The Great American Detox Diet: Feel Better, Look Better, and Lose Weight by Cleaning Up Your Diet

Here, for all those eagerly awaiting the paperback edition, is the detox plan featured in the hit movie Super Size Me—the program that reversed the damage filmmaker Morgan Spurlock did to his body in a month of gorging on nothing but fast food

Alex Jamieson, a certified holistic health counselor and vegan chef—presents the everyman’s version of the detox plan that helped Spurlock lose 14 pounds in 8 weeks. Flexible and easy to follow, this 8-week strategy lays out a step-by-step plan for not only ridding the body of harmful toxins but also ending addictions to sugar, fats, and carbohydrates that damage both mental and physical well-being. Filled with 100 unique, delicious, and healthy recipes, The Great American Detox Diet can help anyone begin a lifetime of wellness and good health – and regain control of their body and lose weight.

When Morgan Spurlock, the star of Super-Size Me, gained nearly 30 pounds after a month of eating at McDonald’s for every meal, nobody was more horrified than his fiancée Alex Jamieson, a vegan chef and holistic health counselor. When his liver showed signs of damage just 20 days into his fast-food diet experiment, she knew he'd need serious help to recover at the end of his "gastrointestinal form of hari-kari."[p.viii] The Great American Detox Diet is her prescription for helping him shed the chub as well as rid his body of the chemical additives (such as propylene glycol alginate—yuck) so prevalent in fast food. She notes that since a British medical journal recently reported that eating fast food just twice a week increases one's risk of developing insulin resistance, a pre-diabetic condition, you don't need to have gorged yourself on McDonald’s to benefit from her quick-results plan.

Jamieson does a noble job of spelling out the detrimental effects on the body of sugar, caffeine, and an overload of fat, carbs, and protein, all of which are present in your typical fast-food meal, let alone a "super-sized" one. (Spurlock's diet included a repulsive 30 pounds of added sugar and added sweeteners over the course of the month.)[p22] Those horrified by Fast-Food Nation will find familiar territory here, but will also receive constructive advice on how to alter one's diet for the better. Jamieson also spurns wheat, corn, and dairy products, citing them as potential allergens (interestingly, she points out they're all heavily subsidized by the government), and she recommends viable sugar and caffeine substitutes. Nearly 90 recipes round out her treatise on healthy eating, and although some are not unusual (revamped versions of Guacamole, for example, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies), a few others like Miso Tofu Cheese Spread will be a bit of an acquired taste for those so accustomed to burgers and fries. --Erica Jorgensen