Detox cure: lose weight after the holidays
Did you eat and drink well during this holiday season? If so, great! But you may notice that your mouth is dry and find yourself thinking, "Why am I always thirsty?" This is because you have too much sugar and salt in your blood! And it's the perfect time to start a detox after the holidays. So how exactly do you clean your body naturally and lose weight after time off during the holiday season?
This article will give you tips for detoxifying the liver, shedding these holiday pounds, and adopting good new habits. You will learn how to lose weight after the holidays and improve your general health in the long term.
1- Gently revive your digestive system
You may feel that your body is numb, heavy, and you have trouble motivating yourself to move. The thing is, the less you do, the less you'll want to do. The trick is to make you want to move again and energize your body with two simple but useful tips.
Start with a vinegar cure for a few days. It is a simple grandmother's remedy to cleanse the liver very effectively, allowing you to quickly regain energy. Vinegar has the power to activate genes that produce potent enzymes that advise the body to break down fat. So start a little vinegar cure after Christmas. Dilute 15ml of apple cider vinegar each day in a glass of water and drink this each morning on an empty stomach. If the taste is really too strong for you, add some juice of half a lemon, or soak mint leaves in water the night before.
Here is another recipe. Instead of drinking coffee to wake you up in the morning afterwards, you could drink this very energizing and detoxifying drink: the mixture of lemon juice, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and a teaspoon of ginger. With its citric acid, lemon stimulates gastric juices. The cayenne powder will increase your metabolism and your body's ability to burn calories and fat. Excellent for the immune system, this herbal tea stimulates the digestive system and will be perfect for eliminating the weight and fat you could have gained during the holidays.
2- Move to lose those extra pounds
Now that you have lightened your stomach and feel more energized, it is time to practice some exercise to help your body shed those extra pounds. The lungs and skin are two waste disposal organs that you can easily stimulate: a simple walk can be physical exercise and make you sweat a bit!
- Challenge yourself to do a yoga video for 30 days. And yes, it is possible to exercise even locked in your home!
- For the more courageous, running in nature will give you the benefit of breathing clean air.
Our body is made up of 70% liquid, and fluid retention can create a lot of discomforts: heavy legs, listlessness, heart problems, cellulitis, swollen limbs... If you work seated, haven’t been very active, or you watch a lot of television in your off time, you should take all the opportunities you can to get moving and increase the circulation of these fluids:
- Dance with the kids during commercials
- Walk 30 minutes a day, even if it's around the house block
- Go up and down the stairs a maximum number of times during your lunch break
Finally, plan a hammam or sauna session to help your skin sweat and eliminate toxins for the less courageous.
3- Choose proteins to lose weight
Supporting your body with herbal tea to eliminate is excellent, but the best thing is to put your strained digestive system to rest a bit during the holidays. Indeed, it is now necessary to reduce the quantity and the heaviness of the food to be digested. And yes, red meats, for example, are heavy to digest for your bowels.
Why not take a break from animal protein? How about adopting a vegetarian diet just for a week? Choose leguminous plants:
- Green and coral lentils
- Split peas,
- Chickpeas,
- Red beans,
- Gourgane,
- Doliques,
- Mung bean,
- Lupine.
Rinse them very well for several minutes underwater and cook them well so that they are easily digestible. You can cook them Asian style with a wok, smash them with vegetables or sprinkle them in your soup.
Here is a tip: dried fruits or vegetables cut into cubes will give a tangy flavour to the dish. I will enhance the taste and provide some pasty texture to the sauce.
Other sources of vegetable proteins are available you may not know:
-Nuts,
-Almonds,
- Cashew nuts.
It is essential to increase the portions of proteins to quickly reduce the amounts of slow and fast sugars. Proteins give a feeling of fullness more quickly. Cutting back on sugars will ease your stomach, help your liver cleanse itself, and shed the holiday pounds.
In general, increase the portions of steamed vegetables to replenish vitamins and minerals. The fibres contained in the vegetables will promote transit.
Avoid any quick sugar and replace them with seasonal fruits. For complex carbohydrates, slow sugars, you can eat them in the morning by opting for whole or semi-whole bread and cheese. They will provide you with fibre and protein to start the day on a healthy basis.
In the evening, remove all starchy foods and opt for soups and vegetable purees. Go for green vegetables as they fight acidity. You will wake up more energized day after day.
4.Fantastic flavonoids and where to find them
As you know, vegetables contain fibres, which fill the stomach while activating disgestion. But some vegetables contain flavonoids, which are your allies for your shape. Flavonoids are naturally present in plant based foods, and these molecules help burn body fat.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who consumed the highest amount of flavonoids saw better stabilization of their BMI (Body Mass Index) over 14 years, compared to those who consumed less.
Flavonoids can also increase energy expenditure and the absorption of glucose by the muscles.
Where can you find these magic substances? You'll find them in garlic, spinach, broccoli, artichokes, onions, and leeks.
