Starting the New Year Off with a Detox

Hi All,

Every New Year people make resolutions and improving their health is at the top for many Americans including exercising more, eating healthier, and losing weight. After eating tons of holiday foods- many specialty holiday dinner dishes, lots of sweet treats, and drinking a few glasses of sparkling grape juice my stomach felt bloated, my digestion was terrible, I felt tired, and a bit grumpy. It’s a new decade and a time for change so here are the ways that I detoxed my body after this holiday season:

Warm Apple Cider Vinegar Water

Apple cider vinegar helps aid digestion and bloating. It is most effective to drink this first thing in the morning before eating breakfast.

Recipe:

Mix together 1 cup of warm water, 2 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar (with “the mother”- Bragg brand), and a bit of lemon juice (optional).

Hot tea

Drinking hot tea after a meal can help with the proper digestion of foods (especially meals high in fats). The three teas that I have been loving lately for detoxification are lemon ginger, peppermint, mint, and a liver detox tea. I learned about drinking hot tea to help with lipid digestion during my first visit to the restaurant Nakashima in Green Bay when they offer it to you before leaving the table.

If digestion is a huge issue, I would recommend drinking the Smooth Move tea from the brand Traditional Medicinals.

Coffee

There is nothing like a cup of coffee to help you wake up in the morning. Though coffee can help with digestion, it can also cause dehydration. When the body is dehydrated it holds onto water and this can cause you to store “water weight”. The best way to avoid water weight is to drink plenty of water throughout the day in addition to your few cups of coffee in the morning.

Fruits and Veggies

Eating clean, whole, raw foods are much easier for your body to digest and use as energy. Though it takes more fruits and veggies to fill you up in comparison to a bowl of mac and cheese, they will provide longer-lasting energy and also for those of you with a sensitive stomach like me, clean eating will help you not feel as “heavy” and “gross” after eating a large meal.

Some of my favorite/ easy ways to prepare veggies are chopping up some veggies (zucchini, squash, carrots, Brussels sprouts, etc.), coating them in a Tbsp of coconut or olive oil, sprinkle some seasonings over them, and popping them in my air fryer. After about 12 minutes at 390 degrees Fahrenheit, the veggies come out cooked perfectly and so flavorful.

If you don’t have an air fryer, balking veggies in the oven works just as well. In the oven, I like to make sweet potato fries or roast some garbanzo beans to pair with the veggies. Using different spices is a great way to get creative and switch up the flavors.

On the go with no time to cook up veggies or prepare some fruit, my two favorite things to take with me are raw bell pepper slices or an apple.

Fiber

Fiber helps promote digestion, and a favorite way to incorporate it into my diet is by making homemade protein balls. These are great for a snack or an easy on the go breakfast and allow for portion size control. Though Granola bars are delicious, I try to replace granola bars with these protein balls because oftentimes the store-bought bars are filled with carbs and unnecessary added sugars that aren’t mentioned on the front of the box.

Recipe: mix together 1 cup of dry oats, 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder, 2 Tbsp of chia seeds, and 1/2 cup of melted peanut butter (or the amount needed to make the ingredients stick together). Roll the ingredients together and store them in the fridge (allow to set in the fridge for about 20 minutes after rolling them).

Another way that I incorporate chia seeds into my diet is by adding them into a bottle of water or a smoothie, or making chia seed pudding (mix 2 Tbsp of chia seeds with water or milk and add toppings once the pudding sets).

Overall fiber is one of the most important things to incorporate into your diet to help promote weight loss. Some other foods that contain fiber are fruits and veggies, beans, grains, and nuts. In addition to chia seeds, some other favorites are strawberries, avocado, apples, bananas, carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chickpeas, quinoa, popcorn, and almonds.

Coconut Oil

Using Coconut oil as a butter substitute is a lifesaver. Coconut oil can suppress your appetite and also can help the body burn fat more easily. Typically when roasting veggies or cooking over the stove, coconut oil is my first choice because it is tasteless and not incredibly expensive.

The oils that you choose to cook with can make a big difference in the healthy vs. unhealthy lipid content of your food. Other healthy oil choices are avocado or olive oil.

Kombucha

Kombucha is a fermented tea that has tons of probiotics that help aid the body with digestion. A personal favorite is the trilogy flavor from GT's Synergy brand because it is one of the sweetest options and not overly fruity. Festival Foods Natural and Organic Department has a great assortment of kombucha flavors.

Water

Drinking lots of water helps flush toxins from the body. Infusing your water with strawberries, cucumbers, lemons or limes can add flavor as well as even adding in some zero-calorie sweetener to taste if drinking normal water gets boring can help you keep up with your water intake.

Sweat

Add a bit of exercise in your daily routine- getting the blood flowing and sweating out some of those toxins can really make a difference. I usually do mostly all bodyweight exercises. For example exercises like planks, crunches, leg and ab pulses, push-ups, etc. are what many of my workouts consist of and I like to also throw in resistance bands or small weights into the workouts as well. Building up endurance with cardio is important, but as a dancer, exercises like running or biking build up muscles that decrease flexibility so while many individuals strive off of exercises like those, I try to incorporate them only from time to time and use my dance practices as the cardio part of my workouts.

A great way to start working out if not having done it in a while is speed walking or using the elliptical, then work up to doing some bodyweight exercises (like the examples I listed) and higher impact cardio such as a jog or run.

Overall

Remember that these are just suggestions and things that I have found helpful for my body. Everyone's body is different and they need different nutrients, workout styles, and weight loss methods, and that is OK. There is no need to cut certain foods out of your diet, just eat them in moderation and often times there are healthy alternatives that can be added in place of some of the unhealthy ingredients in your favorite recipes (ex: coconut oil instead of butter, organic chocolate instead of artificial chocolate, etc.). My advice is to be aware of the foods that you are eating, unhealthy habits that you have, and to make the healthiest choice you can at the moment.