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For those looking to lose calories and detox in the process, the raw until lunch diet is an excellent choice. This near vegan diet essentially involves eating raw foods in the first half of the day as a way to limit your calories but also to cut down on dishes that are hard to digest thereby cleansing the gut of harmful bacteria. In fact, the diet has its origins in the raw until 4 pm version which includes eating only fruits, veggies and nuts in the first half of the day and closing your feasting window in the evening with a high carb dinner that will provide your body with a dose of energy.
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Following the raw until lunch diet requires great patience but yields wonderful results. The detox process boosts gut health leading to glowing skin and as the digestive system resets so too it enhances the fat burning process and increases metabolic rate to inevitably shed excess fats. There are a few simple hacks which will help to ease you into the routine of following the raw until lunch diet. Read on below for some handy hacks that will smoothen the process:
Shop For Fresh Produce
Instead of relying entirely on produce that is bought and stored in the fridge for weeks on end, go for fresh, seasonal produce available at your local green grocer. Stop off at the store while heading home from work and handpick the fruits and veggies that you will consume for the next couple of days to make sure they are fresh and ripe.
Avoid Skipping Exercise
Even if you are following a diet which involves eating fibre-rich foods in the first half of the day, avoid skipping your workout routine. Instead, a better way to sustain a healthy lifestyle is to adjust the exercise regimen in such a way that it complements this diet. This means you can perform functional fitness or go for a low-weight, high repetition muscle workout for conditioning the body.
Eat Abundantly
Embarking on a raw until lunch diet is hardly equivalent to skipping a meal. So, make sure you eat a whole lot of fibrous fruits like oranges, bananas, melons and berries as well as water-rich salads loaded with cucumbers, tomatoes and radishes to fill up your stomach. Additionally, these foods when chewed long and properly will induce feelings of satiety very quickly so you have to seldom worry about the risk of overeating.
Drink Plenty Of Water
One of the easiest ways to sustain this detox diet is to keep yourself hydrated. Dehydration during the detox process can cause headaches and stomach trouble and make it difficult for you to continue to eat raw foods for a prolonged period of time. So, drink the prescribed 2-3 litres of water every day to avoid stressing out your digestive system.
Go Vegetarian
Since this diet requires you to eat raw foods until lunch, you will automatically refrain from eating meats, chicken and other non-plant-based foods. These foods can be a bit heavy to digest and are best left out of this fibre-rich, carb-filled meals that are part of this diet. You can have dal and rice as a source of proteins and carbohydrates while following this diet plan.
Reduce Salt Intake
The raw until lunch diet is all about detox and increasing metabolism. So, go easy on the salt content and avoid eating processed foods which contain high quantities of sodium that can cause dehydration. Keeping salt to a minimum also has other health benefits like boosting cardiovascular health and warding off the risk of heart disease.
Have MCTs
If you are eating nuts as a snack in the first half of the day, you can add some raw coconut oil to them to boost your intake of healthy fats. The medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) from the coconut oil will help to lubricate the gut and keep bad cholesterol at bay while reducing the build-up of fat stores in the liver . As well, go easy on oil while preparing your cooked meal.
Transition Slowly
One of the ways to effectively sustain the raw until lunch diet is to transition into it slowly and steadily. This means you can start with having raw foods for breakfast and then having a cooked snack like some sprouts as a mid-morning meal if you feel too hungry. You can gradually extend this period of eating raw, uncooked food until as late as 4 pm for optimum results.
