Power Up Your Cleansing Naturally.
From conception, we are inundated with a tremendous number of toxins. Due to the modern-day lifestyle, diet, and environment, it is nearly impossible to lead a toxin free life. Therefore it is super important to naturally cleanse using foods and easy techniques on a daily basis. It is even more important during times when your system is overburdened. Holidays, birthdays and times during the year when you stray from your normal routine. Your liver might have more to do, your kidneys might be processing more toxins and your gut might just want a break to from it all. By following these 20 cleanse tips while not in your normal routine is a great way to keep on track and bounce back.
Have Herbs at hand
Always aim to add fresh herbs to your meals daily. You can use coriander, parsley, basil, sage, oregano and mint. All these add wonderful flavour plus they each have unique cleansing and antimicrobial properties.
Daily Dose of Polyphenols
Polyphenols are a super duper antioxidants. Polyphenols not only help to give you more brain energy, reduce brain fog and improve your memory. They also act to help your body cleanse. Use foods like raw cacao, coffee, green tea, berries and all your coloured vegetables.
Apple Cider Vinegar
The best way to regulate your digestion and ensure you are processing nutrients and digesting food efficiently is to take 2 teaspoons of raw apple cider vinegar in water each day. Do this in the morning after brushing your teeth to help cleanse the digestive tract. Remember to drink through a straw to help protect your teeth.
Take Probiotics
Good bacteria do wonder for your gut, it will help to remove any toxins you may have consumed, plus having the right gut microbiome helps to ensure the right hormones are synthesised and excreted. Alcohol also contributes to leaky gut, so the good bacteria will help prevent this. You want to consume about 50 billion live cultures per day, with a mix of lactobacilli, bifidobacterium, and bacillus strains.
Fermented Foods
Probiotics are fantastic but you also need natural enzymes, prebiotics, and beneficial yeasts, which can be found in an assortment of fermented foods. I suggest you have about 1 tablespoon of sauerkraut daily, but you can also try kefir, umeboshi plums, or even natto.
Green Smoothie
This is always among my recommendations, but one I cannot emphasise enough. Having a green smoothie for breakfast covers all the bases. It contains electrolytes to ward off dehydration from drinking, if you follow my steps on how to prepare the perfect green smoothie, you’ll have sustained balanced blood sugar, it also contains antioxidants which help to combat free radicals from excess drinking and bad food. One green smoothie per day can be the best way to cleanse out alcohol and recover from binges.
Activated Charcoal
This is a wonderful detoxifier, especially if you get IBS symptoms from various food choices. The charcoal taken after a rather toxic or rich dinner helps to absorb the toxins and excrete them via your bowel. I would advise this if you tend to suffer from lots of bloating and gas. It’s also great if you have a meal full of food you are intolerant to such as gluten or dairy. Take 2 capsules just before bed with a small amount of water.
Lemon in Water
This is such a common but effective strategy to cleanse. Lemon juice is a perfect balance of electrolytes to restore balance and it beautifully cleanses the digestive tract.
This is great if you have overindulged in lots of acidic foods; it’s great to just end the day with this to help digest rich and fatty foods. Always make sure you drink through a straw to protect the enamel of your teeth. I normally recommended the juice from 1/2 lemon 2-3 times daily.
1 kilo of Vegetables Daily
‘Veg’ ‘veg’ ‘veg’ this isn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last time you hear this! Fresh vegetables are the most important part of your daily eating regimen. You may have a high fat or high protein diet but always come back to your foundation. Whatever food you consume in your macronutrients, just make sure you double or triple your vegetable content at each meal. Non-starchy vegetables should make up 50% of your diet. Go for a mix of raw and cooked veg, try and go organic where you can, and always ensure the dirty dozen are organic.
Chlorella Tablets
This is my favourite all around amazing detoxifier. The reason I love chlorella is because of its powerful detox capacity, chlorella will hunt and destroy any nasty toxins which invade your system. The high amounts of chlorophyll grab onto toxins in the body and manoeuvre them out via the bowel. This is especially great if you consume lots of preservatives, additives, and alcohol over the party season. It is also amazing to help ward off the toxic effects of flying. Always use the tablets, because the liquid typically has a nasty flavour and added potassium benzoate which is a not so nice preservative.
