Spring Cleaning

As we are now moving seasonally into spring it is appropriate to look at spring cleaning of the body. Cleansing is often referred to as the basis of good health and the best time to cleanse is spring. After the colder more inner time of winter, spring is the season when our bodies naturally tend towards shedding the built-up heaviness necessary for winter warmth. The bodily energy changes and becomes (or tends) more towards pushing outwards and so cleansing is easier.

Every cell and organ in our body eliminates waste as part of the metabolic process. How well this is done depends on the health of the liver and colon and how well they process and excrete toxins and waste.

The whole family can optimise their health by a suitable cleanse, depending on age, state of health, bodily constitution etc. Ideally an individualised cleanse is best. However, there are some general simple cleanse options safe for the whole family which we will outline below.

Simplify the diet
Eliminate foods that are more acidic. These include sugar (in any form), dairy, alcohol, peanut butter, white flour, margarines containing hydrogenated (and often GM) oils, soft drinks and potato chips. Also wheat is acid forming, especially the over processed wheat in most pastas and commercial breads. Instead eat foods as whole and simple as possible. If the weather is warm then more raw foods and fresh juices are appropriate. If it’s still cold then steamed vegetables and soups are better and save the fresh juices for the warmer middle of the day. Don’t eat fried foods either, while cleansing, baked foods or lightly steamed are preferable. Go for foods as whole and as unprocessed as possible.

Clean the tongue
Start the day with cleaning your tongue. Tongue scraping removes the toxins your body has pushed out there during the night. Try it, it feels wonderful!! You can buy tongue scrapers or use the side of a teaspoon.
Simply start on the left side at the back of the tongue and gently scrape forwards, then do the middle then the right side.

Have a detox drink
Next a warm ginger, lemon and honey drink is ideal for the whole family. Thinly slice (or grate) some fresh ginger, pour on hot water, add some fresh lemon juice and honey to taste. This drink gets the metabolism going, and cuts through and liquefies toxins which helps in elimination.

Treat yourself to a cleansing herb tea
Replace tea and coffee with cleansing herbs teas. Herbs such as St Mary’s thistle, dandelion root and scisandra detoxify and regenerate the liver. Pau D’Arco is an alkalising herb as well as being antiviral, immune balancing and antibacterial, so it is wonderful to aid cleansing the whole body. Red clover helps cleanse the blood. Burdock root works more on the lymphatic system. There are many other herbs which can be used in a cleansing programme too depending again on age, specific health problems etc. We have a ‘de-tox’ tea with a mix of cleansing herbs in it which makes it easy, but you can make your own as well, fairly easily.  Try and get organic herbs, as obviously these don’t have pesticide residues etc which the body becomes more sensitive to while cleansing.

In Ayurvedic medicine,  sipping hot water to cleanse is recommended. It helps to soften and liquefy the built up toxins in our cells and therefore aids easier elimination. Simply sip 1/2 cup or so of hot water (with nothing added) 3 to 4 times, or as often as you can manage, throughout the day. This is used as part of a weight reduction programme too.

Some of the common health complaints of springtime can be greatly reduced by cleansing our bodies. Flowers come out which means more pollens around us, and for some this can trigger allergies, hayfever, asthma or skin complaints. Pollens act as excess chemicals in the body, so if there is already an over-loaded metabolism and the liver is overworked then it becomes too hard for our bodies to deal with, so these sensitivities come out in these various ways. Cleansing releases excess chemicals from the body and so can greatly reduce sensitivities to these things. So don’t stop smelling the flowers — instead cleanse so you can enjoy them!

My youngest son used to suffer from Glue Ear which worsened at this time of the year; after a cleansing programme (along with specific herbs) it has now totally gone and he enjoys spring and being out in nature.

There are lots of other cleansing aids like homeopathics such as allium cepa or nux vomica. Also bentanite (clay) can assist in drawing toxins out of the body, and if taken with psyllium (which is a great high fibre substance) then they are swept out of the body quickly.

Personally I love cleansing and have passed this on to my children, and I know regular cleanses have kept me in good health. So feel into which cleansing choices appeal to you and your family (or feel do-able at least!) and give them a try.