New Year, New You Challenge #14– April 5, 2010

Week Fourteen: April 5, 2010

Challenge: Cleanse Your Body!

There are certain times of the year where we may find ourselves indulging in certain food and drink products a little bit more!  Refined sugars, a few more alcoholic beverages than normal, or more caffeinated beverages and food products to kick that fatigue that may be settling among us.  It is important to understand that although it is OK to have a few extra chocolate mini eggs, or an extra drink or two while catching up with an old friend or enjoying a family meal, we need to then take the time to allow our body’s systems to balance out to ultimately function at their optimal abilities.  When exposed to certain toxins, not only from the foods we eat, but also from our environments, these toxins may build up in our body’s tissues and in our bloodstream, possibly leading to decreased energy and/or health complications.

Detoxification is defined as a “process of clearing toxins from the body by neutralizing or transforming them into harmless substances”.  There are many types of detoxification diets, and I, by no means, am asking you to restrict your diets from essential nutrients we need to function and be able to perform our daily activities with.  Instead, I would like you to take a look at your diets this week, (or maybe what we indulged in over the long Easter weekend), and make note of the number of times we make food choices including refined processed sugars (carbohydrates), alcohol, caffeine and even nicotine for that matter.  Next step – kick it!  Instead of reaching for a chocolate bar or bag of chips to curb your mid-day hunger strike, choose a fresh fruit, yogurt, whole grain wrap with peanut butter or a small handful of almonds. 

Again, it’s important to stress that I’m not asking you to jump into the latest detox diet that’s out there (as mentioned above, there are a number of dietary restrictions on those detoxes).  Most prolonged detoxification regimes can strip away the lining of essential cells and organs and decrease the amount of crucial enzymes we need in our bodies to help to digest the food we eat, ultimately putting additional stress on our bodies. (For example, it is possible for our bodies to stop producing the enzyme lactase, which digests the milk sugar lactose, if we do not feed our body sources of lactose for a long period of time.)

Finally, you can make small adjustments to your diet to help balance the levels within our body systems and further help eliminate those “substances” we don’t need to function at peak levels.  Here are some tricks to try out this week:

• Have ½ lemon squeezed into 1 C water (room temperature or boiling) at some point during your day, preferably in the morning when you wake up
• Include some form of physical activity during your week that gets your heart rate up and allows you to sweat!
• Stay hydrated by drinking PLENTY of WATER!
• Add an extra serving of fiber each day from sources such as Bran Buds, Fruit with the skin on, ground flax seed or psyllium fibre
  • Remember, with fibre, we do need water!
• Give your body good-quality sleep each night – we get the best sleep between 10 PM and 4/5 AM

Make these little adjustments, and you will feel more energized and ready to take on the next day!