Wow. The weather this past weekend really knocked my socks off! The warmth and sun has made me into a new woman!
And like I do every year when the earth begins to warm and spring buds start popping up everywhere, I get spring cleaning fever. Not just in my home (although I spring cleaned all our closets over the weekend and that felt super good!) but also I want to spring clean my body, from the inside out.
I know there are a million ways to do this… raw food diets and clean diets and fasting and liver cleanses and colonics and a million amazing and worthwhile AWESOME ways to feel like you are starting this spring with a fresh start.
Clara made a volcano out of paper mache outside in the sun…
…while Miles used the hose and lots of wood blocks to make chain reactions and dams and mazes for the water!
For me, I go with a very easy and very simple detox.
You won’t need to buy one thing except spend a few bucks on one bottle of apple cider vinegar (with the “mother” — Braggs makes a good one and is easy to find in any grocery store.)
So if you aren’t wanting to make over your entire diet, or spend a lot of money, or even invest a lot of time, I’ve got the perfect spring detox for you… here is my one week plan:
1. Start and end each day with 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar in a cup of hot water.
Just for one week, I substitute my normal chai tea or coffee with this… it’s always a shock to me how badly this tastes the first day, and how much I actually enjoy it by the end of the week. Adding honey helps.
If you are super brave, you can try 1 TBSP instead of a teaspoon… I just can’t go there.
2. Take 2 or 3 detoxing baths this week.
Spending some time honoring my body and all it’s done for me over the past year, I light a candle, throw in a handful of bath salts to help with the detox, a 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar, and hot hot water. I love these baths. They help ground me and detox me and connect me to appreciation, all in one 20 minute soak. For the week of my detox, I skip showers and take several long baths instead.
I start by dry brushing my skin (I just use a natural bristled hair brush to sweep along the skin of my arms, legs and torso) to get my circulation up to my skin and intensify the detox.
If I need to wash my hair, this is the one week where I’ll actually take the time to bring a pitcher into the bath, my shampoo and conditioner, and wash my hair in the tub… pouring the water over my head to rinse and clearing my mind. Heaven!
3. Sleep.
No staying up late this week. Especially since I don’t have my morning coffee to lean on. I go to sleep when my kids go to sleep and stay there.
4. Lots of fruit juice… freshly squeezed.
Lots of freshly made apple juice, apple/carrot juice, and apple/strawberry.
Yum! This is not only great for the vitamins and fiber and hydration… but helps gently encourage going to the bathroom… a natural colon cleanse on a very minor scale.
Stay away from the store bought juice or any juice that is clear or made from concentrate… we are talking the cloudy type of juice from fresh fruits and veggies.
5. I up the fish oil this week.
Fish oil isn’t the most fun supplement to take… between the burps and the smell and the taste it’s just no fun. But for one week, I up my fish oil intake to about 6,000 mg a day or so.
This helps on so many levels… I feel it going to every organ in my body and nurturing it… from my brain to my arteries. Making everything supply and strong and enriched. I even can see the effects all the way to the outside of my body, as my skin softens and moisturizes and calms. My muscles stop holding tension and my chronic neck and shoulder soreness evaporates.
I love a good fish oil tune up… it’s like going to Jiffy Lube for your car… I guess it’s Fishy Lube for your body.
6. Drink tons of water.
Enough said.
Loading up the volcano…
That’s it!
I don’t try to make over my life or even my diet… still eating the same foods I am drawn to eat and respecting what I feel good about putting into my body. Which involves mass quantities of chocolate, no doubt. I’m too busy spring cleaning my house to worry about changing my entire lifestyle around.
All I do is an easy peasy apple cider vinegar cleanse… that’s two cups of hot apple cider vinegar “tea” each day, and a detox apple cider vinegar bath (or two or three) throughout the week. A goal of drinking more water and more fresh fruit juices each day, sleeping better, and supplementing with lots of fish oil.
And there you have it! A new body! Okay, maybe not a new body… I’ll leave that to more dramatic things like fasts and diets and retreats and such.
But it is a fine tuning, a spring cleaning, from the inside out. And that feels good to me.
If you are looking to take it up a notch, my hubby endorses several great detox products including a liver essentials powdered drink mix and a detox essentials vitamin pack that supports a deeper, two phase liver detox.
If you like bling, come back on Wed to see my latest, most-blingy-est jewelery yet! xoxo
Success!
