Here are some simple, everyday habits that will help move you toward a lifestyle ingrained with positive, detoxing habits, from the new book A Year of Living Mindfully: Seasonal Practices to Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit
written by Randi Ragan published by Motivational Press Inc;
- Drink lots of filtered, purified water each day. There is nothing that you can do for yourself physically that is simpler or more important.
- Eat plenty of fiber, including brown rice, oatmeal, and organically-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. Beets, radishes, artichokes, cabbage, broccoli, chlorella, and seaweed are excellent foods for stimulating the liver and cleaning out the bloodstream.
- Cleanse and protect the liver by drinking green tea and by taking herbs such as dandelion root, burdock, and milk thistle.
- 500–1000 mg of vitamin C a day will help the body produce glutathione, a liver compound that stimulates cleansing.
- Visit saunas regularly so your body can eliminate wastes through perspiration. Try going to ethnic enclaves in your city for some of the best of these kinds of inexpensive experiences: Russian, Turkish, and Korean traditions have beautiful histories of working with sauna heat for everyday detoxing. Getting a sauna at home can also work well. You can benefit a lot more than detoxification in an infrared sauna. Better sleep and relaxation, sore muscle relief, and improved circulation are some of the benefits. If you decide on buying one, do the research and check the reviews (like Radiant Health Sauna review) to take an informed decision.
- Exercise for at least thirty minutes every day; enough to elevate your heart rate and break a sweat. Choose anything that gives you enough pleasure that you will keep doing it on a regular basis and include variety.
I have another way to think about bringing new lifestyle habits in to replace old ones; I think of it as flooding out bad habits with better ones. It calls to mind the method in which cranberries are harvested. For hundreds of years they had to be handpicked, a very laborious and time consuming process. Then someone figured out that because the bushes are always situated in a bog, the area could be flooded with water during harvest time. The water loosens the berries and the farmers wade into the bog, thigh deep in a crimson pond, to corral the fruit with large brooms quickly into catch nets.
Flooding your life with good habits then gradually scooping up less desirable ones and corralling them into insignificance seems infinitely more manageable than setting out to break them one by one.
Learn more by reading my book:
Holistic wellbeing expert, green-living entrepreneur, and author Randi Ragan is the founder of GreenBliss EcoSpa, Los Angeles’ only award-winning mobile spa and wellness service. For more than twenty years, Ragan has led yoga and spiritual retreats, created experiences for healing and wellbeing and guided groups and individuals with rituals and ceremonies to mark life milestones. Her new book, A Year of Living Mindfully grew out of her popular blog, Randi Ragan’s Mindful Living Almanac and Twitter feed.