Swiss Secret to Optimal Health
Background
The Swiss Secret to Optimal Health is written by Thomas Rau, M.D. the Chief Medical Director of the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland, which specializes in natural medicine. In this book Rau discusses the role of nutrition for maintaining health as well as outlining his theories on how a detoxification diet can help to eliminate disease.
He claims that when dieters follow his program, not only will they lose weight, but they will also experience other benefits such as a stronger immune system, total body cleansing, increased energy, and psychological rejuvenation. In addition he says that his approach will assist with the elimination of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and allergies.
Swiss Secret Diet Basics
Rau states that eighty percent of the cells of the immune system are found in the intestine, so in order to maintain health and support cellular rejuvenation, it is necessary to provide the body with high-quality nutrition.
The diet commences with an intense one-week period that Rau describes as a controlled fast in which you eliminate the intake of sugar, caffeine, processed foods, alcohol and animal protein. At the same time you will greatly increase your consumption of vegetables while consuming smaller amounts of fruits and whole grains.
Rau says, “These foods provide a large amount of vitamins, trace elements, essential amino acids and essential fatty acids that are crucial for restoring ideal pH levels and loosening toxic blockages”.
After the first week, dieters follow a three-week plan where larger portions are permitted and vegetables remain plentiful. The Swiss Secret program is not strictly vegetarian and each week you are permitted to include several portions of fish or chicken as well as moderate amounts of sheep and goat cheese.
Recommended Foods
Fresh vegetable juice, vegetable soup, steamed vegetables, salad, apples, grapefruit, whole grains, olive oil, flaxseed oil, lemon juice, seeds, nuts, legumes, fish, chicken, sheep and goat cheese, herb tea.
Sample Diet Plan
| Pre-Breakfast Booster 1 tablespoon flax oil taken straight from a spoon |
| Breakfast ½ cup cooked steel cut oats |
| Morning Snack 1/2 apple |
| Lunch 1 cup of a salad plate 1 cup of steamed vegetables |
| Afternoon Snack 1/2 avocado |
| Dinner 1/2 cup fresh vegetable juice |
Exercise Recommendations
During the first week of the Swiss Secret program exercise is to be avoided and dieters are advised to also take a week off work so that they can rest completely and reduce stress.
Costs and Expenses
The Swiss Secret to Optimal Health: Dr. Rau’s Diet for Whole Body Healing retails at $16.
Pros
- May assist with recovery from chronic illness and with stubborn weight gain.
- Encourages a high intake of vegetables.
- Can be useful as a jump-start to a healthy weight loss plan.
- Includes over a hundred recipes.
Cons
- Many dieters will experience detox symptoms such as headache, nausea and fatigue, particularly in the beginning stages of the diet.
- May be too low in calories for physically active individuals and many dieters will feel hungry.
- Difficult to follow the program while maintaining regular daily routines.
- Recipes require a lot of time for preparation and often include unusual ingredients.
Conclusions
The first week of the Swiss Secret Program is very strict and will be very challenging to adhere to while maintaining regular daily routines. In fact it is recommended that dieters take a week off work while undertaking this program, which may be a limiting factor for many individuals.
This program will most appeal to highly motivated dieters that do not mind spending a lot of time on food preparation. The detox aspect of the Swiss Secret may be beneficial for dieters with chronic illnesses as well as those who have struggled to lose weight with traditional methods without achieving success.
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P.S sorry about typos – typed on my not so smart, smart phone
You are off a bit in your description, the entire diet period is 3 weeks, not 3 weeks after the first week; the day starts with warm glass of water and baking soda, them broth, then grapefruit, steel cut oats, an apple and the date and flax oil. Dr Rau reccommends cooking the oats with the date (sweetens it) and chopping the apple in and drizzling the flax oil. Its turns out to be a very satisfying breakfast!
Also, lunch always includes a small amount of nuts, seeds or legumes for protein and always offers choice including recipes. Breakfast and lunch and quite large. Afternoon snack, in the first week, is half an avocado and sticks cucumber sticks. After the first week, good habits are formed and tge amount of food allowed increases, it doesnt even feel like a diet, in fact by week three it feels like too much food!
I’ve personally done this cleanse/diet 4 tines (in the middle of my 5th), once two times back to back, I have always had amazing results, weight loss, derox, brightening of complextion, return to ptoperly fuctioning bowls, no gass or bloating and a huge increase in energy.
As for taking tine off, its not nesessary, I never have, but tge first week I do go through the first 3 days with a low grade headache and require much more sleep, usually 10-12 hours! But by week two energy is restored and week three I even feel like jogging everyday.
Expense should be noted as on the hight end, buying everything organic is costly, I spend about $150 in the first week, then another $100 or so more in the later part of the second and another $100-$150 in the third. But, you will have stocked your fridge with healthy oils, nuts, seeds and vinegars and will find yourself continuing to use then long after the diet.
It should be noted that this is not a weight loss diet, Dr Rau says if you haveweight to lose, you will. I lost 14 pounds the first time I did this diet, 9 of that in the first week. This time around, so far, Ive lost 6 pounds in 5 days.
This is my favourite cleansing diet and well worth the effort!