Beginning Detox: 5 Easy & Inexpensive Tips
Are you feeling overwhelmed and confused? You are not alone. Here at Our Botanicals, we know that the golden key to health is detoxification. We’ve helped hundreds of clients over the years, and understand that starting out on your detox journey can be tricky. There’s a ton of new information, lots of opinions and so many different herbal formulas to choose from. We’ve put together five simple strategies to kick-start your detox journey. All of these strategies are easy to implement, either free or inexpensive, and are very effective.
Start the day with a glass of lemon water.
Squeeze a lemon and add the fresh lemon juice to warm water. Drinking lemon water on an empty stomach in the morning provides amazing health benefits. This simple addition to your morning routine will increase your metabolic rate, improve digestion and strengthen your immune system. Lemons are also great for cleansing the liver and improving your skin.
If the taste is too sour for you, add the squeezed lemon juice to hot water. You can also include a slice of fresh ginger for extra nutritional benefits and a more neutral taste.
Add in two salads to your usual diet.
For many people, overhauling their diet is a significant stumbling block. This is understandable as we often have emotional attachments and cultural traditions surrounding food. While we recommend a diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, if this isn’t your current reality going from zero to one hundred is likely to be unsustainable.
Instead of eliminating foods from your diet, try adding in more raw foods instead. We suggest adding a fruit salad or smoothie to your usual breakfast, and also adding a big green salad to your lunch or dinner. For your fruit based breakfast addition, look for seasonal fruits and make your salad as colorful as possible. Our favorites include, melon, kiwi fruit, berries, banana and pomegranate. For your lunch and/or dinner salad, a great base is cucumber, tomato, avocado, corn and your favorite green like kale, spinach or arugula. Just adding these salads to your normal meals will give you so much more nutritional value, fiber and energy. Remember to eat your salads before the rest of the meal for optimal digestion.
Choose herbal tea over coffee.
What is your go-to beverage? Is it coffee or soda? Both of these drinks are highly addictive and over time they damage to our bodies internal organs and natural balance. We become dependent on them for an energy boost, so weaning off them can be a real challenge. In order to ease this transition, you can simply choose a healthier alternative. The beauty of herbal tea is how powerful it is at detoxifying the body.
Our Healing Tea is our go to herbal remedy because it contains so many healing herbs. It is the one herbal formula we recommend across the board, and it’s the perfect blend to start with. We love brewing up a big batch, enjoying a cup of it hot and then storing the rest in the fridge to sip on throughout the day. Some other very beneficial herbal teas include, thyme, dandelion, burdock, peppermint and licorice.
Move your body everyday and stretch before bed.
Exercising is an incredibly important part of a healthy routine as it pumps the lymphatic system. It also has numerous other benefits like improved sleep, elevated mood and weight control. Choosing the exercise regimen that works for you is an important step, and don’t be afraid to try new things. You might enjoy weight lifting more than running, or yoga more than swimming, everyone is different. The most important thing is that you are moving your body everyday. On days when you are not training, get some fresh air with a walk.
Unless you are experiencing a healing crisis or dealing with chronic fatigue you’ll accelerate the detox process by moving your body more. Stretching is also a great addition to your day as it increases flexibility, stimulates blood flow and improves your mood. Just five minutes of bedtime yoga can greatly improve the quality of your sleep, and we all know that restorative sleep is essential to the detox process.
Dry skin brushing.
Last, but certainly not least is dry skin brushing. This is a great self care activity that will stimulate your lymphatic system by increasing blog flow. The skin is your body’s largest organ but it is often underutilized in the detoxification process. The results of this simple ritual are akin to massage. We recommend doing this daily. Start from your feet and brush upwards towards your heart, then take a shower to rinse off the dead skin cells. Don’t press too hard though, your skin should be flush not red and irritated. Dry brushing is not only great for moving lymph, it’s also beneficial in treating bloating, indigestion and cellulite.
We hope you enjoy implementing some or all of these simple detox strategies. Remember, it’s important to take your time and be gentle with yourself. Move at a pace that is sustainable for you, and don’t compare your journey with anybody else’s. You don’t need to adopt all of these strategies all at once either, you could adopt one per week for example. Also, if you miss a day, don’t stress out, just keep going strong tomorrow. Mindset is everything!
If you want to speak to someone directly about what is best for you, you can book an appointment with one of our qualified and experienced practitioners.
Where are you at on your detox journey? Let us know in the comments below!
