Detox refers to reducing the intake of inflammatory foods and drinks while giving the liver a chance to process the toxins stored in the body for elimination. According to Dr Mark Hyman, when the metabolic waste triggered by environmental pollution, typical human metabolism, and what we know as the SAD or Standard American Diet surpasses the limit of what the body’s inherent detoxification structure can endure, detox becomes necessary. Despite detoxing appearing like an easy physiological process, it influences both the mind and the body.

From a psychological aspect, an average person takes one to two weeks to process wheat, sugar and alcohol to get them completely eliminated from the system, provided s/he doesn’t consume wheat, sugar and alcohol while the detox process is in progress.

Stopping the intake of these foods and beverages for two weeks is an effective way to detox your body. Additionally, you can use these eight natural ways to convert your food cleanse into a complete body detox.

1. Make water your friend and drink lots of it

Just like adequate gas makes a car run optimally, so does water for your liver. If your water intake is insufficient, your liver would work well only in the short-term, just like a car short of gas would. If you want your liver to function at its optimum level for processing the toxins, drink lots of water to keep yourself adequately hydrated. An average adult should drink a gallon of water (filtered, if possible) to benefit the most.

Important Takeaway: Squeeze fresh lemon in a glassful of warm water to kick start your detox process right in the morning.

2. Urinate

When you make sure of consuming a gallon of water every day, this would happen naturally. But are you wondering why it’s important? To answer – urinating and sweating are the only two ways humans can use to physically get rid of fat from the body, and this is important because most of our in-built toxins are stored in fat. The more you urinate, the more fat (and as a result, more toxins) will get eliminated from your body.

3. Sweat

As you’ve read above, urinating and sweating are powerful methods to get rid of body fat, and thus the toxins stored in it. During detoxing, two of the most helpful modes to encourage sweating are through Bikram Yoga (which is a type of hot yoga) and infrared saunas. Both these modes let a person relax while sweating, thus sustaining a therapeutic environment in the body. This is in contrast to intense exercise sessions that may cause sweating, but can actually trigger acute inflammation.

4. Be physically active

To keep your body moving, resort to restorative exercise and movements like yoga, walking, Pilates, or MELT. The aim here is to just encourage the blood flow, which would help in getting the toxins out of your body. Usually, after the festive season binge, a common thought once the New Year celebrations get over is to opt for intensive, long exercise sessions. However, for a person who’s detoxing, a rigorous exercise schedule is counter-productive since it inflames the body, thus putting your body under an additional strain of reducing this amount of inflammation, while it’s already working on processing the inflammation that’s already present, caused by your earlier food and drink choices.

5. Consume natural, whole foods

The ideal step for detoxing is to get your diet rid of wheat, sugar and alcohol. This way, you’ll stop a majority of inflammation happening in your body, thus giving your liver the chance to focus on eliminating the inflammatory foods that you’ve binged on during your holidays or the festive season. During your detox, you should eat natural, whole foods that come straight from the farm to your plate, and stay away from anything that comes packed in a bag, box, jar or can since most of these are processed, unhealthy items.

6. Take adequate Rest

Ahead of a holiday or festive season, most of us work almost non-stop, from traveling, buying grocery, cooking, and tidying up homes to holiday shopping, hosting or attending festive parties, and much more. Even in our daily lives, juggling various roles at home and in office leaves us with little time to rest and relax. So, while detoxing, make the most of this opportunity to throw up your feet, hit the bed a couple hours early every night, or catch a quick mid-day nap. Since your liver, when it’s in sleep mode, processes the optimum level of inflammation, letting yourself a few extra hours of rest and relaxation every day would ensure you sail through the detox process with ease.

7. Dry brush your body

This improves the circulation in your body, helps shed dead skin cells and encourages new cell renewal, along with boosting lymphatic drainage and even more. Thus, with this simple, easy self-care action, you can bring a lot of benefits your way. However, make sure to know the right way of dry brushing your body.

8. Have graceful thoughts

Detoxing isn’t merely about the physiological process. Your mind is also involved in it and your ego could play tricks on you by creating thoughts based on doubt, distress and fear. These negative thoughts are at their peak during detoxing. Being mindful of your thoughts is the best way to safeguard yourself from such negativity brewing in your mind. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts and know they will appear every now and then. The moment you recognize these thoughts, tell yourself constantly that they aren’t your thoughts in reality but just some sick tricks your ego or mind is playing on you. During the two weeks of detoxing, make a gratitude journal, where you say thanks and express gratitude for all good things in your life – no matter how minute or small or unimpressive they may seem. Such positive thinking positively would leave less space for negative thoughts to trouble you. Every day, squeeze 5 minutes out of your schedule to meditate by simply focusing on your breath. This would calm your mind and keep you away from falling prey to your detox mind that’s busy spinning a web of lies based on negative thoughts. Whatever way of having graceful thoughts you choose, ensure to stick to it with vengeance throughout your two weeks’ detox and you will not only survive it but would find yourself thriving during the entire detox process!

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