StyleNest team up with nutritional therapist, Natalie Lamb to bring you her top tips on how to spring clean your health.
If you’re suffering from the winter blues, start thinking about detoxing and spring cleaning your health to help beat those lingering long days and miserable winter weather. Here’s how to stay healthy this spring.
Spring is the perfect time to introduce a cleanse for the body after a winter of warming stews and hearty home-cooked meals.
As we emerge from the cold and wet winter season many wild spring greens start to grow in our fields and hedgerows. Spring dandelions, cleavers and nettles would traditionally have been consumed in soups, salads or juices. Even more reason to get outside and enjoy some long walks in the countryside or your local park. Gentle exercise such as walking or yoga is said to get the lymph system moving to help eliminate any waste products.
Tip 1. Theory behind Detoxing
The theory behind detoxing is to release any toxic build up in our body cells, it is therefore imperative that all our elimination systems are working well or these toxins will get stuck in the body causing symptoms such as jittery nerves, nausea, tiredness or acne. The body’s main elimination organs are the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin, lymph and bowel. Vegetable juicing and drinking hot water with lemon is believed to support liver function. Toxins produced from gut pathogens can put extra pressure on the liver so helping to rebalance the gut flora with a good multi-strain probiotic such as Bio-Kult would be advisable.
Tip 2. The Gut
Maintaining regular healthy bowel movements is essential to remove waste substances and toxins from the body – the ultimate goal of a detox. Many people experience more energy and a sense of general well-being after cleaning their bowel out. The consumption of high fibre foods such as vegetables and salads absorb the waste products, providing bulk to stools while adequate water intake helps the stool mass to stay soft and easy to pass. For those who don’t consume enough fibre in their diet or are undertaking a fast, psyllium husk is a gentle fibre supplement known to absorb much more water than other fibres. Having a balanced gut flora is important to ensure healthy regular bowel movements. Probiotic intake has been shown in studies to increase bowel movements by up to 50%.
Tip 3. Replenish
As some detox programs can bring with them fatigue it could be useful to support the body’s natural production of B vitamins which are essential for energy production in every cell in the body. As water soluble vitamins, they are only present in the body for a short time after consumption of certain foods. To ensure a constant supply of energy a healthy gut microflora supports B vitamin production to retain adequate levels and prevent fatigue.