New Year, New Health Cleanse!
Updated: Jan 4, 2020
A short and easy way to jumpstart your health!
Time to Treat Yourself!
With the new year comes resolutions! Most of us want to improve our diet in one way or another, but many of us focus on diets to do that! While I don’t tend to recommend intense diets or cleanses, they do serve a purpose to help kick start your health goals. If you’re one of the dedicated few who is looking to jump into a “new year new you” cleanse, below are some tips to go into and come out of the cleanse safely as well as what to expect on it. For my cleanses, I recommend a fruit and veggie heavy diet for a period of 3-5 days, to start, while avoiding common inflammatory foods: gluten and wheat, dairy, sugar, and alcohol. If you would like to dive deeper into a cleanse, please contact a medical professional to help monitor your throughout the process and make sure its safe for you!
Going into Cleanse
Increase fruit and veggie intake days before to limit shock to system Start decreasing foods your avoiding days before to limit cravingsStart increasing your water intake days before: half your body weight in oz is a ideal.
While in the Cleanse
Enhance your detox with things like skin brushing and sitting in an IR sauna Veggies to enhance detox: cilantro, beets, leafy greens, leafy green veggies, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, onions, and asparagus. Veggies: average serving size is half a cup AND you should eat twice as many servings of vegetables as fruits daily. Fruit to enhance detox: Dark berries, particularly blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries -- are high in fiber and antioxidants, while bananas, apples, pears and avocados are high in fiber and micronutrients, and will help you feel full longer. Average fruit serving size = ½ to ¾ cupInclude herbs and spices, such as ginger, turmeric, garlic, cinnamon, parsley and basil, which contain beneficial micronutrients. Fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut (both made from fermented vegetables), as well as drinking fermented kombucha, will improve the health of your gut flora and improve digestion.
What to Expect while Cleansing
Changes in your bowel movements: going from SAD (standard American diet) to high fiber diet is drastic change, avoid by increasing intake of water and fruit/veggies days before. Around day 3 you may feel some mild flu like symptoms from the enhanced detoxification; drink lots of water to help eliminate and make sure you are having daily bowel movements! Depending on how you eat normally, you may have some intense food cravings. Try and find a healthy alternative and have meals prepared to help prevent cheating.
Coming out of Cleanse
Slowly reintroduce new foods and listen to your body for any adverse symptoms associated with the food your eating: fatigue, digestive upset, headaches, anxiety, sleep disturbances. Keep meat portions size appropriate: the size of your palm is a good reference for a portion sizeChallenge yourself to maintain the same fruit/veggie intake as you add in previously avoided foods.
Take the next step
Continue your health journey! If you feel you had side effects that you couldn’t explain, symptoms want to investigate further, or simply want to continue your health journey, contact us at Vital Origins Integrative Health and we can help!