I would like to thank everyone for joining me on this 28 day detox starting tomorrow.
Each evening before the next day of the challenge you’ll receive a new challenge email. You can do as little or as much of each day as you like, but try to give at least some of it a go, as I promise you, you'll start to feel a whole lot better a whole lot quicker then more you do of each days challenges. If you have any questions or queries just pop them at the bottom of this blog post and I’ll answer them for you.
As the 28 days moves along you’ll find more things are added in to your daily regime to help you detox and become healthier and happier.
Day One (Monday):
1. Cut out gluten. It is believed that as many as 1 in 3 of us could be gluten intolerant. This causes anything from bloating, IBS and tummy upsets to fatigue, weight gain, leaky gut, malabsorption and even things like depression ans issues with your mood. Even if you’re not gluten intolerant you should limit the amount of gluten you eat as it’s hard for us to digest and is toxic to our system.
Opt for gluten free oats, smoothies and gluten free oat cakes or rice crackers for breakfast and snacks.
Swap normal pasta for rice pasta (Dove’s brand is the most like pasta and can be purchased from most supermarkets).
Try having rice crackers, gluten free crackers, raw crackers, rye bread and rye crackers, free-from pasta dishes or bean, rice or quinoa salads instead of sandwiches for lunch (most free-from breads and crackers are full of sugars, sweeteners and other nasties).
Make your own soups, sauces and gravies where possible as most of the shop bought ones have hidden gluten in them. You can buy free-from versions but it’s just as easy and cheaper to make large batches of these yourself. You’ll find most fresh tomato and basil soups will be gluten free and often fresh beans soups also if you would like a easy meal option.
If you want some free-from ideas for meals then check out my free ecookbook you can download here.
2. Cut out processed sugars, alcohol and fizzy drinks
We all know that processed sugars found in most processed foods are harmful to us, but substituting these for sweeteners (found in most diet foods and drinks) doesn’t really help us either. Although these have less calories in them the sweeteners replicate sugar in our system and our body deals with and stores it in the same way. Substitute sugars for honey instead, our body not only deals with this as the natural product it is but it is incredibly good for us.
And I think we all know why we should cut out alcohol for this, so I won’t go into this here.
3. Meditate
Daily meditation helps with insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression, busy brains, weight loss, hormonal issues and many more health issues. If you haven’t already then download a 3-5 min meditation from You Tube or another similar site and start doing this daily. If you fall asleep, that's fine, you obviously need the sleep, don't give yourself a hard time for this or if your mind drifts off, simply accept it and move on. If you haven’t meditated before then a guided meditation is the best place to start. Of course if you want to meditate for longer then please do, but try to get into a pattern of meditating at the same time every day to make sure this happens.
4. Water
Dust off that water bottle (preferably a tin/metal one, or at the very least a BPA free one) and fill it up every morning and take it with you everywhere you go. Your aim at the moment is to drink at least 2 litre of fresh (preferably filtered or spring) water a day. Drinks with caffeine in do not count for the purposes of this challenge. Drinking plenty of water flushes us through and helps detoxification and weight loss, among other things. Try to drink at least 1 litre of this as soon as you wake-up in the morning and preferably warmed with fresh lemon and ginger in it. This will aid detoxification, is alkalizing, is anti-inflammatory, stimulates the metabolism, is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. It also makes it taste nice! If you struggle drinking water by itself then add a few slices of cucumber, not only is this yummy, but again it's alkalizing.
5. Planking
Planking is an easy way to help strengthen your inner core.
For the whole of the first week it is advisable to do 10 seconds of planking a day. In the image below to will see what planking is and how to do it. Just remember to keep your bum down when your doing it for optimum effectiveness.
6. De-clutter
This is another way of helping de-clutter your mind, with the benefit of clearing your home and giving you a little exercise. When we make space in our home, on a subconscious levele we then make space in our mind and thus life for new and exiting things to happen.
Pick one drawer or cupboard to clean out today – just the one! =0) When cleaning out the drawer or cupboard try to recycle, reuse or donate as much of it as possible to reduce what goes into landfill.
So that’s all my suggestions for you today.
Let me know how you get on below and look out for the Day Two email tomorrow. Good Luck!