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Bounce Back with 12 Life Detox Methods: Boost Health and Joy

Bounce back! You can replace draining habits with positive self-care protocols. A life detox is a process of abstaining from unhealthy people and lifestyle habits that don’t serve your highest good. Below are twelve effective methods that will help you feel great again. Also included are motivational videos to assist you in detoxifying a bloated lifestyle – including your diet – and to help you achieve a daily life that flows more joyfully.

Experience a Health Rebound: How to Do a Life Detox

A life detox is an upgrade in lifestyle habits that remove negative influences from your daily environment so that you can look and feel better than ever before.

You may have already tried a nutritional detox – a temporarily restricted diet regimen with specific supplements. The idea behind a nutritional detox is usually to rid the body of toxins or excess weight. However, the detoxification of your lifestyle is more critical than detoxing a specific diet. Lifestyle refers to all the ways you live your life during a typical day.

You can conduct your own lifestyle detox. What follows are practical steps with everything you need to know about bouncing back.

Periodically, life gives each person challenges or setbacks, and over time many of us – without realizing it consciously – accrue small, unhelpful habits that drag us down.

The result is that we begin to feel a mild despondency.

Where we used to lunge out of bed with enthusiasm each morning, we now sometimes feel a tad anxious or just a bit “blah.”

A life detox can streamline our typical day, lifting the malaise and helping us bounce back and face each day with eagerness.

1. Decide that Health is Your Top Priority

The vast majority of Americans are currently living a lifestyle that is:

  • snack-laden
  • anxiety-laced
  • sedentary

These habits create problems – problems that can be prevented.

Prevention is an outlook – a way of orienting the mind toward positive lifestyle protocols that discourage disease.

Mature couple dancing at beach

To have a prevention mindset means to sustain a daily awareness that your health is a top priority.

It doesn’t mean that you make the perfect choice in every moment; it simply means that your primary intention is to put the fantastic health information you have access to, to good use.

Lots of people say that they believe in prevention. But do they really?

Here’s what I’ve learned about life: when we decide something, our unconscious minds have a funny way of conspiring to help us get what we want.

The more firm we are in our decision, the more clever and diligent our unconscious minds work toward finding solutions to achieve that very thing upon which we’ve decided.

When we decide firmly that our health is the most crucial thing in our lives, when we believe that good health is the foundation upon which we build a happy and meaningful life, then – and perhaps only then – do we have a prevention mindset.

Action Step:  watch the video below this article, and discover if you agree with what these two popular doctors say about what true health really is.

2. Use a Day Planner and a Week Planner to Help You Bounce Back

Your willingness to optimize will – eventually – help you to experience more feelings of accomplishment during a typical weekday.

Are you intrigued by the idea of improving your personal productivity?

You can develop a weekly system for staying organized and on track.

You don’t have to use a productivity system every single moment – or even every day. But it’s vital that you have a system to fall back on when you get off track.

Everybody gets off track sometimes.

Most people use a calendar app on their phone to track appointments, which is good – but a calendar hardly comprises a complete productivity system.

You need something that’s going to help you organize your thoughts and get things done.

A sound organizational system will help you detox your life.

3. Plan Today for a Bright Future

Improving how you manage your time and energy is accomplished by taking a counterintuitive approach.

One of the mistakes people make most often in their day is getting so caught up in a current project that they forget to allocate a little time toward cultivating new acquaintances and deepening existing relationships.

Plant seeds now for your future harvest.

Even in business, cultivating relationships is the ultimate future business activity because if you spend all of your time working with an existing client – without spending at least a little time generating future clients – it’s hard to reach that tipping point where your business will grow exponentially.

It’s astounding what you can accomplish, personally and professionally, when you shift your perspective.

Begin to see relationship-tending as among your most important activities of the day.

4. The Turnaround – Adopting a Positive Mindset

While it might seem a frivolous idea, cultivating your sense of humor is essential to this process.

