It’s Spring, baby! So we asked nutritionist Teresa Cutter aka The Healthy Chef to share some kick-ass ways to kickstart your Spring detox.
By Teresa Cutter
Time to reset the body and make the most of all the fresh seasonal produce that’s available at this time of the year. It’s a great way to re-boot your system, assist your body in eliminating toxins, and boost your overall health.
A detox isn’t about deprivation or sipping on lemon water and tea all day. In fact, I recommend you incorporate healthy fats, proteins and carbohydrates when effectively detoxing. I believe making small healthy changes can lead to long-term positive results. For a healthy way to detox, I recommend implementing the below tweaks to your diet for at least one week and notice how you feel. I also encourage you to continue these tweaks beyond one week until they become daily habits.
“A DETOX ISN’T ABOUT DEPRIVATION OR SIPPING ON LEMON WATER AND TEA ALL DAY.”
1. Eat and drink green
This is a time for healthier eating. Sugary, fried, fatty and high carbohydrate foods put stress on the liver, so it’s best to keep your meals light and fresh, with a focus on green, nourishing foods such as dark leafy vegetables, cucumber, celery and avocados.
Raw juicing and smoothies are a great way to get a concentrated source of nutrition, which can help to regenerate cells in the body. It also allows your body to receive a plenty of phytonutrients that can’t be obtained by eating a large serving of fruits and vegetables.
2. Swap your coffee for matcha
Whilst a cup of espresso in the morning will definitely wake you up, it also elevates cortisol – your stress hormone. The caffeine from coffee is absorbed rapidly into the blood stream and effects last for only an hour. After that, you begin to feel your energy drop.
Matcha green tea is a fine green tea powder which also contains caffeine, however, it’s around half that of a regular cup of black coffee. The caffeine in matcha is also assimilated and absorbed very slowly (over six hours) giving you a long and sustained energy boost rather than a 60-minute spike.
Matcha helps to stabilise blood sugar and contains L-theanine, which is a rare amino acid that promotes a state of relaxation, supports the adrenal system and the way your body reacts to stress. This is a beautiful energising drink.
3. Cut the C.R.A.P
This is an acronym which stands for coffee, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods. If you’re not familiar with this term, it basically means enjoying real food; foods that are found in nature and that are full of antioxidants, vitamins and nutrition for optimal health and wellbeing.
It’s also important to ensure you are including quality protein sources in your diet. This is essential as your body needs adequate amino acids for the construction of enzymes and other molecules integral to how your liver breaks down toxins into smaller components to be eliminated from the body.
4. Drink water
You want to keep your digestive system moving and rid the body of excess toxins, so drink plenty of water. I always drink a few glasses of water with a squeeze of lemon in the morning as soon as I get out of bed.
Wheatgrass juice is also amazeballs. Studies from the International Journal of Chemical Studies show that wheatgrass juice is known to do all sorts of things like:
- Improve sleep
- Naturally regulate blood pressure and blood sugar
- Support weight loss
- Improve digestion and elimination
- Support healthy skin and slow cellular ageing.
There are so many beautiful benefits you can achieve when implementing all these tweaks for better health and wellbeing.
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