If you’ve indulged a little too much over the holidays and are feeling a little sluggish and bloated, it might be time to help your body do what it does best, detoxify! This needn’t mean going on an extreme cleanse or following some celebrity doctor’s latest fad. Instead, to start off your year the right way, it may help to avoid a few common allergens so as to minimise the potential stress on your body and really give those organs of detoxification a good shot at getting you back on track. When we eat foods that trigger an abnormal immune response, this can lead to undesirable increases in inflammation and compromise our body’s ability to neutralise and eliminate toxins. This is true even when foods don’t cause life-threatening allergic reactions; ongoing unaddressed food intolerances can shift the focus of the liver, kidneys, colon, lungs, skin and lymphatic system (the detoxification organs), letting other toxins languish unresolved. So what should you avoid, and how should you go about eliminating and identifying potential allergens? To give your body a break, try cutting out the following foods for three weeks, along with alcohol, caffeine, artificial preservatives, flavourings, and colourings:
- Wheat / gluten
- Peanuts
- Tomatoes
- Corn
- Sugar, white sugar, glucose, corn syrup
- Oranges
- Non-fermented soy products
- Milk, eggs, and dairy products
- Yeast
- Headaches
- Skin breakouts, itching or rashes
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Post-nasal drip or other sinus issues
- Fatigue
- Changes in mood or ability to concentrate.
- Dandelion
- Milk thistle
- Green tea
- Licorice
- Cascara
- Spirulina