Fitness Friday| Daring to Detox

*Vitamins* *7 day Detox Plan* *Green Smoothie* *Fitspiration*

I have previously written about the subject of detoxing, and shared my opinions on the wild and wacky “detox” programmes that exist. For those of you who don’t know; I believe that such crazy detoxes like the Lemonade Detox are firstly crazy and secondly no good for your body or health. I actually have personal experience of the Lemonade Detox, and the Soup Diet and it was not pleasant; think migraines, dizziness, tiredness and passing out! I believe detoxing should involve getting rid of all the crap in your body by not eating any crap! You should eat clean everyday, all day, and try to include as many “super Foods” as possible to help aid the detox process.

A few months ago I was contacted by My Vitamins; who are people after my own heart, as we share the same beliefs on detox programmes and health. They suggested that I followed their specially devised 7 Day Detox Plan and report on my results. They told me the plan was designed to purposely target the 4 key areas that need to be cleansed regularly; liver, kidneys, skin and colon, leaving me refreshed, more energetic and with improved skin, hair and nails.

At the time, I was about to go on holiday so a detox gave me the chance to loose a couple of pounds and inches before the bikini came out. My Vitamins delivered the vitamins shown in the picture and advised me to follow the meal plan above. I admit that I did not follow the diet plan completely, as some of the ingredients are hard to get in my little town, or were expensive, so I followed it as closely as possible. Along with following the meal plan and taking the supplements, each day I ran for 45 minutes. The results of such a regime were about a 6 pound weight loss, and a 2 inch loss on my waist. More importantly I had AMAZING hair and skin, glowing!

After a couple of weeks of being very relaxed on my diet and fitness regime I have since embarked upon a detox again. This time I have not been following the above meal plan but have still took the supplied vitamins, and been running for 45 minutes each day. I instead spent Sunday night making a big batch of vegetable soup, for my lunches and a batch of green smoothie, for my breakfasts. My dinners are the only solid meal I have, which is chicken and veg, served with any spices or any tomato based sauce you fancy. Even though I have only been following this eating plan for 5 days I already feel a millions time better, my stomach looks flatter and my face looks less bloated.

The vitamins and supplements that were provided to me are described below.

• Ginseng- A natural stimulant, as opposed to caffeine. Improves circulation and oxygen absorption.
• Acai Berries- A supplement to help your PH balance and an aid fat loss. Widely regarded as one of the worlds leading Super Foods. A favourite with many stars such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
• Super Dophilus- Packed full of friendly bacteria. Great for digestion, it encourages the absorption of other nutrients within your diet
• Vitamin C- The best anti oxidant, and when mixed with L Carnitine, it posses a synergistic fat loss property by increasing the efficiency of the mitochondria to burn fat.

About My Vitamins themselves, I was hugely impressed. The rep from the company was lovely, extremely helpful and informative, and with his help I was given the vitamins and supplements most suited to my needs. My Vitamins aim to provide the same service to everyone. All their products are separated into categories based upon your goals such as “Detox and anti-aging” “Weight loss” and “Health and Wellbeing”. The vitamins are stored in resealable pouches, are reasonable priced and delivered to your door for free.

You can find visit the website here, and if anyone would like a copy of the Detox plan plus all the extra information then comment below and I can email you it.

What do you think of detox plans? Have you followed any and what were your results? What plan did you follow?

Soap and Glory| No Clogs Allowed Super Self Heating Deep Pore Detox Mask| Review

 

My regular readers and followers will know that I am a Soap and glory fiend! I love this brand, although I have not tried every single product in their range I have ambitions to do so. The newest products to my ever growing collection is the ‘No Clogs Allowed Detox Mask’, and the ‘Greatest Scrub of All’, both are products I have heard many good things about, and have been longing after for some time. I finally took the plunge last weekend and bought them both as Soap and Glory products were on offer for Buy One Get One Half Price, and never being one to pass on a bargain they soon appeared in my basket.

As the title suggest I am firstly going to review the ‘No Clogs Allowed Detox Mask’. I have used the mask three times now, and believe this is long enough to give you a summery of my thoughts on the product and its results.

