5 Cleansing / Detox Options For The New Year

I recently had someone email me through facebook asking the following:

Hi Kristen. I am ready to do some kind of detox at the first of the year, but I can't spend a ton of money on a "program." I know there are natural ways that don't cost an arm and a leg, but wanted to know if you could recommend one that you may have done before you were pregnant. I'm a big fan of yours and trust your opinions. Thank you so much.

As the new year approaches, I suspect this is something on many minds. The new year is a great time to start over, try something new, or intensify what you already do, and take your health to new levels.

So, I'll get straight to my answer... There are many ways - for free (other than the cost of organic produce and equipment needed such as a juicer or blender). I'm only touching on them briefly in this post, but if you have specific questions about any of them, then feel free to post the question in the comments section. For great tools, books, and resources to help your health journey, visit here for links to my favorite products. Note* I'm not a doctor or nurse or medical professional of any type, so I have to tell you that you should consult one before embarking on any major diet changes... okay, now that that is out of the way... here are some ideas:

1) Go Vegan Cleanse

If you're not already, then adhering to a delicious all vegan diet is a great place to start. By eschewing all animal products and by-products you'll not only do your body a heap of good, but you'll also make animals very happy, and help save our earth. Be careful though, it's possible to eat a junk food vegan diet, and while that might help animals and the earth, it's not going to do much for your health. Keep it clean, organic, and fresh! If you want tips and ideas for foods, let me know in the comments section. You can do this for 3 days, 5 days, a month, or the whole year. Just get started, take it day by day, and enjoy the awesome journey.

2) Go Raw Cleanse

If you're already vegetarian or vegan, then step it up a notch and go RAW! Whoo hoo! Get ready for some major energy when you do that, too. By eating all of your vegan food fresh, and uncooked, you're getting the most out of your food by way of nutrients and enzymes. As I wrote in the vegan section above, you can do this 3 days a week, or a week at a time, or heck, set yourself a goal for one month of all Raw. Don't be surprised if you want to make a long term lifestyle out of it, most people do. You'll be amazed at how awesome you feel.

3) Smoothie (Greens and Fruit) Cleanse

Want to go a little more hard core? Consume all of your meals in a liquid form with smoothies. This is a nice, gentle, and fun approach to cleaning our your digestive tract with blended foods. Basically you drink green smoothies all day (this can include blended salads, green smoothies, and even all fruit smoothies). Green smoothies are great because they're EASY to make, you can store them for a couple of days at a time if you can only prep them a few days a week, they're satiating with plenty of diverse options, and they're totally delicious! You could start with going for 3 days and then seeing how you feel. Or, you could do it every other day, and eat raw vegan the opposite days to get started. You'll need a blender (regular or high powered will work) for this plan - I've written about my favorite blenders here.

4) Green Juice Cleanse

This is for the more ninja folks out there who want to go all the way with cleansing and renewal at an accelerated pace. Essentially, you only consume green juices all day (once in a while you can do an all fruit blend, but it's recommended that you primarily guzzle down the green goodness). This is harder than a green smoothie fast so maybe you would want to start with just a couple of days and see how you feel. You can set up a program for yourself where you juice 3 days a week. Or, you can go truly hardcore and juice fast for a week or more at a time. Or, you could drink green juices one day, green smoothies the next and go back and forth, too. Keep in mind that on days where you only juice, you should aim for 4-5 quarts of juice a day. You'll need a juicer for this plan, and I've written about my favorite juicers here.

You can do a mix of all of the above plans day by day, or you can go vegan for one week, then raw another week, then green smoothies another week, then graduate to green juices the final week. It's important to: Be flexible. Have fun. Enjoy the journey. Give it a chance. Remember to watch how you're body responds and make sure you get enough calories so you don't lose your energy. Also(!), you might get a little sick in the form of detox (headache, flu like feelings with a snotty nose, skin eruptions, etc), so it's really important to carve out some resting time for yourself.

Or...

5) You can try a program that my friend, Gena, is part of leading (it's not free, but the price seems reasonable). The program has three levels. I'm not a huge fan of the first two levels, because they include animal products, but for the third level (Gena's), she's doing it all vegan! I have not gone through her program or seen specifics/results, so I can't write about how good it is. But, Gena is an awesome coach, so I have high expectations. You can get more information here.