New Years Detox in just 10 easy steps

Feeling sluggish after your Christmas break? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Quite possibly, each and every one of us has overindulged over the Christmas Break. Whether it was too much meat and heavy foods, too many handfuls of chips, chocolate and cheese or too much alcohol.

It’s time to detox your system to start your New Year off on the right track! Practiced for centuries by cultures around the world, detoxing is about resting, cleaning and nourishing the body from the inside out. We have compiled 10 easy and natural ways that you can detox your system, to kick start your year.

1. Get some sleep: We try to jam so much into our Christmas break that when it’s all over… You feel like you need a holiday to get over your holiday. Have a healthy, light dinner, drink a big glass of water (no alcohol!) … and go to bed early. After 8+ hrs of sleep you will feel like a million dollars. Why? Because during sleep your body processes toxins and replenishes energy to your organs.
2. 
   Get some exercise: Think of your body like a detox factory. You need to get your blood flowing through your organs to filter out your toxins. Don’t try and cure your overindulging by overdoing exercise, but you need to get your heartrate up and air IN.
3. 
   Lay off the meat, dairy and breads: Whether you believe in a vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free diet or not.. the fact of the matter is, over indulging in these foods slow your digestion and your system down. By replacing these foods with salads, fish and fresh veggies, you are allowing your system to process quicker – thus making your detox easier.
4. 
   Eat Greens: We all know we should eat our greens. But for a detox, green veggies are particularly important due to chlorophyll, the stuff in plants that turns sunlight into food. This is imperative to help eliminate toxins and heavy metals, purify blood and promote a healthy digestive system. Chlorophyll is found in green veggies, kale and spinach.. or you can buy it in a handy liquid form.
5. 
   Gut health: Over indulging in fatty foods, meats and dairy and alcohol can throw out the balance in your digestive system. Good gut bacteria is crucial for your system to process what you eat (or HAVE eaten) and detox your system. A broad spectrum probiotic will replace your guts healthy bacteria and boost your systems detox.
6. 
   Cleanse your colon: Having a good sized, easy to pass, healthy poop every day is an easy sign as to how you are health wise. Over indulging can disrupt this daily ritual and be detrimental to your health. After your body has successfully processed your toxins, they need to be removed. An all natural high fibre cleanser, like Apple Fibre or Psyllim husk  can help. 
7. 
   Hydrate: After your body has done the hard yards of processing toxins, it’s time to flushing then out your system. Drinking a quality, alkaline water is essential to any detox program. Have you tried blk. Alkaline Water? It’s not like any normal spring water, its infused with natural Fulvic trace minerals and is rich in antioxidants and amino acids. This will flush your system and give it a boost.
8. 
   Take a bath: Not just any bath, a hydrotherapy with Epsom Salt Bath and Essential Oils. Bathing in Epsom Salts or the famous Marienbad Salts creates a process called reverse osmosis which pulls salt and harmful toxins out of the body and allows the beneficial magnesium and sulphates to enter in. By adding essential oils with detoxifying properties, like peppermint oil, to the bath as well, you lift this common detoxing method to a new level. What better way to help sweat out those festive season toxins?
9. 
   Replace the morning coffee: I know, I know! For many it’s like I’ve just sworn at you! But after you have completed steps 1-7, you won’t feel like you NEED it! Replace your morning coffee with a green tea (so you still get a caffeine hit) or take your detox to the next level with a pre-prepared detox tea. Detox teas have been used in ancient medicines for thousands of years for their cleansing properties.
10. 
    Support your liver: Your liver is the most important organ in your detox program. This organ passes and cleanses the toxins from your blood. It makes good sense to support it. One of the most popular and widely used herbs to support liver function is St Marys Thistle. You can find this herb in a variety of forms – liquid, tablet or as part of a complete liver detox supplement. 

NOTE: Before drastically changing your diet, please consider your own health circumstance or consult your doctor. This information is to be used as a guide only and is in no way intended to substiture for professional health practitioners counseling. 

Article by Miranda Gray

Miranda has had a background in the health and wellness industry for over twelve years, and is a co-founder of Aussie Health Products.