In addition to my cooking show
and inspiring people to healthy, quick meals via this blog,
I see personal health coaching clients.
A lot of clients have been coming to be recently complaining about
holiday weight gain and drinking too much over the holidays.
January is definitely a good time for a
restart. But is a juice cleanse necessary
to kickstart healthier habits? I mean, in NY, it’s FREEZING out —
do you really just want to drink juice all day…for a week?!
It’s totally up to you, but I’ve got something a little more exciting to entice you:
What if you incorporated 5 simple things to do on a daily basis to
help you cleanse naturally?
No need to spend $60 per day on juices.
I’ve put together this for you:
5 Simple Detox Tips Without a Juice Cleanse:
1. Every morning in the shower give yourself a 23 second massage. 23 seconds – that’s it!
Massage helps get the blood and lymphatic system moving,
which is in charge of revving up your metabolism, banishing cellulite, and detoxing.
So, during your warm shower when you’re lathering on your body soap, give yourself a 23 second massage.
Start with your calves – a massage (2 sec on each leg). Then, work up the back and into your inner thighs (5 sec per leg).
Then, head up to your stomach and massage in a clockwise motion down the left side of your stomach,
around and up the right side of your stomach in a circular motion (for 5 seconds).
Then, pump your hand up into each armpit (using the opposite hand with the tips of your 4 fingers for 2 seconds).
Then, make your way up your head and massage your entire scalp (for 5 seconds).
Getting the blood and lymphatic system moving will help move toxins out of your body
AND energize you for an awesome day ahead.
And then put on a cozy or silky robe and get ready for the day!
2. Add a dash of greens to breakfast.
We all know that juices are the craze and at the forefront
of detoxes and cleanses. Juices are easy to consume AND they hit the blood stream fast.
But how can we detox and cleanse while ADDING healthy things to our life? To get the
same healthy benefits of greens, add a dash of spirulina to your morning smoothie or oatmeal. It will turn your
food a beautiful green (and maybe even your teeth too, but a swish with water will fix that).
1 tsp every morning is all you need to kickstart this healthy habit.
3. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar to your water
during lunch.
To detox means to rid your body of toxins. The easiest
way to do this is through your urine. So it’s important to make sure that you’re intaking
lots of liquids to get rid of all of the accumulated toxins in your bod. I recommend
drinking half your body weight in ounces of water, plus a tsp of organic apple cider vinegar around lunch to help hydrate, detox and add alkalinity to your body.
4. Add squats to every bathroom break.
I’ve been so tired lately and haven’t been getting to the gym
as much as I would like. Instead of getting down on myself for not exercising at all,
I’m figuring out creative ways to incorporate exercise into my day. And this is my favorite:
10 squats every time you go to the bathroom! Finish peeing, put your skirt or
pants back on and get that butt in shape with just
TEN simple squats! If you don’t know how to squat correctly, check out #3 (chair kicks) and #4 (Squat Pulse) from Jen Selter, the queen of the #squatspo on instagram.
Or, do this warrior pose (in the bathroom) and hold for 10 seconds.
5. Add a dash of spice to dinner.
I swapped my microwave for my spice rack, so I have room for a ton
of spices. Some of my favorite detoxing spices are:
cinnamon – this popular spice is anti-inflammatory
so if you want to fight belly bulge, keep at your desk and sprinkle on your morning yogurt, in your
afternoon latte or onto some pumpkin seeds. It also makes everything taste a little sweeter, so sprinkle into
baked goods when you bake your next batch of cookies!
cayenne – makes everything spicy. Creates heat in the
body and also helps rev up your metabolism, so its great to add to dinner when it’s winter and you’re freezing.
turmeric – this odd yellowy spice helps ward of colds
and infections. Add to salad dressing, lentil soup or pizza for a healthy kick in the A$$.
ginger – fresh is best, but you can use the dried version as well.
In nutrition school, they called it “nature’s antibiotic” so load up when you want to cleanse and rev up your immunity.
Add some to boiling water and make this fresh sweet and spicy tea for a warm treat after dinner!
Hope you’re feeling cleansed already!
be detoxed. be cleansed. be natural.
xo
be well,
arielle
