To Detox or Not to Detox?

This time of year there is always a lot of talk about spring detoxes, juice cleanses, and extreme fasts. Personally, I’m not a fan of these modalities. They are hard on the body and tend to make things worse. That said, spring is an excellent time to purify the body, but we can do this in a gentle and subtle way.

Here are a few of my favorite ways to “spring clean” the body and mind so that we feel our best this season:

Gentle Food Cleanse: remove alcohol, processed sugar, gluten, dairy, and any known food allergens, for two weeks this month. You’ll want to prioritize nutritious foods like lean meats, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, to give your body the fuel it needs. A simple food cleanse like this can help to decrease any unwanted inflammation or nagging symptoms in the body.
Lemon Water: start your morning with a cup of warm lemon water. I like to juice 1/2 of a lemon into about 12 ounces of warm water. It is best to drink this before you have caffeine. This will help to gently flush the liver and detoxify the body.
Fiber: incorporate more fiber into your diet to help move any unwanted toxins out of the colon. Aim for 25-40 grams of fiber per day. You can get fiber from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans. Supplementing with psyllium husk is another way to increase your daily fiber intake.
Cleansing Breaths: take some time each day to practice deep, mindful breathing. You can also practice the breathing exercise I shared two posts ago that helps to support the liver. Breathwork boosts the lymphatic system by increasing oxygen levels, allowing for natural detoxification of the whole body.
Exercise: moving your body each day is an easy and cheap way to support the natural detoxification process. When you break a sweat during a workout, toxins are released through the pores of the skin. Try to move your body in some way every day, even if it’s for 15-20 minutes!

A few other ways to detoxify the body in a gentle way include infrared saunas, dry brushing the skin, drinking 1/2 your weight in ounces of water every day, and of course, getting regular acupuncture to strengthen your body’s natural detoxification pathways.