Let the Spring Cleaning Begin!

Spring is here and with it comes a feeling of renewal, purging, cleansing. If you’re feeling an unexplainable need to clean out your closets and de-clutter you can thank the energy that spring brings with it every year.

Our closets aren’t the only things that need some spring-cleaning. Now is a great time to be introspective. Take a look at your old habits that no longer serve you, relationships that don’t fulfill you and ‘stuff’ that doesn’t add anything to your life. You can even clear out stagnant and negative energy from your house by burning some sage. In the same way you want to get rid of the junk around the house spring is the best time to get rid of junk in your body too. There’s no better time to do a cleanse than NOW!

So what type of cleanse should you do? There are so many out there from the master cleanse, juice cleanses, raw diets and the 30-day sugar detox among many, many other.

Since every body is different and facing different health challenges it’s hard to say that there’s one cleanse that’s best for everyone. For example if you have thyroid trouble you shouldn’t be drinking smoothies or juices containing raw goitrogenic veggies, which can suppress immune function (kale is a prime example that we love tossing into green smoothies). If you suffer from exhaustion or adrenal fatigue a nourishing, re-building cleanse focusing on bone broth is a great choice.

A great book with helpful cleanses is the book Healthy Healing by Linda Page. If you’re looking for more personalized cleanses then working with a health counselor is the way to go- just be cautious of green smoothies being the cure all for everything, they aren’t.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine spring correlates with the liver/gallbladder meridians making it an excellent time to do a liver/gallbladder cleanse. Reducing fats, animal proteins and sticking with light foods and lots of lightly steamed veggies is a great way to get a stagnant liver moving. I’m also gearing up for a specific cleanse that involves drinking some olive oil, Epsom salts and grapefruit juice to help cleanse my liver followed by a kidney cleanse as soon as summer rolls around.

Even just lightening up your diet and kicking processed food to the curb for a few days will help your body feel fabulous and help you spring into this new season!