How Long Will An Anti-Cellulite Diet Take?

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

The question everybody contemplating the anti-cellulite diet asks is: how long will it take to achieve results?

It would be wonderful if we could diet for one, or at the most two, days and then all the cellulite would be gone for ever. Unfortunately, it does not happen like that. For most people, cellulite deposits have built up gradually over the years and, having lodged themselves firmly in position, are most reluctant to disappear. That is why a dedicated and prolonged attack is necessary, and why you must establish a way of eating that will mean your cellulite does not stand a chance of coming back.

The length of time it will take you to rid your body of cellulite depends on many factors: how long the cellulite has been there, how dedicated you are to persisting with the diet as well as the other aspects – body brushing, aroma therapy and massage – and how much cellulite you have in the first place. No two people’s metabolism is the same, and what works for one person will not necessarily have the same result in another.

For some very lucky people, cellulite disappears extremely quickly once they start the regime. In my case, it took a long time – about three months altogether. I didn’t notice any real improvement until I had not only been on the diet, but also body-brushed rigorously and massaged with the correct aromatherapy oils for two months. However, once things began to happen, progress was rapid. Everybody noticed that there was something different about me, although of course they did not always know what it was.

For anyone who has had a cellulite problem for five years or more, two months is a reasonable length of time to wait before results become noticeable. For young women who have only just noticed puckers and dimples, a couple of weeks may make an appreciable difference.

It is most important to give your body a really good opportunity to yield up long-held cellulite, so you should stick to the cleansing diet for two weeks if you possibly can. This means no coffee or tea, no cream, cheese or other dairy products, no bread with gluten, no processed or prepared foods, nothing burnt, sauteed or fried, no frozen puddings, ice-cream, desserts, sugar, sweets, chocolate, alcohol or cigarettes.

This list seems endlessly long, but all the items above are definitely not cleansing ones – just the opposite in fact. You should, if you can manage it, have two or three days on fresh fruit alone. At the same time, drink as much mineral water as you can manage – eight glasses a day is not too much.

Fruit and vegetable juices are also good for you, but they need to be diluted and – it should go without saying – not sweetened in any way. Carrot and tomato juice, mixed vegetable juices, pineapple and apple juice will all help the cleansing process.

Unless you have a cast-iron constitution you will most probably find that you do not feel very well when first starting the diet. Don’t make this an excuse to return to your bad old eating habits. Feelings of disorientation, headaches, stomach pains are an indication that the regime is working. The symptoms will pass and leave you feeling wonderfully clear and refreshed. You will actually feel cleaned out.

Those who are addicted to tea and coffee will find all this very difficult at first. I was, without realising it, completely hooked on these drinks, and experienced very severe withdrawal symptoms, so bad in fact that I couldn’t work and had to lie down. I had very bad migraines, although I had never suffered from migraines before. But of course, they didn’t last and after a day or two they completely disappeared. Now I can exist quite happily on one cup of coffee and one cup of tea a day. All my other drinks are of the non-stimulant variety.

Cellulite sufferers who smoke, drink and eat lots of meat, sugar and dairy products will have the hardest time, as there is so much to relinquish all at once. For these people, it is best to proceed gradually. It will be too hard to give up all your props immediately, so start with the worst culprit first-the nicotine. If you can give up smoking after having been addicted for years, you will definitely feel like a different person, and will be encouraged to make other health promoting changes in your life.

Coffee and tea are also extremely hard to give up. It is not just that we might be addicted to them, but that very often they are the only drinks on offer. Few restaurants serve herbal tea, and I have never seen coffee substitutes on a menu, except in the very few vegan restaurants that exist. Also, the invitation to ‘have a cup of coffee’ sounds so harmless and ordinary that we do not always realise what an addictive drug it is. It is probably best to try and cut down on coffee and tea gradually, substituting other drinks for them. If you drink lots of mineral water and fruit juices you will not miss coffee and tea so much.

Sugar is also extremely addictive, which is why we eat so much of it. Sugar addicts may find their favourite fix as difficult to give up as smokers do with tobacco. Whatever you do, don’t move on to artificial sweeteners. Although they are very low in calories they will not help with the cellulite problem, as their very artificiality adds to the toxic load on the body. If you simply cannot do without sugar, try substituting organic honey in your drinks. It is just as sweet, but has more nutrients. From a purely nutritional point of view, you do not need added sugar. All fruits and vegetables contain large amounts of natural sugar in a form that the body can easily process.

Don’t forget that meat, too, can be highly addictive food. It is one of the reasons it is so popular and people tend to feel deprived when they cannot have it. But meat is actually one of the easiest things to relinquish. Most people simply do not miss it after a while, so long as their meals are tasty, nutritious and filling without it. There is no harm in eating some meat, but you do not need it every day. Simple grilled or baked fish is an acceptable substitute.

The anti-cellulite diet has to be a diet for life. Otherwise, your cellulite will reappear and all your hard work will be wasted. Remember that cellulite is always trying to return and will take up residence again at the slightest provocation. Of course, there is no harm in the occasional indulgence in an ice-cream, a cream cake, or lasagne, but these should never again become part of your staple diet.

Unfair? Well, after two decades of cellulite-laden legs I can say that the diet and the rest of the anti-cellulite regime are absolutely worth it. Of course, I do occasionally miss the treats I used to eat with such relish – huge mounds of spaghetti with lots of greasy sauce, cheesecake with double cream, macaroni cheese, hot toast soaked in oodles of unsalted butter. But I’d rather have slim, cellulite-free legs and excellent health than give way to these momentary taste satisfactions. It is a choice I have to make. Not all of us have to- there are people who eat and drink all sorts of rubbish and never have a trace of cellulite. But it is no use wishing things were otherwise; if you have a propensity to cellulite then the diet is essential for you.