A New Year: Rejuvenation & Detoxification

Already it’s January the 2nd and I’ve been thinking about what to blog about this first blog post of the year. Firstly I just wanted to say how grateful I am to have grown in my health journey and for the support of friends and family. This past year has been one of the most challenging yet. On top of dealing with managing my  illness, I moved house 3 times, wrote my dissertation & completed my MA, worked part-time and dealt with intense visa issues complete with solicitors and dealing with the Home Office  – all while managing to stay sane and all happening before summertime! It was one of my most challenging years yet and thus I don’t regret that the last six months I haven’t done as much as I should have because I made myself try and relax.

I also upped the ante on my diet – going in the direction of vegan months ago but after attending VegFest in October, making it completely stick and not having on ANY animal products whatsoever. I also avoid gluten and soy for the most part, however, when I crave a vegan pizza, I have it and while I have cut down on my soy-intake, I do enjoy it occasionally, however not as much as I used to. I really like how Victoria Moran describes it as the Good Karma diet. After her talk at Vegfest, I left the auditorium in tears. For me, the concept of eating for not only the benefit of one’s health but the wellbeing of the animals, really hit home.  That day I was changed forever. The research also legitimizes this lifestyle. A vegan diet is absolutely optimal for combating illness. These days I enjoy a plant based diet where vegetables predominate the plate and I’m following a paleo driven lifestyle – cutting out potatoes and grains.

After the stress from the beginning of last year, I made it my goal to take  time to detox and rejuvenate. In May when I completed the dissertation, is when I treated myself to a well deserved colonic. I will write an entire blog post about the subject soon, but just wanted to say that I highly recommend them. As a lifetime sufferer of anxiety and IBS, doing this  made me feel worlds better and I can’t wait to have another in less than a week. With the illness I’ve learned that detoxification is key to getting the body to its optimal shape.

Besides the colonic, I began to start my day with lemon water. It is something I’ve been doing for awhile. In fact I can’t even tell you how long as it’s just a part of my daily routine. Studies have shown that lemon juice aside from being a powerful source of Vitamin C, also assist greatly with Detox. As Mark Williams writes: Toxins come into our systems through various sources from the air we breathe to some of the foods we eat. Two of the more well known studies shed some light on the use of lemon as a cleanse.  Lemon water also alkalizes the body and assists with digestion.

For me personally, drinking lemon water has cleared up my skin, gives me energy, and has helped with my stomach problems. I look forward to having it on an empty stomach in the morning to cleanse my body.  I add the juice of one lemon to hot water and drink through a straw.  I use the straw because the lemon water while alkalizing to the body is acidic to one’s teeth enamel.

Another ritual I have taken to is using a rebounder. I have been jumping on my rebounder for several months now and love it. I jump for about 30 minutes per day. This action gets the lymph nodes flowing and the heart racing. I look forward to bouncing on my rebounder every day while I do my money affirmations. I can tell you it works; I’m more calm, relaxed and in fact, I’m making more money!

Those are my healthy life style tips – all of which I will continue to practice in 2016! Wishing all of you happiness, great health and properity! And I promise to try and make my blog posts more regular this year!