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Detox Diet Mistakes

Detoxification Program Guidelines

There are many types of detox diets out there.  Raw vegetable diets, detox fruit diets, liquid detox diets, lemon detox diets, vegan detox diets, etc, etc, but the first step in detoxifying your body is learning how not to create toxins in the first place .  So in the first part of this this new Detox Your Body series, I would like to start by first pointing out one of the most common ways we end up creating toxins in our system.  This common mistake is by combining incompatible foods in our diet.

Incompatible foods create all sorts of digestive problems for us.  These include general abdominal discomfort, acidity, bloating, heartburn and gas, to name just a few.  Mixing these wrong food types together repeatedly results in the diminishing of the digestive fire, which sets the stage for the accumulation of undigested food mass (ama) and the accumulation of those dreaded toxins.  This then is the beginning of the disease process and soon we find ourselves in a toxic overload, searching the web for the best detox program around .

So, if you are interested in maintaining a healthy digestive system and are keen on preventing toxin buildup, Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of healing and longevity, strongly discourages the mixing of the foods below.  This should be the first step of any detoxification program.  Understanding that mixing these foods together is absolutely counterproductive and must be stopped if detox efforts are to be successfully.

If you are new to Ayurveda, the following article will be very helpful to you: Introduction to Ayurveda | Alternative Medicine for Self Healing.  In addition, the following Healthy Eating Guide, will give you very good tips for how to eat in order to avoid the buildup of toxins in your system.  Finally, I want to point out a powerful breathing technique which is excellent for helping you detoxify your entire system, and you will find details of that in the article, Cleanse & Detox Your System with Powerful Yoga.  Here now is the list of dietary guidelines for preventing toxin buildup due to incompatible foods. 

Detox Diet Mistakes | Foods Not to Mix:

MILK is incompatible with:

Legumes
Meat
Fish
Vegetables
Grains (except rice pudding)
 
YOGURT is incompatible with:

Milk
Sour Fruits
Mangoes
Bananas
Hot Drinks
Meat
Fish
Cheese
 
EGGS are incompatible with:

Milk
Yogurt
Meat
Cheese
Fish
Fruits
 
VEGETABLES are incompatible with:

Milk
Fruits
 
NIGHTSHADES (Potato, Tomato, Eggplant, Chilies) are incompatible with:

Yogurt
Milk
 
HONEY is incompatible with:

Yogurt
Ghee (in equal weight proportions)
Heating or cooking
 
FRUITS are incompatible with:

Meat
Fish
Eggs
Yogurt
Legumes
Starches
Cheese
Vegetables
Melons

* Fruits are incompatible with other foods because they require a different metabolic pathway.  One should allow at least one hour digestion time for fruit before partaking of other foods.
 
 
STARCHES: are incompatible with:

Eggs
Chai
Milk
Bananas
Dates
Persimmons
 
LEMON is incompatible with:
Yogurt
Milk
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
 
MELONS are incompatible with:

Everything (including other melons)
 
PEANUT BUTTER is incompatible with:

Jelly

The above incompatibility list is from the National Ayurvedic Medical Association and I wanted to take a moment to thank them for all the great work they have been doing with bringing Ayurveda to the mainstream community.

Detox Diet Mistakes | Detoxification Program Part 1 Summary

So above is the first step to beginning a good detox program.  Stop making things worse by mixing the wrong kind of foods.  This will in itself do the one thing that is most important to living free of toxins, which is strengthening and improving your digestive fire.  A strong digestive fire is key for the proper and complete digestion of food, thus preventing both, the buildup of toxins, as well as the buildup of undigested food mass.  And, as mentioned earlier, these 2 bad boys are the ones primarily responsible for the onset of diseases and sicknesses.

In the next part of this series we will continue to explore detox diets and detox techniques with which to cleanse our body, and thus reap the great benefits of vibrant energy, good health and long life.

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