Best Practices for Holiday Detox

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Food is medicine. What we eat can either contribute to or prevent chronic illnesses and/or other diseases. The holiday festivities are over and we are probably planning our goals for this year. One of the most popular resolutions are always about losing weight, getting back into shape, or just overall better health. An effective way to start is to do a detox. Our bodies have their own natural detoxification system, but we still need to provide support to help all systems work properly. 

The first step in a successful detox is to avoid or, if possible, eliminate alcohol, caffeine, sugars (including refined sugars), cigarettes, and to reduce stress. Each item may seem minuscule in our busy lives, but by not addressing each one, we hinder our detoxification and healing process. Stress itself can cause digestive issues such as indigestion, cramping, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation.

To help keep our energy flowing, we will need to increase our water intake. If we are being honest with ourselves, most of us did not drink much water when we indulged in holiday treats. Water is essential and makes up about 70% of our bodies. It regulates your body temperature, lubricates joints, aids digestion and nutrient absorption, and detoxifies your body by removing waste products. Think of water like a garbage truck. The garbage truck comes around to pick up any unwanted substances and takes it to the proper dumping location. In general, we should drink water to the extent that our lips and mouth are not dry and we are urinating several times a day. The exact amount will vary depending on the amount of fruits and vegetables and hydrating foods that you eat. 

If drinking water is a struggle for you, try these teas:

  1. Herbal teas such as alfalfa, burdock, chamomile (except if you are allergic to ragweed or are taking warfarin or cyclosporine), dandelion, milk thistle, red clover, or rosehips help to rejuvenate the liver and cleanse the bloodstream.
  2. Echinacea tea (except if you are allergic to ragweed) should not be taken daily for longer than three months.
  3. Peppermint tea helps to calm and strengthen nerves, and resist indigestion and nausea.
  4. Slippery elm tea serves to reduce inflammation.
  5. Garlic & ginger tea are great antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and enhance the immune system.

The next step to detoxify is to take a look at the food we eat. We have all been taught to eat our fruits and vegetables. This is a good idea! Do that!  Here are some other foods that you can add to your daily diet:

  1. Chlorella or Spirulina contain high levels of chlorophyll. These high levels help cleanse our body and blood from impurities. More importantly, chlorella or spirulina are also chelating; meaning they will bind to metals in our body and carry them out as waste. Chlorella and spirulina are also anti-inflammatory and strengthen our immune system.
  2. Turmeric is mostly known for making “golden milk” or the spice used in Indian cuisine.  Turmeric contains a phytochemical called curcumin, which is a power antioxidant and is also anti-inflammatory. Because of the curcumin property, turmeric helps our liver cleanse and rejuvenate cells. Our liver is important in helping us digest and absorb the fats we eat. Turmeric is best eaten or drank with a healthy fat and a spice like black pepper.
  3. Ginger & garlic, very similar to turmeric, also contain curcumin but are not as potent. Ginger also stimulates digestion, circulation, and sweat, which are three main ways our bodies detoxify. Ginger not only reinforces our liver but also our colon and gut health. Ginger and garlic may be spicy for some and the best way to tell how much we should eat or drink is to be mindful of your tastebuds. Your body will tell you if you have had too much. If it burns going in, it may burn coming out as well.
  4. Dark leafy greens are full of fiber, beneficial for our bowels and slows digestion. The insoluble fiber will sweep up unwanted substances from our digestive tract and assist them out of our body, while maintaining blood sugar levels from the foods we eat. Some excellent options for boosting our natural detoxification are spinach, kale, moringa, alfalfa, cilantro, and parsley.
  5. Beets are exceptional for liver support and cleansing our blood cells with their phytonutrient pectin. Beets are also high in antioxidants, iron, and folate.
  6. Probiotics and prebiotics work synergistically to make sure our gut health is functioning correctly. Some great sources of probiotics are sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, tempeh, natto, miso and pickled vegetables. Probiotics will be productive when prebiotics are in our diets as well, such as jicama, onions, garlic, chicory root, artichokes, asparagus, and leafy greens (e.g. spinach and dandelion greens).

It’s almost effortless to get caught up with the holiday festivities but challenging to start the new year with healthier goals. Drinking more water and adding the foods above will help naturally clear the unwanted toxins, supporting our body repair and self – replenishment for a healthier you. Here is to a new you- happy detoxing!

How to Stop Glorifying Busyness in a Stressed Out Society

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We all feel stress sometimes and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a little bit of stress that lasts for only a short period of time can help motivate us to get important things done. However, chronic stress can weaken the immune system, make you more prone to depression and anxiety, cause weight gain, sleep problems, and even heart disease. It’s that serious. High levels of stress prolonged over time also wreak havoc on your emotional and spiritual well-being. 

