Welcome to 2015! All signs point to it being an amazing year!
I think it’s a great idea to clean out your body’s filtering mechanisms with a cleanse or detox occasionally… and why not pick the new year to start with a clean slate?! I’ve tried several different detox and cleanse programs over the years and have realized that different ones are easier for different people, so there is no ‘best’ option per se. So, I’m not going to recommend any one program over another, but instead I want to offer you some tips based on my experiences that I hope will help better prepare you and make it a better overall experience.
1 – Go in with a positive attitude and make sure you have support in place (friends, family, etc) who respect what you’re doing and will encourage you.
2 – Make sure you’re getting enough sleep… if your body is exhausted or over-stressed the cleanse won’t be as effective and can actually be harder on your body, causing you to become sick
3 – Find out what (if anything) you are allowed to eat in addition to what is provided in your cleanse program and do your shopping before you get started; you might want to hide or throw out the temptations that are in your fridge and pantry as well (if it’s not there, it won’t be as tempting to cheat)
4 – Be grateful for each day as it passes… not only does it get you closer to the end of your cleanse, but it’s another day of good, healthy choices you’ve made for your body and your overall health and wellbeing!
5 – Be kind to yourself. If you realize you did something that wasn’t exactly to the letter of the law for your cleanse, forgive yourself and move on. The negative thinking won’t help you feel better.
6 – It seems that coming off caffeine (which most cleanses will have you do) is the hardest part, causing headaches and no fun on the first few days of the cleanse, so if you can cut down your caffeine gradually before the cleanse that should help. I cut out caffeine years ago and don’t have headaches or other withdrawal symptoms when I do cleanses or detoxes.
7 – The first few days will likely be the toughest (whether it’s the caffeine withdrawals or just getting used to not eating as much or the changes to your typical elimination expectations…) but it gets much easier after that, so hang in there!
8 – As most cleanses will tell you, drink lots of water (the plainer the better… juice and other flavors or additives reduce the capacity of the water to take out more toxins). Just cutting out bad foods alone isn’t going to clean anything out of you if you don’t have water flowing through for the toxins or other materials to catch a ride to pass out of your system.
Those are the main tips that come to my mind at this time. If you have any other questions or would like some suggestions for cleanses to try, feel free to contact me at jenny@epicrenewal.com
Happy Healthy New Year all!
Jenny