Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cleansing for Weight Loss

I'm doing the Isagenix cleanse for health benefits (detoxification) including weight loss. I've been on and off of Isagenix for over a year now and it's quite amazing. I started out at 168 lbs and immediately took off nine pounds last year - not so many pounds, but because of how detoxing works, I lost enough inches to get into a smaller size of jeans.

I didn't go back on the full Isagenix cleanse program again till June of this year. During the hiatus, I didn't gain any weight - again because of what happens when you detox.

Why cleanse?

The residue of toxic chemicals is stored in the bodily tissues of every single person and animal on the planet. Living bodies have systems to expel toxins from the body, but in the last 50 or more years, human-created toxins are now found everywhere, and the average person, at least in the US, ingests tremendous amounts (pounds!) every year in the form of hormones, antibiotics, food chemicals, additives, artificial sweeteners, and MSG in processed and store-bought foods. Let's not forget air and water pollution (smog, industrial/agricultural chemicals and "innocent" chemicals such as chlorine and florine in water).

Our bodies can't expel the overwhelming load of toxins - kidneys and livers can only do so much! - so what isn't expelled is stored in fat in order to keep the body from dying from toxic overload.

If you've been dieting to lose weight, your body does everything it can to fight the release of these toxins back into your body. Your metabolism slows right away. According to the 2003 report "Energy Balance and Pollution by Organochlorines and Polychlorinated Biphenyls" (Obesity Reviews, 2003) dieting releases pesticides (organochlorines) and PCBs (from industrial pollution) from the fat tissue, where they are typically stored, and poison our metabolism - our bodies work hard to prevent the resease of those toxins, which also prevents us from losing weight.

In other words, you probably have too much fat because you have too many toxins stored, not because you eat too much.

So - to lose weight, get rid of that toxin-storing fat - not by simple dieting, but by cleansing, using a program that will safely get rid of the fat *and* the toxins. This is what I'm doing, and I'm willing to provide my results to show you that it works!

My Cleanse

I'm using the 30 day Isagenix cleanse program - there are others I'm sure. I like this one because it was recommended by a nutritionist I trust, and there's no weird stuff to do.

The program has you regularly measuring your body in 14 places plus weighing yourself. The places include: Neck, upper arms, chest/bust, rib cage, waist, abdomen, butt, upper thighs, knees and calves. I’m not such a public person that I’ll provide my individual measurements, but I will say that adding all those measurements up, I started at a total of 321 inches this past June, at 159 lbs (note no weight gain since the previous fall!) and after 30 days, I’d lost a total of 3.5 inches and 9 lbs.

I took a month off and started again. My only diet restrictions during that time were that I had an Isagenix shake for most breakfasts, and I avoided processed foods (packaged foods, anything with stuff in contents labels that I couldn’t pronounce or identify) and purchased organic foods whenever available at the store. I confess that I didn’t look closely at the labels of the occasional Haagan Dasz bars.

When I started again in September, my body measurements had increased a little, but by the end of that 30 days, I’d blown past that and was down to 306.75 inches and 146 lbs.

After almost 30 days off, during which time I went to a retreat and was fed awesome home-made meals three times a day, plus home-made snacks in between for 4 days, I’m starting this next 30 day cleanse cycle at 308.5 inches and 146 lbs.

My next report will be next week when I measure again.