Nourish Your Body: Cleanse for the New Year!

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Are you ready for a New Years cleanse? After all the holiday treats, this is a perfect time to get back to health and wellness. You can take as little or as much of what this cleanse has to offer to get your body and mindset back on track for the New Year.  We will start with 3 days of easing into our cleanse by eliminating inflammatory foods and beverages from our diet. The following 5-7 days will be a little more intense and will include a liver cleansing cocktail, liver cleansing activities that will mobilize toxins out of your body. You may take 3 days or more to gently ease out of your cleanse.  

As with any cleanse, please make sure you are not in the middle of a stressful time.  This is a time for your body to "clean house", which can make you feel more vulnerable to stressful situations. We want you to process and eliminate everything that does not serve your body, physically and emotionally.  So, be gentle and kind with yourself in the upcoming weeks. Use journalling and meditation daily for anything that comes up. Remember to drink PLENTY of spring water and have a Nourishing Cleanse!  

3 Day Pre-Cleanse

ELIMINATE THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR DIET:

• Processed sugar and processed/refined carbohydrates (pasta, crackers, cookies)

• Caffeine with the exception of Green Tea (if you are a heavy caffeine drinker, we recommend that you use these 3 days to slowly taper off the caffeine).

• Alcohol

• Dairy (with exception of grass fed butter and ghee)

• Gluten and gluten containing grains (rye, spelt and wheat)

• Soy

• Processed fats/seed oils (margarine, butter spreads, canola/corn/soybean oils)

YOU MAY HAVE:

• The following grains: rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, steel cut oats

• Legumes

• Nuts/seeds

• Fruit

• Vegetables

• Organic Meat/Organ meats

• Fish

• Eggs

• The following oils: olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil

• Tallow/suet

• Grass fed butter/Ghee

• Vinegar

• Spices

• Raw honey

• Himalayan, Celtic/sea salt

• Herbal Tea

• Water (spring is best)

   5-7 Day Liver Cleanse

CONTINUE THE ABOVE GUIDELINES, BUT ALSO ELIMINATE:

• All Grains

• Legumes

• Processed meats

• High metal fish: tuna, king mackerel, halibut, sea bass

• Nightshades: tomato, white potato, eggplant, peppers, chili peppers

• Nuts and beans

  • Unless you do not eat meat then you may have: dried garbanzo, adzuki and black beans that have been soaked for 24 hours and then cooked. You may also have walnuts and almonds, which are low in phytic acid.

During this time, also include a liver flushing cocktail every morning and liver rejuvenating teas in the evenings

Liver Flushing Cocktail (drink in the morning)

• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp of raw organic honey

• Juice of 1 lemon

• Water

Liver Rejuvenating Teas (drink in the evening)

• Everyday Detox (Traditional Medicinals)

• Dandelion

• Milk Thistle

• Peppermint

• Lemon/Ginger

• Chamomile

EVERY DAY, ROTATE A FEW OF THE FOLLOWING CLEANSING ACTIVITIES:

• Castor oil packs: Saturate a flannel cloth with castor oil.  Place the cloth over your liver (your liver is on your right side under your breast).  Place a heating pad or hot water bottle on top of the cloth.  Leave on for 30 minutes.  This should be done while you are relaxed and sleepy, either before you go to bed or right when you wake up.

• Epsom salt baths: Take an Epsom salt bath for at least 20 minutes with 2-3 cups of Epsom salt (you can include some of your favorite essential oils), followed by:

• Skin brushing: Use a body brush (you can purchase at most health food stores) or loofah and brush the skin toward the center of the body.  Start with the neck and brush down.  Then go to the hands and brush towards the heart and include the under the armpits.  Finally brush up the legs, including the groin area upwards.

• Skin Massage: Moisturize and massage your skin using organic coconut oil or a clean, fragrance—free body butter/oil (essential oils are ok).  Message the skin all over, paying special attention around inflamed areas.  You can do this after a bath or if you do it before the bath, make sure to include your scalp in the message.

• Sauna: If you have the availability of an infared or dry sauna, sit in this for 20-30 minutes followed by a tap cold rinse or cold plunge.

• Cold Plunging: If you have a cold pool or a cold plunge available, immerse yourself in cold water for 1-3 minutes. This is best done after a sauna treatment.

• Gentle Yoga: Do 10-30 minutes of gentle, restorative or yin yoga followed by a meditation.

  Easing Out of the Cleanse

Slowly add back in any of the food items you desire that you had eliminated the past 5-7 days. You are essentially repeating pre-cleanse. It is best to introduce one category of foods at a time and really pay attention to your reaction to them. If you feel signs of inflammation such as bloating, stiffness, joint pain, brain fog or fatigue following an addition to a food group, it may be a sign that this food reacts with your system and it may be best to eliminate or limit it in the future.

IF YOU RUN INTO ANY TROUBLE:

During the cleanse, it is normal to feel foggy, tired, itchy, nauseous and irritable during the first few days. Get plenty of sleep and hydrate.  However, if you are vomiting, have palpitations of the heart, visual changes or shortness of breath, please stop and call your doctor.   

Constipation:  If you run into this issue, then you can do an enema, take 4-6 grams of vitamin C or 500—600 mg of Magnesium to help move the bowels.  If you cannot move the bowels after this, then a colonic may be necessary. Remember the goal of the cleanse is to reduce the body burden of toxins, constipation will increase your body burden.