How to Get Rid of Bloating and Excess Water Weight
While I love hearing about new ways to improve my body, I absolutely cannot stand diets that promise fast results as long as I practically starve myself. Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised to read about Jillian Michael’s Diet Drink Recipe. While this recipe is relatively old news, I hadn’t heard about it until recently. It’s designed to help our body lose the bloat and excess water weight we carry around.
For the last seven days, I have been drinking this recipe and have been very surprised by my results. The drink is made up of cranberry juice (1 tablespoon), lemon juice (2 tablespoons), distilled water (60 oz.), and dandelion root tea (1 bag per 60 oz.). These four ingredients are each natural diuretics on their own, so when combined the drink allows for an increase in normal urination—basically, you pee a lot all day. The drink is an addition to your regular meals and drinks—not made to replace any of your normal food intakes.
Each morning I woke up and made a new 60oz. pitcher of the four ingredients and drank it throughout the day. The tea, combined with lemon and cranberry juice, was a bit bitter but it really just tasted like water with lemon, which is something I drink everyday anyways. By the end of the seven days, I lost four pounds and probably used the bathroom a thousand times—or at least that’s what it felt like. You’ll find a number of variations of this recipe online, but I used the recipe I saw was most common and saw results. After more research, I found there were a number of beneficial factors to each of the ingredients.
Dandelion Root Tea: there are a number of health benefits to drinking this kind of tea as it promotes bladder and digestive health. Dandelion root is beneficial to the kidneys in that it aids in flushing out toxins while also lowering the risk of urinary tract infections. The dandelion also acts as a regulator for the digestive systems as it helps to reduce discomfort caused by gas, bloating, heartburn or indigestion. One bag per pitcher for Jillian’s diet recipe should do the trick to get your body the health benefits provided by dandelion root tea. This type of tea may be found at any GNC, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or online. Some have even found it at Walmart or Target.
Sugar-Free Cranberry Juice: while it is really tough to find straight up cranberry juice, it is definitely worth the effort. Cranberry juice on its own is said to be a natural remedy for bladder infections and also a great form of prevention for UTI’s. Cranberry fruit is among the highest in antioxidant content of all fruit and may help in the prevention of cancer. For the purpose of this recipe, finding sugar free cranberry juice is important as the more sugar that is added to the juice, the lower the antioxidant level and the less beneficial for your health. I was unable to find sugar-free cranberry juice, but I replaced it with a diet cranberry juice, which contained only 1g of sugar. Each pitcher gets one tablespoon of sugar-free cranberry juice.
Lemon Juice: lemon in general is claimed to be the weight loss miracle food due to its acidic quality and alleged ability to stimulate digestive enzymes in the body. It is also a great source of vitamin C, which may assist in burning fat or providing an energy boost for your body. A 2008 study on lab mice showed that lemon juice helped to suppress weight gain and fat accumulation. Each pitcher gets two tablespoons of lemon juice.
The pounds that you’ll lose are strictly water weight, so once you’ve stopped drinking the diet drink you’ll gain most of the weight back. But, it’s a great way to get rid of the bloat right before a big event or just a way to get your body feeling lighter. While this recipe is not ideal to use every single day for an elongated period of time, I definitely will go back to this routine every couple of months for the health benefits each ingredient provides.
