Time for a Little Spring Cleaning!

Ok, its that time of year again... time to start thinking, or perhaps starting, some spring cleaning. I'm talking about spring cleaning our bodies here, not our houses, although that's on my mind as well. Its a good idea to do some sort of "cleanse" at least once a year, if not twice. I usually recommend spring and fall and, just like in cleaning our houses, you can either do just a bit or really go all out. If you do a search on the internet for cleansing you will most likely be bombarded with hundreds of ideas as well as multitudes of products. You can use products if you like (I like the RenewLife line of cleanses); however, no need to. The simplest thing you can do is to give your body a break from sugar, caffeine and processed foods. Try eliminating these for a week (better yet, two weeks) and you will feel the difference. The first couple of days most people report symptoms such as headaches, nausea, light-headiness, and perhaps fatigue. These are all normal and will go away and most people report feeling really great later on. Its amazing how many people don't realize how bad they are feeling once they start feeling good!

A really simple way to boost your cleanse is to add lemon water. You can do this on a daily basis for as long as you want or you can do it as part of your spring/fall cleanse. First thing when you wake in the morning, squeeze the juice of a fresh lemon into a glass of room temperature water and drink. Do just start with a few drops of lemon juice and each day add a little more until you're at half a lemon. This works to help cleanse the liver and any bile that was produced during the night as you were sleeping. The liver plays a huge role in our body's natural ability to cleanse itself. As a Holistic Nutritionist the liver is generally one of the first areas that I would address with a client. Finally, you can go all out as well. I usually suggest the Brown Rice Cleanse which is a more stringent cleanse that eliminates all dairy, meat, sugar, processed foods and caffeine for 14 days. Depending on the client, I sometimes allow fish such as salmon. It really isn't as bad as it sounds... well, perhaps. If you would like more information on this type of cleanse, please feel free to contact me.