Many of us overindulge at Christmas, which often means we start the New Year feeling sluggish and bloated. Want to feel lighter and have more energy? What we eat can help us cleanse the body and is a simple, quick, easy and cost effective method to jump-start the New Year. What’s more, the improvement in the way you feel will soon make this method a New Year resolution that lasts the whole year!

Tips to quickly cleanse and feel great again

Eat a diet high in fruit and veg and have plenty of oily fish. The veg increase your vitamin and mineral content and the fish will give you lots of essential fatty acids. These combined will give your liver and kidneys the nutrients that they need to get rid of any accumulated toxins and kick start a healthier body.

• Uncooked foods, such as salads and fruit are high in antioxidants, phytonutrients and vitamin C – essential for regeneration of cells and helping the liver to deal with any toxic burden it may be dealing with.
• Lots of whole grain foods – like porridge, brown rice, quinoa, lentils, beans, pulses will speed up any bowel sluggishness that may have accumulated from any overindulgent feasting.
• Lots of soluble and insoluble fibre foods like porridge and brown rice will also pull unwanted toxins out of the body when passing through the bowel.
• Avoid processed, ready-made, fatty or creamy foods – these just heighten the feeling of being full, bloated and toxic.  Limit a high meat intake, and make your dinner plate more colourful with lots of veggies – steamed or roasted, some salad and just a sliver of meat.  Meat adds to that full feeling and slows the digestion down.
• Throw herbs and spices into everything (well almost everything, maybe not into juices). These are fantastic antioxidants and are highly beneficial, each having their own unique qualities.  Use fresh herbs where possible, but dried will also do nicely.
• Sprinkle sea herbs into food (especially soups, stews, curries, sauces); they’re full of minerals, are highly nutritious and add a slightly salty taste to food
• Buy local and organic; if you get it at a farmers market or veg shop it will possibly be cheaper than ordinary fruit and veg in a supermarket. And anyway, who needs fungicides, herbicides and mineral depleted food from mineral depleted soils to add any extra burden to the body?

Juicing

• Bring juices into the diet; it’s a great start to the day. Juices are the quick hit that we need to get over the post Christmas slump.
• There are many varieties of juice – get ideas for different mixes from juice bars, adn there are also lots of books available on the subject. Try to include lots of veg in your juice, and always have a lime around just in case it doesn’t taste like you planned, a quarter of a lime will sweeten up a juice perfectly.  Other foods to improve the flavour of a juice are pineapple, mangos and apples.
• A great juice recipe is 2 apples, 1 beetroot and 4 carrots; you’ll be surprised at how good it tastes. This juice is also nicknamed ABC, which will help you remember the ingredients!
• Making smoothies is also excellent, these don’t have to have yogurt (but if you do a natural and organic one is always best). Their main benefit is that all the fibre is still in the drink and nothing is lost. These are great made from fruit mixes and should include berries as often as possible, as these are super foods, full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and much, much more…..

Juice Retreats

If you really want to experience an ultimate juicing experience, why not go on a juice retreat, a gentle and effective way of restoring health with powerful results? The Juice Retreat offers three-day residential programmes where you can revive and renew your body, mind and spirit in a fun and supportive way. Essentially a detoxification programme, the retreat is based on a juice fast and is combined with supportive therapies to enable you regain control of your body and reclaim ownership of your health. This provides you with an opportunity to start afresh, cleansing the body at the deepest level, giving you confidence and equipping you with the knowledge of how to sustain a healthy lifestyle. The unique programme has been created to guide and support you physically, mentally and emotionally through a practical and instructive journey in body health and maintenance. During the weekend course, sessions in yoga, massage, meditation, nutrition discussion and lectures, breathing techniques, massage training, instruction on cooking and advice on recipes are also available.  Check www.juiceretreat.ie for details.