With spring comes the urge to start anew and spring cleaning is a real life impulse. With this impulse comes the call from healthcare practitioners to fast. Though it is a good idea to clean out after a winter of heavier foods and less exercise, fasts are not necessarily good for you. Many are extreme and can weaken you at a time when the the flu and other viruses are at their peak in Portland. Also many of these fast are too extreme for those raising families or working long hours. Rather than be cleaned out you become depleted. Under most circumstances we do not recommend fasts that restrict calorie intake drastically or end up with no solid food intake for a number on days. Another issue with fasts is the ability of the body to handle the toxins that are excreted during a fast. It is necessary for the lymph system, kidney and liver to be in good enough shape to allow an exit pathway for any toxins excreted in a fast.

So what can we do? Start sensibly.

Here is a list of things you can do now to clean up your energy for spring that will not harm you.

1. Revisit your water intake. Remember that you need to drink one half of your body weight in fluid ounces each day to be properly hydrated. If you weight 150 LBS then you need 75 fluid ounces a day of pure water. That is approximately three quarts. It is best to drink most of that in the morning, late morning or early afternoon. When you awaken you are the most dehydrated and most in need of fresh water.
2. Stop your intake of fatty rich foods, sugar, alcohol, and caffeine in any form for three weeks. The first step in a good cleanse is to stop putting foods that challenge your liver and kidneys into our diet. For many people this will be all the fast they need. If you must have some caffeine, try a weak brew of green tea, steeped one minute at the most.
3. Have your meals be simple and small. Lightly steam your vegetables, easy up on the carbohydrates and either cut back on or eliminate meats depending on your blood type (see Live Right For Your Type by Dr. D’Adamo). Eat at home when ever possible and keep the recipes simple, very little spicy or rich ingredients. Simple broths, salads, warm soups and especially miso soup are good cleansers. (remember soy miso is a fermented soy, I use a chick pea miso and avoid the soy issue entirely).
4. Add a sauna to your regime. A dry sauna for 10 to 30 minutes three times a week will do a lot to cleanse the body and help remove heavy metals that many of us in this modern world are exposed to. Remember to add a quart of water to those sauna days. Also, remember to shower and scrub your skin with a rough towel or loofa after the sauna. Otherwise the toxins on the skin reabsorb within ten to twenty minutes.
5. There are a number of herbal and home remedies for a cleansing. The simple olive oil, lemon juice and cayenne formula is very popular. However the problem with many of these is that they may cause a toxic download but they do little to make sure you have the capacity to eliminate these toxins from your body. If the lymph glands, liver and kidneys are not prepared for a detox program the toxins will just recirculate into your body. All that fasting for nothing. At the office we use a homeopathic regime that can be used alone or with a fast to clean out unwanted toxins and heavy metals. Taken twice a day, only 15 minutes away from food, these powerful biological homeopathics are a good way to cleanse your body throughly even without a fast. I do this twice a year for myself and have found it extremely helpful. For more information on these homeopathics ask about them at your next acupuncture visit or call or email the office.