Very intresting. I may embark on this diet but i wonder what it will do to my strength gains? Thoughts? This content is protected Can they survive the SAS diet? Last Updated: This content is protected 10/09/2007 As husband and wife team Gareth Davies and Andrea Manzi-Davies embark on their extreme regime, we ask if they can cut it... This content is protected Gareth and Andreas challenging raw-vegetable dietThe herbal supplements in branded hemp bags arrived last week. Then the enema kits. They were followed by some very strange looks from Mia and Lottie, our two teenage daughters. Today is the day my wife and I have been anticipating with some dread. It is D-Day for what we have dubbed the "Commando Diet". Dr Richard Anderson, the Californian naturopath who conceived the five- to seven-week cleanse and intestinal detox after living off the land in a wolf-infested wilderness in North America, has a cheerier name for it. He calls it "Arise and Shine". At this stage, there is nothing cheery about it. We are about to embark on a form of extreme - some would say cranky - dieting. We will give up all meat, dairy products, tea, coffee, bread, wheat, cereal and sugar (acid-forming foods) and move to a diet of raw fruit and vegetables, salad, herbal supplements and two clay shakes. Once our bodies have reached a certain alkaline (pH level), we will then endure a week of fasting, taking only clay shakes and herbal supplements - with several daily enemas. We have been told that we may feel emotional and physical agony, that it might be excruciating. advertisement Between us, we've tackled plenty of extreme, rigorous events: river-rafting in Ethiopia, scaling the mountains of China. We're ready for the challenge, but why are we doing this? Why are we trusting a system that encourages you to take clay (bentonite) and psyllium (a mild purgative) into your system and switch from a conventional diet to SAS survival stuff that would challenge Ray Mears? Because it's time for a change. My wife is a yoga teacher and writer, I am a sports journalist. We have two teenage daughters and busy, active lives. That means comfort food - and drink - creeps in: tea, coffee, cake, bacon sandwiches, chocolate, the odd cigarette, moderate amounts of alcohol. There have been days on end of 20-hour work binges fuelled by Red Bull and caffeine, reporting from Teheran or trying to get answers from a raging Mike Tyson. Having both recently passed the 40 mark, it's time to fight eating habits formed over years. I not only want to lose weight, I also want to stop being an adrenaline junkie and be able to draw on other resources, generated from eating the right food. Andrea has a sluggish digestive system, which she wants to kick-start. "Arise and Shine" seems to be the answer. It was brought to our attention by a close friend who is a homeopathic doctor and someone we trust - even though conventional doctors would consider Anderson a quack. But our friend has completed "Arise and Shine" twice. Afterwards he enjoyed greater immunity to infections and a greater sense of wellbeing. Another convert, George Holden, in Sacramento, California, relates that he lost 30lb, 65 feet of mucoid plaque (more of which in a moment) and, according to Holden, his asthma was reduced by 50 per cent. One person passed two marbles they had swallowed as a child, 40 years earlier; an octogenarian artist used 30 feet of his mucoid plaque in an art installation. This is where it gets weird. The term "mucoid plaque" was coined by Anderson who, 20 years ago, spent 45 days living off herbs, salads and vegetables in the wilds of the North Cascades National Park Complex, guided by White Crow, a Native American. By the end of his regime, Anderson enjoyed all the positive effects typically associated with detoxing: increased wellbeing, sharpened eyesight, improved mobility, more energy, smooth, soft skin. Mucoid plaque describes the complex glycoproteins secreted by the intestinal glands. The plaque is like a ropey, thick, dark, rubbery substance that builds up in the digestive tract. As this plaque coagulates, Anderson believes it retains toxic substances such as drugs, heavy metals, bacteria, parasites and yeast. The diet has been developed to rid the body of this plaque and associated toxins. Testimonials describe the elimination of 30, 40, even 65 feet of mucoid plaque during the final week of the diet, when very little food is consumed, and coffee enemas are incorporated into a strict routine of shakes, herbs, raw foods and juices and plenty of water and vegetable broth. We hope the diet is also the beginning of the "good life". For the past eight weeks we have been preparing for the big detox. First we gave up meat, then we cut down on sugar and caffeine. Seven weeks ago, we gave up the 24-hour superstore five miles away. That abstention has been one of the biggest (and most pleasurable) eye-openers. We haven't missed it one bit. Our monthly £800 grocery spending has halved. Plus, with almost no packaging, we hardly fill two bin bags a week. Most of our waste is compost. The rewards are already emerging from a more wholesome local existence. Eggs and honey now come from a nearby cottage. We've been making our own bread, eating locally, picking wild fruit and vegetables from our garden and paddock, and shopping at organic vegetable farms a 10-minute walk from our village in north Essex. The more you pick wild fruit, the more you see it. However, the downside is our teenagers complaining about the lack of (instant, junk) food in the house. The reality is that the fruit bowls are brimful and the fridge is replete with vegetables and salad. Friends have begun to suggest we have become a bit "Tom and Barbara": but T & B didn't have children. If we weren't getting demands from our daughters to buy junk food, we would be happy to become entirely self-sufficient and create our own dolce vita. We have enough land for a pig, hens and possibly a cow, but this diet doesn't allow such dairy and meat luxuries. Instead, we will wake up every morning to a psyllium and bentonite shake. Over the past few days, as we lovingly relished our last cups of tea, warm slices of home-made buttered toast and biscuits, the realisation has sunk in that we have committed ourselves to being "more than vegan". We are about to turn into crack troops on the front line of extreme dieting. Hate to say this - but roll on November. On the menu Alkaline-forming foods All fresh fruits All fresh salad greens All sprouts All vegetables (raw or cooked) Almonds and sunflower seeds (soaked in water)* Apple cider vinegar Berries, fresh Corn on the cob, fresh* Dates Dried fruits, unsulphured* Fresh or dried seasoning herbs Fresh raw fruit juice Fresh raw vegetable juice Garlic Goat whey (raw)* Grapefruit Green foods (algae, spirulina, chlorella) Herbal teas (caffeine-free) Honey (raw) Lemons Lima beans* Organic maple syrup Melons Millet* Potatoes* Quinoa* Quinoa* Raisins Raw organic olive or flaxseed oils Sauerkraut (unsalted) Sea vegetables (well rinsed) Vegetable broth Vegetable soups Wheatgrass * No more than three times a week, as it slows the cleanse. Off-limits Acid-forming foods Alcohol Barley Black and white pepper Bread, baked Cake Canned or frozen fruits and veg Cereals, all Chocolate Coffee Dairy Eggs Grains, except quinoa and millet Legumes Meat, fish, birds, shellfish Oatmeal Pasta Popcorn Preservatives Processed foods Salt Soda *******s Soft drinks Sugar, white and processed Sweeteners, artificial Tea, unless caffeine free Wheat, all forms
Came across a detox article and wondered what the forum thought in terms of how it may affect performance in the ring.
