Gentle Detoxing

Let’s get back to Spring Cleaning. We last discussed the role of lemon juice in the detoxification process. I hope you all went straight out and purchased a whole bag of lemons! I know I did.

There are numerous other ways to continue detoxing before starting a juice or Master Cleanse. A couple gentle (yet highly effective) versions are:

• An Elimination Diet
• 21 Day Cleanse By Kathy Freston

Both of these options are not about starving yourself, eating cardboard, or deprivation, but actually include eating whole delicious foods. The foundation for both options is to remove foods that are taxing to the body and promote inflammation. With this idea in mind, both encourage focusing on organic produce and the removal of caffeine, refined sugar, processed foods, gluten, and alcohol.

While these provide delicious and nutritious options, there are some important differences as follows:

• An elimination diet typically lasts 4-6 weeks and also includes the removal of dairy, vinegars, grains, citrus, shellfish, beef, and sometimes eggs, beans and nuts. As a result, an elimination diet would focus on seafood, poultry, vegetables, and fruit.
• Kathy Freston’s 21 day cleanse removes all animal products and focuses on a mostly vegetarian diet for a short period of time.

Even if you are not looking to actively start a cleanse, both of these are great options to try out in order to learn more about your body, sensitivities, and to just step outside of your comfort zone. You never know, you might learn something knew and even have fun while doing it! I have tried both and the results were amazing!