Beetroot Juice
Beetroot is a competent liver cleanser; it is highly underrated but works beautifully. My favourite way to consume it is daily in a cold pressed juice. It is super sweet, and you only need about 100ml to do the job, beetroots are packed full of antioxidants and nutrients which help with cleansing. A cold pressed juice is perfect to get the vitamin and minerals from fruit and vegetables, smoothies tend to have all the benefits of the fibre but this inhibits vitamin absorption, so consume a smoothie as a meal and a cold pressed juice for the vitamins.
RVR (Raw Veg Rule)
This time of year can make your system way too acidic, which can cause symptoms of IBS, body aches and pains, insomnia, constipation, and moodiness. But by following the RVR you can easily counteract the acidic effect of junk food and alcohol. Simply consume some raw veg such as carrot, celery, or cucumber before your meal or before you have a drink. This raw veg helps to neutralise acid in your body which creates inflammation. This will help you stay nice and alkalized, which increases cleansing and weight loss.
Spirulina Shots
This is so simple, but a must for anyone who is considering a month-long party. Fill a glass bottle with filtered water, and pop in the juice from 1 lemon plus 2 heaped teaspoons of spirulina, you can add stevia for sweetness. When you remember, go to the fridge and pour yourself a shot. This is great before meals, in the morning, and especially after drinking alcohol. This will help you alkalize, and increase the likelihood that your body will detox naturally. I also find it gives me a quick boost of energy, I normally do 3 shots per day.
Brassica Soup
This soup is my go to cleanse meal. It is great to help the liver cleanse fat soluble hormones. During times when you overindulge, your body gets a backlog of toxins and hormones, which it cannot cope with, so consuming soups like this one will help your body rid itself of the excess toxins.
Dry Skin Brushing
This is an easy but hugely effective way to cleanse your lymphatic system; often signs such as water retention, cellulite, pimples, and bad body odour indicate that the lymphatic system needs up-regulating. By using a natural-bristled brush to gently brush your skin, before your morning shower, you’ll invigorate the lymphatic system and help facilitate elimination via those channels. The holy grail of cleansing is dry skin brushing in conjunction with chlorella tablets; however, make sure though that you don’t use aluminium-containing deodorant, as you want to ensure that all the junk exits via the underarms.
Mouth Routine
Those who know me, know how much I emphasise this. So many people get it wrong, and the effects are so detrimental to their health. Don’t feel bad though as I expect you have been doing it wrong for a long time.
When you get up in the morning, the first thing you should do is oil pull for 10-20 minutes, then floss, rinse your mouth with water, clean your teeth, and finally clean your tongue. It’s a long routine, and you may have to wake up a bit earlier, but you’ll be amazed how this new routine invigorates you and completely changes how your mouth feels. Remember no food or drink before, as you’ll just be ingesting all the nasty bacteria in your mouth which has travelled up from your duodenum overnight – hence the dog breath some people get!
Cold Showers
This might be a little intense for some… but bear with me. Cold showers increase endorphins and boost immunity, but they also help with detox and weight loss. While you are in the cold shower, your body goes through a metabolic process of burning body fat, and the blood circulating to the surface of the skin brings oxygen to help detoxify. This is a great way to boost skin’s natural glow plus lose weight. It’s a win-win. Ben Greenfield is hugely into human performance; you can check him out here to see how he does his cold shower.
Hot and Cold Therapy
Tony Robins swears by this to start his day, hot and cold therapy is not only a great habit in your morning to boost clarity and concentration but is also great for cleansing and weight-loss. By switching between both temperatures, your blood vessels constrict and dilate; this helps to nourish and move blood and oxygen all around the body while cleansing and nitrifying at the same time.
Nil by Mouth
The body naturally cleanses when you don’t consume anything. So, you should aim to have at least 10 hours of nil by mouth, but also ensure you keep hydrated. You could stop eating and drinking by about 9 pm and then have your green smoothie in the morning at about 8 am. This gives your body time to cleanse and rest. Just set yourself a general rule not to eat after 9 pm.
Veggie Day
Lots of rich foods are consumed over the holiday period, so this is a perfect time to do a meat free day. Having one day per week, when you consume a veg only meal helps your body’s cells to cleanse and turn over. By not having to process animal protein, the vitamins and nutrients in the vegetables can be used for repairing and cleansing your body. I recommend you do this one day per week.
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