Holiday 'heavies' & how to detox them away

If you have just been on holiday and over indulged a little you will know exactly what I mean…

I came back from holiday feeling horrid! Bloated, puffy, all clogged up and even feeling uncomfortable in my ‘fat’ jeans.

This was my own doing of course. I left for holiday consciously deciding to have a ‘full-on’ proper holiday… to let go, to let my hair down and to have a real break from my normal routine.

That is the great thing about letting your hair down and having a good holiday - you do it for a time, you have fun and then when you are finished all you want to do is get back into your routine and be healthy again. Letting go for a short time is a great motivation for living life well because after a while your poor body is shouting at you to get back on track.

So for the past two weeks I have been detoxing and getting myself healthy again and I am feeling amazing!

For me, being healthy is about feeling good!
It is about waking up in the morning in good spirits and wanting to jump out of bed and begin your day.
It is about feeling happy and light and wanting to share your joy with the world.
It is about catching yourself smiling… just because
It is about having the strength and stamina to exercise and loving the exercise that you are doing.
It is about putting goodness into your body and getting returns on your investment.
It is about loving life and more importantly loving and respecting your own body.

There are so many ways to get healthy and countless numbers of detoxes out there. I think the biggest challenge is finding one that works for you and of course to actually start it.

I have been doing a Sattvic Detox – similar to the one that I did when I did my Yoga teachers training, but not as intense. Sattvic means ‘Pure’ so with a Sattvic detox I am cutting out anything that is not pure for my body… no alcohol, no meat, chicken or fish, no caffeine, no sugar, no preservatives colourants or additives.

The biggest lesson I learned when doing this detox years ago was to read the ingredient labels on what I was buying. It is amazing how almost every item of food has sugar or salt and some kind of preservative in it!
I was horrified!
My favourite food item that says ‘low fat’ on the label, when actually reading the ingredient list, was not good for me at all. I learned not to just be suckered into listening to the advertising but to actually go for the facts and see what was in the food that I was eating.

Do your own test:
Diet cool drinks seem healthy right – the advertising on the can says no sugar and no caffeine. Well look at the ingredient list! I don’t even understand half of them but they do not sound good for you. Compare that ingredient list with say Appletiser or Just Juice and see the difference.

Anyway I digress…back to my detox
So what can I eat then – that is what everyone keeps on asking me – well whole foods are the answer!
Salads, vegetables, soups, as much organic produce as possible, rooibos tea, honey, organic peanut butter… there is actually a long list and so many delicious recipes to try.

Most of it is what I eat anyway so I didn’t think it would be too difficult but what I am craving is sugar – especially being that time of the month. So when shopping at Wellness Warehouse on the weekend I was very excited to find carob bars that had no sugar, rusks with no sugar and lots of little treats that I thought I couldn’t have.

Of course included in a good detox is drinking lots of water, doing exercise (or in my case my daily Yoga practice), having a good night sleep and not carrying any emotional baggage (otherwise I just tend to want to comfort eat).

I have decided to do my detox for 32 days… I am on day 16.

So far what I feel has changed for me is:
• I feel more myself and alive again
• I have loads of energy
• I can feel my body changing and getting more toned and slimmer (even though I have not lost weight on the scale yet)
• My mind is clear
• My skin is clear and glowing
• I feel happier
• I feel lighter and stronger during my Yoga practice
and I am excited to continue so that I can carry on feeling better and better

See if you can set yourself some time to do a good detox.
Research, find one that works for you, get inspired and start!
It is so worth it – I wish everyone could feel the way I am feeling right now!


"I love my body.
I create peacefullness in my mind,
and my body reflects this peacefulness as perfect health."
Power Thought by Louise L. Hay