If you are preparing for a detox diet, you’ll want to stock up on all the correct foods that you will need. Contrary to popular opinion, the foods that are eaten during a detox can be very flavorsome and enjoyable to eat. Here are some of the most popular foods that you can have.

Breakfast

A great way to start the day is with a fruit smoothie. This is made by putting a variety of your favorite fruits into a blender. You can add a little water if the mix is a little too thick to drink. Choose from pineapples, apples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, pears, oranges and peaches. Alternatively you can make a fruit salad with the fruit themselves.

Lunch

Make a large raw salad from you favorite vegetables. Choose from lettuce, rocket, carrot, sweet peppers, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, and watercress. To enhance the flavor you can add some fresh herbs and sprouted seeds. Make up a salad dressing of olive oil and cider vinegar and top with pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Finish the meal with a piece of fresh fruit.

Evening Dinner

Make up a dish consisting of 4 or 5 of your favorite vegetables. Then lightly cook them by either steaming or stir frying them with a little olive oil. You can choose from mushrooms, bean shoots, carrots, zucchini, spinach, beetroot, baby corn, mange tout and sugar snaps. You can add some more flavor by using tamari or soy sauce. Add some pumpkin seeds or pine nuts for extra texture and nutritional value. Try not to overcook the vegetables, they should always remain crunchy.

The secret to choosing the best food for your detox is to get a wide variety. This will ensure that you get a range of nutrients and that your palette does not become bored. Include some of your favorite varieties but don’t be afraid to try some new ones. There are many great tasting exotic fruits that you may like to try for the first time on your detox diet.

Detoxification can be a scary concept to many Westerners. Detoxification challenges each of us to change our entire lifestyle for better health. There’s no “magic pill” or herb that can detoxify your body overnight. It takes hard work and careful thought about what goes into our bodies in order to detoxify. And the results are not seen immediately.

Would you rather live a shorter life unrestrained by rules, and die a prolonged death brought on by unnatural circumstance? Or, would you rather live a longer life restrained by simple lifestyle rules, and die a peaceful death from natural aging?

Asking whether or not detoxification is for you is synonymous to asking the aforementioned questions. If you’re human, then you’re already a part of the detoxification cycle. Your liver, kidneys, skin and lymph nodes have been detoxifying your body since before birth. By the time we are in our 20s, most Westerners have already poisoned their bodies so much that they need detoxification to become healthy again. The personal question for every Westerner is whether or not they choose to continue their poisonous lifestyles without detoxification.

What are some of the consequences of not detoxifying? Obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and metabolic breakdown are just a few short-term effects that won’t immediately kill you. However, after 10 to 20 years of toxin buildup, the price becomes very steep. Obesity leads to heart disease and joint problems. High cholesterol and high blood pressure leads to strokes and chronic arterial decomposition. Metabolic breakdown leads to neurological disorders, psychological disorders, diabetes and eventually, death.

You may be thinking that it’s a waste of time to live healthy since everyone will have some sort of health problem and die one day. While this is true, the question of what you want to contribute to the world remains. It’s not just about whether or not if detoxification is for you alone. It’s also about whether or not detoxification is for your community as well.

As a healthy person, you will have more of a positive impact than if you were diseased and ill all the time. As a healthy person, you can be more active and give more of yourself to those around you. Your children, co-workers, spouse and community will benefit if you are healthy. You will have boundless energy and serve as a healthy role-model to future generations as well. You will have the ability to open the eyes of the Western world and change the negative lifestyle patterns for good.

Detoxification demands a change in your lifestyle. Often, detoxifying will force you to slow down your lifestyle. You must take more time for yourself and your health. Think about the consequences of not detoxifying, verses the consequences of not pleasing your boss or finishing a deadline sooner. Is your life less valuable than your fast-paced lifestyle that demands all your energy? Is it really worth pushing your health over the edge for that earlier deadline? Will your children remember you for your health, or your latest business project?