The festive season has come and gone and we are left a little heavier, unhealthier, and our pockets emptier. January is the time that many people choose to start off on a clean slate and reset healthy habits, or to start new ones.
Sister publication Health For Mzansi looks at how you can do it in the form of fresh and healthy smoothies.
According to Hayley Cimring, registered dietitian and nutrition team leader at The Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa, making smoothies from fresh fruit, vegetables and other nutritious products like oats, will help you to detox. However, she recommends using it as part as a balanced diet and not a quick fix.
Getting back into shape
Asavela Mntumni (28), from Houtbay, Cape Town, tells journalist Vateka Halile that she always detoxes her system after the festive season. What works for her is to load up on veggie and fruit smoothies, which she makes with pineapple, spinach, kiwi, watercress, ginger, chillies and cucumbers.
Mntumni adds that her body feels lighter after a detox, especially if she was not being disciplined during the festive season in Dutywa in the Eastern Cape.
“It’s hard to keep to our personal diet since our parents don’t understand our lifestyle. When we’re together, we all eat the same thing, and I can tell when I’ve eaten too many carbs and red meat. So detoxing will help me get rid of all those toxins.”
Meanwhile, gym fanatic Gcobisa Dyonase (34) from Johannesburg, usually keeps her body healthy with a balanced nutritious lifestyle. However, when she returns home for the holidays, it is not so easy.
She says that it is common to indulge in fatty foods, refined sugars, carbs, and loads of meat. After the festive season, Dyonase normally does a seven-day detox.
Liquid diet
Cimring says most marketed smoothies and juices are either loaded with far too much added sugar or the amount of fruits used in making them exceed the recommended daily amount.
She advises that a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle are far superior approaches to losing weight as opposed to unhealthy liquid detoxes.
In the article, Cimring recommends that people use the “Plate Model” method to scale up the setting of a balanced, nutritious lifestyle.
Read more on Health For Mzansi, where the article was originally published.
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