Alison Jutzi Talks Amongst Herself

I admit it, I've been cheating. We've been to several functions recently - parties, industry events, dinners with future in-laws - and I may have had some red wine here and there, and perhaps some wheat pasta, and maybe some delicious homemade trifle. BUT I have mostly not been cheating, and I feel really good, and want to continue with the detox next week (sort of) while allowing myself some fruit and cheat days, which I REFUSE to feel guilty about. A few months ago when I tried on the fancy dress I bought in London with my "Maria" per diem, the one I'd spent good money having tailored to fit me just right , I could barely sausage myself into it. Seriously, it took me and Phil working together to make it happen, and we almost had to abort the mission. Last night before the Geminis I slipped into it quite comfortably, and even had room to spare. Good changes are happening. I'm eating more vegetables. Turns out I kind of like raw broccoli. Also, I'm making...

Day 7 - I wake up and happily go to the gym for an hour. I am sleeping deeply and feel great when I wake up. In the middle of the afternoon we are out and I haven't eaten enough, so I buy an apple and some seeds and nuts at a grocery store to get me through till dinner. We meet friends for dinner and I order salmon with rice and veggies, and just drink water. I am craving gingerale, but other than that I'm quite happy. Day 8 - I've slept well again, and get out of bed quite easily (even though it's a work day). Am continuing to enjoy my hot lemon drink, like every other morning since I started the detox. Try some cocoa-flavoured Quinoa cereal, but find it's way too sweet so I don't think it's a good cleanse food. Found I was hungry as soon as I got to work, so I need to have an egg or some pumpkin butter for breakfast instead. (Speaking of which, pumpkin butter is fantastic, no matter what the colour and texture may remind you of). Lunch is cottage cheese,...

Dear Dr. Joshi, I'm back! Phil and I decided to do your detox again because we really enjoyed its benefits last time (weight loss, greatly improved stomach issues, general feeling of healthiness). Recently we'd both been complaining about our bad eating habits, and our respective struggles with the scale, so this is our attempt to get back on track. THE BAD This time around I felt extremely lethargic during the first few days of the cleanse, and still do. I sleep so deeply that it's hard to get up in the morning. The first two days especially I felt very warm and uncomfortable, which I imagine to be a symptom of my body detoxifying itself. Last night I was feeling a lot of negative energy building up in me, and I wonder if this is all related to detoxing. THE GOOD I've noticed a real change in my appetite since days 1 and 2. The first couple of days, I was feeling a bit desperate about food. I noticed all the times in the day where I would have had a sugar fix (brown ...

Today is my first post-detox day, but I haven't eaten any non-detox foods yet. Well, last night I had some peanut-butter chocolate ice cream, but we don't need to go into that. I've lost a few pounds and feel healthy and energetic, and plan to continue following the detox diet to an extent, while not denying myself the odd drink or hamburger. This was certainly my favourite of the three cleanses I've done, the other two being Isagenix and the Lemonade Diet. Habits I picked up on the detox which I plan to continue in my everyday life: - Drink hot lemon in the morning - Use my juicer - Eat brown rice - Have rice cakes as a snack - Minimize wheat intake - Eat an entire black forest cake Oops, did I just write that out loud?

If you are currently doing Joshi's detox, or are thinking about doing it, I would encourage you to email him ( joshi@joshiclinic.co.uk ) with any questions you have. He responded very quickly to mine, and seems genuinely interested in helping people through the detox. Of course, you should read his book first. It really is necessary to have it if you're going to do the detox. Here are the questions I had for him, with his answers in caps: 1) Am I supposed to completely avoid fruit, or just minimize my intake of it? How much is too much? TRY TO AVOID FRUIT AND FRUIT SUGARS IF TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT. TWO PIECES OF FRUIT DAILY IS GOOD. 2) If I cheat and have some decaf coffee, is that really bad? NO BUT TRY TO GET ONE THAT HAS BEEN DECAFFIENATED NATURALLY 3) Why do you specify "gluten-free oatmeal"? Isn't oatmeal normally gluten-free? NO, OATS CONTAIN GLUTEN, WHICH CAN BE VERY MUSCOUS FORMING IN THE GUT, GET A CEREAL THAT IS GLUTEN FREE ESP IF YOU HAVE CONSTIPATION ...

