Spring Cleansing – Prepare your body for detoxification

Detoxification For Spring

Spring is the perfect time to detoxify and give your digestive organs, especially your liver, a little bit of a break. In Chinese Medicine, Spring is the season where your liver is most active, thus making this the time that your body will be most receptive to a cleanse.

Now, the words ‘’detox’’ and ‘’cleanse’’ can bring to mind, for many, images of green sludgy drinks and eating nothing but seeds and lemons. There are some detoxification protocols that are quite intense and all consuming. There are others that are much milder and easier to put yourself through. The point is, there is no one type of detoxification regimen. Everyone is different – every body has its own individual needs and everyone is at a different level of health, therefore every detoxification program needs to reflect that. Let me outline a few important points when choosing to undergo detoxification for spring.

Prepare Your Body

The times when people experience the worst aspects of a detoxification, such as recurrence of old symptoms, worsening of skin, strange bowel movements, and sluggishness are when they do not prepare properly. Do not go from your normal diet (whatever that may be) straight into drinking nothing but lemon water. If you have never done a detoxification before, start by eliminating the major allergens:

• Wheat and Wheat Products
• Dairy (Cheese, Yogurt included)
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Sugar

Prepare by eating more healthy for the first day of the detox and the last day of the detox, but not fully eliminating everything in the list above – maybe everything except the wheat. Then eliminate everything for the week (or two) that you are cleansing. You do not have to become a raw vegan, you can still eat meat as long as its organic, but the point is to give your body a rest from items that are hard on the digestive system (alcohol, caffeine, sugar, etc) and highly allergenic (wheat, dairy). Once you get the hang of it, you can start eliminating meat, certain vegetables (tomatoes, onions, aubergines, potatoes) and nuts as well – but that can happen at a later detox.

Eat Organic

Not everything has to be organic, but it is recommend that meats should be organic if you are still choosing to eat animal products. You can search online for foods that need to be bought organic and you can continue to purchase conventionally grown foods for certain products.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!

Your body is made of 70% water. Your cells and organs Need water in order to function. Give yourself water to help your body flush things out. Water helps to get things moving, such as your bowels, your bladder and all the elimination liquids (bile, blood, mucus). You should be drinking at least 2.5L of water a day during a spring detox.

Rest

Your daily caloric intake is probably going to be greatly reduced once you eliminate those cakes and glasses of wine while you are cleansing. This can be a bit of a shock to your system and you may feel a bit more tired for the first few days. Take it easy. This is not the time to start up a spinning class or train for a marathon.

You will feel better afterwards. The trick is to be gentle with yourself. After treating your body to a detoxification for spring, I guarantee that you will probably want to do it again, several times a year.