To optimize your typical weekday, you must have a light-hearted sense of play. Otherwise, the whole endeavor becomes oppressive, and – ultimately – your attempted improvements won’t stick.

I’ve seen this time and time again, people who attempt to “should” or shame themselves into being more organized.

Dane Findley is fitness and health expert for mature adults.
How to firm up: Get my free guide to reducing fat cells and building sculpted muscle tone. CLICK HERE to opt-in to my email newsletter.

Instead, what truly helps is to think of the whole endeavor as a fun game.

If you don’t believe me, try approaching your life detox with this more positive attitude, and you’ll experience for yourself what a difference it can make.

Though everybody has a slightly different definition of success, the fact is that most who are winning at life have decided to enjoy finding solutions to problems – they have a determined ability to set goals and achieve them.

“…the day isn’t over till it’s over”

It can help to work backward: to win the year, you must win the month, but before you win the month, you must first win your week, and to do that, you must first win the day!

And a day is won by making a series of good choices upon which you follow through.

5. Know that You Can Still Win the Day (Even After a Few False Starts)

Your day is not won by being perfect, for none of us is.

Winning is not perfection.

Let’s say you mess up by eating a plate of peanut butter cookies for breakfast. Well, the day isn’t over yet. You can still take this thing.

Let’s say you screw up by watching reruns of Green Acres on Hulu during lunch, instead of going to the gym. Well, the day isn’t over yet. You can still take this thing.

The day isn’t over till it’s over. And you might not know until the following morning whether the day before was – overall – a productive one or not.

By eating fresh vegetables with lunch and dinner, say, or going for a power walk in your neighborhood before bedtime, the day can still be won, even if you’ve slipped up a couple of times.

6. See Optimization as a Game to Help You Bounce Back

A life detox isn’t just about the work part of your life; it’s about your entire life.

The natural law of attraction that operates in the universe reveals that prosperity is often magnetized by enthusiasm and connectedness. In modern daily life, it’s easy to forget these basic principles of common sense.

Even if you spent all morning and afternoon reacting to problems, you can still allocate an hour or so from this day to reach out to your tribe of friends, acquaintances, relatives, and past clients to connect.

7. Increase Mobility and Strengthen Muscles to Bounce Back

The best workout programs are varied yet consistent. Proper cross-functional fitness can solve a lot of problems, including bolstering weak areas and adding mobility to stiff joints.

Your own fitness regimen can include a smorgasbord of effective movement modalities – including bike rides, stretching with balls and rollers, long walks, pilates, cardio, yoga, high-intensity interval training, and weight training.

As part of your life detox, find clever ways to move more.

Life Detox Flotation Therapy
Dane Findley doing Flotation Therapy: here I am preparing to enter a float tank. I use a float tank to lower stress hormones. There have been over 60 years of research on the benefits of flotation therapy that have established its ability to reduce adrenaline and cortisol within the human body.

8. Slowing Your Roll Will Help You Detox

Relentless low-level stress is a big problem in modern life because it sneaks up on us and can erode our health.

Sometimes people need a bit of extra help in managing their body’s biological responses to their own thoughts, feelings, and circumstances.

More self-care protocols might be warranted – such as meditation, bio-feedback, floating, or counseling. Also, some of us are more prone to addiction challenges that must be prioritized and addressed.

9. To Detox, Look for Ways to Inspire and Encourage Yourself

Reconnecting with your original intention for undertaking any self-improvement program will help energize you as you sprint toward the finish line and achieve your goals.

To help with this, I craft actionable weekly inspirational messages, helping you take valuable ideas you’ve been hearing and reading about – and turn them into improvements within your typical week.

We know more today about how to live a long, robustly healthful life.

We know what not to do, and we know what to do.

I believe we need inspiration, as much as information, to take our health to the next level.

People who are healthy are more poised for excellence; they have the physical energy that is required to show up for life with clarity (there’s a reason why, on jet airliners, flight stewards ask that, in the event of a change in cabin pressure, you put the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others).

