The holidays are well and truly over, the kids went back to school, and you might be going back to your ‘new routine’. I say ‘new’ because most of us haven’t really gone back to ‘normal’, and we need to continue to adjust to this new ever-changing chapter in our lives.
I know many people struggle around this time and now the shadow of Covid still looming on us doesn’t help. Things are somehow still unsettled and as we leave warmer, longer, and sunnier days behind, it might be hard to remain positive.
Autumn, however, has always been regarded as an important time to focus on our health, to cleanse and purify our bodies to promote wellbeing.
Just as the trees start to shed their leaves, why don’t you make this the time you shake off the indulgences of the summer and the previous lockdowns so you can strengthen your system, energise and boost your resilience for the winter months?
You could be worrying about the threat of another lockdown, the dangers of Covid, the side effects of the vaccines and so on but why not focus on what you can do to support your body’s natural ability to keep balanced, strong and ready to face whatever life throws at it?
You might associate the term detox with the month of January, when people embark on crazy restricted diets in a desperate attempt to undo the damage of the holidays, but a gentle Autumn cleanse is just as effective and, in many ways, a much better and sensible option to get you ready to welcome the winter season feeling lighter, rejuvenated and with stronger immunity.
The benefits of an Autumn cleanse include losing weight, lowering inflammation, boosting metabolism, restoring a healthy digestion, reducing the bloat, improving sleep, and having glowing skin.
And before you get worried, please know that cleansing and detoxing doesn’t have to mean starvation and deprivation. Just tweaking your current diet now, can have profound effects on your physical and mental wellbeing for the months ahead.
So, what can you do, starting today, to gently detox your system?
Here are my seven top tips:
- Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables like greens and salad to make sure you introduce lots of fibre (so your bowels work well) and powerful antioxidants to strengthen various body system and add a healthy glow to your skin. Choose organic if you can.
- Eat oily fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel at least 2 or 3 times a week.
- Eat 25g of nuts/seeds a day.
- Eat regularly, 3 main meals a day are enough for most of us. Only add 2 snacks (mid-morning and afternoon) if you are truly hungry.
- Drink a minimum of 2 litres of filtered water a day.
- Add autumn spices when you are cooking such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to aid digestion and boost circulation.
- Avoid or limit caffeine (you can swap your regular coffee with green tea which has lots of antioxidants so it’s a better choice if you still need a caffeine kick), red meat, dairy, artificial sweeteners, sugar and high GL foods like cakes/biscuits/chocolates, wheat, starchy carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice, bread) and alcohol.