10 Ways To Prepare For A Detox
In the past I made the grave mistake of jumping into a detox right after the holidays and I'm guessing you know what holiday eating is like. Lots of yummy rich food, and in my family everything includes sugar, even the vegetables.
My first detox was a big lesson in what NOT to do. Although I had done what I thought was a decent amount of research, I don't recall any of my findings sharing that if I did not have a balanced diet as part of my lifestyle or if I enjoyed too much alcohol or caffeine, that perhaps jumping into a detox was not the best thing. Looking back, I'm like, "Ty you know a little about blood sugar levels, blood sugar spikes and so forth." Had I done the reasonable math, I think I would have been able to add 2 and 2 together to come up with, someone with my eating habits at the time should not have done an immediate detox. I experienced the most excruciating headache. I hadn't had a headache like that before and the detox was the only thing I could contribute it to at the time. I think my body was like, "Oh no you didn't" or "Oh no you're not going to go from feeding me all this good stuff to just drinking some juice." I'm no expert and can not say for sure what happened, but after further reading it seems others experienced shakes and headaches and more during a detox. After asking questions, I learned their daily habits were similar to or worst than mine when it came to their eating habits.
My daily eating habits now are pretty good, however I still have some things to work on. Last year, I got rid of my coffee pot {again, I had done so 10 years ago) after noticing some differences with my body. I was not drinking enough water, but was enjoying one to two cups of coffee a day. Yikes. My lips were dry and cracking, my skin looked sallow and the fine lines I was working on with moisturizer, well, let's just say I should I saved my money on my moisturizer purchase because my daily eating habits were counter productive in that area.
Last month, although my daily habits were decent (they've been far better) I had a super fun busy month packed with lots of free food which I indulged in each and every time. There was also lots of free alcohol which I also enjoyed. When I looked back at photos I was like wow. During one event alone, I enjoyed seven alcoholic beverages within five days. That's a lot for me. I also was not getting eight hours of sleep and that's coming from a woman who easily enjoys eight to ten hours of sleep. April was more like five to seven hours. And then my dessert photos from April, yum. Everything was so delicious. I even treated myself to a slice of my favorite key lime pie as an reward for accomplishing all but two of my April goals.
With the lack of sleep, delicious foods, desserts and sips of this and that, my body acted out a bit. I was understandably more tired, lethargic even on some days. Even when I did a sugar scrub for my body which typically leaves my skin with a nice glow, last month after my scrub, my skin still looked dull and dehydrated. My skin would also look like I had not applied a lick of lotion only a couple of hours after doing so. I think the biggest tell-tale sign was that I experienced some joint pain. That's pretty darn serious for me and a huge sign of inflammation in my body which some experts attribute to too much sugar or eating certain foods. So I was like, "Ty, you've gotta find a way to accomplish your goals for the blog, however must maintain healthy habits so you can cross the big finish line." I have these talks with myself sometimes. :) But really, it would be such a shame to put in a lot of hard work to only be too exhausted to cross the finish line, especially if all it takes is mindset, exercise and good eating habits.
I decided I had to come up with a plan to get my body ready for a detox. The plan I have devised for myself is to first prepare my body for a detox. Here are the 10 steps I will take this month to prepare for a detox the first week of June.
1. Drink 64 ounces of water daily.
2. Get 8 or more hours of sleep nightly {the body rejuvenates itself during rest, good rest, rise with the sun, sleep with the moon.}
3. Eat daily, balanced meals. Get a good idea of how much food from each food group you should consume here. And if you'd like to eat organically for your balanced meals, here are a few tips that may be helpful on eating organically on a budget.
4. Enjoy meals 3 to 4 hours apart. I read somewhere that waiting too long between meals causes blood sugar spikes that may contribute to weight gain.
5. Cut back on coffee and other caffeinated drinks. Perhaps enjoy one, ounce caffeine drink per week.
6. Enjoy only 1 alcoholic beverage per week or better yet none at all.
7. Exercise 4 to 5 days per week for 30 minutes or more each workout.
8. Do 1 to 2 seaweed wraps per week.
9. Do 1 to 2 sugar or salt scrubs per week. I prefer salt as salt can be detoxifying giving the benefits of some detoxing as well as exfoliation to the skin.
10. Do a detox bath weekly.
Enjoying balanced meals daily should be fairly easy. The source I like to use to determine what is considered a balance meal is Choose My Plate. You plug in information like your age, exercise activity and more, and it gives you a pdf of suggested amounts you should eat from each food group.
The spa part of it all, I so look forward to. I love a good seaweed wrap which is good for detoxing heavy metals from the body, plus I often sweat a little, loose a little water weight and get the extra added benefit of my skin looking radiant after I have a seaweed wrap. And the detox baths. Oh my goodness, yes. I love them. The bath products I like to use have a very nice and relaxing scent and whenever I use the ABRA bath products, I always get the most sound and peaceful sleep. Regarding the exercise, well, I'm just going to have to make it work. Gotta fit it in and just do it.
I'll share most of my journey as I prepare for June's detox here on the blog this month. I'm doing the detox to feel less sluggish, to have more energy, for more radiant skin and overall just to continue the journey toward being a healthier me so I can do the darn thing. I'm loving all of the opportunities the blog is affording me and I want to cross the finish line that I've set for myself. Although I'm not doing the detox for weight loss, I know that is often the goal. I therefore weighed in this morning before having my first bite of food or drink of water. Plus I took my measurements. I weighed in at 134 pounds. And my measurements were 31-33-38.
After the month of preparing for my detox, the detox that I will do is the 2 day juice fast using Arden's Gardens detox juice.
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