How do you detox without depriving your body of necessary nutrients?
28 December 2015
| Last updated on 23 October 2017
During the festive season, we indulge ourselves with delicious traditional foods and special delicatessen which taste so good but are not necessarily healthy. We tend to eat more than our body requires, we attend multiple party dinners, and eat a lot of heavy or greasy food, appetisers, sweets, drink sodas or alcohol and that, until late at night. We spend time with our family and friends who fill our heart with warmness and happiness which is excellent for our hormones and mental balance but our body still needs a physical detox afterwards. Our body can cope with unhealthy food a few days (for some people it can be years) but it needs to regenerate and get rid of toxins accumulated from time to time.
Cook your own meals and prefer vegetables
Ready-made meals and meals you eat out are full of preservative ingredients which are unhealthy. So take the habit to cook for yourself and your family a meal and increase the quantity of vegetables and salads as they are full of vitamins and necessary nutrients. Reduce red meat and pork intakes and prefer white meat from organic quality and small fish which are much healthier.
Reduce sugar intakes especially after 19:00
Our modern society is addicted to sugar. For instance, people in France consumed 5 kg of sugar per year per inhabitant in 1850, whereas it was 35 kg in 1990, but people from Singapore eat 84.7 kg sugar per inhabitant per year, Costa Ricans 51 kg, New Zealanders 48 kg, and British people 45 kg. By reducing your sugar intake from artificial sugar you will allow your body to detox and gain more energy. Also, it is very important not to eat sugar after 19:00 as we do not have any more insulin peaks (which gives the signal to our body to let glucose or sugar enter our cells) passed that time. We lose weight during the night, so everything we eat late at night gets stuck in our body and transforms in fat. Chose fruit over cake, and you will enjoy natural and good sugar!
SEE ALSO: Inspiration for healthy meals at home
Do a fast, monomeal or juicing for one to three days
Fasting is the best way to give your body a rest after a period of overeating and give the opportunity to your digestive system to clean and restore itself. You can do a three day fast on water if you are able to or do a modified fast on vegetable and fruit juices if you feel it will make things easier for you. Remember than fasting requires you to prepare for a few days before, removing animal proteins, sugar, gluten and exciting substances such as tea, coffee, alcohol and cigarette from your diet. Fasting is also easier if you empty your intestine from all food which can be done through hydrotherapy either at home or in an institute. At last, a three day monomeal diet, which consist of only eating only one ingredient per day. You can find recipes online.
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Eat at peace
Eating organic food with the finest ingredients is useless if you take your meal in front of TV, with people shouting and fighting around you or in a stressed environment. Eating your meals in a peaceful and quiet place is as much as important as the food you ingest. Whether you are eating alone or with your family, try to set a relaxing atmosphere which will allow you to benefit the most from your meal.
Also, you can take a few seconds or a minute before you start eating to calm down and express gratefulness for the food you will be eating.
Breathe and exercise
Most of us have too much acid in our body due to stress, pollution, heavy metals, and a diet rich in animal proteins, refined and processed food, sugar and cereals. Yet,90% of our volatile acids present in our body can be expelled through our lungs. Breathing consciously and deeply allows your body to detox and remove acidity. 10 breathing cycles every morning and every evening will already make a big difference and you will definitely feel more relaxed.Exercising is also very important and walking 30 minutes per day will enable you to get rid of toxins and to feel more energetic and powerful. You are all set for your January detox which is a fantastic opportunity to reset your body and mind to start 2016 fresh and filled with energy. Good luck!
Justine Lamboley is a Naturopath and Energy healing practitioner as well as Author of Practice Happiness, The Energy of Life. She knows how it feels to be an ExpatWoman as she shares her time between Paris and the Gulf countries
- Tags:
- healthy living
- Detox
- food
