Foods for Everyday Detoxing

We encounter toxins every day from the air we breathe to the food we eat. It's essential to keep our bodies' detoxification system running like a well-oiled machine.

While when most hear the word detox, they think a week or a month full of restrictions, negative symptoms and no fun. But, what if I told you there are plenty of ways to support your body in detoxing every day. In fact, incorporating detoxifying foods into your daily diet is one of the best ways to support overall health.

It is ideal to promote an environment in the body where it can effectively detoxify itself, which puts much less stress on the body than doing a big cleanse (although those are also beneficial at given times and under ideal circumstances). By regularly supporting the body's detoxification system, we also reduce the risk of overloading the system during a cleanse. Eating a variety of detoxifying foods daily helps to prevent the liver from getting overloaded in the first place, which helps to reduce the negative side effects when it comes time to do a bigger cleanse or fast (ideally in the spring and/or fall).

By adding more detoxifying foods into our diets, we help to support our bodies' natural detoxifying system; we support our liver, kidneys, lymphatic system, skin, gut and entire gastrointestinal system. Also helping to reduce inflammation, acne, bad breath and body odour.

Toxins don't only come from our food but also our environment, the air we breathe and what we topically put on our skin. We encounter many toxins in day-to-day living; it's inevitable. Thankfully, nature always knows best and created many foods that work in perfect harmony with our bodies, assisting the detoxification process. Eating a well-rounded diet, consisting of lots of colourful vegetables, dark leafy greens, seasonal fruits and healthy fats, is the best way to ensure you're getting your daily dose of health-promoting and detoxifying foods.

Twenty Detoxifying foods

Beets

Dandelion root

Cilantro

Dill

Garlic

Lemon

Grapefruit

Water

Avocados

Artichoke

Pumpkin seeds

Broccoli

Collard greens

Sprouts

Algae (chlorella, spirulina)

Ginger

Turmeric

Fermented foods (sauerkraut / kimchi)

Blueberries

Apples

Simple Ways to Support Detoxification Everyday

• Drink dandelion root tea
• Add dandelion greens, sprouts dark leafy greens to sandwiches, salads and pasta
• Juice your veggies or add them to smoothies
• Make homemade soups
• Add spirulina or blue majick to homemade juices, smoothies or sweet treats
• Load pasta and rice bowls with cruciferous, colourful and dark leafy veg
• Stay hydrated with filtered water and/or herbal teas
• Start your day with a mug of warm lemon water
• Cook with fresh herbs

When detoxing, it's important to increase antioxidant intake, as free radicals are created in the process of detoxification. Thankfully, mother nature is far from stupid and produces perfectly balanced foods. Most detoxifying foods are already loaded with antioxidants, but that doesn't we can't give our bodies a little more. Staying hydrated is also crucial, as water helps to flush toxins from the body. Fibre and essential fatty acids also play an essential role as they both also carry toxins out of the body.