For anyone new to cleansing even the thought of a body cleanse detox naturally can seem a little scary.
And yet, when the season shifts to lighter mornings and warmer days (not that we have had much of those lately), you may start thinking about some sort of cleansing, whether it’s for your home or your cars.
So how about your body?
There is definitely something positive about moving from the heaviness of comforting heavy foods to lighter cleansing nourishing foods. Not only that, there is more to choose from because the onset of summer means more ripe produce.
To kick-start the cleansing process, it’s always a good idea to start lightening up your diet. As well as fruit and vegetables, add lots of dark green leafy vegetation.
The best way to eat these is in the form of fresh vegetable juices and smoothies, particularly if you are not used to eating fruit and vegetables. Most people enjoy smoothies and juices.
Ease up on processed foods, sugar, caffeine and alcohol.
When you start eating lighter, you will feel the difference. Other bonuses include clear skin, much less bloating, better sleep and far more energy than you know what to do with!
Your challenge for the next seven days:
Swap your usual breakfast for a freshly made smoothie.
You can either make it yourself, which in that case, use 60% greens such as spinach and 40% fruit. Use no more than two fruits. Blend with a little water or 50% water and 50% pure fresh juice, if you prefer it a little sweeter. Coconut water is wonderful too.
Alternatively, your local juice bar can make you one fresh. Ensure you ask the server to add greens if they have some available. Green smoothies may look weird, but the greens will not affect the taste.
Cut back or cut out tea and coffee and opt for herbal teas, pure water or alternative coffees such as barley, dandelion or chicory.Try something different each time until you find something you really like.
Tip: Get samples where possible!
Check out how you look and feel at the end of the week.
Watch out for headaches and feeling generally unwell. Believe it or not, this is a good sign. Of course, if you feel really unwell, it could be a sign that you are either really toxic or the detox has brought out something that was already there. If that is the case, stop everything.
With the general yucky feeling, don’t give up. Rest assured these feelings will not last very long. Just know it can happen. It’s called a healing crisis. You may have heard of it before. It is true despite reservations from medical doctors.
Your body has to push out the toxins via the cells, so yes, it is possible to feel bad before you feel good. If it does happen, you will feel terrific when you come out the other side.
Anyone have any questions or comment?
I am in dire need of a full-body cleanse for a while now but I’ve never actually taken the initiative to start… But it’s definitely time. A couple of years ago I had gone through detox again and I remember feeling like a brand new person by its end.
I’ll take your advice and start with this smoothie for breakfast for the next 7 days. Are you going to post more articles on detoxing the body?
Thanks Harry for your timely observations. Yes, I have noted a keen interest in blogs lately on the subject of detoxification, so I will probably try to post more of them in the coming weeks if you care to keep tuned in.
This is a really fabulous post here. I personally take my health very seriously and detoxifying is something I do but I stopped lately because of my keto diet. If you understand what keto diet is, do you think it is ideal that I try out this tips on my diet or should I take a break on my keto diet and try this out for a week. I want to see changes and I think this might work fine.
Hi and thanks for your response.
I know about the keto diet but have never tried it so am no authority on it. If you are anything like me you will make a decision to try anything that looks good for a week or two and then, if I see no positive results at least starting to show, I may move on to something else. Does that help?
I like the concept you present however recipes would add immensely to us toxified people. What greens are best and fruits also to add.? does anything work? Not sure about the feeling bad thing, not want to do anything that would harm where I am. your site is appealing and has very good content and a variety of topics to consider.
Thank you Jim for your good suggestions. I will keep them in mind.
You asked about what kind of green vegetables to use. From my studies on the subject I would say that the general consensus seems to be the darker green the better. Thus vegetables like spinach or broccoli, etc. would come to mind. You might want to experiment with different taste combinations when deciding which fruits and vegetables to use. For example you might particularly like the taste of strawberries or blueberries.
Hey my friend, i couldn’t agree with you more. When it comes down to cleaning anything, your body should be right up there on top of the list. Detoxing our bodies on a regular basis, from all the crap we eat every day, is healthy for us. Put yourself on a regular cleaning cycle.
Another thing folks should get involved with and that’s eating lighter, like fruits and vegetables. Do you think I’m correct by stating this? I’m guilty of not eating enough healthy stuff myself, but I do know more healthy eating, along with regular detoxation, can add years to your life.
Thanks for your insightful comments. Yes regular cleansing cycles is not a bad idea. I personally aim for a two day detox cycle once a month.
For what it is worth, regarding your question about eating lighter, I know there are many proponents of eating up to six light meals a day, instead or the common three heavier ones.
Great article about Body Cleansing and how to Detox Naturally. I have been thinking about starting to cleanse my body every six months and although I think it would be very healthy it is also a little intimidating and scary. I really enjoyed your article. I loved your straightforward, common sense tips like using baby steps by just eating lighter a few days before your cleanse and then easing into it by swapping out a breakfast for a smoothie for a week and see how it goes. This is just the type of tips I needed to show me that this is achievable and not overwhelming. Thank you for a very motivational post, I am going to get started this week!
Good on you for “taking the bull by the horns” so to speak and resolving to give the body cleans a go ! Actually, I fully expect that when you do that you will find you have been more fearful of it than you needed to be. My own experience has been that once you start, from there on it is easy. You will likely soon be wondering why you had not done this ages ago.