Spring has finally sprung!
Here in Toronto it was a legit ice storm last week, and this week it’s sunny and sun-showery. Whatever, as long as the temperature is in the positives – I’ll take it.
This time of year is also the best time to reset, realign and recharge our bodies. We’ve all heard of spring cleaning for our homes, but your body is the home you live in forever – and it needs some cleaning and purging, too!
When I think of cleansing, I often think of expensive kits that take a month or more to do. Which are great if you have the time and willpower to dedicate to this!
Personally, the stage I’m at in life right now (trying to have a family and extremely busy with work) – I need a less intense and invasive way to detox my body for spring.
If you are trying to get pregnant, have a history of disordered eating, battles with countless diets, or struggles with body image, a typical “detox” may do more harm than good.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t reap all the positive benefits of detoxing your body. Here are my top tips to detox, free of expensive kits, fasting, juicing or restricting.
Start your day with lemon water
You’ve heard it before, but I’m telling you again: lemon water has so many benefits!
The biggest lemon water benefits come from drinking it first thing in the morning. This can help activate the digestive system and rehydrate the body after fasting for 8+ hours. If you wake up and you are not hungry, the enzymes in the lemon will ‘wake up’ your digestive track so that your body is ready to process the fuel you feed it!
It’s also so amazing for clearing up skin, flushing your systems, helping the liver eliminate toxins and most of all – hydrate the body!
Continue to flush your body with water through the day
Water is the queen supreme of detoxing!
It helps you have regular #1’s and #2’s, it flushes all your organs, it hydrates and replenishes your skin and it makes up 75% of your body.
If the only tip you implemented from this whole blog was this one, your body would still be very thankful. Your organs and body systems can’t do their job without water. And they do their job the best with LOTS of water.
Make sense?
Here’s an easy calculation for you to figure out how much water to be drinking a day in order to help your body properly detox:
Your weight divided by 2 = the number of oz’s of water you should be drinking daily (at minimum).
So if you are 170lbs, half of that is 85. That means you need to be consuming 85oz of fresh water daily. That’s about 10.5 cups!
Might seem daunting (and that you are married to the toilet!) at first. But I promise you, more energy, less body aches and headaches, better mood and better sleep are all side effects that make it worth it!
Eliminate Foods that Trigger You Such as Dairy, Gluten, Sugar & Caffeine
Most people who are in tune with their bodies know what foods will trigger them. Even if they don’t want to admit it!
In general it’s good to give your body a break from all four of these inflammatory food groups if possible.
I know it’s not always easy though!
Listen to your inner guidance. If you keep getting an intuitive feeling to give something up, try it! Even if it’s just for a week. It gives your body a nice break to focus on detoxifying, instead of processing foods that trigger and create havoc your system. Your body can only do so much at once – so giving it a break from trigger foods actually let’s your body do what it was made to do. Detox you, naturally!
For me, I’m always off gluten because of my Hashimoto’s disease. But the next to go will always be dairy. When I’m feeling really dedicated, sugar, coffee and alcohol, too!
Right now I’m finding that hard. So instead of beating myself up – I’m starting with dairy and I’l take more foods out as I feel ready.
It’s really about being an ally with your body instead of being mean to yourself and restricting. Small loving actions, always!
Move your body in ways that are restorative
Be sure to move your body daily. This doesn’t always mean an intense workout. Sometimes your body will crave relaxing movement, such as a walk, stretching or slow yoga. By moving in such ways, you’re able to release tension and improve recovery and repair of your body.
These day my body craves 15-30 minutes on an elliptical (any cardio) followed by 15-30 minutes of deep stretching. feel so happy, alive and in tune with my body after I do this. So simple and makes such a difference.
Start moving your body with the ‘do what you can’ policy – and let your desire grow from there. Because, I promise it will!
Consume whole foods as close to their natural state as possible
Detoxifying the body doesn’t have to mean a crazy restrictive diet. By choosing whole foods, your body will be able to digest and metabolize them with ease, leaving more time for natural detoxifying to take place. Think fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season, organic free-range meats, wild-caught fish, cage-free and organic eggs, naturally gluten-free whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.
Our bodies are amazing and are working on us detoxifying 24/7 with or without our help. With these five simple changes you’ll be aiding your body in the doing the job it was born to do, but better! The benefits are so worth the commitment, I promise.
If you give my tips a try, let me know in the comments below how you like them. I’d love to hear!
Happy spring cleansing, friends!
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*Note: If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have health issues or are on medication, don’t implement these tips without consulting tour doctor first.
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