More and more we are becoming aware how the choices we make every day are what contribute to our health and wellbeing.  Our choices on a day to day basis are cumulative so if we consistently choose the healthy food option, or regular exercise, over time we become healthier.  The reverse is also true; regular bad food choices lead to a body that is depleted in essential nutrients and over time will not be able to repair and heal the way we expect our bodies to be able to.
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So here are some areas that can make a huge difference over time with a little attention every day.

1. Practice a Positive Mind-set.  We often have automatic negative thoughts that invade our thinking – notice these thoughts and replace them with something positive.  A moment of gratitude works well!
  
2. Refreshing Sleep.  This is an area that needs more and more attention in our busy, overloaded lives.  Sleep is essential for our body’s repair and healing processes.  Go to bed at the same time and wake at the same time every day. Reduce any expose to screens and blue light for an hour before you are going to sleep.  Make the room as dark as possible.
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3. Move Your Body.  We are all familiar with how important exercise is so make it a priority to get some exercise every day.  Do your spinal hygiene exercises. Standing, bend forward and touch your toes, then come up and bend backwards arching your spine, then come upright and bend sideways in each direction and then rotate looking over each shoulder. Do the same movements with just your head to loosen up your neck.

​4. Posture – Sit Up Straight.  We sit too much and this is causing as many health issues as smoking does. Simply taking your spine into extension – lift your arms to shoulder height, look up to the ceiling and lift your breastbone, will help reverse that forward computer posture. Do this at least once every hour that you are sitting.

5. Nourishing Food. Our food provides the nutrients that our bodies need to heal and repair – so put good quality in so that your body will last well into the future.  A few simple changes can make the world of difference.  Add more vegetables, the wider the variety of colour, taste and texture the better. Drink more good quality water. Avoid additives, preservatives, sugars and processed foods.
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We hope that these tips will make a difference in your life so that you stay healthy and energised for long into the future!
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​We had a very successful talk on Saturday in preparation for doing the 10 Day Metabolic Detox over the next 10 days.  I wanted to give a little summary of what we spoke about which might motivate you to join us doing this detox or perhaps give you some inspiration to join us on the next one!  We recommend that you do an efficient detox at least twice a year because even though our body is always going through a detoxification process it may not be doing it as efficiently as it could for various reasons like nutrient deficiency, stress or genetic factors.
So are you toxic? Do you need to be doing a detox?

The question is no longer if you are toxic but rather how toxic we are.  The CDC has found that most Americans have over 200 toxins in their blood and urine and I’m sure that here in South Africa we are not far behind.
These toxins are all around us in our household cleaning products, our skin care products, the plastics we use, pesticides and other chemicals we spray on our growing food as well as additives we put into our processed food.

Genetics, environmental exposure, diet and lifestyle can affect our ability to excrete these toxins which leads to a build-up of toxins in our body, an increase in the toxic burden.  This is impacting on our quality of health.  The symptoms can be subtle and have probably been building up over months and years.
Low energy levels, chronic fatigue, muscle aches and pains or more severe fibromyalgia. Difficulty concentrating or brain fog is common.  Noticing that you’re more sensitive to certain foods or odours and perfume.  Behavioural changes, irritability and headaches can all indicate a level of toxicity, as can changes in your gastrointestinal function or abdominal pain.
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So the aim of the detox is to normalise the body’s ability to process and excrete toxins while temporarily reducing the toxins coming in.
Detoxification is an energy dependent process that needs calories and nutrition to fuel this process and support the detoxification pathways.  The liver is the main detoxification organ which needs vitamins, minerals and amino acids from protein to work properly. Unfortunately juicing and other fasting programmes can actually deprive your body of essential nutrients needed to support detoxification so while these may good to do for other reasons we prefer this method to detox the body.
The benefits of a good detox are more energy and less fatigue. Improved memory as the brain fog lifts. Less cravings for coffee and sugar to help you get through the day. Less water retention and even a shift in weight as you reduce your levels of inflammation.

How do you get started?
Fill out our questionnaire on your level of toxicity.  This will give you a baseline of how toxic your system is.  Mild toxicity will respond to the 10 day programme but if you have severe levels of toxicity you may want to consider the longer programme.

The programme is broken down into 3 steps:
1. Initial clearing – this is where we eliminate the foods that can be causing toxicity such as processed foods, sugar, red meat, coffee, alcohol.  We suggest starting on a Monday so that when you get to the most intense part of the detox it falls over the weekend when you can rest and support the detoxification process.
2. Metabolic detoxification – here we eat only selected foods, reducing all allergenic foods such as dairy and nuts while increasing our nutritional supplements.  You can eat as much as you need to of the selected foods, we don’t want you to be hungry.
3. Reintroduction – at the end of the detox we start reintroducing the foods that you have eliminated slowly.  Your body is more sensitive and when you put these foods back you may notice a reaction such as bloating, skin changes or changes in your energy levels.  This may indicate that your body has always had a sensitivity to these foods and you would benefit in eliminating them for a longer period.

Here are some tips to improve the success of your detox:
• If you are a huge coffee drinker it would be wise to reduce your coffee intake for a week or two before you start your detox programme and increase your hydration by drinking plenty of purified water.
• Don’t overscoop your nutritional supplement – it is measured to last the whole programme.
• Regular elimination is very important.  The toxins have to get out via our bowel and urine so increase your fibre and drink more water.
• If you weren’t sure yet – please drink plenty of water, this is a detoxification process and we are encouraging the body to flush these toxins out.
• Eat plenty of food from the recommended food list.  Don’t get hungry – your body needs nutrients to efficiently metabolise these toxins.

Do the questionnaire again at the end of the programme and be amazed at how the symptoms have changed in just 10 days.  Again we recommend you do a detox twice a year – so we will see you in September!

For online support www.ClearChangeProgram.com
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