Strong people:

  • are better able to care for those they love
  • make even better parents
  • make even better friends
  • make even better spouses
  • do even better in their careers
  • are more joyful.

When you take daily steps toward improving your health, you’re also modeling for those you love what good self-care is. You’re teaching them what is possible by example.

10. Surround Yourself with Solution Experts

Each person needs a team of people who encourage health and support wellness. This begins with an excellent medical doctor, but it also might include a best friend, naturopath, nutritionist, fitness trainer, wellness coach, mental health therapist, or workout buddy.

Who’s on your wellness team?

To detox your life, consider gently releasing the adults in your life who do not support your continued well-being and self-improvement.

11. Promote Restorative Sleep for a Fuller Detox

Many people still dramatically underestimate the importance of a restorative night’s sleep.

Repair and hormone regulation happen at night during deep sleep.

The idea is to create the ideal scenario for the best sleep without synthetic pills.

A super-dark room without electronic devices, a consistent sleep-and-wake schedule, and the correct lifestyle habits might be all you need to take your health to the next level.

As part of your life detox, go into your bedroom and look around as if you’re seeing it for the first time.

What could be improved to provide you with a better night’s sleep?

12. Implement Super Nutrition to Reclaim Your Health and Happiness

Many people want the shortcut of taking pills to mask symptoms rather than solving problems at their roots.

Dane Findley age 54 helps others achieve healthier physique.
Dane has a master’s in Depth Counseling and has spent decades as a professional fitness and Pilates trainer. Today, Dane is a Healthy Lifestyle Advocate who curates the popular Quality of Life Newsletter – a free weekly update for those who want to UP their joy levels.

I like pills and am grateful for modern medicine, but I also recognize that the responsibility for my health begins with me and my own eating choices.

How to Avoid Toxicity and Anti-Nutrients in the Standard Diet

In some cases, grains contain anti-nutrients to ensure the continued life cycle of the plant.

Grains must be able to sprout in an appropriate environment to continue the grain’s life cycle.

Some grains protect themselves from predators by being armed with toxic proteins such as enzyme blockers and lectins.

These enzyme-blockers disrupt a would-be predator’s digestive enzymes, discouraging the bird or animal from eating further grain meals.

Prevent Low-Level Toxicity by Eating Better-Prepared Grains

When humans eat poorly prepared grains, our bodies often create extra belly fat to pad and protect our vital organs from toxicity.

You can reduce irritation within your body by being more careful of what grains you eat and how many.

The enzyme blockers also act as preservatives for the grain until the grain sprouts, at which time most of the enzyme blockers disappear.

We know that lectins are toxic proteins that act as natural pesticides for grains, protecting them from bacteria, fungi, insects, worms, and rodents.

However, most people are unaware of the irritating effects of the long-term consumption of grains. Over time, it can impact a person’s health.

Increase Nutritional Benefits by Preparing Your Foods

Grains, beans, and legumes, including soy, contain enzyme blockers and lectins.

Some Grains Contain Toxicity

Potatoes contain enzyme blockers, lectins, and toxins known as glycoalkaloids.

Lectins and enzyme blockers are mostly neutralized by sprouting or fermentation and sometimes the cooking process (cooking, however, does nothing to alter the toxic effects of the glycoalkaloids in potatoes).

The glycoalkaloids are mainly concentrated in green and injured potatoes, which should be avoided. Eating raw potatoes is strongly discouraged.

Some enzyme blockers disrupt the body’s natural protein digestive enzymes, including the enzyme pepsin in our stomachs and trypsin and chymotrypsin in our small intestines. Others block the effects of the enzyme amylase for the digestion of starch.

With the blocking of these enzyme functions, the digestive process is altered, and the absorption and uptake of essential nutrients from our food is disrupted; thus, the name anti-nutrients.

Toxicity in foods can create digestive duress.

