Detox and Cleansing Diets 10 AIMega The Skin Essential

and Cleansing Diets

By Mary-Ann Shearer - AIM Chairman’s Club Director

Detoxification is something your body performs every second of the day. If it did not, carbon dioxide and waste products like urine and faeces would accumulate to the point where you would die. When I talk about cleansing or ‘detox’ programmes, I just mean following a diet that is so clean and pure that your body has enough energy and nutrients available to do some seriously deep cleaning and repair work, and is able to deal effectively with past dietary indiscretions and the side effects of medication.

The best cleansing programmes are those that are 100 per cent raw plant based, but there are other variations that are also beneficial. A diet of raw fruit and vegetables over a period of a few weeks is recommended especially if your existing diet is highly processed and contains little fresh produce.

Here are a few options that you could follow for any period of time from 24 hours to six weeks:

• An all-raw fruit diet, eating as much fresh fruit as you like during the day. • An all juice diet, drinking freshly extracted fruit and vegetable juices throughout the day, making sure that you have at least three glasses a day but no more than six glasses maximum. • A raw fruit and vegetable diet, eating properly combined fruit or vegetable meals throughout the day. You can also include a ¼ to ½ a cup of raw nuts or seeds every day. • A fruit and nut breakfast, followed by a raw salad lunch and then a supper of salad and steamed vegetables.

No concentrated starch foods (like potatoes or rice) should be eaten on this programme and all snacks should consist of fresh fruit. • As above, but for supper include a natural unrefined, unprocessed starch like potato, brown rice or corn on the cob. • You can include BarleyLife, Just

Carrots and RediBeets, as well, and in the other programmes listed below.

It is best to exclude strong herbs like garlic and onion while on these cleansing programmes as they tend to stimulate the appetite and can in fact slow down the metabolism (due to the high levels of mustard oil they contain which interferes with thyroid function).

Remember that these cleansing programmes can be introduced for a few days just to kick-start your new lifestyle and need not be followed for longer than 24 hours in the beginning. Once you become more accustomed to a healthy diet, you can include more raw meals on a daily basis with greater ease.

When you follow a cleansing programme you can expect to suffer from certain unpleasant side effects. Typical symptoms of detoxification can be anything from headaches (which could last for up to a week, especially if you have been drinking or eating foods that contain caffeine), irritability, nausea, violent vomiting, insomnia, extreme coldness, temperature or fever, copious expulsion of mucus from almost any bodily orifice (from the nose to the vagina – but don’t panic, it’s not an infection!), bad breath, coated tongue, weakness, tiredness, muscular aches and pains, dizziness and heart palpitations even when lying down (this is simply the body dealing with a stimulant that may have been lurking somewhere for years). There are various other symptoms you could suffer from and they can be mild or severe.

AIM products that will benefit you on your detox program Herbal Fiberblend

A combination of unique herbs that help to remove the old fecal matter that most people have in their digestive tract

FloraFood

A powerful combination of Lactobaccillus gasseri, Bifidobacteria bifidum & Bifidobacteria longum helping maintain digestive and intestinal health.

AIMega

A unique combination of flax, sesame, sunflower and olive oil perfectly balanced to make sure you receive Omega 3 & 6 essential fatty acids in perfect balance for perfect endocrine, brain, immune function, while maintaining healthy cholesterol .

BarleyLife

Barley grass contains high levels of chlorophyll that maintains healthy mucous membranes and skin.

GlucoChrom

A combination of minerals and bitter melon that help maintain healthy blood sugar levels, alleviating fatigue, irritability, and cravings.

RediBeets

Helps maintain whole body health, increases strength, endurance & energy.

Just Carrots

Powerful Carotenoid antioxidants, prevents cell damage and provides nutrition for mucous membranes.

ProPeas

Propeas is a natural and delicious vanilla flavoured vegan protein powder

Composure

Composure is a combination of natural plants and herbs that calm the mind, the digestive tract and in fact the whole body. Ideal for anyone with aches and pains from detox.

Highly recommended products

CranVerry+ - Maintain urinary health Herbal Release - A combination of herbs specifically helping to cleanse the lymphatic system. Peak Endurance - Naturally increase cell energy by increasing ATP, prevents or reverses dehydration – which is needed as you detoxify. Florafood - A probiotic dietary supplement that delivers three billion good bacteria per capsule.

AIMega

The Skin Essential

It bears repeating: your body cannot produce the omega-3 and -6 fatty acids that are essential for good health. That means you have to get these essential fatty acids (EFAs) through your dietary intake.

AIM Members who supplement with AIMega enrich their food-sourced intake with EFAs from organic seed oils. One of the many benefits is that you get a plant-based, internal cosmetic that promotes healthy skin from the inside out.

The Yin and Yang of EFAs

Generally, dietary fat has a negative image. However, certain types are vital for good health, specifically polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are found primarily in plant-based foods and oils. Omega-3 and -6 EFAs are types of PUFAs present in AIMega.

While omega-3 decreases inflammation, omega-6 increases it. It’s an essential balancing act in the body’s inflammatory response. AIMega supports this balance with a 2:1 ratio of omega-3 to -6 EFAs.

A daily intake of AIMega helps to avoid an essential fatty acid imbalance, which can have a significant effect on skin function and appearance.

AIMega’s omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) comes from the organic seed oil of flax. A daily intake of this source of polyunsaturated fatty acids has been shown to support healthy skin, decreasing roughness, scaling and sensitivity while increasing hydration and smoothness.

The healthy, organic sources of omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) in AIMega are primarily from sesame and sunflower seed oils. The most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in the skin’s epidermis is LA, which is converted to the epidermis’ second most abundant PUFA: arachodonic acid (AA).

On a final note, don’t let omega-3 and -6 terminology— EFAs, PUFAs, ALA, LA, etc.— get under your skin, but do let AIMega help to keep your skin healthy.

References: bit.ly/FatsnFacts bit.ly/Yin_Yang_EFAs bit.ly/Flax_Skin bit.ly/Essentials_Skin