toxins to glutathione for neutralization and excretion. Betalains enhance the activity of an enzyme family known as glutathione-s-transferase (this enzyme helps hook glutathione to a toxin for removal from the body). Beets offer detox support by aiding in the removal of toxins that require glutathione for elimination. Beets can be eaten raw (when sliced thin or grated), juiced, or cooked.

8. Cilantro and Parsley – These lush green herbs are much closer to traditional or ancestral foods than most of what we find in today’s supermarket. Many of today’s culinary herbs are almost identical to the ones that grew thousands of years ago. Parsley and cilantro are nutrient dense and antioxidant rich, and both have detoxifying properties. Cilantro binds to heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and aluminum readying them for removal from the body. Both cilantro and parsley protect and purify tissues, and parsley acts as a natural diuretic, supporting elimination of toxins through the kidneys.

I’m not delusional.  I know that everyone already knows these foods are down right junk.  In my opinion, these are the junkiest of the junk food, full of the most toxic chemicals and refined sugars.  Please, not even in moderation.

1. Soda – Mountain Dew KickStart is plain scary.  19 ingredients, only 2 are not chemicals!  Sadly, it’s marketed to teenagers as an energizing “juice drink” and contains only 5% juice (one of the 2 recognizable ingredients in the list – the other is water).   Please don’t drink it at all, and especially not for breakfast!

Stewart’s Fountain Classics Orange’nCream Soda is sort of tricky.  It looks like something you’d buy at an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, but is full of suspect food additives such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA – a possible carcinogen) along with yellow dye, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, and, brominated soybean oil (a flame retardant!).  I can’t imagine these chemicals even existed in 1924, when the bottle states the company was founded.  It’s now owned by the Dr. Pepper/Snapple group, and is far removed from anything “classic”.  Skip it.

2. Cheese Snacks – Cheetos Cheddar Jalapeno Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snack – 4 different artificial food dyes, multiple forms of MSG, artificial flavor, and partially hydrogenated oils.  There are better crunchy cheese snacks out there, and some, like Stacy’s, are even made by Frito-Lay.

3. Lollipops – Charms Blow Pops and Jolly Rancher Lolly Pops – contain corn syrup, multiple artificial food dyes, and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a chemical preservative that has been shown to cause cancer and disrupt hormones in rats.  Try the “gum pops” by Glee Gum for a great alternative <a href=”http://www.gleegum.com/glee-gum-pops.htm”>http://www.gleegum.com/glee-gum-pops.htm</a>

4. Cookie Dough – Nestle’s, Pillsbury – partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors and artificial flavors.  Bake from scratch with butter, flour, and eggs.  It’s worth the extra time to avoid the unnecessary chemicals.

5. Flavored ice creams – Blue Bunny Perfectly Peppermint ice cream – If it’s mint chip and it’s dyed green, avoid it.  Usually that’s a “green flag” that the rest of the ingredients are not much better.  Peppermint isn’t green. Go for the more natural, white versions.

6. Canned frosting – Pillsbury Funfetti, Holiday Frosting, Aqua Blue Vanilla “Happy Birthday” – a whopping serving of partially hydrogenated fat, mixed with preservatives, artificial flavor, and 7 different food dyes.  Avoid (completely!) all of the “Funfetti” products.  Home made icing is really simple to make, and it won’t poison you or your family.

7. Sugary Breakfast Cereals – Trix, Fruity Pebbles, and other colored sugar breakfast cereals – these foods are not for breakfast.  Don’t have your children start their day with a bowl of sugar, multiple artificial food dyes, and preservatives that may disrupt their hormones.  Choose cereals without added colors and multiple sugars.

8. Potato Chips – Wise Ridgies – Potato chips are not a great snack choice for obvious reasons – fried, fat, salt, and acrylamide (a “probable human carcinogen”). Go to <a href=”http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/acrylamide-in-food”>http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/acrylamide-in-food</a> for more on acrylamide, which is highest in French fries and potato chips.  Certain brands of potato chips add insult to injury by also adding artificial food dyes, preservatives, partially hydrogenated oils, and MSG.

9. Microwave Popcorn – Chemicals such as perfluoruooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the lining of the bag may be linked to infertility in humans.  PFOA contaminates the popcorn when the bag is microwaved.  PFOA is in the blood of most Americans and persists in the environment.  There’s a plan to phase it out by 2015, but its replacement may be just as bad.  Until further information is gathered, use a popcorn maker (or the stove top!).  It’s easy!

10. Pop Tarts – not for breakfast or for any time.  Don’t load up on high fructose corn syrup and three other sugars, a slew of artificial colors and flavors, and refined vegetable oils.  No nutrition here.  I can’t even offer a replacement that compares.  What is a pop tart anyway?  How about some toast, butter, and jam?  Delicious!

The Me-Tox

The “Me” Tox is the stage of the plan when you wake up and realize that investing time daily in your self-care is essential for your well-being. I think of it as a wake up call on all levels. For me it came when I was 39 and ½ and I realized that the countdown had begun to my 40th birthday. The thought of turning 40 overwhelmed me. I had dedicated an entire decade to pregnancy, nursing, and raising three children. The looming 40th birthday brought a self-absorption I didn’t think was even possible. I turned 30 on September 11, 2001. Pregnant with my first child, the birthday celebration turned to a day filled with fear and anxiety about the world my daughter was to enter. I spent the next decade trying to protect her and my other two children from the chaos and uncertainty of the news, media, and popular culture. I wanted their childhoods to be simple, innocent, and free from worry. As we all grew older, a shift occurred. The end of that decade signaled a new beginning for me. It was the first time that I could actually do the detox program I’d been teaching for years with all of the supplement support. I’d been pregnant and nursing for most of the decade, and when I weaned my third child I had just turned 39. Free from the literal ties of motherhood, I was open to starting a new journey, and the 21 Day Detox was my jumpstart into taking time for me. This opportunity to “clean house” effects many levels of our health and wellness, and once awake, you’ll find your journey will lead you right where you need to be. For me, I need to be here, sharing this with you.

How Did All of This Start?

I completed a version of this program for the first time as a graduate student at Bastyr University in 1998. When I graduated in 2000 and opened a practice, I brought detoxification to my patients there both individually and in groups. I’ve worked to refine this 21 Day Detox over the last 14+ years, and I’ve seen it work over and over again. I continue to be amazed at the healing power of the human body.

What’s a Naturopathic Doctor?

1. As a naturopathic doctor, or naturopath, I am guided by six underlying principles of the medicine.
2. First Do No Harm – Do not introduce harmful substances. Remove all obstacles to optimum health, i.e. toxins, chemicals, food sensitivities. Be sure this program is safe for you before beginning.**
3. The Healing Power of Nature – Detoxification is a completely natural process. Nature has an innate healing wisdom. This can be found in the plant medicine used to support the detoxification process.  The herbs used in the Liver Detox Support formula work both energetically and therapeutically to bring the body into balance.
4. Discover and Treat the Cause, Not Just the Effect – The detoxification process treats the cause on many levels. It removes food sensitivities/allegies, chemicals in the food, processed food, white sugar, coffee, and alcohol. It gives the body a rest and a chance to reinvigorate its health.
5. Treat the Whole Person – The detoxification process doesn’t just address a specific symptom, it addresses the whole person on all levels – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
6. The Physician is Teacher – It’s my duty as a naturopathic doctor to educate the patient. The 21 Day Detox is my best effort to help others reach the optimum health and wellness they deserve.
7. Prevention is the best medicine – The 21 Day Detox allows you to feel your best right now, and provides a jump start for a healthier future.