The Nutritional Style Cleanse: Prep Week

For prep week, begin to reduce your intake of foods from the inflammatory foods list. Do not eliminate them yet, but reduce the amount you consume on a daily basis. If you remove these foods too fast, you’ll begin cleansing under stress. Prep week is about slowly preparing your body. Jumping into a cleansing from a handled eating regimen or an eating routine high in creature proteins can be painful, and unless you ease off in advance, you could feel sick, exhausted, and unhappy when you begin.

Even if you would define your diet as good, you’ll be thankful for the off chance that you take some an opportunity to permit your body to conform to a cleaner diet.
Ideally, allow seven days for your preparation; if you can’t do a whole week, do at least three and preferably five days. Use the easy substitutions chart on page 66 to help you start easing into the cleanse phase.

Prep Week at a glance 

As you get ready for the main part of your cleanse, follow these tips for easing in.

Remove heavy animal proteins for lighter ones

Beef can have a long transit time in your processing, doing more work for your body. Evacuating beef and pork several days before hempseed cleanse is easy to do and will allow your digestion to begin to lighten up. Go for wild-caught fish or poultry instead.

Ease up on alcohol

Alcohol is high in carbohydrates and creates inflammation. It likewise bolsters yeast in your gut and makes a puffy appearance. And, of course, it can be addictive. If you drink liquor, wine, or beer on a regular basis, stop as you prepare for the cleanse. You can dilute your drink with more water or dilute your wine as a spritzer; if you prefer beer, it’s best just to eliminate it for now.

Cut back on caffeine 

Stopping espresso without any weaning period is extreme, and could leave you grumpy, anxious, and with a bad headache. Go easy furthermore, wean off of the dim stuff the week before your purge. Try removing half a cup a day as you go.

Cut back on processed bread and wafers for entire grains 

In case you're a bread addict, it could be tough going in the first days of your rinse. Dispense with the longings by changing to whole grain bread now. Increase your intake of whole grains, such as brown rice and quinoa, for bread with dinner.

Switch over to healthy nondairy milk or creamers

Dairy is addictive (particularly cheddar), and this may be extreme when you begin. Wean off daily the week prior to your cleanse by changing to nondairy milk like hemp milk, almond milk, or coconut milk.

Eat more veggies and fruit

Now’s a good time to add more seasonal vegetables and fruits to your meals and snacks. Of course, these are instead of, not in addition to, processed foods, such as cookies, chips, and crackers.

Cleansing Foods Shopping List

The cleansing foods listed here are for everyone, no matter what your Nutritional Style.

Vegetables, Seasonal Whenever Possible

All vegetables, except white potatoes, are on your cleanse shopping list. That includes yams and sweet potatoes. It also includes fermented vegetables, such as sauerkraut.


Fruits, Seasonal Whenever Possible

Most fruits are on the cleanse shopping list, including avocados. I particularly recommend apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, oranges, clementines, peaches, and seasonal fruits of all kinds. Avoid dried fruit of all kinds for now, due to the high sugar content.

Herbs, Spices, Condiments

All whole fresh or dried herbs—rosemary, tarragon, basil, thyme, oregano, etc.
All whole fresh or dried spices—turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, curry, cayenne pepper, etc.
Herbal teas for cleansing: dandelion root, milk thistle
Salt must be unprocessed sea salt
Organic vanilla or cocoa extracts

Sea Vegetables

Sea vegetables (seaweed) are a rich source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals such as iodine and magnesium. They make an excellent salt substitute. Favorite sea vegetables include kombu (also called kelp), arame, nori (also known as laver), hijiki, dulse, wakame, and bladderwrack. You’ll probably need to buy these at your local health food store.

Beans and Legumes

All beans, including chickpeas, black beans, cannellini, pinto beans, and others. Lentils of any kind or color are also great.

Animal Protein

Most animal protein is fine while you’re doing a cleanse, but it must be organic and free of hormones and antibiotics. All poultry, eggs, wild-caught fish and red meat are good choices. Avoid pork and limit red meats to a couple of times a week.

Grains and Seeds

During your cleanse, all grains must be whole and gluten-free. Nothing made with wheat, barley, or rye should be in your diet. Good choices include brown rice, millet, oats, teff, wild rice, and quinoa.

Oils and Fats

Healthy fats are crucial during your cleanse. Avocados and olives are excellent sources of healthy fats. For cooking use coconut oil and grapeseed oil for high heat. Use extra virgin olive oil for low heat and salad dressings. Other choices for salad dressings are avocado oil, flaxseed oil, hemp seed oil, walnut oil, and grapeseed oil.

Nuts and Seeds

All unsalted nuts and seeds are healthy choices for snacks and for adding to salads and other dishes. Good seed options include hemp, chia, sunflower, and pumpkin. Nut and seed butter, such as almond butter and cashew butter, are perfect for sandwiches. Raw nuts and seeds are preferable to roast to keep enzymes intact.

While all nuts are good, stay away from peanuts during your cleanse. Despite their name, peanuts are legumes, members of the bean family. Because they are one of the most common food allergens, peanuts aren’t recommended while cleansing. Even a mild reaction to peanuts can appear as an unwanted issue in the body. Peanuts may also carry a mold called aflatoxin, which is a known cancer-causing agent and can be lethal to the liver. Also, because peanuts have a soft shell, they’re more prone to assimilate poisons and pesticides from the dirt. When you’re done with your cleanse and want peanut butter back in your life, choose an organic brand.

Beverages

While doing the cleanse you need to drink plenty of liquids, more than you usually do. This helps flush toxins from your system as they’re released. The best choice is always pure water, but you can also try these:
Nut milk: almond milk (unsweetened organic or homemade), hemp milk (unsweetened organic or homemade), any other homemade nut or seed milk (see the recipe on page 178)
Raw, pure kombucha
Freshly made vegetable juices
Freshly made fruit juices in moderation or added in small amounts to vegetable juices
Teas and herbal teas
Homemade lemonade or limeade (sweeten with stevia)

Sweeteners

Coconut sugar, liquid or crystal, in moderation
Stevia powder or liquid

Superfoods

Bee pollen to add to smoothies
Chia seeds for smoothies, salads, and to create puddings and drinks
Coconut for flavor in smoothies or stir fries
Hemp seeds to top salads and sprinkle with vegetables
Hemp protein powder for smoothies
Maca root powder for smoothies
Nutritional yeast to sprinkle on salads, popcorn, vegetables
Raw cacao nibs for smoothies
Raw cacao powder for smoothies or raw desserts

Sweets

Chocolate bars sweetened with stevia or natural sweeteners.

To all you overachievers, do not skip this crucial phase in your cleanse. You won’t gain anything by rushing into it. Allowing your body to adjust will ensure that you’re ready, helping you to avoid uncomfortable symptoms and cravings.
Timing matters when you decide to do a cleanse. You don’t need to take a month off from work, your family, and all your other responsibilities, but look ahead at your calendar when picking your start date. If you’ve got something major coming up over the next month—a big project deadline, business travel, or an important family event, for example—now might not be the right time. Save your cleanse for when you’re not under quite so much pressure.
Remember, you’re easing into your cleanse, and you’re doing it by adding healthy, delicious foods that will sustain you. Add in seasonal greens and raw salads; begin to include vegetables at almost every meal. Eggs for breakfast? Sauté a quick handful of spinach alongside. Tomato sauce for the family? Try adding sliced zucchini and onion and switching over to gluten-free quinoa pasta for prep week. Is Lunch always a sandwich? Switch to a salad for a few days that week.