A Different Way To Detox

Forget the drastic juice fasts. Amie Valpone, author of the new book Eating Clean, shares her top secrets for creating a clean food plan that can help you detox, lose weight, and more every day.

- Amie Valpone

Let me share with you a general overview of what I believe about food, diet, and eating clean for your best health. This will give you a quick introduction to where I’m coming from. I credit eating this way to finally overcoming a decade of chronic illness. I call this my “Eating Clean Manifesto.”

1. There is no one ideal diet.

I believe you can benefit from a cleaner, greener diet. But that doesn’t mean you need to eat exactly what I eat. While there are some precepts for clean, toxin-free eating, there are many ways to eat healthy.I’m not into labels. This isn’t about being a vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian. If you want to come up with a name for what this is, knock yourself out. But the most important thing is to eat foods that make your body feel good.

2. If a food makes you feel lousy, it’s not for you.

I don’t care what’s trending or hot or highly recommended by the buzziest superstar or bestselling author. You are the expert on what you can eat. Your friend, trainer, or mom may swear up and down that unpasteurized dairy is the golden key to health or that millet is king, but if it makes you feel ill, pass it up. 

Same goes for animal protein: some people swear you shouldn’t eat it, but there’s no need to feel guilty if you feel your best after eating a grass-fed burger. The right foods for you should make you feel satisfied and energized, not sick and sleepy. There is no preordained, across-the-board “right,” just what’s right for you.

3. Detox is not the same thing as a juice cleanse. Not even close.