Whoa. Dr. Joshi posted a comment on my blog. That's really cool! I have a ton of questions to ask him so I'll send him an email and hope that he has time to address them. Then I will, of course, post the answers here. This past weekend at the cottage was much easier than I thought it would be. I wasn't nearly as tempted by the chocolate and booze and sausages as I thought I'd be. And fortunately my parents allowed me to dictate what we had for supper most nights. Saturday night we ate salmon with brown rice, asparagus and spinach salad - with tons and tons of garlic. And Sunday night we pretty much had the same thing, replacing the salmon with a lovely honey/lemon/garlic-glazed chicken. One thing I'm quite enjoying on this detox is the hot lemon that I drink almost every morning. It's a delicious coffee substitute, and apparently does wonders for your kidneys. On the way up to the cottage we were a little peckish so we had some hummus with carrots and rice chips...

This is getting harder. I'm tired of rice. I want a chocolate bar. I want to eat strawberries at the cottage this weekend. There are only so many bananas a person can eat. I cheated last night by having terriyaki sauce on my chicken and I DON'T CARE. Hrmph.

I had cravings for ice cream and booze yesterday. I did not give in to them. Tonight I'm attending the Doras where I'm sure I'll be tested by wine and cheese and a multitude of squares. Perhaps I'll hide a package of gluten-free cookies in my purse...and eat the ENTIRE THING. Maybe I'll play up the whole detox thing and throw around words like "macrobiotic" and "holistic" and then they'll think I'm so Hollywood and be very impressed.

Food so far today: - hot water with fresh lemon juice - Rice Krispies with rice milk, honey and a banana - California Classic salad from Fresh Tonight I will have the leftover chicken I made the other night. Last night I made fresh vegetable juice again, this time with carrots, ginger and spinach. I find that when you put a lot of carrot in there, it makes everything else much more palatable. The juicer seems to require a lot of effort to take apart and rinse out, but in reality it takes less than five minutes and I'm just being a baby if I don't use it for that reason. I've been feeling motivated to try out new recipes, and have already made two this week: the chicken and this coconut tofu and rice. I've got a chickpea recipe in mind that I want to try this weekend. I've also discovered a good beverage option for when I'm craving something other than water. Fruity herbal tea on ice is delicious and detox-friendly. For snacks, I've been munching on rice c...

I've been eating Rice Krispies with rice milk and honey every morning. Turns out the second ingredient in Rice Krispies is sugar, but who am I to be militant? Last year when I did the Isagenix cleanse I ate a Peanut Buster Parfait on one of my "fast" days. That's just how I roll. Today I brought a can of bean soup for lunch, but have noticed that it's actually bean WITH BACON so I will not be eating that. Even I can't convince myself that bacon is an acceptable detox food. Yesterday I ate a tofu and rice curry for lunch, and a California Classic salad from Fresh for dinner. I slept deeply and was so zonked I could hardly get up this morning, but I think that's because I was out in the sun too long yesterday afternoon. Tonight I'm making chicken and vegetables, with fresh veggie juice as an appetizer - made with my first-ever juicer. It's a great way to get lots of veggies into your system very quickly. So far I've experimented with carrots, g...

I am on my first day of Joshi's Holistic Detox , a cleanse developed by Nish Joshi, a specialist in holistic healthcare. This detox requires that you cut the following foods out of your diet: 1) Red meat 2) Caffeine 3) Wheat 4) Fruit (except bananas) 5) Refined sugar 6) Most dairy products 7) Alcohol I figure the first three shouldn't pose a problem, though I do like me some baked goods. I will miss my Tim Horton's steeped tea and Cobb's cinnamon scones. And cheese. And fruit. And chocolate. HELP ME! Just kidding, I'm not bailing on it yet. It's only been 5 hours. And there's no way this cleanse can be as difficult to maintain as this one was. I think I can make it the full 21-days. Updates to follow...