Their opinion

Soap and Glory claim that the the mask is a an intensive-action pore-refining facial peel. Here is what they have to say about the product-

“A super self-heating 5 minute deep pore detox face mask with a free skin smoothing sponge. This is a deep cleansing treatment, ideal for greasy and blackhead prone skin.”

My opinion

The product has the consistency of a mud mask, but is not as thick as traditional ones. It comes out of the tube with ease, and when rubbed into my skin heats up with immediate effect. At first the mask feels a little grainy, but these grains soon rub out when you scrub the mask into your skin. It leaves a thin layer upon the surface of your skin and doesn’t take too long to dry. When drying the heating sensation soon levels off, and there is no tingly sensation that there is with some masks. When drying it doesn’t dry solid and crack like other mud masks.

For removal you are provided with a ‘skin smoothing sponge’. Although it is handy for removal I can’t say it leaves my skin anymore smooth than when I don’t use it. The mask cleans off easily, due to the fact only a thing layer is needed for application.

The end result is very good. My skin glows, looks very healthy and feels a lot smoother, and my blemishes and blackheads appearance are reduced. I feel like my skin is left completely clean with no dryness or sensitivity that I often suffer with after using mud masks. 

The only downsides to this product for myself are that firstly, I do not experience the blue Smurf face effect that is meant to happen when apply the mask. My face stayed white, as you can see from the pictures. Secondly, although I believe my pores appearance has reduced by using this mask, my blackheads have not reduced dramatically. This is one of the main reasons I bought this product, as I am always looking for a miracle product for reducing blackheads. I will continue to use this mask as I do love it regardless of this. I hope that in time my blackheads do disappear as it suggests on the tube, so watch this space as I will keep you updated with my progress.

Which Soap and Glory products are your favourite? Any you recommend for my collection? Or do you have any miracle cure for blackheads that you can recommend?

Are Detox a sham or not?

So its that time of the year again, where health and fitness comes to the front of everyone's mind. Detoxing is obviously one of the most popular ways to kick start this phase many of us go through. From juice diets, to yoga, to beauty treatments, there are many different ways to detox. However I recently read an article in the Daily Mail saying that detoxing, in fact, had no benefit to health and is a sham. To be honest I always take any article published by the Daily Mail with a pinch of salt, as I believe they can over react a lot!

So I did some researching into the topic. Experts believe that the body is perfectly capable of ridding of all the toxins in your system without the need of detoxing. They even claim that some detoxes out there can even be dangerous. Detoxing is not what improves your body's functionality, it is the increase in the healthiness of peoples diets that make them feel better, and it is in fact bad diets and lack of exercise that make people feel sluggish and heavy, not toxins. Basically experts say detoxing is no more than a marketers dream and a million pound industry.

I personally agree that the body does detox itself, but to a degree you can help your body through many methods. You cannot cram your body full of rubbish continually, do no exercise and expect it to still function effectively and properly for the rest of your life, you need to nudge it in the right direction. I don't agree with spending large amounts of money on special products, but instead, upping your intake of vegetables and fruit, restricting carbs, taking up yoga and Pilates (exercises that concentrate on breathing and stretching), just using your commonsense. Do not buy into fads and pills, if you up your vitamins and fibre you will see more movement in your bowls (lovely I know, sorry) which will help rid the waste you have in your body.

For example my mother had a series of colonic irrigation, and the benefits she gained form this were great. When she saw the therapist she obviously listed all the possible benefits, but my mum personally lost around 7 pounds, which was most obvious on her upper abdominal area, as this is supposedly where waste in our body become crammed, and makes us look bloated no matter how much exercise and toning you try to do. She also felt less lethargic, and recommends the treatment to everyone and anyone who will listen.

A personal example of detoxing is when myself and my friend did the Maple Syrup Diet, which is famous because Beyonce used it to lose weight for her role in Dream Girls. Basically you are to drink nothing but a mixture of lemons in hot/cold water, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper (it was pretty gross). You drink this for 6 times a day for 10 days, me and my friend managed 4 1/2 days. Surprisingly my hunger disappeared after 2 1/2 days, however my humongous headache made me want to die. This is an extreme "Detox" and I would not recommend it, as personally apart form losing 5 pounds, I saw no other benefit, I think I actually looked worse.

What are your opinions on detoxing. Have you ever tried a detox, or bought any products?