With temperatures rising comes to the buzz of shaping up your summer body, and the vanity of swimsuit season may offer all the motivation you need to shed those extra pounds.
Just promise yourself, that you won’t get duped by the numerous “rapid weight loss” proposals, that often cause your metabolism more harm than good. It’s important to focus on healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes to avoid the harmful effects of your dieting.
Spring is in the air and it’s nearly time for some fun in the sun.
These following tips are easy, non-invasive ways to detox your body so you can feel fresh and ready to take on the most active season of the year.
Infrared Sauna Sweat Sessions
Sweating in an infrared sauna is the ultimate way to enhance your detoxification experience. Infrared saunas raise your core body temperature by a few degrees, heating you from the inside out. This process helps pull out toxins stored inside the fat cells lying underneath your skin. It’s no secret that the overload of environmental toxins in today’s world causes a burden on our health—it’s when our bodies cannot eliminate them fast enough through urination and defecation that we go into storage mode for the sake of protecting our vital organs. As sweating releases these toxins, your fat cells have less of a reason for sticking around and you’ll begin to flush them out too.
Find yourself an infrared sauna and sweat profusely three times a week for maximum benefits. Be sure to towel off that toxic sweat to avoid reabsorption. Not only will your lean summer body thank you for it, but your energy levels also will too. And it goes without saying—hydrate consistently at 1⁄2 your body weight in ounces of filtered water every single day.
Meal Replacement Shakes
Optimal weight loss programs are structured around two protein-based meal replacement shakes a day for 21-28 days at a time. This approach can help you eliminate inflammatory ingredients from your diet, helps detoxify your liver (your fat burning organ!) and heals your gut lining in the process. Let’s also be really, really honest with ourselves—when you can make two meals in a blender in under five minutes, throw in a straw and be on the go (while chilling the second for lunchtime)—you really have no excuse not to give it a try. It’s just too easy.
Meal replacement shakes have been identified in numerous studies to be much more effective in fat loss than calorie restriction alone. Benefits include:
•Faster initial weight loss results with higher rates of compliance due to the experience of quick results
•Reduced fatty liver
•Improvements in gut health
•Greater reduction in abdominal fat
•Lowered overall body fat
•Reduced inflammation
•Hormonal reset
•Dramatic boosts in energy levels.
Those eating two meal replacement shakes a day lose on average up to eight times as much weight as those on a single shake per day.
The trick to making the most of this weight loss intervention is to use anti-inflammatory ingredients that support your blood sugar. Swap in milk substitutes like unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk or flax milk. Use a protein source like hydro beef or pea options that are free from whey and casein. Always add in fiber with resistance starch (1⁄2 a frozen ripe banana with the peel on is an excellent source and adds a lovely hint of banana flavor). You can make your shake even more of a superfood with additional options like frozen spinach, MCT oil or milk thistle seeds. Toss in a splash of natural extracts like vanilla, caramel or mint and blend. Add or decrease ice for your optimal consistency.
People find after a 3-5-day period of hunger, their appetites adjust and they can effortlessly adhere to a two-shake-a-day program just as easily as they can to one shake per day.
Higher protein meal replacement shakes lead to more fat loss and less destruction of muscle mass than standard meal replacement shakes, smoothies and juices—even at the same caloric intake.
Eat From The Rainbow
Eating a wide range of colorful fruits and vegetables provides valuable nutrients that support your health and make your skin glow. Cooked vegetables are easier for the gut to digest and are way more satisfying, allowing you to eat more of them in a sitting. If you’re out with friends at a fun brunch or dinner, order appetizers that are veggie-based. Add on that additional fresh salad. Ask your server to swap the fries for some steamed broccoli. You are never limited to just the menu—ask and you shall receive.
If you’re left wondering if you’ve eaten a wide enough array of fruits and vegetables in your day, simply journal your meals and highlight or circle your foods in their colors and aim to see every color in the rainbow. Meals should be a bright and beautiful display—the more colors you eat, the healthier you will be!
Supplementing To Enhance Your Detox
Increasing our intake of leafy greens and high-antioxidant vegetables and fruits is key to good health; though it isn’t always easy in our busy lives; Adding in a high-quality supplement like the Designs For Health PaleoGreens delivers the equivalent of four servings of fruits and vegetables in a delicious lemon-lime flavored powder that mixes quickly and easily into your favorite beverage. It can be added to protein shakes; juices or even just plain water for an additional detox boost. It is a great way to fill in any nutritional gaps and offers a quick solution for those of you on the go.
The ingredients in PaleoGreens are a powerhouse blend of fruits; vegetables; vegetable juice powders; and extracts designed to nourish the body from the cellular level up; resulting in sustained energy; enhanced recovery from exercise; support for mental clarity and overall well-being.
By practicing small daily actionable steps; you can enjoy optimal wellness and enhance your summer body long before the season arrives. Do so in a way which is sustainable and healthy and with that will come everlasting results. If you do have any health concerns, be sure to ask your doctor before starting a detoxification regime.
By Dr. Debbie Bright, DC, MS
For access to high-quality protein, detox support supplements or more great health tips, be sure to visit drdebbiebright.com and in the meantime — happy spring cleaning!
