Hayley’s Quick Detox Tips

It’s Monday (or in some cases, Tuesday) and you’re feeling gassy, bloated, and lethargic. The culprit? One too many cocktails, brownies, and dinners ending in utterly too full bellies over the weekend….right?

We’ve all been there, and I’ve just had one of those weekends full of refined carbs, dairy, sugar, and overall over indulgence. I’m not one to encourage total avoidance of those “naughty” foods like bread, sugar, and cheese but I do try to limit them. So, after a weekend full of unhealthy eating, my body is desperately craving a bit of cleansing. Luckily, I believe in the reset button, and you should too.

I don’t layout a step by step plan that you have to follow all week, I simply have a few favorite tips that I do for a day or two…or three… to reset and get my body back to feeling good, increase my energy, and set myself up to continue making healthy decisions. Try some of my Quick Detox Tips, either all or just some, and you’ll get your body back to feeling fresh, light, and healthy before you know it!

Drink Green Juice

Freshly juiced veggies and fruits are super cleansers! Whether you have a juicer and can do it yourself or you can stop at a place like O3 Café in Buffalo, get a hold of a juice that contains some greens first thing on your cleansing day. Fresh raw veggies are full of live enzymes that help clean out your cells and refuel your body. Juicing the fruits and veggies makes the enzymes super accessible and allows you to drink more because the super-filling fiber is removed (it’s okay, you’ll get your fiber elsewhere).

Consume Lots of Raw Fruits & Vegetables

It’s simple; raw fruits and vegetables have live enzymes, which not only help in the digestion process, but also help clean out your cells, remove toxins, and purify your body. When you’re craving a snack during your cleansing time, reach for an apple, celery, carrots, any raw fruit or veggie will do!

Eat a Raw Lunch

Keep on the clean path with a raw food  lunch. You can have veggies, nuts, sprouted grains, seeds, cold-pressed oils. Any large salad will do! If you’re a meat eater, you can go ahead and add a lean meat like chicken breast or fish but don’t add processed marinades or mayo and if you have a protein, don’t have any sprouted grains. The more veggies you eat, the more cleansing power you give your body, so fill that plate up with lettuce!

Eat a Clean Dinner

Similar to lunch, you want to keep your plate full of raw or lightly cooked veggies and keep the extra sauces/oils to a minimum. You can have some cooked food here, like rice or a lean meat but if you have one, don’t have the other. Eating rice? Keep it to raw or steamed veggies on top. Eating chicken? Skip the rice. Keeping your meal organized to contain either starch OR protein will help your digestive system efficiently process your healthy meal.

Avoid Salt, Coffee, Dairy, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Alcohol, and Wheat

Like I said before, I’m not one to avoid the so-called ‘naughty’ foods, but when you’re trying to cleanse, you absolutely must say no for at least one day. I like to limit these foods as much as possible and on a day of cleansing, you will really feel the difference if you avoid salt, coffee, sugar, alcohol, dairy, and processed wheat (Sprouted grain bread is acceptable). Give it at least one day without these no-no foods, and then see how long you can go without a few of them. The longer you keep these foods out of your diet, the better your body will feel so go ahead and see if you can avoid these foods for more than a day.

Drink Lots of Water

You should always drink lots of water, but when you’re cleansing it is very important to flush toxins out with water. Drinking water at room temperature is better for your digestive system, and adding fresh lemon to your water will give it an even greater cleansing boost. Bottoms up!

Keep Your Portions Small

Give your digestive system a break, and only eat as much as you need to feel satisfied, not full. Eat slower to give your body time to process what you’re consuming and put the fork down before your plate is empty and really take a moment to check-in and see if you really need to eat more. It should only take your body 4 hours to get hungry again after a meal, but eating too much can challenge your digestive system, make digestion inefficient, and keep waste in your body too long (hello gas, indigestion, bloat, and discomfort)!

Only Eat When You’re Hungry

Similar to keeping portions small, eating only when you’re hungry will ensure that your digestive system isn’t over taxed and your energy levels stay high. Don’t make your body work super hard to digest extra food it doesn’t need. If you aren’t hungry, your body is still using energy to digest what you’ve fed it before, so feeding it more food will only tax your body, deplete your energy, and cause you to hold on to waste. Eat small portions and only when you’re hungry to keep everything running smoothly and help your body cleanse and replenish.

Get Plenty of Sleep!

Always get at least 7 hours a night. But really get at least 7 hours when you’re trying to cleanse. The more tired you are, the harder it is to make great, healthy decisions and the less energetic you will feel. You need rest to restore your energy and get your body for another successful day!

Have questions!? Feel free to email Hayley@betterbodybuffalo.com for personalized quick detox tips.