Maybe over the Christmas, you’ve indulged in a few too many celebratory beverages and sweet treats and your workout routine has dwindled to several hours of ‘sofasana’ each evening.

January is the perfect time for a cleanse and health reset. The New Year is stimulating and encouraging us to get active and this includes doing something positive for our digestive and immune systems and overall metabolism and cellular health.

In this post we’ll take a look at what an herbal cleanse is all about and provide some diet and lifestyle tips to support doing a cleanse that will invigorate from head to toe.

Flor Essence, Flora’s premiere herbal cleanse formula, can play an important role in supporting removal of wastes at the cellular level. This results in optimal digestion, which enables us to absorb more nutrients from our food. Flor-Essence also reduces free radical damage in the body, thereby supporting the immune system and maintaining optimal energy and vitality.

Flor·Essence consists of eight herbs that support various elimination pathways (the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin, intestines, lymphatic system) in the body.

These herbs are:

1. burdock root
2. sheep sorrel
3. slippery elm
4. Turkish rhubarb
5. red clover
6. blessed thistle
7. watercress
8. kelp

Each of these eight herbs consists of hundreds of ‘constituents’ or phytonutrients itself. Flor·Essence is tested for these phytonutrients and 43 key marker compounds have been identified that work in harmony to support the body in balancing oxidative stress and elimination of wastes products. These active ingredients from the herbs, like chlorogenic acid, apigenin, quercetin and luteolin, support overall cellular energy, health and functioning.

Flor·Essence is a tea concentrate, so we first mix it with equal parts water, about 30 minutes before eating. There is no specific, set duration of time to do the cleanse for but most people should find at least 2-4 weeks of using the tea daily to be optimal. This cleansing period can be repeated several times, as desired, throughout the year.

To get the most out of your cleanse, here are some diet, supplement and lifestyle tips and suggestions.

Please note: everyone’s health and dietary needs are different. These are general suggestions only and may not be ideal for everyone. If in doubt, consult with your healthcare provider first.

Diet

• Eat wisely with nutrient dense foods; eating less is ok but avoid a complete fast – your body, especially your liver, needs certain key nutrients when cleansing as it’s an energy and nutrient intensive process.
• Include plenty of water throughout the day. The herbs in Flor Essence have diuretic properties so you will urinate more.
• Include plenty of fiber from fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. Fiber helps to keep you regular, absorb and bind waste products in the bowels, and is good for your microbiome.
• Another reason to favor fruits and vegetables, and also soups and smoothies, is that replacing water is more effectively done with high-water-content foods, as opposed to just water.
• Try to include foods with antioxidant properties that support healthy digestion and circulation: fresh fruit, spices like turmeric and cayenne or chili peppers.
• Ensure you are getting adequate whole protein – especially amino acids like cysteine, glycine, glutamine, methionine – these support your liver and are highest in foods like meat, fish, dairy, eggs, soybeans, quinoa, buckwheat and broccoli.
• Include cruciferous vegetables (kale, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, arugula, etc.), garlic and onions – these also support your liver in doing its work.

Supplements

• Vitamins C, E, B vitamins, carotenoids, selenium, N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) help to support liver enzymes.
• Antioxidants like grapeseed OPCs, coenzyme Q10, astaxanthin, catechins in green tea and milk thistle to deal with any increase in free radicals during promotion of cleansing.
• Probiotics help support the health of your gut lining as well as bowel regularity.
• Vegans may want to speak to a healthcare practitioner about supplementing to boost their methionine or cysteine levels since these are highest in animal foods.

Try

• Light exercise to encourage blood and lymph flow: yoga, walking, bouncing on a rebounder
• Massage, hot bath or infra-red sauna
• Meditation or journaling about your intentions and goals in doing this cleanse

Avoid

• Excess caffeine – ideally you want to be in rest/repair parasympathetic mode and not too stimulated or jittery during your cleanse period. Try switching to green tea for your cleanse period if you need the caffeine.
• Excess alcohol – for obvious liver health reasons. Abstain if you can, or a small glass of red wine if you can’t.
• Lack of sleep – 7-8 hours of restful sleep is ideal to support cleansing – both for your liver and your brain.
• Junk foods and refined sugars. These are the opposite of nutrient dense foods and are not helpful to the cleansing process.

Above all, enjoy this period of doing a cleanse with Flor·Essence and get creative with what additional changes you’d like to make and see in your life. If it seems overwhelming, just choose and focus on a few of the above that you know you can incorporate and follow through on for the cleanse period. Doing a cleanse with Flor Essence should be a gentle, day-by-day process over a few weeks.