And good news, you will also find these slimming molecules in certain fruits, which will help you with your sugar cravings:
- Apples,
- Grapes,
- Red fruits (pomegranate, blackcurrant, strawberry, blueberry)
- Oranges,
- Pears.
Finally, drink more tea. Tea is rich in flavonoids and very good for your shape after the holidays. You will discover it in the rest of this article.
5. Stimulate your liver, a critical organ of our metabolism.
Do you know that the liver is a vital organ as essential as our lungs and heart? It performs over 800 functions and is the key organ to a successful detox. It filters the blood, synthesizes protein and stores vitamins and iron as well as your excess fat.
We don't talk much about taking care of the liver ... until we are sick. Yet, it is perhaps the organ that suffers the most during the holiday season.
To relieve your fatty liver after the holidays, take a break from alcohol. Alcohol is loaded with fast sugars and blocks the assimilation of minerals, which would nevertheless be good for your body during this winter period!
So drink plenty of water and green tea. And here is a little tip that will delight tea lovers. A study published in May 2015 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that green tea is not only an antioxidant but helps you lose weight faster, especially if you exercise right after. "Catechins speed up metabolism and the rate at which the body burns fat," says Kevin C Maki, director of this study. So drink a large cup of non-decaffeinated green tea before going for a walk!
Certain foods will stimulate your liver and protect it if you deviate from your diet:
- Garlic,
- Broccoli,
- Beets,
- Artichoke,
- Black radish,
- Lemon,
- Basilic,
- Turmeric,
- Spinach,
- Calf's or beef's liver.
Another tip: the liver works better with heat. Place a hot water bottle on it to support it in its efforts. For your information, this essential organ for losing your pounds is located right below your right breast.
6- Sleep well to lose weight.
Adequate sleep is restorative: this is the time when your body is fully regenerating. And if you sleep poorly, your body cannot eliminate the materials it no longer needs, and it cannot do its renewing job.
Watch the times when you wake up at night. According to Chinese medicine, it can give you an indication of the organ that is suffering:
- Between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., it's the gall bladder.
- Between 1 and 3 a.m., it is the liver.
- Between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., it is the lungs.
- Between 5 and 7 a.m., it is the large intestine.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published in November 2014 found that a lack of sleep impacts our metabolism and eating habits negatively.
First, if you are tired, you will tend to eat sugary foods. And that sugar craving is precisely what you need to fight and prevent!
Imagine that sleep and relaxation are like food for the brain. Lack of sleep leads to a spike in cortisol. This hormone born from stress ignites the signal in your brain to keep fat to cope with the unexpected.
Lack of sleep also interferes with insulin management. And when your body doesn't respond well to insulin, it has difficulty processing the sugars in your bloodstream. And it ends up storing them as fat.
Sleep well to let your body do its job at night, have fewer food compulsions, and lose weight after the holidays.
To let go of all the tension and slip into sleep more easily, take a shower before bed, cleaning your skin well (face and feet included) to relieve the skin, which also does its cleaning job every night. Turn off all screens a few hours before going to sleep and read a book instead.
7. To lose pounds, we keep good habits!
After all, alcohol or sugar are not vital food. We can live without those 2 ingredients. We recommend you to eliminate them once and for all because the problem with detox cures is that after cleansing the body, we tend to overindulge! Keep on taking care of yourself and enjoy the positive effects in the longer term. And don't forget, summer is coming soon. So now that you've made some good habits stick to them. Especially since you have a reward. Indeed, by showing your willingness to take care of yourself and remain healthy, you could benefit from lower life insurance rates. And you have undoubtedly seen the difference in a few weeks in your physical form: prettier and clearer skin, stronger nails and hair, more energy too ...
We encourage you to embrace this new lifestyle for good and enjoy the long term positive effects. And again, the immediate positive impact is savings because you pay lower premiums.
8- Help your mind to lose weight
One of the easiest ways to gain weight is neglecting our mental state. Stress produces cortisol, the hormone you read above that can be very harmful to your metabolism.
Have a look at what is stressing you and how you could fix it. After all, the New Year is the perfect time to make new resolutions! By becoming aware of sources of stress around you, you can make better choices.
Start this New Year by mentally preparing yourself for success. For this new year, choose to see the glass half full, that this year will be much better than the last. Also, acknowledge your efforts to lead a healthier life.
A positive outlook on life will impact your brain chemistry, which you now know can handle your ability to gain weight or lose weight.
Recognize also all the positive aspects of your life. A happy body will be more able to cope with illness, and you will have much less craving for treats.
So to release stress and prevent the production of cortisol, you have five allies:
- Breathing,
- Contact with nature,
- Sport,
- New perspectives,,
- Act and take action.
But one of the most significant sources of stress you can have is the unknown. This year has brought its share of difficulties and has undoubtedly proved that it is good to have a plan B. Do you have a plan B? Do your personal finances allow your family to be safe for some time if something happens to you?
Our advisors can give you a free estimate once you have completed the short form. We wish to serve you for the rest of the year and beyond in helping you protect your loved ones and be sure that everything will be fine, even if you are no longer there.
Written by Diane Taes