Five Top Tips for a Successful Detox

The guests have left, the decorations are down and it’s back to work – January can be hard to stomach, quite literally if you’ve fuelled the festive period with enough food and booze to last a lifetime! But it’s also the perfect time of year to regroup, refresh and begin to repair any damage following the festive season. Whilst there’s no magic reset button, giving your body all it needs to encourage its natural detox processes will help you to have a healthy start to the year. Stephanie Masterman, nutritionist at plant-based protein brand FIT DELIS (www.fitdelis.com) shares her top tips on how you can make the most of your January detox.

1. Don’t Starve Yourself!
Forget living on green juices and fresh air, detoxifying is about giving your body all it needs – not starving it of every worldly pleasure. The food we eat provides our body with the nutrients it needs to detox, so starvation diets make it impossible for our detox organs to function properly. Your liver, lungs, kidneys, gut and skin all work in synergy to rid the body of toxins, but each needs different nutrients to work efficiently. Restricting your diet to only a handful of foods and omitting entire food groups will drive nutrient deficiencies and slow-down this natural detox process. Forget fad diets and fasting, a whole host of nutrients are essential for detoxification – going without them will do you more harm than good! Find out what foods work for you and your body.

2. Don’t Waste your Money
The turn of the year is the busiest period for the health and fitness industry. There’s no end to adverts and promotions enticing us to join gyms, invest in new fitness trackers and lace-up expensive running shoes. Whilst there’s nothing more important to invest in than your health, for every genuinely great detox product there’s one hundred more that will be of no benefit at all. Packages of teas, powders and capsules which offer a one-stop solution to detoxing should be scrutinised carefully. Many contain a whole host of synthetic compounds and nasty additives that are hard for our bodies to absorb and utilise – and may have no effect whatsoever. Choose supplements made using all-natural ingredients such as FIT DELIS and their 100% natural plant-powered superfood shake THE DAILY (available to buy from Fit Delis).

3. Know your Nutrients
Our bodies have evolved over thousands of years to remove harmful waste products and to naturally detoxify. Foods high in vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and antioxidants will all support your body’s natural detoxification process. Here’s our pick of the best five plant-based foods to support a natural detox:

• Citrus Fruit – Lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit all provide a whopping dose of Vitamin C – a powerful antioxidant that detoxifies free radicals before they can build up as toxins in the body
• Green Tea – High in ‘catechins’, compounds which have been shown to boost the production of detox enzymes
• Beetroot – Contains high amounts of ‘betanin’, a compound which activates antioxidant enzymes in the liver
• Nuts and Seeds – These are a source of healthy fats which our body needs to fuel the whole detox process, we also need these to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) – all essential for detoxifying
• Berries – High in insoluble fibre, berries help to remove waste through the gut – along with the toxins in contains – they’re also the best low-sugar fruit option for a detox double-whammy!

4. Don’t Expect Miracles
The wild and exaggerated claims of the food industry only feed the high hopes of New Year detoxers. With promises of dramatic weight loss and diets that will leave you looking ten years younger, if you believe everything you read you’ll soon be out of pocket. One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. In pursuit of instant fat loss, dieters embark on liquid diets, very low calorie ‘cleanses’ and even resort to fasting. What may look great on the scales after a matter of weeks is nothing but a loss of water, glycogen stores and even muscle. Losing weight fast is not only unsustainable but comes with health risks and the long-term likelihood that you’ll gain weight. As for promises of banished wrinkles, glossy hair and endless energy – these are all dubious claims to say the least! Following a healthy lifestyle with good food, plenty of exercise and avoiding things that are bad for us is the best way to promote looking as well as feeling good.

5. Start As You Mean To Go On
Whether you want to lose weight, get fit or just feel healthier in yourself – a January detox is a platform for a healthier lifestyle, not a temporary quick fix with instant results. Starting the year as you mean to go on will introduce healthier habits that will help you to stay well in the long-term. Avoiding toxins in the first place is a great way to begin your detox. It will help you to live without the harmful and addictive substances that may be holding you back and causing your body damage.
Limiting your intake of the following is a good place to start:
• Sugar – Provides no nutritious value other than energy, these empty calories can raise blood sugar levels, damage teeth and create chronic cravings
• Caffeine – In moderation, coffee has many health benefits, but high caffeine intakes can have negative effects on our mood, sleep and anxiety levels – if you’re a coffee addict, try limiting yourself to 2-4 coffees per day
• Alcohol – Needless to say, drinking too much booze can leave us dehydrated, low in energy and lacking concentration – not to mention overloading our liver and making it harder to get rid of other toxins
• Processed foods – Most are full of nasty non-nutrients like trans fats, preservatives, additives and salt – cooking from fresh and avoiding convenience foods is a good way to swerve these