Raw Fruit & Vegetable Cleansing Diet

Cleansing plans, or "detox" diets, are short-term dieting solutions designed to provide your body with a jumping-off point to achieve improved health and sustainable weight loss. Registered dietitian Keri Glassman says a short period of detox dieting using healthy, natural foods such as fruits and vegetables make a good transition to a more standard diet. "Normal" diets will seem much easier after adhering to a rigorous detox protocol. Follow this fruit and vegetable diet for three to five days before jumping on a more complete dietary plan.

Raw Food Detox

• Limit yourself to the consumption of raw fruits, vegetables, and natural fruit and vegetable juices while following a raw food detox. The most important issue with which you will be faced as a raw food dieter is eating a sufficient number of calories to enable weight loss without triggering a slowdown of your metabolism. Aim to consume between 1,500 and 1,800 calories a day while on this diet. This will be difficult while just consuming fruits and vegetables, so try to eat once every two to three hours to bolster your caloric intake and do not limit your portion sizes. Focus on the consumption of higher-calorie, fat-containing fruit such as avocados and coconuts. These items will serve the duel purpose of increasing your caloric intake and of providing your body with needed dietary fat--something that will be in short shrift while following a raw food detox. Finally, aim to vary your fruits and vegetables during the day, attempting to consume an item from each color of the rainbow throughout the day to provide your body with a broad spectrum of necessary vitamins and minerals.

Raw Food Menu

• Begin your day on the raw fruit and vegetable cleaning diet with consumption of a bowl of fresh berries of your choosing--strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Pair that with a green vegetable--broccoli, cucumber, lettuce, spinach or green beans to increase the fiber content of the meal. This will help keep you satisfied while on a restricted diet. Eat as much of these foods as you like, also making a point to consume half of an avocado for some healthy fat. For your next meal, concentrate on apples paired with a higher-calorie vegetable like canned sweet corn. Consume as much as you like, concluding your meal with the other half of the avocado from breakfast. During your next meal, eat one or two oranges along with a large spinach and tomato salad. For dinner, eat a bit of coconut, grapes and as many green vegetables as you like. Drink plenty of water throughout the day as well, aiming to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses.