I have tried many detox diets over the years. Some helped, most didn’t do much. You can’t eat crappy foods most of a year and expect to feel great because you are doing a 3-Day Detox. A healthy life and a healthy body is a lifestyle. I have found the Paleo lifestyle to be the best approach to accomplish this. The problem is, most people think the Paleo Diet is all about meat. It’s not. If you would like to learn more about the Paleo Diet and how it can help you reach your health goals, don’t forget to sign up for my free course Paleo for Beginners.
You can also learn more about why you need to detox here.
3-Day Detox Diets
Even if your general diet is excellent, you might feel you need a little health boost or some help to reset your taste buds. Plus, these 3-day detox cleanses can help kick start any longer healing protocol. You would be surprised how much good a 3-day detox diet can do for your gut. If you want to learn more, read this study. It talks about how a 3-day cleanse can completely change the type of bacteria that inhabit your gut. I decided to put together a summary of the best 3-Day Detox Diets that I have found. I will explain what you need to consume at each meal and where the info comes from (I didn’t create them).
Before we get started with the detox cleanse plans, let talk about a few things that they all have in common. You can make up your own if you follow these simple rules:
1- Eat easily digestible foods: Mostly vegetables, some fruit and some (not much) clean meat (not processed and not conventionally farmed) if you wish.
2- Avoid inflammatory foods like refined sugar, flour, grains, dairy, alcohol, soft drink, energy drinks, artificial sweeteners, conventional meat, refined sugar and fruit sugar, refined processed oils.
3- Eat less food. When your body isn’t busy digestive, it can start healing.
4- Eat enough healthy fats like avocados, coconut oil, and olive oil.
Now, let’s have a look at my favorite 3-day detox diets:
The Plant Paradox 3-Day Detox Plan
If you are serious about healing your body and haven’t read The Plant Paradox by Steven R. Gundry, I recommend you check it out. It’s a worthwhile read.
During this cleanse, you will not be eating dairy, grains or pseudo-grains, fruits, sugar, seeds, eggs, soy, nightshade plants, roots, or tubers. You won’t be having corn, soy, canola, or other inflammatory oils, and any farmed beef and pork. Instead, you will be enjoying vegetables and small quantities of fish and pastured chicken.
Here’s a sample day:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Snack: Romaine lettuce boats filled with guacamole
Lunch: Arugula Salad with Chicken and homemade vinaigrette
Snack: Romaine Lettuce boats filled with guacamole
Dinner: Cabbage-kale saute with salmon and avocado
You can see how this 3-day detox cleanse would be delicious and filling.
To learn more about the Plant Paradox Diet, read The Plant Paradox Diet: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Fasting-Mimicking
Dr. Valter Longo has studied how one can achieve the benefits of fasting without having to do a water fast. In his book The Longevity Diet, he talks about the foods that are most beneficial for human health and touches on the topic of fasting-mimicking.
He recommends a diet rich in fish, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and whole grains (I know, not quite Paleo). He warns against the consumption of too much protein. He also recommends two meals a day and a snack. Plus, restrict your eating window to 12 hours.
In the context of a detox cleanse, your diet would consist of vegetables, healthy fats, nuts and seeds as well as some low sugar fruits. For three days, you would make sure you eat around 800 calories. That’s how you benefit from fasting, without actually fasting.
For example, you would eat a bowl of roasted vegetables in coconut oil with some nuts and seeds or with a side of avocado.
You can learn more about the benefits of fasting-mimicking, read:
- The Fasting Mimicking Diet: Benefit From Fasting Without Giving Up Food
- My DIY Fasting Mimicking Diet Plan
The Aztek Diet Smoothie Cleanse
They are lots of
Here’s an example day on this 3-day detox cleanse:
Breakfast: Blueberry Kale Smoothie (Water, 4 Tbsp of Chia, 1/2 cup of coconut milk, 1/2 blueberries, 3 cups of kale)
Some of the recipes in the books are not entirely to my standard, so this was my adapted version.
Lunch: Kale Apple Carrot Smoothie (1 1/2 cup carrot juice, water, 1 cup kale, one small apple, 2 Tbsp raw sunflower seeds, 2 Tbsp Chia seeds, 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice)
Dinner: Avo-Colada Smoothie (1 1/4 cup coconut water, 1/2 cup avocado, 1 1/4 cup frozen pineapple, 2 Tbsp Chia, 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice, a pinch of sea salt)
You can see that all these recipes include a good dose of healthy food and enough Chia seeds to keep you nice and full.
Why not do a 10-day cleanse?
Of course, there are many other great 3-day cleanse plans you can find on the Internet. I have tried different types and combinations, but I find the ones above to be the best and most effective. I do recommend you aim for a 10-day cleanse if you can.
If you would like to learn more about my favorite 10-day cleanse, contact me.
Add plant – based nutrition for maximum impact
An effective detox will help you lose weight, feel better, and feel more energy, but, remember, it’s a lifestyle. You shouldn’t expect to do a detox three days of the year and feel great all year while you eat junk food. It will help you reach your health goals faster and give your body a better chance at healing. That’s why these 3-days detox diet plans are useful.
