My Hardcore Detox Diet

[xandt]

Hey guys, I was hoping for a critique of my current diet.

I started a cut one week ago but then got persuaded into doing a detox. I've never done a detox before and doing it now will (hopefully) help me get better results from my cut. I was hoping to continue training during the detox.

That's where things get tricky... I chose to do a 10-day herbal detox but to make it super effective I'm not eating any meat, fish, dairy, eggs, or grain products. That pretty much eliminates EVERYTHING (you know what I mean)... After doing a bit of research into vegan diets I built myself a new diet plan (only for these next 10 days).

I had it typed up in a spreadsheet so here's a link to an uploaded pic: http://i31.tinypic.com/1442vrl.jpg

My goal is 2,800 calories a day. That diet meets this goal. I was trying to go low-carb but it's impossible eating just fruits, veggies, beans, and nuts. 1/3 of the carbs are fiber though. The protein is what worries me, even with shakes and protein bars I can only get it to 212. I don't want to overdo it with shakes and bars since I'm trying to keep my diet as natural as possible (again, only 10 days).

Main question: Can I keep training/cutting on this diet without loosing muscle? (Any suggestions are appreciated)

Besides the protein shake I take BCAAs (10g a day), a herbal multivitamin (giving the PAK a break), glutamine, extra Vit C, and FLEX. I'm also drinking 5L of water a day.

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This is just a side note for those interested:

I just completed DAY 1 on this diet. I took an off day since I wasn't sure how my body would handle this (I went from meat eater to vegan overnight...) In summary, I'm not used to eating veggies, beans, or having such a high fiber intake (103g... only 35g is recommended for males). This diet tastes like shit and the sudden fiber spike is making me bloated and gassy. Also the 5L of water makes me want to piss all the time (I normally drink 3-4L a day so I'm kinda used to this). I hate this crappy food (no offense to veggies and vegans) and I crave steak more than ever... And it's only been one day...

This might be my first day ever without meat... Friggin beans... and powdered soy milk... *shudder* That one protein bar after dinner is what's keeping me sane...

9 DAYS TO GO!

[MonTanaMusCle]

Im not sure how much you weigh?? Plus I have know idea about vegan diets, but just looking at the numbers it doesnt look to bad. Be sure to continue to lift heavy, and 10 days of eating like this shouldnt wreck any gains made from your bulk. Im interested to see how this works out for you let us know.

[xandt]

I'm 188 with 20% bf so about 150 lbs lean mass. 212 g of protein should be enough, I hope anyways. I'm not sure if the change in protein source will have an effect on anything. I hear meat protein is better for recovery.


Last night's sleep wasn't too great. My body's still getting used to the fiber increase and my intestines (of all things) hurt from built up gas pressure. I had to get up every few hours just to let it all out. At first I thought it was hunger pains but then I realized it was coming from way below my stomach... That's what I get for starting all this overnight. A bit of a shock on the body, but I'll live. Hopefully things will stabalize a little today.

After 1 day my body weight hasn't changed at all, so at least I know that nothing traumatic is happening.

[xandt]

Ok so I finished the detox. For those who care, here's a summary:

It was a 10 day herbal detox but they included enough "essential ingredients" for 15 days. So I did a 15 day detox.

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Food:
The first 4 days I followed the diet linked to above. My body did not respond nicely to the 3x increase in fiber consumption though... It also didn't like the mega soy drink (30oz drank over 40min). I had really bad bloating, gas, and my intestines felt like they would blow up. I woke up in the night repeatedly just to let go of gas... a LOT of it... This diet does work though, and it's very healthy. I think you'd need to slowly make the change, as in over 2-3 weeks, not overnight.

The next 4 days (Day 5-8) I replaced the soy drink with brown rice and salmon. It didn't eliminate the bloating/gas/pain but it reduced it considerably. After 4 days of eating like a Vegan the fish felt extremely "heavy" in my stomach/intestines. It was not a good feeling. The veggie diet felt much more clean.

Over the next 7 days (Day 9-15) I slowly added grain products, dairy products, red meat, and eggs. The red meat and eggs felt unnaturally heavy in my stomach at first. A veggie diet really does seem to give more energy and makes you feel "lighter" inside. It was a good feeling (once you body gets used to the extra fiber).

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Results:
During Day 1 my head was spinning... Probably due to the sudden release of stored up toxins into my bloodstream. For the next 3-4 days I felt like crap and had low energy. I didn't really feel like hitting the gym... Around Day 7 I did feel cleaner inside and had more energy. My sleep was also better than normal. Over the two weeks I lost about 3 lbs but I can't figure out what was lost exactly... Mostly water I think since I was drinking a ton. I kept my calorie intake normal throughout the whole detox (some people go VERY low calorie).

Supposedly everyone should do at least one good detox session in their lifetime. Especially if you drink alcohol, drink caffeine, smoke, eat unhealthy, do any drugs, or live/work around air pollution, gas fumes, or strong chemicals (even paint).

I can tell you that the detox does work, because during my "feeling like shit" period I was feeling familiar "hangover" symptoms like those the day after you do something stupid. So a lot of my past stupid actions were cleaned. This time around it felt like a much more thorough cleaning than normal. After the detox there was NO TRACE of anything bad feeling. You will feel noticeably better, at least until you drink, smoke or eat a Big Mac again...

Before the detox I ate healthy and went to the can regularly. I'm surprised that after the detox I still go regularly but now everything just flows so smoothly. It's a nice bonus. My colon definetly got something out of this.

I can't tell if supplements work any better. They work great, but I'm pretty sure they worked great before too... I guess it depends on the before/after condition of your intestines.

This is probably a really bad thing to say, but after the detox your first steak tastes AWESOME! So does your first smoke and drink, hehe... Nothing like hitting your freshly cleaned organs with something that makes your head spin. I found the intensity of pleasure to be quite surprising. Having said that I will cut back on "bad" habits since the "clean" feeling is pretty nice. I'll probably do a detox once a year now.

Keep in mind that you will most likely NOT get any revolutionary results. This isn't a miracle cure or anything. Think realistically about this detox thing. A small bonus is still a bonus though, so I think it's worth doing.


{edit}
Just thought I'd add that during the early stages of the detox my allergies were acting up (without anything around to trigger them). I found that a little surprising. I guess my allergies were cleaned too? Or something...

[MonTanaMusCle]

Glad to see it worked for you.