Tips to detox your body this Summer

In our fast paced world, we have resorted to eat just to satisfy our hunger. The real reason we eat is to supply our 75 trillion cells the nutrients they need to be able to do what they were created to do. Well nourished cells will allow the body to repair, regenerate, and therefore thrive. Often, even if we know what we are supposed to eat to give our body nutrients and energy, we are sadly motivated by emotions, habits, advertising and our surroundings. These surroundings in the last 100 years have changed drastically. We used to grow our own gardens but now buildings, and fast food restaurants are everywhere. We need to make a conscious choice to eat life giving foods.

Being in harmony with natures seasons creates the easiest way to find balance in our lives. With the warmth of the spring air, flowers blooming, it is a natural time to “spring clean”, detox, and rid the body of impurities that have accumulated over the winter.

Think about it… have you been eating for energy, vitality, and health?

We should be eating food that:

• Are rich and dense in nutrients

• Requires the least amount of energy to break down and puts the least amount of strain on our body

• Produces the least amount of waste in the body once digested The pH of our blood needs to stay between 7.35 and 7.45 in order to maintain life. Since the blood needs to absolutely stay alkaline our organism has a “tampon system” that permits the blood to stay alkaline even if we are not feeding our body enough electrolytes. The body will take from its reservoirs i.e. bones, hair, teeth, skin, nails, muscle, etc., in order to be able to maintain the blood pH.

How to reestablish and maintain an alkaline body?

• Increase alkaline (raw) food

• Stay active

• Eat slowly, calmly, and chew food properly

• Detox at least twice a year to allow the body a chance to clean up (always under guidance of a health practitioner)

Set your own detox goals

Cleansing is different for everyone. Detox the way you need to and don’t follow celebrity fad detoxes. If you are someone who eats mostly cooked food, for example, a cleanse for you might mean simply trying to eat more raw fruits and vegetables. For someone else it may mean that its time to give up refined sugars and flours and all processed food. Others might like to try choosing one fast day a week where you give the body a break from digestion and stick to liquids only.

Whatever you decide to do, aim for realistic goals. There is no point in doing a 3 day juice cleanse and then resort back to a diet that is full of processed foods and lots of sugar. That does not make any sense. I am running a 4 week cleanse at the moment with a group of 12. Week one I have asked that all processed foods, dairy and refined sugars be removed from the house. The goal is to have fruit or a fruit smoothie for breakfast, a large salad for lunch, and a cooked meal for dinner. I am trying to encourage everyone to go more plant based and choose healthy whole foods.

As a health coach, I like to suggest to my clients that before they eat the food to ask 2 questions. Who made it? Does it come from nature or a lab? This question alone can help make it easier to make better choices!