It’s 2024, and you’re looking to start the new year on the right foot. Yet, if you’re guilty of overindulging during the holiday season, you may not know where to start. A detox seems like a good idea, but the reality is that liquid diets and juice cleanses may cause more harm than good, so what’s the next step?
Instead of a detox, try a reset, where you adopt smaller, more sustainable, and simpler changes that will reset your body and health for the year ahead.
11 Ways To Reset and Detox Your Body For 2024
1. Be kind to yourself
The holidays are all about indulging in food or drink, so it’s okay if you feel like you overdid it. There’s no need to feel guilty about it and spiral into following a restrictive diet or overexercising.
Rather, spend the next few days and weeks focusing on making small, sustainable lifestyle changes that will improve your health and well-being throughout the new year.
2. Stop with the toxins
The liver is considered the body’s detoxifying organ, but certain foods can interfere with its ability to do its job. What’s more, these foods can also impact your health, making it harder for you to enjoy the new year. Along with a healthy diet and lifestyle, products such as Ready Clean Detox can be a helpful addition to cleanse your body of toxins. They are specially designed to support your body’s natural detoxification process.
To protect the state of your health, including your liver, go through your fridge and pantry and clear it of foods high in sugar, refined flour, artificial sweeteners, and trans fats.
Your fridge may be loaded with holiday leftovers and if this is the case, you can either enjoy a serving of it once a week or wrap it up and give it to your local beggar – they’ll appreciate it.
3. Eat more Whole Foods
Once you’ve cleared your fridge and pantry of processed foods, you should replace them with healthier, unprocessed items that include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and lean meats.
Certain foods that can support liver health include leafy greens, beets, and cruciferous veggies like cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage, as well as garlic and onions.
4. Eat breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and research has even suggested that skipping breakfast can cause one to lose out on vital nutrients like calcium, vitamin C, vitamin D, and fiber.
By starting your day with a good and healthy breakfast, featuring protein, fiber, fruits, and vegetables, you’ll be more inclined to make healthier choices throughout the day.
5. Stay hydrated
If you want to reset your body, then you need to make sure that you drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and flush out toxins.
It’s advisable to drink at least eight, eight-ounce glasses of filtered water a day, and if you’re not a fan of the taste, you can flavor your water with lemon slices and other fruit pieces to make it more appealing.
6. Moderate alcohol intake
During the festive season, alcohol may have been a big part of your routine, and if so, it may be time to reevaluate your drinking habits.
Excessive alcohol intake can impact your sleep, liver, and health, disrupting your wellness plans for the new year. As such, it may be time to make some changes to your relationship with alcohol.
It’s advisable to limit yourself to one drink a day if you’re a woman and two a day if you’re a man, and to alternate each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water.
You can go even further in re-evaluating your relationship with alcohol by joining in with Dry January and abstaining from alcohol for the rest of this month.
7. Move your body
There are various methods by which the body detoxifies itself, one of which is by sweating.
Getting in a good workout, at the gym, in the lounge, or even in the bedroom, is always a great way to break a sweat.
Now while climbing the stairs, having a dance party, working in the garden, or walking your dog may not leave you sweating, any form of physical activity is a great way to reset the body.
8. Reset your sleep schedule
The holiday season can disrupt many things, including your sleep schedule, so rebooting it and ensuring that you’re getting your seven to nine hours is a good way to start the year. After all, sleep deprivation can disrupt your hormones, causing you to overeat, and be more stressed out, which is not a good place to be at the start of the new year.
If you’re not getting enough rest and are unsure of where to start, Dr. Yashica Khalawan, a South African-based general practitioner, suggests the following:
- Eat dinner 3 hours before bedtime.
- Avoid the foods mentioned.
- 1 hour before bedtime, switch off all devices. Limit liquid intake to avoid bathroom trips.
- Listen to relaxing music and take a warm bath/shower. The cooling of body temperature helps signal sleep.
- Create an environment that supports sleep:
- Room temp: 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 °C)
- Darken the room
- Sound machine to block out outside noise
- Invest in a quality mattress and pillow that supports the alignment of the spine
- During the night, avoid checking the time, as this increases sleep anxiety.
9. Love your teeth
Our dietary habits can impact our dental health and if you spent the holidays consuming more sugar and alcohol than usual, then your teeth may bear the brunt of this.
To protect your oral health, make sure to brush twice a day with quality toothpaste, floss once a day after brushing, and visit the dentist at least once every six months.
10. Clear your mind
Your pantry and fridge aren’t the only things you should be clearing out. What we think is what we become, so it’s important to clear your mind of any 2023 clutter and 2024 concerns that may be raising your stress levels.
To manage this, try adopting relaxation techniques like yoga, meditation, or breathing exercises. These tools will help keep you calm and allow you to move past whatever’s stressing you.
You can also take up journaling or speaking to a confidant or therapist about what’s on your mind.
11. Cater to your skin
The holidays can be full of stress, sugar, and alcohol and all three of these factors can have consequences for your skin, causing breakouts, dullness, dryness, and visible signs of aging.
To get your skin back to normal, wash your face every morning and evening with a cleanser and use a hydrating moisturizer daily. Always opt for sunscreen and exfoliate every other day to get rid of any dead skin cells that have built up on the surface of the skin.
Bottom line
It’s the start of the new year, so it’s easy to get carried away by extreme health resolutions that may do more harm than good. But, you need not punish yourself for any setbacks that you experienced during December, and instead focus on getting back on track with your health with small and sustainable lifestyle changes.
References
Fanelli S, Walls C, Taylor C. (2021). Skipping breakfast is associated with nutrient gaps and poorer diet quality among adults in the United States. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 80(OCE1):E48. doi:10.1017/S0029665121000495
