Hot Metabolism Cocktail

This is a wonderful way to jumpstart your metabolism. It works, I’ve tried it. I buy those Women’s World magazines that you see in the supermarkets. This one, Sept. 6, 2005, particularly caught my eye. Here are a few notes before I give you the recipe.

This is basically a metabolism boosting detox . Ph.D. Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman is the diet guru can came up with this recipe. Gittleman’s regimen also primes the calorie-burning systems that tend to “crash” after crash diets. She says you are better able to lose weight over the long term. Many people who have stalled, or come to a plateau on a weight loss diets, have been able to restart their weight loss after trying the Hot Metabolism Cocktails. Over a three day period on this regime, you should be able to turn off your carb cravings and lose some pounds.

Why it works: Dr. Gittleman breaks it down like this:
1) The fluid factor: In addition to three fat-flushing metabolism-revving “cocktails” a day, you get lots and lots of water. Staying well-hydrated has been found to keep metabolism running 3% higher.
2) The “heat factor: When researchers studied a drink much like Gittleman’s they found it contained enough cayenne pepper to accelerate heat production in the body, turning up fat burning.
3) The high-metabolism tradeoff: Forget all those grain foods we usually eat. They trigger the release of insulin, which promotes hunger and fat storage. Instead, Gittleman has you fill up on protein- eggs, fish, chicken and more. Protein won’t cause insulin to be released – plus it stimulates the metabolism by 25%.
4) The Detox factor: Downing nature’s most powerful cleansing agents –especially green vegetables- helps rid your body of toxins that stall fat burning. Because toxins, from pesticides in food and pollution, are stored in fat cells, the more we detox, the more fat cells shrink.
5) Fat with fire power: Thought this plan is low in calories, it still provides plenty of good fat. The reason? Studies show that good fats burn off much more quickly than bad ones. And as they burn, they create more metabolism-boosting heat!

A few rules of the detox:
This is a three day detox: Each day, be sure to drink a half ounce of water for every pound you weigh. (Example: if you weigh 160 lbs., drink 80 ozs. of water or ten - 8 ozs. Cups.) As with any new plan, get your doctor’s okay before you begin.
Drink three cocktails a day and eat a low carb diet. The magazine article gives three days worth of menus to go along with the diet, but it would take up too much room to list them all here. If you are interested in the menus, email me or look for this particular issue of the magazine. The menu is all low carb eating.

Hot Metabolism Cocktail:

3 Tbs. fresh squeezed lime juice
1 medium vine-ripe tomato
½ cup chopped cilantro, loosely packed
2 Tbs. fresh chives
½ cup filtered water (I use distilled)
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
½ clove of garlic
Dash of cayenne
Pinch of potassium-based salt substitute
3 – 4 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients for approximately 1 minute on high speed in a blender.
Yield: 12 ounces

Lucy’s Notes: I tried this and followed all the instructions, eating a low carb diet, for three days and lost 6 lbs. I had more energy than I have had in a good while. Since doing the detox, I have continued drinking the cocktail whenever I feel I need an energy boost. When I don’t get enough sleep, and I have a big day ahead of me, I always drink one cocktail in the morning. When I am only drinking one cocktail, I increase the garlic to one whole clove.
The article was written by: Beth Weissman of Women’s World magazine. 9-06-05