With the New Year now well over, it’s time to repair the damage done by the festive season and prepare for spring. If you’ve been overdoing the comfort food (and alcohol) then you might want to kick off with an apple cider vinegar detox. Done properly, a detox can help your body to reboot and regain its energy. Here are some tips to help.
Drink plenty of water
Fundamentally, a detox is about flushing toxins through your body. You want to give them a helping hand and water is perfect for the job. If you can’t face drinking pure water all the time, then try adding natural flavorings.
For example, try drinking fruit, green or white tea. Depending on your choice, these may bring their own benefits. You could also drink milks (including plant milks) and fruit and vegetable juices. Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
Make sure you get plenty of sleep
Your sleeping hours are the time your body takes care of essential maintenance tasks, including detoxifying. For it to perform these tasks effectively, it needs both tools and time. The actions you take in the daytime (e.g. drinking apple cider vinegar) will help to provide it with the tools. It is, however, also vital for you to provide it with sufficient time.
If your sleep pattern has been disrupted by the festive season, then it’s advisable to address this before you start your detox. Remember that it can take time to re-establish a sleep routine. You might also need to make some adjustments to your bedroom, or at least your bed so that they are optimized for high-quality sleep.
Be careful with salt and sugar
In the context of detoxing, the main reason for being careful with salt and sugar is that they are both difficult for the liver to process. It’s also worth noting that foods with a lot of salt and/or sugar tend to be highly processed. This typically means that they are tasty but of low nutritional value. Sugar is also high in calories.
With that said, both salt and sugar can be useful externally. They are both great for exfoliators and scrubs. If you have a bath, you can also put salt into your bath water to use as a soak. None of this will help with your detox itself but it can help to make you feel better in general.
Eat foods high in fiber and/or probiotics
Your digestive system has probably taken quite a beating over the festive season. It, therefore, deserves a bit of tender, loving care in the new year. Making sure you get plenty of fiber will help your digestive system to get itself moving again. This will also help with your detox.
Eating foods with probiotics (healthy bacteria) is good for your gut health in general. It, therefore, helps with your digestion. Probiotic yogurts can be a particularly good choice as they also deliver protein. In addition to being essential for muscles, protein also helps you to feel full. This can reduce your chances of harming your detox by giving in to snacking.
Find alternatives to your bad habits
Giving up things that are bad for you is notoriously difficult. People can spend their entire lives hooked on certain activities or substances.
The trick here isn’t necessarily to go cold turkey on your detox. Instead, it is to find things that are equally pleasurable but not as harmful.
For instance, finding an alternative to smoking cigarettes, such as vaping, can dramatically reduce health risks. You can also replace the sugar in your diet with natural whole food date sugar or even eliminate fat by replacing it with nut butter. Today, there are more options than ever before.