Once you’ve decided to do a cleanse and have found support from family or friends, it’s time to prepare your body. Diving headfirst into a cleanse can backfire, making you feel much worse than you should. Try our tips for before, after, and during a cleanse!
1. Taper In and Out
As implied by the title of this post, a cleanse requires more than just a few days of eating clean, juicing, or fasting. Since you are trying to detoxify, don’t fill it with junk right before or after your cleanse!
Three days to a week before beginning, eat a clean diet of organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Consider where your food is coming from. If you can’t afford everything organic, at least try to buy the produce on the “Dirty Dozen” list organic. For your proteins, make sure they aren’t factory-farmed animals. Fish is a great source of protein and omega-3’s, but also make sure you are eating low-mercury fish– you don’t want to add more heavy metals in your system as you prepare for or come off of a cleanse! Some people recommend completely cutting out all animal products, so consider what is feasible and healthy for your body.
Avoid caffeine, sugar, alcohol, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and all processed foods. If you are a daily coffee drinker, start tapering off in the weeks before, and the day or two before your cleanse, try to avoid all caffeine if possible. If it’s not, stick to green or white tea. And it goes without saying, don’t smoke before, during, or after a cleanse (if you still smoke, cleansing is a great way to begin quitting permanently!).
2. Drink Water
Water is always essential, but never more so than while cleansing. You will be eliminating toxins, which is done through bowel movements, urination, and sweat. All of those things cannot happen if you are dehydrated. The right amount of water will depend on your unique physiology, but drink enough that your urine is very pale or almost clear.
3. Exercise
Since your skin is actually a major organ, elimination through the skin via sweat is very important. The best way to keep everything moving throughout your body while you cleanse is, well, to move! If you are juice fasting, it is probably not the best idea to do very intense workouts since you will not be feeding yourself many calories, but you can do whatever form of gentle exercise feels right to you. Walking, yoga, tai chi, swimming, or leisurely biking are all good ideas.
4. Stimulate Circulation and Elimination
In addition to exercising, you might want to take some other measures to get your systems moving. Dry brushing your skin can help stimulate your lymphatic system, remove dead skin cells, increase circulation, and might even improve the function of internal organs. You can also get a massage to help encourage circulation, relax your body and mind, and get energy moving. Finally, visit a sauna before, during, or after your cleanse (or preferably all three). Sweat out some toxins in a warm, soothing environment and to indulge yourself a bit.
5. Sleep
Like these other suggestions, sleep is always important, but especially so while challenging your system during a cleanse. In order for your body to do the best job it can of elimination, it needs to be properly rested. If you need help improving your sleep, check out our blog posts about herbal sleep remedies and 5 free ways to improve your sleep hygiene.
Cleanse preparation before you start a detox program is always important! Follow our tips to have the best experience.
Next, look out on the Peach Vitamins blog for when not to cleanse.