Basically, an awful lot of cheating went on this weekend
Jenny Dickinson, Beauty Director The BeautifulBreak Detox
The thermal wraps are a big part of this plan. For best results you should have five every week, with the length increasing up to an hour and 45 minutes each time, which means you have to be very committed to this detox to continue for more than a week. The wraps themselves get easier the more you have. After stripping to just the provided paper pants and lying on a chilly, damp sheet (the worst part, promise), your therapist will place more hot water pouches (there are two underneath your torso) on your stomach and on your feet. You're wrapped first in blankets, then in a duvet, and your head swathed in a towel to stop the heat escaping. Personally, I don't feel too hot or start to 'glow' until around the half hour mark, but after that I'm aware of the heat pooling at the nape of my neck and lower back, even my toes get slippy. Ilona, co-founder of the BeautifulBreak plan, tells me I'll get so used to the heat I'll be able to sleep through it, but that hasn't happened yet. Food-wise, I have to admit that I cheated over the weekend. Come Sunday, when everyone else was tucking into chocolate cake and I was sipping a fruit tea, I cracked. I pulled out the emergency rice crackers Ilona gave me and smeared them with the tiniest bit of Marmite. Trouble was, the guilt ruined my tastebud high. This week is set to get harder, we're cutting down on the carbs, but if you're game, so am I. www.beautifulbreak.com
Avril Mair, The Beauty Extremist The Master Cleanse
I have a confession to make. I gave up. After just three days on the Master Cleanse detox, I could take no more. No more maple syrup, no more lemon juice and no more pretending that I was doing something healthy. I did lose four pounds - but I worried that my teeth would fall out. Im not giving up on the idea of eating more healthily for January, though. On Saturday I went to John Lewis and bought a juicer. In ELLEs January issue I wrote about my experiences with Raw & Juicys home-delivery juice fast: five juices are delivered to your door each day, adding up to about 1,000 calories. I did this for two weeks, lost 14 pounds and felt amazing. So Im going to try it on my own. This morning I made a litre of celery, carrot, apple, orange and ginger juice, which I brought to work with me. Tomorrow Ill do the same. Im going to stick with this one. Honest.
Georgia Collins, Beauty Writer The Pure Package
Please dont judge me, but I caved. Friday night was a friends birthday and I just couldnt resist a glass (or three) of champagne. Right so confession out the way (FYI I did feel ridiculously guilty all the while), heres the interesting part. Normally the-morning-after-the-night-before I wake up feeling groggy and desperate for an ice -cold can of something sweet and fizzy and a truck load of anything salty and stodgy, but Saturday morning came and I had no such cravings. I happily ate my papaya and granola for breakfast and felt completely satisfied, while my organic fillet of salmon and greens for lunch tasted fresh and delicious and didnt leave me hankering for anything more. Which just goes to prove that those things I found I could do without in the week, I can still do without at the weekend. So while I doubt that I will give up Friday nights after this detox is finished, its a relief to know that I might just be able to do without all the bad food habits that come with them.0
www.purepackage.com
Claire Sacre, Commissioning Editor The exercise-based detox
I went to a Group Cycle class (AKA Spinning) at lunchtime as penance for falling off the detox wagon. Saturday night was a blur of wine, rice and crepes suzette, and total exercise taken all weekend amounted to a dismal zero. I felt bloated on Sunday and a little sheepish. After all, my programme is based on the theory that the best way to re-energise and detox the body is to heave it off the sofa and work it, all the while sweating out toxins. Hopefully Spinning has got me back on track. Devised by world-class cyclist Jonny Goldberg as a quick way to train for races, it uses stationary bikes at varying levels of resistance, dance music and flashing lights to trick you into burning around 450 calories in 45 minutes. And at Virgin Active Mayfair my instructor, Peter, was quite the motivator all glistening biceps, hes worth cycling make-believe mountains for. Tomorrow: Body Combat
www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikewomen/en_GB
Amy Lawrenson, Web Beauty Assistant The Nosh Juice Detox
Saturday, the last day for me, was a struggle. Without work to distract me I started to feel peckish. I drank lots of water (cold and even hot with lemon) but by dinner time I cracked and made a post-detox vegetable stir fry with the blessing of Kerry-Jo at Nosh who recommended eating gentle foods like seasonal soups and salads. Lentils, beans and avocados are also good proteins to start eating in the first couple of days after a juice fast. My week of abstaining has worked like a natural stomach stapling so after two mouthfuls of stir fry I was struggling. That feeling didn't last long though and yesterday I had fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch and a homemade Thai curry for dinner (no rice). As a preventative measure I took a trip to my nearest Whole Foods store and stocked up on healthy food and snacks and I'm hoping to keep most of the 8 pounds that I lost, off for good. On another note, my friends have commented on my glowing complexion so its not only improved the results on my scales and my relationship with food, but my skin too.
www.noshdetoxdelivery.com
Susannah Edwards, Beauty Intern Soulmate Food Detox
Apparently Im an anomaly. This is according to Christian Coates, MD of Soulmate Food. You see, when you detox all those nasties make their way out of your system to allow for better sleep each night. By this I mean long, uninterrupted, dreamless sleep the kind of sleep that heals and repairs the body and sets you up for the day ahead. However, in my case, the opposite has happened. Im naturally a big sleeper and have no trouble nodding off, usually enjoying eight hours of deep sleep a night. But this last week its taking me longer to get to sleep, Im sleeping lighter than ever before and Im waking up several times a night. And when it comes to dreaming, Im on overload. So while I may be sleeping less Im actually waking up with ease, hopping out of bed instead of forcing myself out and generally feeling better throughout the day. I dont feel so desperate for my eight hours and Im rather enjoying this new dreaming phenomenon. Roll on tonight!
www.soulmatelifestyle.com/food
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