Healthy Living Looks at Detoxing
Detox programs have been growing by leaps and bounds in some parts, that’s because many people are taking healthy lifestyles seriously. In Belize, it has been a gradual process, but it is picking up because many persons are becoming more conscious about their health. Detoxing involves eliminating toxic substances from the body. It means that to get best results, what you eat is important. In Healthy Living this week, we turned to Chef India Camiel, who offers a ton of advice on the program.
Marleni Cuellar Reporting
The first time we featured Chef India Camiel of the Back To Live Cafe, it was learn more about the raw vegan lifestyle and her effort to introduce this type of food to Belizeans. Well, it’s been over a year since India since set up shop at the Bliss and Belizeans have received her well. Another specialty that India is become well- known for is her detox programs.
Chef India Camiel, Raw food Chef, Detox Specialist
Chef India Camiel
“It’s new for Belize in general, but most people do it because they feel the difference. It is not something that we have to sell them on. Once they participate in it and they see the difference and they feel the difference then they are sold.”
But what exactly is a detox?
Chef India Camiel
“When we eat, we eat foods that not everything is eliminated. The small intestines is between twenty-two to thirty-six feet long. I’m five feet, so that means my small intestines is like six times me. My large intestine is up to eight feet. So things get stuck and not only that, depending on what we’re eat because our food sources are not like they use to be, our water sources are not like they used to be, chemicals, medication…all these things. Remember all of these stuff goes into your blood stream and it circulates and lands inside the organs. So when you fast, it releases all of these toxins out of the organs and it brings the organs back to a rejuvenated state because any state of disease in the body is really an overload of toxins in the body.”
Marleni Cuellar
“So why is it that the foods or the juices that you prepare or that are prepared for detox help to remove the toxins?”
Chef India Camiel
“One because they are all live and all vegan so the amount of waste in them is very minimal. The body uses every single thing that you put in your meal. So for example, our pizza, it doesn’t have any flour, anything that stays in the body. So the body efficiently uses it and burns it as an energy source. When it comes to the juices, because the juices are natural glucose sugar, the body uses it as energy, as fuel, and it doesn’t leaves it in the blood stream like if you would go to get a soda pop or even if you would go to get a natural juice that has sugar. It doesn’t remain in the blood stream. So these foods, because of the level of enzymes in them, they get processed by the body, used by the body with almost no waste left in the body. A lot of people get on the program and are excited, I can’t wait and it is going to be good and I am going to be great. But then when they get into it, they start having some headaches and start feeling a little bad. And they feel like the symptoms that they have are negative. If they feel sick or weak, they feel they shouldn’t do it because I gotta eat because I feel nauseated. No you gotta keep going; you push through that bad feeling because those are just toxins coming out. So feeling bad is to be expected and it is actually a good sign that you are removing toxins from the body.”
As a certified Detox specialist, she has devised her own specialized program where clients have the option of choosing one week or as much as one month of detox.
Chef India Camiel
“We have our facilitated programs which is what we like to call our Cadillac service where we do everything for you. So this ranges from a week to a month depending on what your needs are, depending on what your health status is and why you are detoxing. Some people detox for weight. Some people detox because they want to get rid of diseases in their body. So it really depends on which reason why to decide whether you choose one week or thirty days. In that period—either from one week to thirty days, there is a period where we feed you food, where you are actually eating and then we put you on a juice fast. The one week program is two days food in the beginning. So we provide you a protein shake, thirty-two ounces of juice and then we also provide you ma lunch and a light breakfast. Then you go into your fasting period where you are fasting for three days. So you are only drinking juice for those three days and then we break your fast and then we give you back your food for two days. In every detox period we need to feed you cause we have to start to break down those toxins. We never throw anybody just on the juice detox.”
Marleni Cuellar
“But critics would obviously say that you are simply starving the body. You are cutting the calories so of course you would lose weight.”
Chef India Camiel
“Of course, the weight that you lose in the beginning is water weight, but you are removing toxins from the system. Depending on how long you fast, that is how deep the toxins are removed. And those toxins never really come back. It gets rid of food addictions so when you come off the detox, you actually don’t want the same kinds of foods or your body rejects them. People love it, people are shocked. We come highly recommended so people are excited. And I would say we’ve done about thirty to forty detox this year and I would say of all of those detoxes, we’ve had about two or three people not finish because they felt it was too difficult. So people are really happy with how they feel; they tend to feel different about food when they are finished. They tend to elt go of things that are bad for them and overall they feel healthy. Because the thing is that although you drop weight, you see the difference in your eyes and in your skin. Different things like when you are younger.”
While Belizeans, have been slowly but surely embracing the detox program, it is a hefty investment. The one week program will cost you over 900 dollars and a full month as much as three thousand.
Chef India Camiel
“We invest in everything else. We invest in a house, we invest in a car, we invest our clothing, we invest in everything else. We have to invest in our body. Ultimately, without you body and without your health, you don’t have any of those things. The costs are the costs because we are paying US prices for a lot of the things that we are purchasing because we are eating raw vegan. So raw vegan is not a cheap way to live, but it is the same like if you were going to go to the states and get a detox. We have the same prices.”
The program includes all meals, drinks and snacks. India says in the beginning of the new year, Back 2 Live will be offering discount prices on their detox program and also currently have a payment plan in place.