My message for today is to either avoid foods containing enzyme blockers, lectins, and glycoalkaloids or learn how to prepare foods properly to neutralize the adverse effects of anti-nutrients. Or – at the very least – eat less of these problematic foods.

Soak Your Grains

As I mentioned above, sprouting and fermentation help to reduce the harmful effects of enzyme blockers and lectins.

Additionally, you can soak your grains to:

  • deactivate the enzyme inhibitors
  • deactivate phytic acid, which blocks the absorption of minerals including copper, magnesium, and zinc
  • neutralize tannins and lectins, which are gut irritants
  • begin the breakdown of gluten which is a non-digestible protein and toxin
  • initiate the breakdown of cellulose which otherwise is non-digestible
  • use an InstantPot pressure cooker – they’re excellent at removing many lectins from food, including legumes and tomatoes.

Proper preparation makes seeds, grains, and nuts more readily digestible, making their nutrients more readily available for assimilation.

Lectins can be responsible for removing protective mucous from tissue, damaging the cell lining of our intestines, stimulating cells to secrete hormones, causing pancreatic enlargement and much more. They may even be responsible for tricking our immune systems into attacking ourselves as seen in the autoimmune diseases – like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, for example.

Generally, I rarely eat grains these days (I eat more vegetables instead). However, on those rare occasions when I do have grains, it’s better if I prepare them myself. Fortunately, the health food stores now carry more products – such as granola – that are sprouted grains, nuts, and seeds. In the video below, I share my recipe for a delicious once-in-a-while treat, “Bionic Oatmeal.”

My grandmother always told me, “you are what you eat,” and for me, those words from her wisdom never get old as I am constantly reminded of the benefits of eating correct foods with proper preparation.

“Toxins are a burden to the body when they build up inside. A detox cleanse can help us feel great again.”

“How Much Toxicity Does My Body Already Have?”

Have you ever done a detox?

Many believe that the human body benefits from a detox regimen periodically, especially today when we find ourselves surrounded often by the temptations of unhealthy foods.

A detox cleanse can help us feel great again, ridding our bodies of the bad things that can accumulate over time. Changing our daily dietary habits can also go a long way toward detoxifying the body.

Each new client arrives at the naturopath or nutritionist’s office with a different list of health symptoms or issues. One may complain about daily headaches, while the other may have elevated blood pressure.

Autoimmune = 1 out of 5 people in the US

These symptoms may not appear to have a connection at first glance; however, many symptoms and client complaints disappear when toxicity is addressed.

The big concept here is that when daily irritants are removed, the body has, at last, an opportunity to heal itself in a fuller capacity.

Detox Case Study: Jack Has Overly Sweet Blood

What if your body was toxic, and you didn’t know it? Toxic Syndrome is a result of general toxic overload. Toxicity can burden the body to the point that a person begins to experience one or more health issues.

Jack came to see me (co-author Jim Harris) with elevated blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

Using my standard evaluation methods, Jack fell into my category of general toxic overload.

One week into his Life Detox program, Jack’s M.D. reduced his blood pressure medication by 50%.

After two weeks, Jack was entirely off his high blood pressure medication.

When I saw Jack four weeks into his program, his blood pressure remained normal, and his blood sugar dropped to near-normal levels. Additionally, we were working with Jack’s diet and his digestion.

Detox Case Study: Peter’s Head Hurts

Peter presented himself with several symptoms, including intractable daily headaches. Like Jack, Peter’s evaluation indicated a general toxic overload, and he started a program to assist him in clearing his toxic burden.

Peter was amazed at the reduction of his symptoms, which included weight loss, a degree of emotional stability he had not experienced in years, and no more daily headaches. His Toxic Syndrome symptoms had disappeared.

Synthetic Chemical Exposure (in an Unnatural World)

Jack and Peter’s stories are not unique but are more the norm with my new clients.

