Nutrition – An inner Spring clean

Spring isn’t just a great time to tackle the cleaning projects around the house. It’s also a great time to focus within and spring clean your insides. There are many things you can do to boost your body’s ability to detox and, best of all, it doesn’t have to involve detox supplements, pills or potions (anyone remember the lemon juice and cayenne pepper craze from a few years ago?). Liver health plays a key role in your body’s ability to detox efficiently, so if you would like to put extra effort into supporting detoxification, show some love to your liver.  Here’s what you can do on a daily basis:

Cut back on alcohol: This is at the top of the list for a reason – it’s probably the most effective thing you can do for your liver. Alcohol is a toxin and your liver will prioritise removing it from your body as soon as possible. While this is happening, your liver won’t be doing other detoxification duties. Instead of alcohol, try drinking kombucha or kefir. Both are readily available in the supermarket and will nourish your gut and liver with lots of great bacteria and enzymes.

Reduce caffeine: If you are a heavy coffee drinker, reduce your intake and swap to herbal substitutes as often as possible. Green tea is a great option as it contains a compound called catechin which is known to assist liver function. Catechin is also found in smaller amounts in black tea, apples, dark chocolate and cherries.

Drink more water: I talk to people every day about their nutrition and water intake and it’s very common for people to either not drink water at all or only drink a bare minimum. Drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day is one of the best things you can do for your health. It’s easy, it’s free and adequate hydration is at the foundation of good energy and health. Increasing water intake will allow you to easily flush out unwanted toxins. 

Embrace detoxifying foods: Citrus fruits are great liver cleansers. Have a large glass of warm water with the juice of half a lemon as soon as you wake up. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage help your body cleanse toxins. Tumeric supports the enzymes in your liver that flush out toxins and detox heavy metals. Beetroot helps stimulate bile flow and boosts enzyme activity. Garlic is loaded with sulphur and selenium, which boost enzyme levels in the liver.

Support your body in gentle ways and let your liver do its job. You don’t have to buy special pills or supplements. Nature has given us all we need to be able to detox efficiently. Taking these actions will help your body do the best job possible.