I get asked a lot of questions about my thoughts on various forms of detoxing and cleansing. With spring here, the theme of my posts have been all about weight-loss and detox. You can catch some recent ones here:

• Why It’s Harder To Lose Weight As You Age
• A Case Study on Inflammation, Food Sensitivities & Weight Loss
• 7 Detox Foods That Help With Weight-Loss

What Not To Do:

Under Eating

The research shows that under eating can have a couple negative effects. Firstly, it can slow your metabolism, because your body thinks it has to survive on less. Secondly, it can actually increase your cortisol - a stress hormone. Increased cortisol actually has a direct connection with weight GAIN, so not ideal!

In my experience and with my clients, restriction does not work in the long term. Unless you have super-human will power, which maybe 1% of you do, you actually may end up worse off after being very restrictive, by binging or resorting to your old habits very soon after.

What Helps:

Herbs

There are a number of different herbs and teas that can help support your liver’s natural detoxification process. 

Here are some of the best:

• Milk thistle
• Dandelion root
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Green tea

The only issue with just using these herbs is that supplements are truly supplemental. Without removing the foods that are difficult on your liver, you aren’t treating the root cause. 

What Will Really Work Long Term:

What works the best is to make this more of a lifestyle, and crowd out ‘the bad with the good’ and make cleansing & detoxing part of your every day. 

What does that mean? 

• Aiming for 6-8 servings of vegetables every single day.
• Having 2 servings of leafy greens and at least 1 serving of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc) daily
• Using natural detox foods - like these 7 Natural Detox Foods daily - particularly lemon!
• Removing sugar, even the more natural sugars like maple syrup and honey.

If you would like a FREE one week meal plan to help you eat this way daily, scroll down to the blue banner at the bottom of this post that says, “Eat Better. Feel Amazing” and grab it now!

Take It To The Next Level:

One thing I really like to do on a daily basis is include the Genuine Health Vegan Greens+ O either in my smoothie or in water. It’s a greens powder that has organic spirulina, broccoli sprouts, carrot root, apple peel, alfalfa grass, beet root, chia seeds, sunflower lecithin and so much more. It’s also got milk thistle seed extract, which is a fantastic liver loving herb.

Not only do these nutrients support your liver's natural detoxification, but you'll also notice an increase in energy! Just one scoop of this greens powder contains:

• 24x the alkalizing capacity of broccoli
• 11x the fibre of apples
• 62x the antioxidant capacity of green tea (WOAH!)
• 6x the vitamin K of alfalfa sprouts
• 5x the vitamin C of goji berries

Don't forget for those of you are gluten free, the Greens+ O is the type you want. The other greens plus powders by Genuine Health are not gluten free.

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What Will Happen When You Stick With This:

Awesome things will happen. You’ll feel:

• clearer minded
• craving-free (or way less)
• happier
• more confident
• flatter tummy
• more energetic

It does take some work though, and won’t happen overnight. Healthy eating is a lifestyle, and you have to stick with it to get results.

*This post was sponsored by Genuine Health, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.