“the majority of us are not born with a toxic overload but slowly build up a level of toxicity over decades through environmental exposures to substances toxic to our systems”

The toxic burden continues to add up slowly over time until a tipping point is reached when symptoms begin to arise, like Jack’s elevated blood pressure and blood sugar and Peter’s mood swings and daily headaches.

As toxic burden increases, a steady downward decline in health status is set in motion.

Toxins are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and the lotions and soaps we use to groom ourselves. It is challenging to avoid toxin exposure daily, but we can take steps to reduce our exposure.

Toxin exposure falls into four primary categories:

  • environmental toxins
  • household toxins
  • food toxins
  • lifestyle toxins

Environmental Toxins

Pollution from trucks and cars, wastes from factories, and combustion pollutants go into the air that we breathe. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are in the air from compounds like Agent Orange and DDT, which will be floating in the air we breathe for a hundred years or more.

The majority of the 20 million people suffering from asthma in this country live in areas with poor air quality.

Household Toxins

New furniture, carpets, rugs, and freshly painted walls give off-gases to the air we breathe in our home.

Chemicals used as flame-retardants on our clothes and furniture fabrics persist for an extended period in the home environment, eventually accumulating in our bodies, further adding to the toxic burden.

Food Toxins

Chemical pesticides and insecticides are used on the fruit and vegetables we consume daily.

Data shows that over 90% of fresh salmon, more than a third of fruit and vegetables, and 40% of cereal products, contain pesticide residues that enter our bodies when we consume the food.

Lifestyle Toxins

We know the dangers of both first and second-hand cigarette smoke. Drugs, both over-the-counter and prescription, are synthetic chemicals that can end up as toxic deposits in the body. Very likely, your deodorant, perfume, hair shampoo, and conditioner, body wash, and makeup add to your toxic load.

You must understand that there is hope and there are solutions. You can feel better than you ever have before in your life.

How to Do a Whole Body Detox Cleanse

We can do much daily to reduce our exposure to the harmful chemicals that add to our toxic load and develop Toxic Syndrome.

When Toxic Syndrome is present due to an overwhelming toxic burden, a detoxification program must be instituted to reverse the ensuing decline in health status.

A detoxifying regimen designed and supervised by a health professional could be helpful to you.

“What About that Lemon Juice Cleanse I Hear About? Is that Good or Bad?”

“The Master Cleanse is a simple juice fast that reportedly encourages your body to detoxify. But is this the right detoxification regimen for you?”

The Master Cleanse is a 10-day detox regimen developed by Stanley Burroughs that became popular after Burroughs published The Master Cleanser in 1979.

“Master Cleanse” has an intimidating sound – reminiscent of a Harry Potter villain (Harry Potter And The Master Cleanser?). Still, the Master Cleanse is a reasonably straightforward juice fast that requires you to eat no food for at least ten days and instead drink a special, homemade lemonade.

A-list celebrity Beyonce made the cleanse famous recently when she dropped weight for a film role using the cleanse.

Unfortunately, this made it a popular fad diet seen as a way to lose weight quickly, with many people forgetting the original intention of the cleanses: to detoxify.

the Master Cleanse is not a weight loss diet. It’s a 10-day regimen designed to detoxify the vital organs and tissues of the human body”

lemon is a detox ingredient in the Master Cleanse

On the cleanse, you drink 6 to 12 lemonade drinks a day, one herbal laxative tea in the evening, and saltwater flush in the morning.

You’ll be squeezing lots of lemons while on the Master Cleanse.

The lemonade cleans out your body while the laxative tea and saltwater help pass the toxins (which is the most delicate way I can put it). Some people also make bentonite clay a part of the regimen.

It seems essential to mention that – rather than drinking beer and eating pizza all year and then cleansing for ten days – it would probably be much better for your body to simply eat healthy as a part of your daily habits (then there isn’t as much need for a detox to begin with).

