Natural detoxing for perfect health

THE ANSWER: HIGH PROTEIN, VEGETABLES, HEALTHY FATS

Before you rush down to your local pharmacy to speak to that big guy lurking in the aisles, take the most important advice you will ever need; if it is too good to be true it more than likely is a fad or a scam. Detoxing is probably one of the hottest topics right now. Because you have just come off of a triple whammy; your yearly two-week break, Christmas and New Year and if you were like 99% of the population, you probably ate too much, drank and partied too much with very little sleep.

At this point in your life you feel like you need to go on a detox.

What you are looking for is a state where your body is performing at its optimum best but that doesn’t come without some drastic changes.

If you are waiting for the next greatest detox advice, programme or product then I am afraid to tell you, there is none. You can focus on the real work ahead and that is to detoxify your body naturally. When you consume too much alcohol, sugary drinks or food, your body works overtime to try and break down the substances to make fuel to keep you going.

When your body doesn’t need any more fuel, it stores the rest in your fat cells. In earlier times, food was not in abundance and hence the body quickly developed a mechanism to store fat as fuel for when times were tough. In the modern day, food is in abundance and city dwellers tend to be fatter than urban dwellers.

During the holidays, and purely being a victim of the festive season, you have put a lot of different food and drink in your body and it has has had a lot to deal with in trying to digest it. After punishing your body, book an appointment with your local GP and get your yearly check-up out of the way. This will probably confirm you need some change in your life and you’ll get help on where to start.

The Cambridge English dictionary definition of the word “detox” is “a period when you stop taking unhealthy or harmful foods, drinks, or drugs into your body for a period of time, in order to improve your health”.

Don’t see a detox as a diet but rather as a lifestyle change where you take out or limit the excess. If you love your bottle of wine at night, then limit yourself to one glass every night. No one is saying you have to give up your vices but you need to cut down drastically. If you love your gin and tonic every night, aim for a single gin and sparkling water with lemon or even a few slices of orange instead. You are drastically reducing the alcohol consumption by limiting yourself to one and most importantly, reducing your sugar consumption too.

The same applies to food; fast foods and dining at restaurants should be limited to once a week. Most food outlets do not offer a healthy option, they are more concerned with taste and that means they will throw in additional ingredients. This means a calorie-rich meal which you don’t need in your detox.

The healthiest option for you is to cook at home since you know what goes into your food. Aim for high protein, high vegetable and healthy fats. Yes, you are allowed carbs and I would never say you can’t have your baked potatoes, but have everything in moderation.