Dear friend, dear friend,
The end of winter is approaching. The off-season is a good time to do a detox cure.
Some of you may have decided to fast or lighten your diet for a few weeks.
If you hesitate, the prospect of a fast worries you, you can also try the monodiet.
As the name suggests, it’s regarding choosing only one food to eat over a given period of time.(1,2).
What is the right rhythm to follow?
Naturopath Thomas Uhl, in his book, “ What if I put my intestines to rest? », recommends doing three days of monodiet per month or one day per week(1).
More cautious, Jean-Pierre Marguaritte, osteopath, recommends one day of mono diet per month to his patients and during his conferences.
It’s up to you to find your rhythm, keeping in mind that it is never good to mistreat the body.
The latter might remember it and make you pay for it by triggering future cravings.
This is one of the reasons why diets don’t work in general.
And that’s why a small mono diet from time to time is a good compromise!
The important thing is not to set the bar too high or you will become disgusted with the exercise.
The goal is to do you good!
A simple treatment to implement
The advantage of this approach is that it allows you to reduce the work of your digestive system without going through a phase of strict fasting.(1,2).
It is therefore relatively easy to implement, even at home.
Your intestine for 24 hours or more has only one food to digest, where usually it processes 5 or 6, or even 10 if your diet is varied(1,2).
Only one category of enzymes is used. The other enzymes then participate in cleaning the digestive tract(2).
The energy thus saved can be used elsewhere by your body, which can take advantage of it to cleanse itself or to defend itself once morest possible invading pathogens.
If you extend the experience beyond 48 hours, you should feel a clear boost of energy.(1).
possible weight loss
If you prolong the monodiet and take it to a week, it may happen that your body becomes lighter.
By consuming only one food, you reduce the overall number of calories that you bring to your body. (1)
The body must therefore seek fuel where it is stored, that is to say in fat.
Part of the superfluous is thus burned if your metabolism is working properly.
If this is not the case, the monodiet should do you good, but will have little or no effect on your weight.
It is possible, moreover, that following 48 hours of monodiet, or even three or four days, you may lose your appetite a little.(1).
This is due to the monotony of exercise which will not encourage you to consume more food than your body needs.
Rice, morning, noon and night!
One of the best known and easiest to practice mono diets is with rice(1,3).
The latter deserves to be organic.
Take it full or semi-full(1). The rice is eaten cooked and drained. But he is unaccompanied. There is neither olive oil nor melting butter on your plate!
If this is too difficult, you can season the rice with a little salt and sesame seeds(3).
White rice contains much less nutrients and fiber. It is a refined product. The sugar it contains goes directly into the blood. It therefore raises blood sugar quickly.
It is because of this that it is recommended not to consume white rice to avoid diabetes(4).
Conversely, semi-complete or complete rice takes longer to digest, which allows the sugar present in the rice to slip more slowly into the blood.
This is linked to the fact that brown or semi-brown rice is rich in protein, fiber and minerals.(5).
It is satiating and brings many nutrients to the body, which takes its time to sort through all these contributions.(5).
However, brown rice is not digestible for everyone and that’s why you can opt for semi-brown if you feel that it goes better.(6).
Some naturopaths consider that a complete or semi-complete rice cure deserves to last 10 days to allow the blood to be completely renewed.(3,7).
However, lasting 10 days with rice is not easy for everyone. So you can add vegetables for example following two or three days(3).
carrots in spring
This mono diet is detoxifying and rich in nutrients(2,8).
Carrots can be taken raw, in sticks or steamed. You can vary the pleasures.
This cure must however remain short: one to three days maximum.
Indeed, carrots can have a laxative and diuretic effect that should not be prolonged.
This is all the more true if your intestine is fragile(6).
This mono diet can benefit the skin thanks to beta-carotene which is a precursor of vitamin A(9).
It is the liver that transforms beta-carotene into vitamin A. The latter is antioxidant and might prevent certain cancers(9).
But beware: too much vitamin A, very present in carrots, is not good either!
Apples in all shapes
It is a very widespread mono diet because apples are cooked and eaten in different ways: cooked or raw, stewed, baked, grated, with or without the skin, etc.(1).
Apples have many benefits: they are draining, antioxidant and useful for the liver.(1,10).
They can also melt body fat and protect your stomach and intestine.
Be careful though, apples are not for everyone!
Some people have trouble digesting them. In this case, do not insist(6) !
Once once more, the best solution is the one that suits you. In his book, Thomas Uhl recommends choosing sweet rather than sour apples(1).
That said, it’s also a matter of taste and feeling…
As with carrots, it is not necessary to prolong the pleasure: a day of mono diet from time to time remains a good option!
Melon in June, grapes in September
When summer gets ready, the Charentais melon returns to the stalls. And it’s a real treat! It is a safe source of vitamins and trace elements(1).
The melon also provides you with fiber, which aids digestion, and plenty of water.(1).
It is a perfect fruit for the summer!
A little later in the year, at the start of the school year or a little before, you can do a mono diet of grapes(1).
Grapes provide you with iron, magnesium, selenium, potassium and zinc.
It is appreciated for its effect on the blood which it cleans, and for its draining qualities. It stimulates the kidneys and intestines(1).
It is also very rich in fiber.
A good alternative: vegetable fasting!
If you want to do a detox, but the prospect of consuming only one food bothers you, you can opt for a vegetable fast.
This is the solution that I prefer.
Attention, it is not a question of taking vegetable juices.
Indeed, these are too sweet, even if they are made with organic and homemade vegetables.
Mixed vegetables lose their structure and the sugars separate from the fibres. They then pass more quickly into the blood. Blood sugar rises too fast(6).
This is the same phenomenon as for white rice. Vegetable juices are therefore not for diabetics or for those who want to limit the risk of diabetes.(6).
The ideal is therefore that you take whole vegetables and steam them.
By mixing the flavors, you will have less feeling of monotony and above all the risk of deficiencies is lower.
Do not hesitate to take green vegetables (various salads, cabbage of all species, spinach, chard, green beans, etc.), root vegetables (parsley, parsnips, carrots, etc.) and various squash (butternut, palisson, pumpkin , etc.).
On the other hand, tubers such as potatoes or Jerusalem artichokes are rather to be avoided during a vegetable fast.
This allows you to last a little longer than with a mono diet!
Personally, when I do a mono diet, it never exceeds a day, while with a vegetable cure I take 3 to 5 days.
Naturally yours,
Augustine of Livois
