Three Dog Kitchen

I get enough hits from people looking for information on Trader Joe’s detox kit that it piqued my curiousity.  So, the next time I found myself in Trader Joe’s, I picked one up.  You get 3 containers of pills - fiber, liver, and a “digestive” formula.  The plus side is that you only have to swallow pills; no drinking of funny powders.  The downside is that you may find yourself swallowing up to 8 pills, twice a day.  This may not be a problem for those of you who can swallow more than one pill at a time, but I found it to be a lot of capsules to gulp down.

Now, I admit that I didn’t alter my diet for this “detox”.  I didn’t give up red meat, dairy, sugar, coffee, etc.  Is this why I didn’t feel “cleansed” and totally energized?  Who knows.  I will say that this must be a pretty gentle detox, which is nice if you don’t want to worry about your bathroom schedule.  ‘Nuff said?  Okay.

I also did a little Googling and found claims that people heard other people lost 10 pounds doing this detox (or any detox) for just a couple of weeks.  I didn’t find too many first-person proclamations.  I’ve also come to the conclusion that if you spend 2 weeks eating only vegetables and water and maybe some bread, it’s not far-fetched to except weight to drop off.  You’re not eating much!  If I did that I could drop pounds even without detox pills.  I’d also be hungry and cranky and not much fun to be around.  I don’t buy the hype that you shouldn’t eat solid food while detoxing to give your system a break.  I think your digestive system works whether you’re eating raw carrots or drinking carrot soup.  I’m also skeptical that all the weight you drop with a “proper detox” wouldn’t just come right back after eating your first real meal.  You know, water weight explanation and all.  You certainly couldn’t exercise while on a detox - you’d pass out from lack of calories!  Of course, what do I know.  I’m no expert. 

So, I have come to the conclusion that the most practical way to lose weight and be healthy is: eat less and exercise more!  Stunning, isn’t it?  Eat a couple of salads, maybe you don’t indulge in a double cheeseburger at every lunch, have some fish (non-fried) for dinner!  Honestly, I find that when we do eat at home, it’s quite often pretty healthy.  I don’t tend to make a lot of fried foods or heavy cream sauces.  I leave those to the restaurant folk, which is why I tend to order those things when we do go out for dinner.  I also tend not to eat salads when eating out because I find them to be boring and if I’m spending money on a meal I want to really enjoy it.  I think an exception to this is the tri tip salad at Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ.  It’s a salad, so you can feel like you’re eating healthy, but it has a good amount of tasty tri tip on top.  Plus, the beans and corn and whatnot sprinkled throughout make it a really tasty dish.  Would I rather have the brisket plate with mac ‘n cheese?  Yes!  I’m just saying that their salad doesn’t make me sad and wishing I had ordered something else.

I bought the new Yoplait Yo-Plus because it claims to help your digestive system, which I thought could be beneficial when coming out of a faux-detox.  I chose Yoplait over Dannon or other yogurt brands because I like the taste of Yoplait.  If I’m looking for a plain yogurt for cooking or eating with berriers, I’ll go with Straus, Mountain High, or even the Trader Joe’s brand.  But if I want to eat a flavored yogurt, I go with Yoplait.  It never has a funny aftertaste and is always creamy and homogenized.  Even the non-fat versions.  I also grew up loving the custard style (now called Thick ‘n Creamy), so I have brand loyalty.

The website is very colorful and flash-graphicy but it doesn’t really tell you why this yogurt is better for you.  It says it’s full of fiber, prebiotics, and probiotics but beyond that you’re kind of just taking their word that this is a good yogurt to add to your diet.  They also challenge you to eat it for 10 days and see how great you feel.  I think that’s just marketing hooey.  Apparently, probiotics are the organisms that keep your digestive system from going wonky and prebiotics are organisms that keep your system in balance so the probiotics thrive.  Yo-Plus has both so that it “crowds” bad organisms out of your digestive system and allows the good organisms to multiply and take up that space.  I’m a little skeptical.

I do know that the cup of yogurt is easy to eat, tastes great, adds 3g of fiber, and is only 110 calories.  It’s a good morning snack, although not enough to be breakfast all by itself.  You get 4 cups of yogurt, but they’re small, and I think the price kind of works out to be along the lines of buying the regular Yoplait.  I don’t think it would hurt to eat this instead of regular Yoplait, but I do think eating some yogurt every day is a good thing.  So, however it gets you to eat yogurt, I’m all for it.  Obviously, eating plain yogurt cuts down your sugar, but it doesn’t taste as good. 

Thumbs up for the Yo-Plus; two thumbs up for yogurt in general, especially Yoplait.

I hate testimonials.  On infomercials, on diet product websites, in books, and even on Amazon.com.  There are so many wacky methods out there that that you don’t know which ones really work, how well they really work, and if the people who lost 50 pounds immediately gained back 45 of those pounds the next week.  When people rave about something so blatantly, I feel like there’s something they’re not telling me.  Like, in order for the diet pills to work, they actually ate nothing but sesame seeds for a month.

I’ve tested the South Beach Diet (I was so grumpy after 2 weeks I quit and ate a sandwich to celebrate), my mom’s done Atkins and SlimFast, we trained to run a 10k (and did), we try to eat well and bought an elliptical machine.  I’ll try Hydroxycut, but this detox will be first to see if we actually feel “cleaner” and if it drops any weight.  And if the weight stays off.

Yes, we’re going to test out a detox.  Not that stupid Lemonade Diet where you drink nothing but lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup - no, I don’t think all your essential nutrients are provided by maple syrup - but a detox program based loosely on the book 21 Pounds in 21 Days.  28 Cooks did a detox based on this and she was happy with the results. 

First, I read the book.  It’s good in theory, but the book is kind of useless.  You don’t really need to buy it.  The website for the detox is also kind of useless unless you want to pay a bunch of money.  All you need is the last chapter of the book or so.  Most of it is searchable on Amazon.com.  Also, hardcore people do the colonics and deep cleanses; real people think it’s icky.  We’re doing this the real people way.

Second, if you do want to do this and think it’s easier to pay $200 for one package, please don’t.  It’s not like the products have been specially-formulated and concocted just for this detox program.  The products are all from Garden Greens (BerrySplash, VegeSplash, Essential Greens, Inner Cleanse, even the Protein Shake) and you can buy them everywhere.  I found all products except the Inner Cleanse at Henry’s, so I imagine you can buy them at Whole Foods.  Or GNC.  Or online.  Even at Amazon.com.  I’d put them on a page for you, but Amazon.com isn’t actually the best price.  Start with local health food stores and then order online if you can’t find them.

What will you learn here?  Obviously, I’ll let you know how we feel, how long we put up with it, and if we lost weight.  The program calls for a berry drink, a green drink, vegetable juice, more green drink, more berry drink, and soup and broth.  No chewing.  There is also an herbal cleanse with pills and fiber, so you bet I’ll be telling you if it’s a scary process. 

Do the drinks taste good?  Is it a pain to keep up with the program during a normal day?  Do you go crazy with cravings for something non-liquid?

Wait and see.  Anything you want to know, I’ll tell you. 

We start Sunday, September 16, 2007.  We’d do it Saturday, but we have Poway Days to celebrate and a pancake breakfast that I already bought tickets for from the Lions Club.

I don’t think I’ll put up posts throughout the process, but I will put all my thoughts onto a separate Page.  We start for 2 days, but I’ll go as long as I can stand it.  Wish us luck.