4 Simple Steps to Starting Fresh and Clean in 2016
Welcome back!
A new year brings with it the potential for fresh, new possibilities – ‘A clean slate’.
With the holidays over, the kids back at school and most of us back at work, it’s time to implement those resolutions! It can be tough to get motivated after long holidays, travel, over indulgence and lack of exercise, not to mention lamenting those lazy, sunny beach days.
So here are 4 simple steps to starting fresh and clean to make 2016 happy and HEALTHY. Let’s get back on track!
1. #JERF Just. Eat. Real. Food!
Keep it simple, fresh and real. Eat food that is grown in nature. Fruits, veges, nuts, seeds, wild fish, grass fed organic meats, organic eggs, healthy fats like coconut, olive oil, organic butter and include some fermented veges like kimchi and sauerkraut or milk and coconut kefir.
So much of what we find in the supermarket aisles are packaged processed foods that are actually ‘food like substances’. Highly processed, with little or no nutrient value, high in empty calories and full of artificial flavourings, colourings preservatives and inflammatory processed oils. Shop at farmers markets! Enjoy the flavour and freshness of the quality produce that has just been picked. Keep it as close to as nature intended it to be and you are on the right track! Michael Pollan sums this up beautifully in his book and documentary ‘In Defense of Food’
- Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants
- Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
- Eat only foods that will eventually spoil or rot
- Go easy on the meat, and eat only high quality grass-fed or pastured meats
2. Move more, sit less.
Regularly stand up and move away from your computer screen in the office or at home and take regular breaks involving movement. Every 20-30 minutes is ideal. Stand up desks are also a great option.
Find a form of exercise you enjoy and do it regularly, ideally, daily. Working up a sweat releases toxins from the body and exercise is both a natural anti-depressant, stimulates the lymphatic system and of course is beneficial for maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy cardiovascular system.
3. Remove Toxins – Switch to Safer personal care & household cleaning products and ‘Live Life more Naturally!’
This of course is one of our passions and we endeavour to keep making this easy for households by delivering a range of safe and effective non-toxic alternatives. We want to make the ‘ditch and switch’ easier!
There is a significant increase in the toxic load on the body with the continual use of conventional everyday personal care products. Perfumes, shampoos, sunscreens, moisturisers, tanning lotions and so on, contain a plethora of synthetic chemicals which are absorbed into our blood streams. Similarly, strong fumes and chemical residues from the toxic, supermarket cleaning products, result in the indoor air quality of our homes being worse than the outside air and contribute to allergies, asthma, eczema and a toxic load on our bodies.
A Naturally home Starter box allows you to short- cut your way back to a low-tox 2016!
Our non-toxic summer favourites are The Locals insect repellent and soothing spray and lotion, Grahams sunscreen, Soleo sunscreen, Sandfly and Mozzie infuser, the Lo-line cockroach traps and the new range of flea and tick repellent Miteyshield Tick Off devices. Making the swap to these great alternatives helps to decrease the toxic body burden.
4. Eliminate toxic thoughts and move on from toxic relationships that do not serve you well.
Toxic emotions - Anger, bitterness, resentment, hate, jealousy, sustained conflict- ultimately have the same negative effects on our physiology as exposure to environmental toxins. They create acidity and promote inflammation, which drives all chronic disease.
So working on clearing these is critical to our health. Meditation, yoga, reiki, EFT, forgiveness, acceptance and practicing gratitude are some tools to effectively aid clearing negative emotions.
And remember, laughter is the best medicine of all!
Here’s to a Happy and healthy 2016.