With productivity being championed to dangerous levels, especially for people with demanding careers, business owners, and parents, stress can feel unmanageable. Research has found that nearly half of adults in the United States experience an increase in stress year over year.

The most effective way to decrease stress is to stop being so busy. Easier said than done? Perhaps. But everything — even a baby step — is progress. Keep reading to learn tips for reframing “busy” and reclaiming your time and energy. 

Carve out time to do nothing

Life can feel like a precarious juggling act of work, childcare, sleep, exercise, family life, and attempting to have a life as a whole person outside of the roles you’ve taken on. With so much pressure from every direction, it’s critical for your health and well-being to spend time doing absolutely nothing. That’s not to say you need to sit and stare at a wall (though if that calls to you, by all means, enjoy). It can look like spending anywhere from a few minutes to a full weekend with no agenda, nowhere to be, and nothing that has to get done. 

Doing nothing is an act of defiance against a society that insists that you fire on all cylinders at all times. Realistically, that time isn’t going to create itself. You are going to have to be the one to draw boundaries so that you can create a space in your schedule for, well, living.

Be less busy: Look at your calendar and find or make some time to do nothing. Commit to that with the same dedication you would a client meeting or your child’s ballet recital.

Identify what really matters

Our society has an obsession with productivity that started in the Industrial Age. Technology has only furthered this by creating a system where the lines between work and the rest of life have been definitively blurred. Just think, how many times have you or someone you know worn the phrase “I’m so busy!” like a badge of honor?

I’d be willing to bet that if you took a critical look at what you are busy with, you’d find that a lot of the tasks you’re rushing around to get done are not all that productive. In other words, the things that take up your time and energy may not be the things that are moving the needle forward in your work, personal, or family life. 

When you’re busy, you may be filling your days up with tasks that are neither urgent or important, likely as a way of feeling valuable in a society that idolizes the hustle. When you’re productive, you actually create more time and space in your life to do what you want to do: the activities that leave you fulfilled and present.

Be less busy: Write down every single thing you think you need to get done. From picking up more cat food to preparing a report for your boss, get it on paper. When you’re done, read through it. Now, throw it in the trash (permission to tuck it away out of sight if letting it go feels like too much). Whatever you really need to get done, you will get done. Everything you forget? It probably wasn’t as high of a priority as you initially thought. 

Understand your personal relationship with being busy

If, as a child, you were in every extra-curricular imaginable, your parents worked long hours, or you had to spend more time handling responsibilities than having fun, you may find yourself modeling the same behavior to your own family. Perhaps you even developed the belief that in order to receive positive attention, you needed to be productive. 

The truth of the matter is that you were born worthy of love, positive attention, affection, and time to exist without contributing to the lives of other people. Part of being alive is having the capacity to enjoy the things that make life feel good. Whether that’s a glass of red wine on your front porch, a novel you can’t put down, or spending time playing with your kids, it’s important to recognize that you do not need to earn those things. 

Be less busy: Spend some time thinking, journaling, or chatting with a friend about why you feel the need to stay busy. Some questions you might explore include: Was I over-scheduled as a child? How might that be affecting me now? Do I feel like I need to be productive in order to be worthy of love, either from myself or others? What would it feel like if I decided to say no to everything except that which absolutely must be done?

Change the narrative around the glorification of busy

A quick scroll through Instagram or a conversation with anyone over the age of 25 confirms just how pervasive hustle culture is. While women are disproportionately targeted by marketers who want to push the idea that busy equals better, no one is totally immune. Being busy has become so glorified that many people prioritize their health and well-being as less important than taking on one more volunteer position, work project, family commitment, or social obligation.

While tackling your personal attachment to being busy is important, it’s also critical that we start to collectively shift away from the small, seemingly harmless habits that perpetuate the idea that busy is better. 

Be less busy: Instead of asking someone what they do for a living, ask them how they like to relax. Set healthy boundaries with colleagues and clients (in other words, it’s ok to not check your email after hours or say no to taking on a project you don’t have the bandwidth for). Pursue hobbies that are not meant to bring you income. Look busyness in the eyes and walk away from it, for the sake of your body, mind, and soul. 

Life doesn’t have to be a circus act, and you don’t have to be the one that gets it all done. There are always going to be people who have kids in every sport, are excelling in their fast-paced career, starting a book club, and sitting on the board of three different non-profits. That’s ok; everyone has their own path. If you’ve decided you’ve had enough of the constant go go go, make the decision today to be less busy. Life cannot wait but everything else can.