Main Recipe from the Master Cleanse

Cayenne pepper as part of a detox regimen

The lemonade recipe is as follows:

  • 8oz of water
  • 2 Tablespoons of organic Grade-B maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • dash of cayenne pepper

The lemon and cayenne help to dislodge and expel toxins, while the Grade-B maple syrup contains nutrients (including minerals) and energy that help to sustain you throughout the process.

Stanley Burroughs believed that by fasting your body, you then didn’t have to spend energy on digesting food – which therefore allows your body to instead focus energies on cleaning out (instead of processing the toxins already in your standard daily diet). By going without food, the theory is that the body will start to eat itself and pick out the weaker diseased parts of your body first, ultimately making you stronger and healthier.

This is alternative medicine and isn’t backed by medical institutions. Perhaps the only way to judge if this works is to try it and see if you notice any differences in your body. I can only tell you about my experience.

Days 1 to 3 of the Detox

The lemonade will make you feel full, but eating is habitual, so it felt weird not to eat. Most people will tell you this about the Master Cleanse: the first three days are the hardest!

I struggled with this and avoided watching or seeing others eat. Of particular importance for me was to not watch television during the cleanse. The Taco Bell commercials are torture, and I don’t even eat Taco Bell, ever! This is common. I have vegan friends who (although Burroughs writes you should follow up the cleanse with a healthy plant-based diet) found themselves on Wikipedia reading everything there is to know about In-N-Out Burger and dreaming of day 11!

Days 4 to 7 of the Detox

By this time, I started to feel good. I needed a bit less sleep and woke up quickly in the mornings. Some people can get to work and not experience any groggy or fogginess – in my case, I was a bit “spacey” during the entire 10-days.

Days 8 to 9 of the Detox

Some people at this point report feeling mild cold and flu symptoms. This was not the case with me.

The End of the Detox

detox and bounce back by increasing raw vegetable intake

Coming off of the Master Cleanse includes eating lots of raw vegetables.

By day 11, I was looking forward to a salad, but I came off the lemonade and eased into regular food with soup broth and freshly squeezed juice.

The day after, I ate lots of raw vegetables and salad and started easing into normal.

Some people will do this cleanse for longer than ten days, which I can’t imagine.

Results of the 10-Day Master Cleanse:

I felt clean, clear, and energized at the end of the cleanse. I believe it had a positive impact on my overall physical health. But would I recommend the Master Cleanse to others?

Yes!  What I Liked Best about the Master Cleanse

For me, the best part of the cleanse is what it did for my self-confidence. Frankly, before starting the cleanse – I didn’t know if I had what it takes to complete it. I thought my blood sugar would drop too low, and I’d become too weak to continue. After I completed the cleanse, I felt a true sense of accomplishment and felt like I could do almost anything life required of me.

No!  What I Liked Least about the Master Cleanse

  • My concern about the cleanse is that it somehow (though this isn’t its intention, surely) encourages people to eat poorly, then do the cleanse to try to make up for it. Pizza and booze for six months, and then ten days of cleanse? Hmmmmm. That doesn’t seem wise. That sounds like a diet to me. How about just making lifestyle changes that don’t create toxins in the first place?
  • that maple syrup that’s in the lemonade: it seems like a lot of sugar
  • another thing I don’t like about the Cleanse is that – having seen many people go through it – I recognize that many people come off the Cleanse and then eat junk food ravenously as a “reward” for having survived the Cleanse (they also often gain back all the weight they may have lost on the Cleanse, and then some).
daily inspiration and a once a year detox
  • finally, there is the issue of addiction. If we are addicted to things like flour, wine, dairy, or sugar (by “addicted” in this case, I mean “can’t imagine my life without it”), then I think any sort of detoxifying cleanse should be done under the supervision of a medical doctor (or perhaps your chosen, holistically-minded health professional, such as a nutritionist and/or a naturopath). Also, please understand that there are other cleanses besides the most-popular Master Cleanse. And one of these other may cleanse regimens might be a better fit for your body.

