Everyone talks about spring cleaning during this time of the year. But it is usually their home or wardrobe. Did you know your body could also benefit from a simple dietary tune-up by way of spring cleaning? Our food choices can help with that.

Here are some techniques on how to spring clean your body and reduce toxins in your system.

How to Spring Clean your Body

To improve your health and well-being, try the following:

A variety of brightly coloured fruits and vegetables

Fresh produce contains high amounts of antioxidants that protect our cells from toxins. These toxins are responsible for cell damage, which in turn causes aging, clogged arteries and cancer.

Fermented foods

Eating foods that contain healthy bacteria can help digestion and nutrient absorption. Yogurt, sauerkraut, miso, pickles, kimchi and kombucha can help restore healthy stomach bacteria after taking antibiotics. Healing the stomach has also been linked to improved mental health.

Water

By drinking at least eight glasses of water and water-based beverages daily, you can help to flush out toxins. Water is essential to our bodies. It keeps our cells healthy, improves energy and helps control appetite. Add lemon, frozen berries or mint to put some zip in your sip.

In this post, you can read about 5 uses of water.

Healthy fats

While many people focus on cutting out fats completely, healthy fats are essential to cell health and nutrient absorption. Healthy fats come from flax, olive oil, avocado and nuts. These have an anti-inflammatory effect in the body.

Detoxifying foods

We are all exposed to toxins in everyday life. By eating foods that help to pull toxins out of our cells and flush them from our system, we can work to reverse or halt the damage. Here are foods that help detoxify:

• Leafy greens, such as wheatgrass, kale, spinach, chard and arugula
• Broccoli sprouts
• Lemons, limes and other citrus fruits
• Sea vegetables, such as chlorella, spirulina, dulse and kelp
• Garlic
• Green tea

Here are some foods to avoid as you cleanse your system:

Processed food

The less we eat that comes from a box or a takeout window, the better. Stick to natural foods that don’t require an ingredients list in order to avoid additives, preservatives, dyes, hidden sodium, sugar and fat.

Caffeine

Many people will feel the urge to stop reading at this point, but a dependency on caffeine is a great reason to take a break from it. Cutting caffeine for even a week can help to improve sleep, reduce dependency and actually improve energy.

Consider replacing coffee and black tea with herbal tea.

(Full Disclosure: I am a coffee addict. I have tried many times to get rid of it . The only progress I have made over the years is to bring it to 2 cups from 4. So removing coffee fully from my diet sounds far fetched but it not lost on me that doing so will cleanse my health and help with detoxification. Wish me luck, I haven’t given up)

Sugar

Added sugar in North American diets has reached an all-time high with the sneaky sugars in processed food. Studies have confirmed the addictive characteristics of sugary foods. Skip sweets, limit processed food and choose naturally sweet foods such as fruit.

(Another disclosure: I have a tad weakness for sugar but in the process of making a drastic cut to my intake. Cleansing is a great way to heal your body. So reducing or eliminating sugar can only bring perks in the long run. I may make this happen one day, fingers crossed).

Processed grains

These include white bread, white pasta and white rice. Many people feel better when they reduce their intake of processed grains. If you consume them at every meal, consider replacing them with whole grain versions, such as 100 per cent whole wheat bread, 100 per cent whole grain pasta, quinoa or brown rice.

Challenge  yourself

Developing good habits, avoiding the junk and choosing nutritious, beneficial foods can go a long way towards improving your health. If there’s something that you tend to crave or overindulge in, it may be a sign that you need to pass it up for a while. Like any change in routine, it can be a bit of a challenge at first, but you might discover it’s well worth the effort once you feel the difference it makes.

Hope these tips on how to spring clean your body comes handy on your journey to healthy living!