THE DAILY DOSE

Spring Clean Your Gut! 6 Foods To Include In Your Spring Detox

In many places, the winter months are cold and unwelcoming. People often spend much more time indoors, eat comfort foods more often, and indulge in holiday meals and snacks. So when the spring finally arrives and it’s time to get back outside again, your gut health might be a little off because of all that overindulgence. The good news is that a few additions to your diet may be all you need to help your body detox after your stint in hibernation mode.   

Why do people detox in spring?

Spring cleaning is a commonly used term that often refers to people getting rid of old things and letting go of all the things they no longer need, wear, or have room for in their house. It’s also a time to do a deep clean that may have been neglected over the course of the winter months. Spring cleaning doesn’t just have to be done on material objects, though. Your body can also benefit from its own version of this new-season principle.  

During the winter, it’s easy to exercise less and eat a little less healthily than you would in the warmer months. All that extra food and reduction in exercise often leads to an excess in weight as well as a build-up of toxic substances in the body. This could be why people often feel sluggish and tired at the beginning of the spring season. By doing a spring detox, you can help to eliminate all that heaviness that you’ve accumulated over the course of the cooler months. This, in turn, will make it easier to get more active during spring and start feeling lighter and healthier ASAP.

How can I clean my gut naturally?

Since digestive health is a huge part of overall health, it’s vital to make it a priority. Cleaning the gut naturally can be done with a few simple dietary steps. The first is to stay hydrated. The digestive tract needs water to help move foods along and absorb nutrients, and drinking enough water each day will help to keep your digestion regulated. Eating foods with a high water content can also be a great help.

Adding fiber into your diet will also help to move the food along through your digestive tract and ensure that anything the body doesn’t need gets flushed out as waste. A cleanse or detox routine can also help to clean the gut naturally, so let’s take a look at what a spring detox might involve.

What are the best foods to eat when detoxing?

Eating whole foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants is the best way to help your body flush out any harmful build-up or extra toxins that may have accumulated throughout the winter. Although many fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and protein sources can help to detox the body, some foods are better than others for the process.

1. Beets

Beets are a great spring food to add to a detox diet because of their ability to activate liver enzymes and increase the level of bile within the body. This heightens the liver’s detoxing ability and helps toxins get flushed out of the body at a higher rate.

2. Berries

Berries are full of antioxidants.Spring berries such as strawberries are a great addition to the diet because their antioxidants can help to balance the levels of free radicals within the body. This balancing act ends up contributing to the body’s heightened ability to flush out toxins.

3. Asparagus

Typically, grocery stores pack asparagus all year round, but it’s especially great for detoxing in the spring, as that’s when it is in season. The vegetable acts as a diuretic, which helps the body get rid of excess substances such as salt. It can also help flush out toxins from the kidneys, leading to an overall body detoxification.

4. Grapefruit

Grapefruit used to be hailed as a superior diet food. Some people may have even tried the “grapefruit diet”, which involves eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with every single meal.Even though that diet was really just a trend, there is some truth to the health benefits grapefruit can provide, especially when it comes to detoxing.

The natural sugars in grapefruit are easy to digest and the high water content will help to flush out toxins. Studies have also shown that when people eat grapefruit on a regular basis, it helps them increase their intake of other healthy foods that could help in a detox.

5. Kale

Kale is another spring season vegetable that you should be eating more of during your spring detox. This leafy vegetable has a high content of phytonutrients, which are molecules in plants that provide some great health benefits when consumed.

One specific phytonutrient known as sulfurophane helps with liver health, which in turn leads to the strengthening of the body’s natural detox process. Kale also contains high levels of antioxidants that also help the body get rid of all those toxins it doesn’t need.

6. Green Tea

Green tea is available all year round, but that doesn’t make it any less important when it comes to your spring detox. Green tea is packed with antioxidants and contains liver-protecting properties that can keep your natural detox process running as it should.

A spring detox is a great way to help shed that heaviness and tiredness that winter left behind, and including the aforementioned foods in your diet can help you speed up the process.

Featured image by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash