Can you believe Christmas is next month?
So many preparations leading up to Christmas day… and yes it’s pretty exciting (I love the Christmas atmosphere) but also for many of us, it can also be stressful, demanding and just plain tiring.
So it got me thinking… there’s so much talk about ‘detoxing’ after Christmas (when the damage is done) and this just doesn’t make any sense in my opinion.
Detoxing is an over used ‘marketing’ term, which encourages us to think that it’s OK to wreck ourselves for period of time, because we can always ‘go on a detox!’
But I think we’re all realizing now that our health is really our number 1 value.
Without good health and energy, we can’t give to our families, we aren’t happy, we can’t enjoy our lives and every day is a struggle!
And is excessive over-indulgence ever worth how it makes us feel?
I mean… YES I absolutely love to indulge, sometimes, but if we are going to do this, we need to be putting a truck load of the ‘good stuff’ back into our bodies (and mind) the very next day!
Otherwise our health will head go down a slippery slide and before we know it, we’ve put on 5kg’s, we have congested dull skin and we have zero energy to boot.
As a very wise woman once said to me, we only get one shot at this thing called life and it ain’t a rehearsal!
Love it!
So… instead what about adding healing and energizing foods into our diet right now!
This will balance our gut health, boost our happiness and strengthen our immune.
The bonus? We’ll be able to ‘handle’ Christmas much more easily, feel and look great and have way less work to do in January.
I’m always a fan of ‘preventing’ rather than trying to mop up health issues and weight gain after it’s occurred as it’s much harder to do then.
Say no to a radical juice fast or colon cleanse which may stress the body (and our liver) even more!
Rather, cleanse the system and strengthen our health every day thing, by continuing to add in the good stuff (good food, good relaxation and good exercise.)
Health is a bit like a bank account. As we withdraw, we also need to be making lot of deposits and certainly saving up, so that we have a strong net position. The problem lies when we don’t deposit and save up our ‘health credits’ and we become ‘health bankrupt!’
So What’s The Plan? Here’s 4 Ways To Get Strong For Christmas…
1. No crazy juice fasting… Just eat (organic if possible) heaps of fresh salads and steamed green leafy vegetables (kale, collards, broccoli, silver beat, spinach, Asian greens) and have this with your grass fed protein or fresh fish. If you’re vegetarian, make sure you get your protein from foods like lentils, chickpeas, chia seeds, beans, tempeh, tofu and edamame.
The nutrients in green vegetables and salads have crucial plant fiber which cleanses our system daily and the antioxidants mop up nasty toxins which we ingest every day!
Add healthy oils (olive oil, coconut oil only) organic frozen/fresh berries, nuts, 2 tbsp of linseed meal to your smoothie, 2 pieces of fruit, fermented foods with every meal (sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir) and rehydrate all day! If you stick to this, you’ll be well on your way to feeling and looking great by Christmas.
2. Food Combining… you probably haven’t heard this term for years… but it’s really important for happy digestion.
Rule of thumb: Have Protein with green leafy veg (not starchy foods like potatoes, rice or pasta.) If you’re going to have these foods, eat with green leafy veg (not protein.) Eat fruit on an empty stomach.
The reason being, is we digest protein, fruit and starches differently. If you eat fruit with you protein for example, the fruit will take as long as the protein takes to digest (up to 24 hours) so the fruit will ferment in the gut (and in this case, fermenting is not good for us)
3. Add fresh herbs to your cooking and salads. Four of the best cleansing herbs from the garden are rosemary, sage, oregano and parsley. You can get other liver loving herb combinations of dandelion, red clover, stinging nettle, cilantro and milk thistle in supplements for health food stores.
4. Add daily exercise, deep breathing and dry body brushing, as this will also help cleanse and strengthen your health, by stimulating the lymph system.
So eating well every day (especially in the lead up to a Christmas, minimizing our toxic load as much as we can, and using special herbs and supplements to give ourselves a boost, are the most sane ways to keep our body clearing efficiently and running energetically, which is how we are meant to be.
You might be thinking we already know this, but sometimes it’s helpful to have a gentle reminder 😉
Meanwhile, if you have any questions on your own personal situation, go to the Nutrition For Life Community and ask me a question.
I’m here to help you.
P.S. Please share this reminder with your friends and family.
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