How to Detox Your Diet and Why You Should Care

Why should you detox your diet? Have you ever woken up in the morning and felt bloated, yet you didn’t eat anything ‘bad’ the day before?

Have you ever eaten a meal and then noticed, half an hour later or so, that you feel sluggish and super full?

And what about uncontrollable farting? No, just me? Oi…

Hi, I’m Lise Cartwright, full-time author, creative coach and previous dieter.

I say previous dieter because I no longer need or want to diet. In fact, I eat what I want, when I want and it’s all because of this amazing 28-day healthy eating and detox plan that was introduced to me in late 2016 by my amazing friend Sammy Davis.

Let me tell you a little story…

Why I Started a “Detox Your Diet” Plan

I’ve never thought of myself as being overweight, but I have ALWAYS felt uncomfortable in my own skin.

I felt like eating was causing me more harm than good because (seemingly) every time I ate, I would immediately feel sluggish, bloated, or just plain fat.

I can tell you this — this is not a comfortable place to be.

I exercise five times a week and for years, this didn’t seem to be making a difference in my weight-loss goals. Sure, I wasn’t putting any weight on, but I wasn’t losing any either. Yes, my fitness was great, but what does that matter if you feel crap in your own skin, right?

And this was just plain frustrating to me!

Does this sound familiar to you at all? Can you relate?

Whatever your situation is, we're all guilty of trying fad diets in the hopes that by some miracle, the weight will actually stay off this time round.

I don’t know about you but none of these diets ever stopped me from bloating or feeling sluggish.

In fact, it didn’t seem to matter if I was eating healthy food or not, I still felt sluggish, bloated, and just plain ole’ yuck.

Low energy? Check.

Feeling unlovable and unsexy? Check, check.

Starting to hate my body… Ding, ding, ding!

Things really started to come to a head for me when my husband and I decided that we’d like to start trying for a baby in 2017… and I remember feeling horrified at the prospect of getting pregnant, getting ‘fat', having the baby and then NEVER losing the baby weight plus the weight I already had.

As you can see from my before photos below, I wasn’t exactly big, but in my eyes, I was unattractive and so my driving force to finally find a way to lose this weight once and for all, was so that I didn’t have to worry about the extra weight I’d gain during my pregnancy.

I am a planner, after all!

Plus, I wanted to feel healthy on the inside and be healthy for this pregnancy, given that it will be my first and I’m older (I’m 39 as at March 2017).

This time, when I started my research, I knew I wasn’t looking for a diet. I was looking for a lifestyle change, a way to continue being healthy and maintaining an optimal weight, that didn’t require buying foods I’d never heard of and spending hours in the kitchen.

Ain't nobody got time for that!

I gotta say, for a while, I felt like there was NOTHING available that would work for me, and then I began to see a friend I’d met a few years ago through Self-Publishing School, posting on Instagram the success she was having with this 28-day detox plan, supported by Arbonne International products.

I was curious. My friend, Sammy, wasn’t really carrying any extra weight, but she did experience some of the same issues I did… bloating, feeling tired, having no energy etc.

After chatting with her and doing my own research on the plan and products, I decided to give it a go and start the detox your diet plan.

The 28-Day Detox & Healthy Living Plan

The premise of the detox your diet plan is pretty simple, but it's the support and vegan nutritional products that make this plan easy to stick to.

Here's the lowdown on the detox your diet plan:

• You eliminate gluten, dairy, sugar, and soy from your diet
• You eat only clean, organic or free-range meat and vegetables
• You ‘drink' two of your three meals
• You limit exercise in the first 3-4 days and then you increase it
• You support your body's natural detox system through vegan nutritional products

Sounds pretty simple, right? And it is… but you need to prepare.

After I got introduced to the plan and nutritional products, Sammy added me to the most amazing private Facebook group, where lots of other vulnerable souls like me, could ask questions and not feel judged.

