With the Thanksgiving holiday right around the corner, you might be thinking about healthy ways to reduce toxins in your body. Detoxification is a necessary and essential tool you can use to support optimal health and weight management while on the path to improving your overall well-being. This blog post shares helpful tips on how to get started on a detox plan that makes sense for you.

Signs Your Body Might Need a Detox

First, you’ll need to know the signs that it might be time to detox. Everything that enters the body must be processed and eliminated. Depending on nutritional and lifestyle practices, the liver and detoxification pathways can become overburdened and require additional support. Signs may include: brainfog, chronic headaches and migraines, mood swings, insomnia, lack of energy just to name a few.

Once you’ve identified that your body is showing one or more of the signs listed above you’ll need to know how to get started.

Here’s how to get started

1. Plan. Make a shopping list and align yourself with the Green and Yellow food lists, schedule your workouts, and prioritize sleep.
2. Keep it simple. Focus on the basics and do not make things overcomplicated.
3. Don’t get discouraged. It is not uncommon to not feel your best when you get started (e.g. experiencing headaches when eliminating coffee).

Some examples of this include starting your day with a glass of lemon water, avoiding processed or refined foods, increasing your fiber intake, and/or eliminating caffeine and alcohol.

This can be done for 2–4 weeks but also consider this as a healthy and sustainable lifestyle that can be modified. Ultimately, it’s important to remember that you do not have to go all in to reap benefits. Start slow and try one thing at a time (e.g. cutting out processed foods).