Summer Reset: How to Detox After Summer BBQs, Drinks and Celebrations
Summer is often a time of communal gatherings, backyard barbecues, weekend events and outdoor celebrations. Combine that with the more unstructured schedule that many of us follow during the summer — whether that’s due to summer vacations, kids being out of school, or simply the more casual approach that warm weather tends to evoke — and we have a recipe for overindulgences and falling into some unhealthy dietary and lifestyle routines. As we wrap up the summer season, let’s give our bodies the gift of detox. Try these strategies for a quick and healthy summer reset.
3 Things to Try For a Summer Reset and Detox
1. Try a Hydrating Detox Drink
The summer heat and accompanying sweating help flush out toxins through your perspiration, reports Michigan State University. “There is minor removal of heavy metals and BPA plastics,” notes the school. This increased sweating increases your need for proper hydration, and staying hydrated has a secondary detox benefit too: Flushing our your kidneys and liver and supporting healthy organ function.
“The liver and kidneys do most of the body’s detoxification,” adds MSU. “In fact, a person’s overall nutrition likely has a greater impact on body detoxification than sweating because good nutrition supports healthy organ function.”
Combine those two factors and you have a powerful way to support your natural detox function:
- Aim to drink at least eight glasses of water a day, mostly between meals.
- Begin with a fiber-rich smoothie for breakfast, which literally helps you to eliminate toxins and unwanted substances in your digestive tract through improved bowel function.
- Enjoy a gently caffeinated tea mid-morning, whose caffeine can help jumpstart your metabolism and detoxing processes. Try black tea, green tea or white tea.
- Add a detoxing herb to your afternoon beverages. Prominent detox ingredients that go great in a pitcher of chilled water or as a caffeine-free hot “tea” include dandelion, burdock, stinging nettle and milk thistle (always check with your doctor that herbs won’t interact with medication you may be taking).
2. Add Fiber to Every Meal
“Soluble and insoluble fiber, as found in fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans, and whole grains bind to toxins and bile and carry them out of the body through the stool,” explains the College of Health and Human Sciences at Northern Illinois University. “Fiber also minimizes time spent in contact with harmful compounds, such as acrylamides from charred meat, by regulating transit time through the gastrointestinal tract. Drinking juice cleanses for extended periods of time may result in missing out on this crucial nutrient.”
In other words, fiber is one of the most powerful detox ingredients to add to your day. Better yet, many of the seasonal produce and fresh foods that we enjoy during the summer are high in detox-friendly fiber:
- Summer fruits like nectarines and plums
- Summer greens like kale and spinach
- Summer root veggies, such as carrots
Aim to add a fiber-rich food to every meal, either as the main dish or as a side. Better yet, consider switching to a plant-based diet for a week or two every month to really increase your fiber intake and detox without having to go on a strict elimination diet or cleanse.
3. Take Detox-Boosting Supplements
One of the best supplements for improving your natural detox process is probiotics.
“Beneficial bacteria from probiotic or fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut promote gut health and may inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, which produce ammonia and other toxic metabolites,” explains NIU.
Probiotics also help improve bowel elimination, which further improves your own cleansing process.
Other supplements that may play a role in detoxing your body from environmental and dietary toxins include:
- Chlorella
- Turmeric
- Spirulina
- Ginger
- Beet juice
- Milk thistle
One of the negative side effects of NOT doing a regular summer reset and cleanse includes a compromised immune system. When your body is constantly stressed out and under pressure from toxins, your immune system can’t function optimally. If that’s you, add an immune-boosting supplement to your detox plan. Start with BioPro-Plus 500.
BioPro-Plus 500 is the 100% natural immune system supplement, which has no known side effects or contraindications. This drug-free supplement is not a medication, but an aid to help restore your body’s own natural immune response while you do your detox or cleanse.
BioPro-Plus 500 is a unique dietary supplement that is clinically proven to increase CD4 cell counts. CD4 cells (T-cells) are white blood cells that play a major role in your body’s own natural immune system response. Without adequate CD4 cells, preexisting disease may run rampant in your body and you may be even more vulnerable to new infections.
References:
- https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/is-sweating-good-for-you
- https://chhs.news.niu.edu/2020/04/08/nutrition-in-you-spring-cleaning-and-detox-diets/
Interested in More Detox Resources? Read More:
Detox Diet 101: Science-Backed Methods to Support Full Body Detoxing