Michael Van Straten's 10 Day Detox With Kim Wilde (DVD)

...It features Kim Wilde and Michael Van Straten, who is the leading practitioner of complementary medicine in the UK.

~Introduction~

The DVD starts with an introduction, telling you what to expect from this DVD. Kim and Michael talk to each other about the benefits of doing this plan. They start with telling you the benefits, which are:
Weight loss (although not the prime objective)
Improvement in skin, hair ...
...your doctor.

Michael then goes through the different foods you will need to buy, and suggests that if you don’t like something on the plan, you can substitute it for a sensible alternative – for example if you don’t like spinach, substitute it for cabbage.

~Day by Day Guide~

Each day you are shown the meals, although these are also clearly detailed along with recipes in the booklet that is provided with ... more

I bought this DVD a few years ago in a pound shop of all places. The idea is that this is a ten-day detox plan, helping you to lose weight and gain energy. It features Kim Wilde and Michael Van Straten, who is the leading practitioner of complementary medicine in the UK.

~Introduction~

The DVD starts with an introduction, telling you what to expect from this DVD. Kim and Michael talk to each other about the benefits of doing this plan. They start with telling you the benefits, which are:
Weight loss (although not the prime objective)
Improvement in skin, hair and nails
Brighter eyes
Better sleep
Calmness and better sense of mental wellbeing

They also discuss the possible side effects, which are mainly headaches, which will mainly affect people who usually drink a lot of caffeine.

The people who this DVD is not suitable for are people who have:
Diabetes
Heart disease
An eating disorder
Bowel disease
Or if you have had any other illness in recent months, you should consult your doctor.

Michael then goes through the different foods you will need to buy, and suggests that if you don’t like something on the plan, you can substitute it for a sensible alternative – for example if you don’t like spinach, substitute it for cabbage.

~Day by Day Guide~

Each day you are shown the meals, although these are also clearly detailed along with recipes in the booklet that is provided with the DVD. The first two days of the plan are the most difficult, as you are effectively fasting. As the days go on, more ‘normal’ foods are reintroduced to your diet, such as vegetables, followed by things like pasta and rice and then meat like chicken and fish.

You are also shown Kim’s diary at the end of each day, this is just when she tells you how she has been feeling that day following the plan. She also asks Michael questions as they go through – such as ‘is it OK to use teabags rather than making your own herbal teas?’ and ‘Why is it important to use un-waxed lemons?’

Also, on each day you are shown either a pampering treatment that they suggest you follow (although I’m not convinced having a cold bath is very pampering!) or also some gentle exercises that you can do.

~What I thought~

The booklet contained with the DVD shows a list of the foods required for this detox and at first I felt a bit overwhelmed reading it, as there is just so much stuff on it! Also I was a bit worried as to where I was going to buy some of the stuff, as my local supermarket is quite small and in the middle of a council estate, where there is not much call for some of the more obscure ingredients on this list!

Also, for someone who is not overly keen on vegetable juices and herbal teas, I found this quite hard to stick to – especially as that’s all that there really is on day one. I’ve only tried to do the detox once, and didn’t really stick to it – because firstly, most of the ingredients either weren’t in my local shop, or were too expensive, and I found it too hard just drinking juices I don’t particularly like!
Overall, since I picked this up so cheaply, it wasn’t a total waste of money, and I found some of it interesting – such as, if you eat certain foods (like radishes and artichokes) they produce bile which can help you lose weight. If you really have the willpower to stick to this for a full ten days I’m sure it would be quite useful, but it definitely wasn’t for me. 

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