You don't need to do a juice fast to detox.
In fact, adding a few small, health-supportive habits into your everyday life will leave you healthier in the long-term than doing a once-a-year dramatic cleanse. The reality is that your body is naturally equipped to filter out toxins, so anything that you can do on a daily basis to support its natural process (and lessen its toxic burden) will help you stay in tiptop health.
Here are 5 easy, but very effective ways to support your body's ability to detox:
- Hydrate - and add some lemon juice. First of all, you need to drink enough water to keep your body sufficiently hydrated. I tell people to aim for about half their body weight (in pounds) in ounces of water per day, but remember that if you exercise, drink caffeine or alcohol, or it's hot outside, then you need to increase that amount. Water helps flush unwanted things out of the body. For a detoxifying boost, add in some fresh lemon juice. Lemons help nourish the liver, the body's hardest working detoxifying organ.
- Fast for 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. This means that if you finish dinner at 9pm, you wait until at least 9am to eat breakfast. A 12 hour window of fasting time allows your body to digest food fully and then dedicate the next several hours to cleansing and fat-burning.
- Sleep 7+ hours per night. Put simply, your body just does not function well when you are sleep deprived. Get enough sleep to give your body ample time to rest and repair - and to allow your detox pathways to work much more efficiently. To learn how to improve your sleep, read this.
- Exfoliate your skin. Exfoliating sloughs off dead skin cells, helping skin breathe. Done properly, it also stimulates lymphatic drainage. Dry brushing for a few minutes per day is a great way to put this into practice. Alternatively, you can use a body scrub of sorts (I like a homemade concoction of coconut oil and sugar) a few times per week.
- Sweat. Exercise or hop in the sauna to boost your metabolism, improve circulation, and sweat out toxins.
Now I'd love to hear from you. Will you be adding any of these to your daily routine?