Other Tips to Remember if You Decide to Do the Master Cleanse

Again, having done the Cleanse myself and witnessed many others go through it, too, I cannot officially recommend that you do the Master Cleanse. However, if you decide that the Cleanse is suitable for you, here are some tips:

  • it’s recommended that you don’t repeat this cleanse for at least three months
  • keep a diary to maintain focus and to notice how different you feel each day
  • although you will lose weight on the Cleanse, you might need to stick to a primarily plant-based diet to maintain that loss (which may or may not be suitable for you)
  • read Stanley Burroughs’s book (either buy it online or at Whole Foods) before attempting this. Don’t just read about it online; you need to know the full ins and outs before attempting.

The Detox Smoothie Diet

Many experts believe that freshly made green smoothies can be detoxifying for the human body.

The potentially detoxifying smoothies are made with lots of dark, leafy greens, a small amount of fruit, some raw, sprouted seeds, and ice.

Detoxification diets, or cleanses, are designed to help the body flush built-up toxins from the organs, tissues, and bloodstream.

Detox Smoothie Diet
The Detox Smoothie Diet

Detox Smoothie Recipe to Improve Metabolism

Shedding body fat permanently is not just about counting calories!

From decades of experimenting with health regimens, here are three things I have learned:

  1. to lose fat, improve your metabolism
  2. to improve your metabolism, improve your overall health
  3. to improve your overall health, keep your inner-body clean.

Cleansing with a green smoothie diet is among the most highly rated cleanses.  Green smoothies improve digestion with the increase in fiber and nutrients, and other reported results include increased energy, a reduction in craving for sugar and salt, as well as some loss in body fat.

“…healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” — Hippocrates

Some of my favorite organic ingredients to include in my green smoothies include cilantro (to help remove mercury from the tissues; I try not to have cilantro more than three days in a row – I find it’s pretty potent stuff), broccoli (or better yet, freshly cut broccoli sprouts; I’m lucky to be able to buy trays of live-growing sprouts at my local farmers’ market), freshly squeezed limes and lemons (to help the liver), cucumber – for the skin – and kale (loaded with antioxidants).

I also like to add a small amount of green tea (tumor-shrinking properties) to the blender, raw, sprouted pumpkin seeds, and pre-soaked chia seeds (for the quality protein and omegas).

I might also add some raw hemp protein powder when I workout hard.

I almost always add a dash of ginger, turmeric, and cayenne to my smoothies.

I love the flavor combination of fresh spinach with a few cubes of frozen mango.

And I usually add a bit of blue-green algae (chlorophyll is generally helpful at removing heavy metals from the body).

Generally, I try to keep the amount of fruit I add very low to reduce fructose intake. Add lots of vegetables to your smoothies, but only add as much fruit as you need to help suit your taste.

detox with antioxidants

Probably the most detoxifying thing I’ve ever added to a green smoothie is the green stems from fresh beets. The stems of the beet plant are cleansing – so cleansing that you’d better only use a small amount and prepare to have access to a nearby bathroom for the rest of the day!

Here’s a basic recipe to start with. How easily you can obtain these ingredients depends on what region you live in (I’m fortunate to live in Southern California, where I can find these items fresh year-round, but if you have to modify the recipe or make substitutions, that’s fine). Only use as much fruit as you need to make the smoothie palatable, and – by the way – it does help if you use a quality blender with a very high-powered motor:

  • enough green tea to cover the blades at the bottom of the blender
  • juice of one freshly squeezed lemon
  • couple of small florets of organic broccoli
  • any live sprouts or well-rinsed microgreens (sunflower, broccoli, arugula)
  • bit of fresh kale, chard, spinach or parsley
  • small wedge of cucumber
  • small wedge of red bell pepper (optional)
  • chunk of organic apple, including skin (for beginners, to add sweetness)
  • few cubes of frozen mango (use more, if you’re new to green smoothies)
  • dash of ginger, cayenne, and turmeric (not too much!)
  • teaspoon of pre-soaked chia seeds
  • teaspoon of raw, sprouted pumpkin seeds
  • teaspoon of raw hemp protein powder
  • some ice

Partway through blending, you may pause to shake the blender to get out the air bubble and add a tablespoon of spring water (it depends on how many frozen ingredients you used).

