Spring Cleanse Are You Ready by Dr. Sara Detox
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Spring Cleansing – Detoxification Benefits

After a long, cold winter, chances are you have overindulged. Are you considering Spring cleansing?

There’s no need to get down on yourself or feel guilty for eating dishes you couldn’t resist. After all, the holidays are all about family festivities, which almost always involves good food. And lots of it!

Now that you’ve enjoyed a few months of warm apple pie, hot chocolate and Netflix, it’s time to press the reset button.

Spring is an excellent season for a cleansing program, especially if your liver has been working overtime these past few months.

Not only can Spring cleansing help get rid of the holiday bloat, it’s an excellent way to get back into a healthy routine.

With seasonal shifts, our bodies need gentle cleansing – not the kind that involves drinking lemon water with maple syrup. By gentle, I mean using natural, organic herbs and eating a variety of delicious, nourishing whole foods.

When the right herbs are combined with specific foods, our body’s natural cleansing abilities are awakened.

All you have to do to support the detoxification process is provide your body with vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants.

In other words, as long as you prepare cleanse-friendly meals and snacks, the herbs will do the work. If you’re not too savvy in the kitchen, you can always join a community cooking class. Maybe it’s time to learn how to make food that is not only healthy, but tastes good too.

Since many people are turned off by the word “detox”, let’s start by acknowledging that detoxification does not mean deprivation.

For the last decade in my clinical practice, I’ve helped patients effectively remove toxins, while enjoying the foods they love.

The programs that I recommend are not liquid diets.

They do not involve counting calories.

I believe that counting calories does nothing more than improve math skills.

In this day and age, we should be counting chemicals, not calories.

Spring cleansing is recommended by naturopathic doctors (ND’s) to improve the health of vital organs, ensure optimal physical function, and support emotional wellbeing. Naturopathic doctors use food and detoxifying botanicals to strengthen the body’s immune system, improve digestion, and restore the body back to health.

It is not only used to promote optimal wellness, in many cases, detoxification is the first step in a treatment protocol as cleaning up the system is a key piece in healing.

Naturopathic doctors believe that the human body has the capacity to heal itself. What we eat profoundly affects our health.

This concept is not new.

In fact, for 2,200 years, medicine was practiced based on this exact same principle founded by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.

He believed in the healing forces of nature and he could connect any ailment to poor nutrition, toxicity in the gut, or vitamin deficiencies.

To this day, his philosophy has lived – “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Since diseases manifest and thrive in a toxic internal environment, it is imperative to support the body’s detoxification pathways – mainly the liver, the colon, and the kidneys.

Let’s review the five key principles of Spring cleansing.

  1. Reduce Toxins Coming In

The first step of Spring cleansing involves reducing exposure to external toxins. Avoid chemicals as much as possible and read all labels.

You may be surprised with some of the ingredients found in common household items, personal care products, and possibly some of your favourite goodies. Try to purchase natural and organic products in order to avoid pesticides, preservatives, additives, and harmful chemicals.

It’s best to avoid alcohol, caffeine, dairy, sugar, and refined starches.

  1. Enhance Toxins Moving Out

Hepatoprotective herbs support detoxification through the liver, which is the most important organ of cleansing.

Your liver works 24/7 to process almost everything you ingest, breathe, and absorb through your skin. The following three detoxifying herbs have been used universally to assist with the elimination of toxins.

  • Milk Thistle is used to support liver function, bile production, and bile flow. It protects the health of specialized liver cells called Kupffer cells, which remove toxins from the blood supply.
  • Dandelion Root has anti-microbial properties and promotes healthy bile flow, therefore assisting with the elimination of toxic waste.
  • Burdock Root is a nourishing blood purifier that assists with the excretion of impurities through various eliminatory routes, particularly the skin.
  1. Eat Foods That Support Spring Cleansing

Naturopathic doctors suggest nutrient-rich, easily digestible foods that fuel the body to boost toxin removal. Certain foods place a burden on the digestive system and slow down the elimination process.

