You don't have to starve yourself to detoxify your body. Angie Newson, Amazon best-selling author of The Detox Factor, suggests 7 habits to adopt so your body will do it naturally on its own.
Even with all our mod-cons and modern advances in medicine, here in the West we are becoming ever increasingly unhealthy, overweight and full of toxins. The need to incorporate what I call a "daily detox" plan into our fast-paced lives has never been more important.
The 7 tips and tricks below to cleanse and lose belly fat come from my Amazon bestseller – The Detox Factor, where I list a total of 101 such secrets to stimulate weight loss and live a healthier, less toxic life.
What is a toxic overload?
Our anatomy is naturally an amazing self-cleansing and detoxifying system, working away on autopilot as we get on with our day-to-day routines. Unfortunately our lives have become so unnatural and toxin-laden that toxic overload becomes unavoidable.
Lifestyle and environment issues like eating processed food, excessive sugar intake, taking over-the-counter drugs, lack of exercise, air pollution and EMF radiation are just some on the unhealthy stresses our detox organs have to battle with on a day-to-day basis.
Why do we need to a detox cleanse?
When our biology becomes overwhelmed and in desperate need of a detox, it starts to send us messages that all’s not well – frequent colds and flu; skin breakouts; indigestion; allergies; headaches.
Until we embrace a "daily detox" we’ll only be "existing" on a day-to-day basis, finding it near impossible to lose weight or to live life to its fullest. How many of these easy cleanse tips can you incorporate into your day?
1: Lose the Junk
No excuses! Reduce and eventually lose packaged foods from your diet – the salty processed foods, fizzy drinks, sugary breakfast cereals and the wrong oils – this junk makes us extremely acidic, overweight and our kidneys just can’t cope. A weight loss disaster.
Basically if it has a complicated label of ingredients – avoid it. Go for produce that’s been minimally processed, just as nature intended. Farmers' markets are excellent source of detox foods.
2: Hydrate to Health
In order to lubricate and assist toxins to effortlessly leave our body, water is the magic ingredient. I suggest following the “8x8” rule – that’s eight 8oz glasses of water per day.
The detox benefits of this single tip are outstanding and so easy to add to your routine.
3: Sleep
Whilst asleep our body goes into detox overdrive. We may perceive sleep as a bodily rest period, whereas in fact it’s hard at work repairing and cleansing both mind and body ready for another day.
So don’t skimp on your slumber time, it’s literally vital for our wellbeing and sanity.
4: Move
Even if it’s just for 5-10 minute walk – get up, go outside and move! Your biology loves any and all movement to rev up your detox cleanse system, shunting any toxins out of your body.
Two of my fave quick movement fixes are high intensity interval training (HIIT) and rebounding – five minute bursts do wonders for your energy levels as well as cleansing from the inside out.
The metabolism boost you get from this burst training style of fitness will keep your weight loss efforts on track for hours too ... win-win.
5. Cold Water Therapy
This is so easy to add in to your shower time and feels incredibly revitalising. After you’ve done with washing your hair and skin, let the detoxing begin. Be brave and turn the temperature control to COLD and stick with it for 30 seconds, then switch to as HOT as you can go for 30 seconds (be careful – NOT scalding!).
Keep alternating between hot and cold for a few minutes. The effect on your circulation is outstanding and any time your circulation is boosted your detox system jumps into action too.
You’ll feel fabulous and cleansed in all senses of the word.
6. Green Juice
They’re certainly an acquired taste but green juices are a smart choice in any weight loss and cleanse plan. Absolutely loaded with nature’s healing ingredients – you can’t go wrong by adding some green goodness into your day.
Start with recipes that have a 50/50 ratio of fruit to greens – just until your taste buds adapt to the new flavours. It does take a while to adapt especially if you’ve still got some junk food choices in your diet – they totally through your taste bods out of whack.
Once you get into the swing of it, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without them. Essential for your “daily detox” plan.
7. Mindfulness
When I mention mindfulness to my clients, the usual reaction is – it’s something monks do or it requires intensive training and practice to master. And although it does take persistence to reap the benefits, it’s certainly not confined to any elite spiritual group!
My simple definition of mindfulness is – keeping your thoughts and awareness focused in the present moment. Our mind loves to go off rambling into the past and future like an unruly child.
Being mindful helps decrease this “rambling” and allow us to get the very best out of every second of our lives. Ultimately the present moment is all we have any control over – the past is gone, written in stone and the future is anyone’s guess. Being present doesn’t require any special setting or equipment, just a little change in mental focus.
Mindful eating is cleansing on so many different levels – helping produce more saliva for digestion; better and thorough chewing; more relaxation and calm; and generally more enjoyment of our food.
At your next meal take a little time to get in the moment and get the full benefit of your eating experience.
So incorporating these small changes into our daily lives help boost our body's clever and natural detoxification systems. And when we say 'our body is our temple', let's sincerely believe it rather than say it tongue in cheek.
I look forward to you sharing the daily habits that have been beneficial to you and your body's natural cleansing processes.