Later on, as you become accustomed to green smoothies – and if you’re feeling brave – you can experiment with including small amounts of advanced ingredients such as cilantro, dandelion greens, and beet stems. But I suggest never having the advanced ingredients more than three days in a row. Please be careful in your approach, and I invite you to ask your doctor his or her opinion first.

detox with raw sprouted green foods
My morning green smoothies. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to find broccoli sprouts and other microgreens at my local farmers’ market.

Another advanced strategy is to remove all fruit (except a bit of lime juice) from your smoothie.

This lowers the fructose content and makes your shake even healthier (if you’re new to green smoothies, though, you will probably want the fruit, and then you can taper down gradually over time).

This is also optional – I like to take a high-quality, food-based calcium/magnesium supplement along with my green smoothie, as the calcium can bind to the less-advantageous oxalates (my understanding is that oxalic acid serves as a sort of natural self-defense mechanism found in plants to discourage insects from eating them as they are growing in the soil) that are in many raw vegetables and help it to decrease absorption of it by your body.

My detox smoothie regimen – a lifestyle diet for healthy changes – is relatively simple to follow.

A freshly made green smoothie for breakfast, sometimes another for lunch (though the lunchtime smoothie has entirely different ingredients than the morning smoothie – I rarely repeat ingredients twice in one day), and for dinner: a “super salad.”

On days when I exercise intensely – pumping iron at the gym or going for an outdoor run – I drink more tea throughout the day, plus have a raw-food frozen dessert in the evening.

My favorite among these is, of course, the green smoothie.

I believe freshly made green smoothies are effective (I’m 57 years old and have a leaner waistline now than I did a decade ago when I didn’t yet understand how to leverage green smoothies toward improved health).

Green smoothies are mild to the system, tasty, healthy, and safe. However, I strongly encourage you to consult your medical doctor before undertaking any significant change to your diet.

The prevention mindset is a choice. It’s your body, so it’s your rules, and whether or not you decide to consciously make improving your health your top priority is entirely up to you – you shouldn’t be shamed into it or forced into it.

Prevention simply means that you don’t have to wait until you or someone you love has a significant health challenge before making robust, excellent health your number-one priority.

A life detox is an opportunity to look objectively into your typical day and make minor improvements.

This process can help turn life from black-and-white back into the bright colors of youth – when things felt simpler.

As an adult, you may need to be more deliberate in how you periodically simplify and refine your daily routine. Unfortunately, it probably won’t happen on its own.

I have many nerdy hobbies. Among them, I enjoy experimenting with ways to improve self-efficiency and then sharing my discoveries about what actually works.

This site evolved from an idea I had many years ago of providing uplifting solutions to the everyday challenges of busy people.

If, at the moment, you happen to be feeling overwhelmed, then undertaking a life detox might sound impossible to you – but that’s only because you haven’t yet started turning your improvements into habits.

Getting started is always the most challenging part.

Once you get your momentum going, taking better care of yourself becomes progressively easier.

(Article by Jim Harris and Dane Findley. Co-author Jim Harris is a Nutritional Consultant and graduate of the American Naturopathic Medical Institute who recognizes that our bodies have the innate capacity for self-healing — primarily when the correct information and energy are supplied in combination with the correct food, supplements, and herbs.)

benefits of detox

Additional Sources about How to Do a Life Detox and Bounce Back:

What are anti-nutrients? – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinutrient

Common autoimmune answers – https://www.aarda.org/autoimmune-information/questions-and-answers/

Determining toxic overload – http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-You-Have-Toxic-Overload?&id=809340

Establishing true air quality – http://airnow.gov/

Why making super salads is a good idea – http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/the-super-salad-guide/

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