I have to say, this group is one of the most loving and supportive groups around. There is zero nastiness and zero tolerance for anyone being mean.

This alone is enough to ensure your success…

Why Arbonne?

Like I said, I did a ton of research before I jumped with both feet into the detox your diet plan and Sammy was the only voice who stayed consistent in her messaging and sharing her own story.

Once I found out about the Arbonne products and their philosophy:

• Vegan-certified, no animal ingredients
• No artificial colours, flavours or sweeteners
• No trans fat
• No high fructose corn syrup
• Standardised plant extracts
• Kosher-certified products
• GMO-free

It really was a no-brainer for me.

I was so impressed with the plan and the products, that I was inspired to write a book about the entire process! You can check it out here:

During The Detox Your Diet Plan

The first week of the detox was the hardest for me, and it's the hardest for most people. The main reason for this is because you're going cold-turkey on all those foods that you normally eat…

For me, I knew that I had an unhealthy relationship with sugar, so cutting it out completely was like ripping an arm or leg from my body…

I've never been a huge fan of gluten, so pretty much gluten-free already. Dairy was a bit of a surprise to me, but when I learned that the pasteurization process literally kills all the goodness in dairy products, it was an easy switch to almond milk for me and my hubby.

Did I miss my sugar? Heck yes! Could I live without it for 28-30 days, hell yes, particularly once I understood just how bad it was for me.

I can honestly say that without the support of Sammy, the Facebook group and the Arbonne products, this detox would have been a LOT harder.

The nutritional supplements that Arbonne provides are to support your body's natural detoxing system, something that goes haywire when we fill it with gluten, refined sugar, dairy etc.

Firstly, you get a vegan protein powder that replaces your breakfast and lunch (or dinner). This can be mixed with water, almond or coconut milk plus other natural ingredients, such as strawberries, coconut oil, kale etc.

There are tons of things that you can still eat and I found meal prep to be my life saver. We switched to sweet potato and free-range chicken for our clean meals and I would simply switch out different green, leafy veggies.

What made a difference was adding herbs and spices to everything I cooked. Just because something is healthy, doesn't mean it has to taste yuck!

While I'm not a coffee drinker, I do love chai latte's and giving those up was really difficult for me.

Enter Arbonne Essential Fizz Sticks to the rescue. These little pouches of amazing-ness will satisfy any craving you have and give you a little energy boost when you need it.

I also discovered I wasn't getting enough fibre… enter Arbonne's Fibre Plus. One scoop of this is nearly half of the recommended daily serving for fibre.

Worried that you're not eating enough fruit and veg? Arbonne's Greens Balance has got your back.

Combine this with a delicious herbal detox tea (although any clean, green, organic tea will work too), digestive system support, and 7-day cleanse, and it's not hard to see why it was easy to stick to this plan.

After The Detox Your Diet

Since completing 2 x 28-day detoxes, I’ve lost 10kgs (22 pounds), with more dropping as we speak!

I’ve lost 15 cms (6 inches) around my hips, a similar amount around my waist… and my thighs, where I tend to carry the most of my weight, I’ve lost 10 cms (4 inches).

But the best part is this: I FEEL amazing. I have so much energy, it's like my body clock has wound itself back to Lise, age 25.

I’m keeping pace with 23-year-olds during my exercise classes and people are commenting on how I look… how my skin is glowing, how healthy I look, and how much weight I've lost.

And those baby plans? They are back on the table again!

Wondering how I’m looking now? Why don’t you see for yourself…

Honestly, I cannot thank Sammy enough for being open to sharing her own story. She was so transparent and helpful, that it was an easy decision for me to work with her.

If you'd like to learn more about this program, you can check out my book, Detox Your Diet: Banish Additive Foods, Lose Weight Naturally & Raise Your Energy Levels Through The Roof!

If you want to learn more about the Arbonne Products, visit www.detoxyourplan.com/vegan-products for more details!