Detox is important, especially with chronic illness. These 6 tips for spring cleaning your body will help you to properly detox and facilitate healing!

As soon as the weather starts warming up, we start opening our windows.  I can’t help it, I love getting fresh air in the house.  Unfortunately, this is about the same time that I realize how dirty things get over the winter.  We have hardly been outdoors, the yard needs work, and everything could be spruced up a bit.  

So every spring, we usually take time for spring cleaning.  You know- a deep, intensive clean to get rid of all of the winter funk.  I love spring cleaning.  Everything just feels so much better afterward.  

We are all aware of spring cleaning when it comes to our homes; but what about when it comes to spring cleaning your body?

This is a great time of year to start incorporating “cleaning habits” to help our bodies detox better.  Our bodies’ detoxing is its way of spring cleaning and getting toxins, pollutants, and microbes out of our bodies.  We function so much better when our detox pathways are clear.

Ideas for Spring Cleaning Your Body:

• Eat cruciferous vegetables daily- These vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc., are fantastic for enhancing your body’s natural detoxification abilities.  So go ahead and stock up, spring and early summer is the best time to find many of these fresh off the farm!

• Drink fresh lemon water every morning on an empty stomach- Fresh lemon water does wonders for keeping your digestive system functioning well.  And if your digestive system is working, then your body is naturally eliminating things it doesn’t need.  

• Enjoy dandelion tea- Dandelion tea is amazing. It helps your liver to eliminate toxins faster, and also helps to maintain proper bile flow to our liver as well.  Supporting our liver and allowing it to do what it was made to do is one of the best ways that we can help to spring clean our body.

• Start enjoying all of the fresh, leafy greens that are in season now- This time of year, some of the biggest crops that are ready to be purchased at local Farmers Markets are beets, garlic, and leafy, green veggies.  These are great for helping to flush toxins from your body. Eat them regularly.  If you have a hard time getting all of your veggies in, start drinking smoothies!

• Take epsom salt baths a couple times a week- Adding epsom salt to your baths offers multiple benefits.  It helps to add magnesium to your body (which we are often deficient in), and it also helps to pull toxins out of your skin.  This is great because it makes sure that all of the detox doesn’t fall on your liver.  Our liver can get overwhelmed with all of the toxins that we take in!

• Exercise!  The weather is beautiful, get out there and walk (and make sure you sweat)! This is one of the best ways to remove heavy metals from your body.  Sweating can also be done in a sauna, but exercise also helps your muscles, heart, bones, and brain as well.  So if you are able, then get out there and get moving!

We’ve been walking a lot, the weather is incredible and the boys really enjoy riding in the stroller (thankfully).  Yesterday we walked 5 miles!  Today I’m beat, but tomorrow we will get back out there.

What are some ways that you enjoy spring cleaning your body?

Update Notes:  

This post was originally written in April 2017.  It was updated in March 2019.