New Year, New {Healthier} You: 3 Detox Programs to Start the Year Off Right!

Happy New Year!

Unlike just about every commercial you’ve seen on TV or heard on the radio in the past few days, I’m not here to guilt you. I don’t think guilt is a very useful emotion, even if we have fallen out of our routines a bit.

I’m just ready to get back into my routine and guide my body back to where it feels and functions best!

I’m committed to my health and health choices for the long haul because I like how I feel when I’m well nourished. But this isn’t a “once-a-year-because-everyone-else-is-doing-it” type of thing. It’s a lifestyle, a commitment.

When I regularly nourish myself in a way that I know my body needs, I’m energized. I’m alive. I’m healthy. My weight stabilizes itself naturally. My immune system is strong and fights for me (even when I’m overdoing it), and I don’t get sick. My skin is clear. I sleep better. I handle stress better. I look and feel great!

I’ll be sharing a post in the next few days about what I do to reset overall this time of year (spoiler alert: It doesn’t involve making a laundry list of New Year’s Resolutions!).

After a few months of overindulging, not moving as much as we know our bodies need, and with renewed motivation and intention to start the year off right, many of us could benefit from an internal “reset” or even a “detox” to help us get back on track.

The word “detox” can be a turn off for a lot of people. It sounds so…intimidating and maybe even a little extreme. However, others are absolutely ecstatic to find a link that will lead them to some detox supplements that they’ll love.

What does “detoxing” mean anyway? Why should you think about doing it?

I like this explanation from Food Matters (worth following on FB if you don’t already!):

However, even if you’re including only organic foods in your diet, detoxing can reboot your system and rid your body of harmful toxic build up.

Toxicity (having a building of harmful substances in our body) is one of the main reasons we get sick and have trouble losing weight. Toxic tissues hold on to fat in our bodies. As long as we’re inflamed and toxic, we’ll have trouble looking and feeling our best.

So, where do all these toxins come from? I recently read an incredible book called The Disease Delusion by Dr. Jeffrey Bland, and he wrote a whole chapter devoted to explaining detoxification. Here are some of the toxins he mentions:

• Additives or harmful chemicals in the refined and processed foods we eat
• Chemicals sprayed on our food like pesticides, insecticides & herbicides (this is one of the main reasons we eat organic)
• Metabolizing/breaking down things like alcohol, caffeine and medications
• Our environment (the air we breathe, creams and sprays we put on our bodies, chemicals like BPA in the plastic we store our food in and water bottles we drink out of)

We may not even realize we’re accumulating all of these things in our bodies, but we are, and they are preventing us from having optimal health. Taking some time to physically detox our bodies and our minds is a great way to get ourselves back in balance and feeling great. This is why places like Amity Wellness exist, to help you feel your best. If you want to Book Direct @ Amitywellness.com for a detox program then you can just follow that link!

Anyway, until I have one of my own programs (which I firmly believe will happen in the next year!), I wanted to share three detox-focused programs that are excellent options to consider as you start off the year. I plan to sign up for all three and take bits and pieces from each 🙂

Food Matters FREE 3-day Detox: Food Matters does great work. Their documentaries are worth watching and may transform the way you think about food (and eat!). Their free 3-day detox is a great option to upgrade your diet with some more nourishing choices and help your body naturally clean out the gunk 🙂

Their Facebook page is full of helpful hints, recipes, and cool infographics, so you should follow them on there, too!

The Detoxinista’s 21-Day Warm & Cozy Winter Detox: The Detoxinista (Megan Gilmore) is another talented blogger I’ve been following for some time. She is also a graduate of the health coach training program I went through in 2013. We have similar ways of thinking about food – that healthy eating can be easier than you think…and delicious!

Megan also focuses on dairy-free and gluten-free recipes, so I get a lot of inspirations from her. This is her first detox package, and I’m sure it will be great!

Meghan Telpner’s Awesome Life Detox: Meghan is awesome. I just finished her Culinary Nutrition Expert Program and love her approach to food, boundless and positive energy, and quirky creativity. This program is about more than just food, and I know it will be worth doing. I’ve already signed up and am super stoked for it!

So there you have it, those are my three top picks for New Year, New You resets to try out this month. If you end up doing one, let me know! I’d love to hear what you think.

Here’s to your best year yet! 🙂