Spring is here and the buzz is around detoxing,  fasting and fad diets to get in shape and lose weight. If you want to avoid someone else’s harsh and rigid diet plan, torturous master cleanse or 30 day fast; try a gentle approach and achieve lasting results. A gentle approach now will last all through the year – all through your life. It will produce life changing and health enhancing effects to your body, mind and spirit that will improve every part of your life experience.

The life changing health improvements include a good digestive system which regularly cleanses the body of toxins, absorbs nutrition from your foods while maintaining a stable blood sugar level.  When all of this is in sync, you will not need to subject your body, mind or spirit to a detox or cleanse or fast.

When your body is functioning properly, you are naturally more healthy, more calm and more in tune with your world. Your mind is clear and your spirit shines through your skin, your work, your relationships – you are more at ease with body, mind and spirit united as one gentle yet strong life force.

So, before you start a drastic cleanse to punish yourself for the ’bad’ foods you consumed over the winter, check these few things in your diet.

Water Consumption

Are you drinking enough pure water? Well how much is enough is as individual as you are, but here are a few tell tale signs that you are or aren’t hydrated enough:

If you are drinking enough water:

• Your skin is vibrant with an even tone and a soft silky texture;
• Your nails are strong and flexible
• Your energy level is stable;
• Your muscles are flexible;
• Your digestion is smooth – eliminations are regular;
• Your memory is good.

If you have an issue with any of these points, try drinking 2-4 glasses of room temperature water first thing in the morning.  You can add the juice of a lemon for extra cleansing power.

Continue drinking water throughout the day. You need at least 8 full glasses a day. Keep in mind, everybody is different and some need more – very few need less to function optimally.

Also remember that if you consume toxins from processed foods or eat too much sugar, water helps you to flush them out – so drinking water after such an incident will speed up the cleansing.

Water also boosts your metabolism – it helps you lose weight by helping you burn calories.

Drinking a glass of water 10 or 15 minutes before a meal, curbs your appetite too. This is the simplest, healthiest way to control how much you eat.

Adding water to your diet is a painless way to maintain a healthy weight.

If you find that you drink 8-12 glasses of water a day, but still have issues with your digestion, your skin or your energy, you may not have enough fiber in your diet.

Fiber

If you live on the Modern World Diet of processed foods, you probably do not eat enough fiber. You c an ad fiber to your diet that is low calorie and nutritious from the garden from fruits and vegetables as well as from grains, seeds,  and legumes. Raw and ground are great ways to preserve the nutrients but you can also find good choices in baked goods (such as low sodium sprouted grain breads and cereals) or in supplement forms such as flax seeds or oil. The same vegetables and fruits that provide fiber also curb food cravings. If you have food cravings that are from hunger, rather than from emotional issues, lack of  creativity or boredom,  they probably come from a blood sugar imbalance, and that is solved by adding greens, sweet vegetable and fruit during the day. Try adding a sweet green veggie smoothie in the afternoon if your cravings come in the evening; in the morning if they come in the afternoon.

Still feel like you are not getting the toxins out? Is your skin still dry, flaky, or dull? Hair is limp and the tummy is pudgy? You may be deficient in minerals.

Minerals

Your body needs minerals to eliminate toxins from your fat cells. One indication of the toxin eliminating minerals, Potassium, Magnesium, Sodium and Calcium, is an acidic condition. toxins in your fat cells make it impossible to lose weight. You can have a blood test done to find out about your minerals, or just test your PH levels with tape from the drug store (or pet store). Test yourself first thing in the morning before brushing your teeth. An acidic body measures 6.8-5.0 PH. You want to be 7.2 PH. If you are low, you can add a scoop or two of vegetable protein that has the recommended doses of these minerals in them.

Still not the lean machine with gleaming skin and shining hair you want to be?

Move your body.

Start walking, jogging, working out, biking or best choice yet – start a gentle yoga practice and benefit with a natural detox during your classes.  In a short sweet spring season, you will be feeling and looking like a fine summer day!~

Be gentle with yourself and the planet – drink pure water, eat green and sweet vegetables and fruits and move your body.

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