Hi, how are you?

Here we are at the end of summer, back to the usual routines and perhaps carrying a few extra kilos. Nothing wrong with that, the important thing is to have enjoyed your well deserved holiday. However, nutritional experts do recommend a detox after a period of excess so we´ll look at some easy health tips for when we return to our daily life.

First of all we need to want to clean our body of the excesses of the summer then carry on picking up healthy habits bit by bit. If we try to do it all at once, it will feel like hard work.

WATER
Drink more water every day. Have a half litre bottle of water and drink 4 or 5 of them each day, one of them drink all at once. Water is our best friend as it improves digestion and helps to eliminate toxins through urine. Drinking water is perhaps the healthiest way of detoxing your body and you will also notice your skin improves, being more hydrated, less greasy, firmer and radiant. When we are properly hydrated, brain cells receive oxygenated blood and we are more alert.

GREEN TEA
Although generally green tea is used for weight loss, it also has an important use in detoxing the body. Green tea has natural properties that help eliminate fat accumulated in the liver and is ideal for preventing damage caused by toxic substances such as alcohol. Among other things, green tea is rich in antioxidants and thanks to this, is an ally in preventing serious illnesses and problems with premature aging of the skin.

FRUIT
Eating fruit is always good for us and particularly after a period of excess. To improve the benefits further we need to include depurative (purifying and detoxifying) and diuretic fruits such as oranges, strawberries, apples, lemons, watermelon, pineapple and pears. Eating these will help you eliminate liquid, clean your liver and kidneys and improve both digestion and the production of red blood cells

VEGETABLES


If whilst on holiday or during the summer you have increased your consumption of alcohol (which is super normal given where we live with the heat, the pool, the beach and the general environment encouraging it), it is important to detox the liver. To do this, we need to eat food rich in vitamins C and B for their depurative and antioxidant qualities. Celery is well known for helping the gallbladder and liver but beetroot, carrots and broccoli are also known for their cleansing properties and we should include them in our diet in whatever form .. salads, smoothies, soups.

PHYSICAL EXERCISE
It is always good to exercise and even more so during a detox when our body is full of toxins, we feel tired and lethargic and our immune system is weak.
To get healthy, physical exercise is a great choice as it helps to eliminate toxins through sweat and performs an internal cleansing of the organs as well as helping to burn fat, prevent heart problems, improve respiration and help with keeping toned skin. We can start with a short enjoyable walk of 30 to 40 minutes at a quick pace. If we are used to running then a gentle jog for 25 or 35 minues. If we don´t do any specific exercise classes (swimming, yoga, pilates, toning, etc) then we should do by ourselves some abdominal exercises, some well controlled squats (abs in, knees never bending further forward than your feet) and very importantly at least 15 minutes of stretching the whole body.

You could start twice a week then little by little work up to every day and combine the activities, for example walking and stretching three times a week and the other two a guided class or a toning or weight training routine.

As we said at the beginning, start slowly. This is not meant to feel like torture or punishment! It´s a plan to improve our health – do it with enthusiasm and confidence and within a short time you will notice a difference and the excesses of the summer will be just a memory.

Until next time !!!

And remember, if there´s anything you´d like to see covered in a future article, just let me know.

THANK YOU

GABRIELA AUZOBERRIA CALVO
PERSONAL TRAINER
DIRECTOR OF PILATES GRAN ALACANT