College is a stressful time for many students, and the stress that students go through does a lot of damage to their bodies. When students live on campus they are not usually provided with many healthy choices - a lot of students gain weight their first year at college. The stereotype is the "Freshman 15" but it is usually less than that, but regardless of how much weight is gained there is a lot of damage done to the body itself.
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| DEBBY KAPLAN |
Debby Kaplan is helping this college student by first going through a total body detox. Debby explains that it takes the body a little over three weeks to stop craving the unhealthy toxins that college students unknowingly are allowing into their bodies.
Debby's goal has never been and is not to help me lose weight, but to help get all the bad out of my diet and let my body be cleansed and start fresh as it were. This was supposed to be a 30 Day Detox, but it is a bit more difficult than that - the start date was originally February 1, but there are things that cannot be interpreted always through texted based communication and busy schedules and changing environments have made it difficult.
Though it may take longer - this is something that is not unusual. College students are always on a strange schedule - some students have classes throughout the day and there are three hour classes that could be back to back making it really difficult to find a time to eat.
Debby believes that snacking is not good. She says, "I believe that mindless snacking is not good and to eat when you are hungry, not because there is food on your plate or because someone offers it to you. Detoxing in part is being mindful of what and when you eat."
Eat meals when hungry. The hardest part personally was not eating after 9 pm, but although that was tricky it was the diet itself within the detox that is the most difficult.
Under Debby's Dos was "real foods." It's hard to know what that means, but that means food in its most natural state - unprocessed.
First thought was, YAY LET'S EAT FRUIT. No, fruit has lots of sugar, and during a detox that is not what the body needs. The body needs some fruit, but not a lot - limiting to maybe 1-3 pieces a day. A smart thing she has told me is "Eat your fruit, don't drink it."
Debby says," Organic is best. Please make this point. I stress eating ORGANIC otherwise you are still putting toxic food into your body. I know it's hard to eat ALL organic. I don't . But I choose the foods like meats and certain fruits and veggies that are best eaten grown organically."
It's ironic, because as college students many of us feel like we are doing something great when we eat fruit; I never thought I would be told to stop eating so much fruit or that there is a limit, but there is - and within later blog posts these statistics and facts will be made readily available.
Debby is my personal trainer who suggests eating 5-6 meals a day during this detox process. That's a lot of time for eating but what is there to eat? Well, that's what will be in the next blog post. WHAT is on the "YES" list of foods to eat, and how much of it?
Debby lives in Oakland Ca, and is an A.C.S.M Certified Health Fitness Specialist, as well as a wellness Coach. Her blog is http://yourfitday.com.