Mental Health and Beauty from the Inside Out
You’ve heard the old saying, “beauty is only skin deep?” Well, nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, your external beauty comes from deep within your body.
Your mental health is also affected by how healthy your body truly is. There is a lot of research that points to the body needing to be balanced for our brains to be balanced. For example, did you know that allergies to gluten can make one feel depressed?
We take such care of our bodies’ “outsides” by brushing our teeth and our hair, showering, and changing our clothing every day, but we rarely consider what’s going on inside our bodies.
Unfortunately, we live in a toxic world. We are bombarded daily by chemicals — shampoo, makeup, laundry and dish detergents, electronic devices, cleaning products, pesticides, air pollution… the list goes on and on. There are literally thousands of new chemicals introduced into use each year. Most are not tested for safety and they are certainly not tested for interaction with one other. We live our daily lives in a chemical soup.
So, what’s a body to do? Cleanse! Detoxify! What does that mean, exactly? Our bodies are truly equipped to perpetually cleanse themselves. They do this in three ways: through the skin, the lungs and the gastrointestinal tract.
The body’s organs work hard to keep our insides from getting “mucked up” too badly. And if they do get dirty or backed up, we end up feeling sluggish and somehow “off,” or we experience a new allergy or something far worse such as an illness or disease. Health and beauty from the inside out!
Dietary changes are the easiest and most manageable way to tackle a body cleanse.
10 Nutritional Steps for Cleansing/Detoxifying Your Body
- Clean up your diet for a set period of time, preferably 21 to 28 days.
- No dairy. (I know! This is a tough one.) No cheese – really!!! Dairy is mucus- forming, hard on your system, and if it is not organic, loaded with chemicals.
- Stay off of refined and heavily processed foods. This means NO frozen dinners, refined flour or sugar — “the white stuff”. Refrain from pastries, white pasta, cookies, bagels, donuts, ice cream, candy bars, sugar in your coffee, etc.
- No alcohol. Give your liver a rest!
- No caffeine. (Note: If you are a heavy caffeine user, you may need to wean yourself slowly before starting a cleanse. You don’t want a caffeine-withdrawal headache.) By now you may be wondering: What the heck is left? What CAN I eat? The answer is: LOTS OF GOOD STUFF!!!
- Say YES to fresh, delicious fruit and vegetables (preferably organic, seasonal and local). Also, try some fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut. (Note: If you buy these products, be sure they do not contain vinegar. If they do, they are not truly fermented and you will not get health benefits from them.)
- Say YES to crunchy nuts and seeds, preferably raw (not cooked in oil).
- If you think you can give up animal protein for a month, give that a try. If not, cut back by eating smaller portions, and eat quality meats. For example: try organic chicken, free-range eggs, wild-caught fish and grass-fed beef. The idea is to ingest as few pesticides, hormones and chemicals as possible.
- ENJOY delicious whole grains, such as brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, as well as pastas and breads made with these grains. These days all are easy to find in most grocery stores.
- DRINK water, water and more water! Drink half your body weight in ounces. So, if you weigh 100 pounds, you will drink 50 ounces a day.
Be aware that you may feel tired the first few days of a cleanse, as your body works to release all the toxins that are stored up in it. Stick with it, and after a week or two you will have more energy than you will know what to do with! Prepare to find the true beauty inside of you!
If you’d like more information about detoxifying and cleansing, there are many resources available. A few suggested books include: Dr. Sherry Rogers’ Detoxify or Die; The 28-Day Cleansing Program, by Scott Ohlgren and Joann Tomasulo or Donna Gate’s The Body Ecology Diet.
It is often helpful to have some support when undergoing a detoxification.
If you are interested in learning more or think you might need some help staying on track, schedule your FREE Breakthrough! Consultation. My training as a psychotherpist can help you learn behaviors that will help you manage any changes that you may want to make in your life.
During this session, (a $80.00 value), we will work together to create a crystal clear vision of your health goals.
*Vicki is not a nutritionist or dietician and does not practice as such. She will help you with exploring the barriers and obstacles you may have in your life. She will educate and guide you in creating new, healthy behaviors so you can create and experience success in your life. Creating a clear vision may also include finding the appropriate professionals to help you meet your goals.
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