ecoLIVING London

While a twice yearly (spring/summer) detox program is great for you, it won’t really have long-lasting effects if you aren’t willing to make changes to the way you care for your body every day. With this in mind, I started exploring new ways of eating and exercising.

Of all my research, the two books or programs that made the most sense to me where the Maximized Living Plan (from our friends at Hardick Chiropractic) and The 4-Hour Body, written by Timothy Ferris.

DIET: 7 SIMPLE RULES
Since my health was pretty good to begin with, I knew I could play around with my new program a bit. Rather than implementing exactly as prescribed, I took what I wanted from each and created a plan that was customized to my life. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. AVOID WHITE CARBS/GRAINS - all bread, rice (including brown), cereal, crackers, pasta, chips etc.
2. AVOID DAIRY - I am all about the almond milk these days
3. AVOID SUGAR - I use only stevia, xylitol, and the occasional hit of maple syrup or honey
4. DRINK LOTS OF CLEAN FILTERED WATER
5. EAT THE SAME FEW MEALS OVER AND OVER AGAIN - I start most mornings with a VEGA protein shake, eat a bowl of berries and a handful of raw nuts for my mid-morning snack, and enjoy a combo of beans/legumes/protein and vegetables for lunch and dinner.
6. TAKE ONE DAY OFF A WEEK - Indulge and eat anything you want for one full day (My Day is Saturday)
7. SUPPLEMENT - I am still taking my B12 and have added VITAMIN D3 for good measure.

Having been raised in a European family, we were taught early on to cook from scratch - so that has never been a problem for me. However, we were also raised to love our bread, pasta, and rice. These items were the most difficult to give up - my comfort foods - but I had a sneaking suspicion that they were the culprets behind my poor digestion. With their elimination, my next challenge (as a part-time meat eater) was to figure out how to fuel my body with other sources...

EXERCISE: THE MINIMUM EFFECTIVE DOSE
In addition to the nutrition plans, I also fell in love with their shared philosophy on exercise – minimum effect dose (i.e. the smallest dose that will provide a desired outcome).

Both authors discussed the fact that many people give up on their plans because they are too rigorous and time consuming - without showing the desired results. Like most, I hate to exercise just for the sake of exercising. I much prefer to loose myself in a bike ride, baseball game or dance marathon. However, my goal was to add some definition to a frame that I already kind of loved and you can only do that through resistance training. So I chose again to combine the 2 books and create a routine that consisted of 3 days of hot yoga, 3 days of surge training, and a day off for good behaviour (Saturday – same as food plan).

I invite you to keep an eye on our facebook, twitter and blog pages - as I will be sharing meal plan recipes as the weeks unfold. I will also be reporting on the results (i.e. changes in my body’s composition) of all these changes, so stay tuned:).

Tiffany Roschkow is the Founder and Executive Director of ecoLIVING London. She can be reached via email at tiffany [at] ecolivinglondon [dot] org.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy:

Getting Healthy (Part 1: New Beginnings)
Getting Healthy (Part 2: Detox)
Getting Healthy (Part 3: Colonics)