Tuesday 21 June 2011

The daily retox

One of the reasons behind easing yourself into a detox with detox dinners is that your liver is most active when you sleep so it's good to have an antioxidant rich supper before it gets to work. The reason you detox when asleep is because this is when your body can afford to divert sufficient energy to the liver for the detoxification process. Hence the best cure for a hangover is sleep and why people often wake up thirsty (detoxification uses up a lot of water).

So having had an overnight clearout it's a shame to start your day with a toxin laden breakfast even though that's what most city types do. The coffee, pastry combination, with maybe a flavoured sweetened yoghurt or cereal thrown in is adding to your livers 'to do' list from the word go. At 8am this morning I even saw someone drinking a diet coke on their way into work, laden with caffeine and artificial sweeteners.

Instead of 'retoxing' with your first meal of the day why not give your liver a breather with a light, easy to digest detox breakfast.

First up make sure you have plenty of fluids on waking - water is best but herbal tea or diluted fruit juices are also good choices.

Follow this with some raw fruit - full of antioxidant vitamins and live enzymes raw fruit are a great food to break your overnight fast. Best eaten 15 minutes before the rest of your breakfast to allow complete digestion and avoid fermentation.

Then have something rich in fibre - to help carry excreted toxins out of the digestive system. Oats are great for this (something I miss a great deal being gluten free) so sugar-free mueslis and porridge are a good option. Wholemeal or wholegrain breads are also good but go for wheat free as wheat fibre can be harsh on the digestive system and also encourage secretion of vitamins and minerals which isn't good.

And if you do need a caffeine hit go for a green tea which at least has some antioxidants thrown in!
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