If you are trying to motivate yourself to eat healthier, sometimes cleansing and detoxification come to mind. Detoxifying is something your body does naturally, but it is important to remember that when we are detoxing, it’s not just about one practice. Let’s show you some ways to approach the idea of cleansing through some ingredients and lifestyle changes.
Drinking the Right Stuff
Water should be your drink of choice. Hydrating is going to help your kidneys flush out toxins, and water is a great way to help your body transport electrolytes through the system. If you have issues with digestion, this is where you can start to incorporate different juices to speed up the process. If you want to learn how to make aloe vera juice or tomato juice, these are great juices that can help you digest things easier, but we have to remember that juicing is only one part of detoxification. As a priority, you should have adequate water. After all, our body is made of approximately 60% water!
Limiting Processed Foods and Sugar
If we want to cleanse effectively, we need to speed up the digestion process. Sugar is one of the things that can mess with our glycemic control, which is where our body struggles to stabilize blood sugar, so we have issues with metabolizing things. And of course, if you have too much sugar and processed foods, it will lead to weight gain. Detoxifying is about allowing for healthy digestion, so, therefore, you need to “be a river rather than a dam” when it comes to the foods you eat.
Focus on Your Gut Bacteria
You need to promote helpful and healthy bacteria in your gut. There are more studies on gut bacteria than ever before, and as it is a crucial component to maintain our weight, as well as our health, we can consume more probiotics, such as kefir, but we should also start to load up on prebiotics. These are foods like onions, artichokes, and wholegrain foods that will feed the bacteria, and get your gut building up the good stuff.
Focus on Your Portions
If you are a quick eater, you’re not giving your body the time to digest. If you go for smaller and more frequent meals, start to eat these slowly, because you will then notice when your body is full. The best thing to do is to put your fork down in between bites, which can elongate the process of eating, but you may realize just how satisfied you will feel on a smaller portion. When in doubt, eat until you’re 80% full, which is the Japanese way.
Sleep Is One of the Best Cleansing Agents of All
We are in a sleep epidemic, and while we may not think about the correlation between detoxifying and sleep, you are going to reduce stress and inflammation to allow your body to function at its optimum. Creating a proper sleep schedule, by going to bed and waking up at the same time is vital.
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