It’s no surprise that a twelve ounce sirloin steak is more difficult to break down than an organic spinach salad.

You want to eat foods that support Spring cleansing, rather than hinder it.

Remember that the body requires the following nutrients to carry out important cleansing tasks – protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. Lacking in any one of these macronutrients can affect how your body is able to cope with the removal of toxins.

Think about the amount of energy that you need to clean your home.

Your body is no different. It also requires energy to carry out vital cleansing tasks.

During your Spring cleansing program, I encourage you to choose fiber-rich root vegetables such as beets. Beets contain pectin, a form of fiber that helps absorb toxins.

Antioxidants scavenge free radicals and prevent them from harming healthy cells in the body.

This is especially important since detoxification can wake up free radicals. Include a wide variety of nuts and seeds, lean protein, and healthy fats such as raw coconut oil and avocados.

Here is a list of recommended foods to include on your Spring cleansing grocery list.

  • apples, berries, and pears
  • Brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli and cabbage
  • sweet potatoes and squash
  • beets and parsnips
  • garlic and onions
  • Jerusalem artichokes and leeks

In addition, I recommend adding a variety of spices and herbs to your foods such as ginger, parsley, oregano, mint, cinnamon and turmeric. These herbs and spices not only carry a multitude of healing properties, they add plenty of flavor to your favourite dishes.

  1. Increase Your Intake of Fermented Foods and Probiotics

Fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir support a healthier gut. As you’ve probably heard, a healthy digestive system is fundamental since 70% of the immune system is in the gut.

In addition to eating fermented foods, supplement your diet with a high quality probiotic that may help improve immune function and replenish good bacteria.

Good gut bacteria protect the intestines from damage. They help keep toxins and undigested food particles out of the blood.

  1. Practice Meditation and Letting Go

Holding on to anything that no longer serves you could potentially impact your health. Negative emotions can affect your well-being all the way down to the cellular level.

Spend at least ten minutes a day clearing your mind and releasing negative thoughts. Practice yoga, go for nature walks, or read a good book while sipping fenugreek tea.

I’m a big fan of Ujjayi breathing. This special type of yoga breath can reduces stress, calm the mind, and strengthen the lungs.

This breathing technique can be very beneficial for eliminating respiratory waste during your Spring cleanse.

There are chemicals in our environment. In fact, over 75 000 on average.

As a result of these harmful chemicals, we have seen an increase in chronic health conditions and people are getting sicker every day.

The toxic load is becoming increasingly difficult to manage and unfortunately, toxic chemicals are showing up everywhere, from the sunscreen we slather on our skin to the detergent we wash our clothes with.

Although it may seem impossible to avoid these toxic substances, thankfully, Mother Nature has supplied us with all that we need to be healthy.

Dr. Sara Celik
Dr. Sara Celik is a Canadian licensed Naturopathic Doctor with 15+ years of experience serving patients in Ontario. She is a sought-after speaker and passionate leader in the Health & Wellness industry carrying a wealth of experience in the field of women's health and fertility.

Dr. Sara has appeared on multiple radio shows/podcasts, the W Network, Breakfast Television and CP24. For almost 5 years, she worked as the National Spokesperson for a well-known digestive wellness brand, educating across the globe on gut health. Dr. Sara has been named a rising star in Canada receiving the Generation Next award for her outstanding contribution to shaping the future of Canada’s grocery industry. She frequently contributes to large publications and has been published in Best Health Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Sweat Equity, Grocery Business, Inside Fitness, Canadian Living, Elevate, HELLO, and ELLE Canada.

Dr. Sara’s approach to healthcare is not as easy as taking a pill. The “quick-fix” approach is not one she subscribes to. While there’s a pill for just about everything, rarely do prescription drugs stop the course of disease - they merely mask symptoms. Dr. Sara believes true health requires a commitment from both the doctor and the patient.

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