Taking the time to detoxify your body can help you feel better after binge drinking and, if done in a healthy and intentional way, can also help you make healthier decisions in the long run. The truth is, bouncing back from the holidays, a fun weekend, or any other event can be a difficult transition to manage. Especially at this time of year when your body may be craving heavy, rich foods and sweets.
While there’s no one-day fix for binge eating — detox diets are a scam — hitting the reset button once in a while can help.
Here are 10 ways to help cleanse, deflate, and get your diet and health back on track that you can put into practice right away.
Start your day with lemon water
Start your day by waking up with a glass of warm or cold lemon water. The pectin in lemon aids digestion, helping to make lemon a phenomenal detoxifying food. Lemon water also helps reduce appetite and increase satiety.
Energizing your digestive tract sounds like a great way to start the day, right? The bonus is the little lemon wedge dancing in your cup, which reminds your brain, «Hey, I’m making healthy choices today!»
Eat a healthy breakfast
After water, stock up on food. Eating breakfast will benefit your metabolism after a night’s sleep. Plus, taking time out of your morning to intentionally fuel your body is a great way to build trust with yourself when it comes to your health. The only way to prove to yourself that you are ready and willing to take care of yourself is to take care of yourself.
When doing a mini cleanse, my advice to clients is to skip bread, cereal, or any other version of these for breakfast, as they will cause your body to retain more water, and instead focus your attention on protein, which will provide satiety. . An egg and salmon scramble is the perfect combination of protein and metabolism-boosting omega-3s to start the day. Or if you’re on the go, opt for an easy, gut-healthy smoothie instead.
Clean up your diet
Be sure to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and at least one snack – absolutely no skipped meals! — and make sure they contain only real, whole foods. Eating regularly throughout the day will help lay the foundation for continued healthy eating. I’m talking lots of vegetables, lean proteins such as grass fed steak, chicken, fish, eggs and healthy fats from nuts, seeds or olives, avocado or walnut of coconut.
Ditch packaged and processed foods today, even the «healthy» versions. This will ensure that you eliminate excess sodium, artificial ingredients and sugar from your diet. Also, ditch the salt shaker and only use herbs and spices to flavor your food. You’ll find that it can help make a big difference in how you look and feel, even after a day!
If you find it hard to avoid snacking on overly processed packaged foods or giving up sweets, try to remember that you don’t have to do this forever. Start with a day. If you can manage an entire day without the promise of Cheez-Its, take it one meal at a time. Tell yourself that you will eat healthy for one meal, then try to repeat that at mealtime.
Planning and preparing meals in advance – it’s easier than you think! – might help you resist last-minute temptation. It’s much harder to justify the wait in the fast food drive-thru, after all, if you’ve already made a gorgeous, delicious salad.
Enjoy a cup of tea
Drink a cup of dandelion root tea with your afternoon snack. Believe me, this one is important. Dandelion can help improve digestion, and being properly hydrated is linked to everything from a healthy metabolism to energy and good skin health. If dandelion isn’t your thing, try green tea for an antioxidant and metabolic boost.
Try not to rush to prepare or drink tea. You don’t have to be fancy, but try to make room for the extra few seconds it will take to choose a cup of tea you like and savor the aroma and flavor. Tea time is a ritual in many cultures and making room for self-care rituals is a great way to clear some mental and emotional cobwebs.
Move your body
The increase in your heart rate means an increase in blood flow. This, in turn, will help your body eliminate toxins on its own. You don’t even have to go to a gym to sweat it out, here’s a quick workout I do just about anywhere. The key here is to get your heart rate up, sweat it out, and have a better mindset to kick it up a notch tomorrow.
Try twisting to relieve tension and aid digestion
Most Americans spend a lot of time hunched over. We hold our phones in front of our faces and reach for steering wheels and computers. Basically, we don’t do much twisting in our daily lives. And since our spines are made to twist, the result can be tension in the muscles of the spine – and sluggish digestion.
You might be wondering what twisting your spine has to do with digestion. Well, a lot of the organs we use to digest food are in the abdomen – like the intestines – and the twisting motions help them work efficiently. Basically, the twist can literally help move things along the intestinal tract. So if you want what you’ve eaten to get out of your body efficiently, twists are a good way to start.
Do some breathing exercises
Feeling too full — or like you haven’t treated your body the way you’d like — can be stressful. One of the fastest ways to relax is to use breathing exercises. A recent study followed participants of a breathing workshop. What they found was that learning calming breathing techniques helped people reduce feelings of anxiety immediately. Not only that, but these same participants reported feeling more social connectedness after 3 months. That’s a lot of benefits for something you do anyway!
We have some great guided breathing instructions, but if you want to do it yourself, that’s fine. You are definitely a breathing expert!
A simple way to use your breath to calm your body and mind is to simply slow it down. You can also introduce a pause between breaths and, for maximum benefit, make your exhale longer than your inhale. Counting your breath—either the time of inhales and exhales, or each breath cycle—is also a great way to give your mind something to focus on that isn’t your misfortune.
End your shower with a jet of cold water
Although it may not seem so comfortable, ending your shower with a blast of cold water is an instant way to feel energized. Not only that, but cold water can reduce inflammation and some experts believe it can boost the immune system.
In a recent study, people who showered in cold water for 30, 60 or 90 seconds had 29% fewer sick days than those who didn’t. It’s hard to say whether these people were actually less sick than their hot shower counterparts or just didn’t feel sick enough to call, but either way, the evidence suggests that people who take a cold shower feel healthier than those who don’t.
Turn off your phone
Most of us are inundated with constant notifications. All those beeps and buzzes have an immediate impact on. your mental and emotional state and a long-term impact on your health. An ongoing study since 2015 – called the Do Not Disturb Challenge – asks participants to turn off their phones for 24 hours. What they discovered is that many participants immediately notice that they feel less stressed when their phone is off. So much so that two-thirds of participants decide to make turning off their phones a regular practice and, after two years, maintain a lower propensity for distraction and stress.
Why not take on the 24 hour challenge without your phone? If that seems too difficult, you can start by turning off your notifications. Another recent study shows that just hearing the sound of your phone immediately hurts your productivity. If you want to detox your body and mind, you can start by trying to keep your attention on what’s really important to you instead of your phone.
Try meditation
There is no single panacea for all your ills, but meditation seems to be about as close as it gets. The benefits of meditation range from reducing anxiety to decreasing symptoms of everything from IBS to PTSD.
Listen, a few minutes of meditation won’t make all your problems go away, but it can help you feel good about yourself. If meditation seems daunting to you, just try sitting quietly with your eyes closed for a minute. A minute could be the first step to a lifelong meditation practice or it could be nothing. It’s okay, it’s just a minute.
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This article originally appeared on TODAY.com