How to Spring Clean Your Health

Refresh Your Health in Just One Day

Spring is just around the corner, and you know what that means – it’s time for spring cleaning! Of course, that doesn’t only mean cleaning up your home, it’s a perfect time for spring cleaning your body too!

While many people think about detox diets or cleanses when it comes to kicking off better health, there are an array of unhealthy diets out there that won’t do you or your waistline any favors. The Lemon Detox diet, for example was voted the worst fad diet in the world by over 50 nutritionists as part of a survey conducted in 2011 by the Dietitians Association of Australia. One look at that diet and it’s easy to see why – all it includes is drinking a concoction of lemon juice mixed with cayenne pepper and maple syrup six times a day for 10 days. Definitely not something you want to do to your body or your mind!

But the good news is that spring cleaning your health doesn’t and shouldn’t mean following an unhealthy trend. Instead follow this guide for getting on the right path to health and wellness.

Eliminate Toxins and Focus on Whole, Raw Foods

One of the best things you can do to kick-start better health, and support weight loss, is to follow a diet focused on raw foods and plenty of water. Ideally, you should follow it every day for seven days, and then continue it once a week over the long term. If there is just no way you can follow it for a full week, you can still experience a significant difference in health and well-being by incorporating it into your diet routine one day each week. Just be sure to eliminate the junk!

By “junk,” we mean alcohol, caffeine, sugar and processed foods. That means eating blueberries, actual raw blueberries, and not a blueberry muffin. Choose ingredients you can easily recognize and pronounce, such as those you might use to make a homemade version of a dish in your own kitchen.

Try to keep meal ingredients to a minimum, and include a source of lean protein and healthy fats at each meal. Think wild-caught salmon over a bed of kale leaves drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil. Or, a couple of eggs scrambled with spinach that’s paired with apple slices coated with a little almond butter.

No matter how you decide to spring clean your body, it’s time to rethink your drinks. Not only should you eliminate alcohol, but soda too. Soda is loaded with sugar, and diet soda is no better, with its artificial sweeteners and host of chemical compounds. Replace sodas with water. You can add lemon, lime, orange or cucumber slices to your water for a refreshing twist.

Get in Touch With Your Gut Instincts

Detoxing by getting rid of the junk and flooding the body with nutrients helps you to get in touch with your “gut instincts.” This will help you stop eating when you aren’t truly hungry. And, you’ll develop a natural hunger for the right foods – colorful, raw fruits and veggies you enjoy.

To retrain your gut to understand when it’s really hungry, drink a glass of water at the first stomach growl. You may also want to add a teardrop of food-grade, 35-percent hydrogen peroxide for every two ounces of water. This is to kill anything that may be lying dormant in your body, such as fungus, yeast and radiation residue.

Wait for about 15 minutes after drinking the water, and then make a green veggie juice. Some of the most beneficial greens include spinach, dandelion and kale. Others additions may include pears, apples, celery, beets fennel and Jerusalem artichokes. Make a quart using a combination of those fruits and veggies, and slowly sip it for as long as possible. Or, sip it until you feel the urgent  need to run to the bathroom, a sure sign poisons have been released from body’s cells and are trying to get out, . This is just what you want to have happen during a cleanse.

Flushing Juice Recipes

Here are a couple of my favorite flushing juice recipes. Not only are they tasty but they are loaded with nutrition and will encourage a natural detox.

Green Ginger Delight

Place all ingredients in a juicer and drink chilled.

• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• 2 cm ginger piece
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 green apple
• 2 cups spinach 

Tropical Burst

Place all ingredients in a juicer and drink chilled.

• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• 2 cups spinach
• 3 cups mint leaves
• 1 cup cubed pineapple
• 1/2 lemon

Solid Foods

When you hit a hunger wall and need something solid to eat, choose foods that nature has provided, such as raw fruits and vegetables. The longer you can go without solid food, however, the faster your body will be able to eliminate those toxins. Just be sure to drink plenty of water. Coconut water, too, can assist it in detoxing through sweat, urine, etc.

While it can be challenging to eat this way at first, by getting creative it can be done, and can even be satisfying. The most important thing is to be sure that it’s all raw. If you can’t tolerate raw foods, you might steam some vegetables with spices, or make a big salad with spaghetti squash and beets or avocado. Tossing a handful of nuts on top adds a satisfying crunch and healthy fats that can help you feel fuller longer.

The Benefits of a Limited Caloric Intake

A raw food/juice cleanse like this automatically leads to a lower caloric intake. Often, much lower than you’d normally eat. And there has been a significant amount of research that has suggested limited caloric intake offers health benefits. Much of that may be because insulin is released when food is consumed. When you aren’t eating, there is less insulin secretion. That results in less fat being stored, and more being burned. Many people also feel more clear-headed during a fast, which means it may provide other physical and mental benefits as well.

A two-year trial, with results published by the National Institute of Aging, showed that restricting calories can even lead to a longer lifespan.

Happy Spring Cleaning!