My 10-day New Year Health “Reset”

While the holidays bring together family and friends for joyous celebrations, this often means weeks of high calories – from food and drink.   

For sure, I’ve always appreciated the work hard/play hard philosophy to life. But sometimes you need a “reset.” 

Which is why for the past decade I’ve implemented a special New Year’s tradition:  A 10-day full body cleanse to start the year off right.

Now don’t worry. Trust me when I say this is not as daunting as it may sound.  

I’m not talking about a starvation session, and the length of time can vary.  

But I can promise you that after the first few days you will be amazed how good you start to feel.  It may even cause you to want to change your lifestyle because the benefits of removing many of the daily toxins from your diet can be absolutely addictive. 

So below are the key points -- with my specifics -- to a successful full body cleanse.  

1. Zero Alcohol – For those who enjoy that evening drink – try substituting herbal tea.
2. Remove/stop your intake of sugar and processed foods. For you sweet tooths out there, I find fresh fruit to be a great alternative.
3. No red meat. Replace this with lean chicken breast or fish. And yes, this means baked not fried. 
4. Eat Antioxidant-Rich Foods. Broccoli, spinach, carrots and potatoes are all high in antioxidants, and so are artichokes, cabbage, asparagus, avocados, beetroot, radish, lettuce, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, collard greens and kale. During my cleanse, I’ll drink at least 2 Patriot Power Greens smoothies a day using the Patriot Power Blender. Too easy!

5. Reduce fat and dairy. As a result, I started drinking black coffee because I stopped       adding creamer. Life is too short to drink crappy coffee so get a great brand like Victory Coffees and give it a try black.
6. Decrease your salt intake.
7. Add a probiotic supplement to your daily routine. It will introduce the good/healthy bacteria to your digestive system, a great way to stay in balance and regular.
8. Drink More Water!!! It is recommended to drink ½ of your body weight in ounces daily.  I’m 200 lbs. and drink 100 ounces a day. If you only do one thing on this list do this.
9. Focus on Sleep. I have found that the older I get, the more difficult this can be. I started using melatonin which is an all-natural (non-narcotic) option and it has really helped.
10. EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE. This will make any cleanse much more effective.

Now this might seem insane to some of you. Or a lot to commit to all at once.

If that’s the case, I’d suggest you try the Crawl, Walk, Run strategy.   

Pick 3 of the above items and give it a try for 5 days. Gradually add items to your cleanse list and try it again in 2 months.  

Each of these suggestions is a great way to reset your body. Which is perfect at any time of year but makes so much more sense after a time of indulgence.

Good luck and let us know how it works for you.