So, you survived a cleanse! Congratulations!
If you’re like us, it may have taken you on a roller coaster ride of mood swings and fatigue but it was well worth it. You feel released, like a prisoner with a day pass. But just don’t run right back out, gobbling down all the processed fast food and sugar that put you in the cross hairs of a cleanse in the first place. You now have a good foundation for better eating habits, it’s time to build on it.
Toxins
Things like natural sugar (found in foods like fruit and grains) and fat, in and of themselves, are not toxic to the body but those super-processed sugars and fats found in nearly every processed food are.
According to Dr. Mark Hyman, “. . .most Americans eat a diet that literally fills them with toxins. Add in the toxic chemicals found in supposedly safe beauty supplies, pesticides, and other products and you can see how we’re swimming in a sea of toxins.”
But what you’ve just done, by completing your cleanse, is to give your body a needed rest from the bombardment of processing constant toxins. With the easier load it had during your cleanse (due to healthy anti-inflammatory eating habits) you allowed your body to play “catch-up.” Which is why, during your cleanse, you felt tired and cranky. Toxins effect you in more ways than you may know, shifting hormones, increasing weight gain and destabilizing blood sugar, while lowering your overall immunity.
How to Stay Healthy Post-Cleanse
After your recent detox, your body is ready and willing to purge those toxins more efficiently, with your help. First, try to continue in a more healthful eating pattern, adding foods like dairy and whole grains back in one at a time, watching to see if your body reacts adversely to any of these items. If you do react with poor digestion, less energy, headache or stomach distress, you may want to consider limiting or eliminating this inflammatory foods for good, in order to allow your body to function optimally. As for those foods that clog up the works, processed foods and sugar etc., the occasional treat won’t do too much damage to a healthy system but they definitely should be limited in their intake, so as to avoid toxin overload again.
Move It!
The other thing you can do is exercise. Getting regular exercise can help the body move toxins, cholesterol and fat out of the tissues. All while keeping your heart healthy, your muscles toned and your energy levels booming.
If you’re a fair weather bicycler (like us!) you may want to look into the many indoor options for breaking a cleansing sweat, like T’ai Chi, or other gentle moving modalities like (Pilates, Gyrotronics and yoga) keeping your body and muscles fluid and avoiding stagnant chi. We like T’ai Chi because of its gentle approach to movement, while teaching you balance and control.
Whatever you choose you be sure to make setting up a healthy habit is easy by finding a class or studio close to your home or work ( supporting a local place is always good karma) and one that has classes at hours that suit you ( some of us are better in the morning, others in the evening — know yourself.) Limit the obstacles that can keep you from your exercise, don’t set yourself up for failure! And of course, always get your bodywork, to keep you healthy and limber
See you at T’ai Chi!
Related Articles
- How To Detox Your Liver (lewrockwell.com)
