Week 4 – Detoxifying, natural products & protecting your skin

Detox drinks, juice cleanses and anything marketed with the name ‘detox’ claim to leave your skin glowing, but in reality, they rarely speed up the detoxification process. For effective detoxification, you need to detox every day, not once a year.

Let’s get this straight; your body is always detoxifying.

A detox tea isn’t going to cut it, as for detoxification to take place, toxic substances need to be physically removed from your body.

The hard work begins with the liver and kidneys which filter the majority of toxins, and then by-products are mostly excreted via the digestive system.

Rather than following a restrictive detox diet one week each year, it’s far more beneficial for your skin to make sure your body’s natural detoxification process is in tip-top condition all year round. Here’s how…

1. Go natural

Give your liver a break by simply reducing your intake of toxins.

Eat organic food to reduce pesticide intake, use cleaning products with more natural ingredients, and avoid exercising by busy roads.

Also, the obvious, less mojitos might help! Aim to limit alcoholic drinks to 4 a week.

2. Get colour on your plate

Flooding your body with colourful antioxidants in berries and green vegetables also helps to support the liver and kidneys.

Get enough protein too, as although this is often lacking in juice detox diets, it is crucial for creating enzymes used in detoxification pathways in the liver.

3. Fill up on fibre

Excreting toxins through the digestive system is the final step in detoxification (again, lacking in many detox diets!) where soluble forms of fibre such as oats, beans, seeds and fruit play a part to help carry toxins out of the body.

Don’t forget to drink plenty of water to bind to this fibre too!

Challenge 7: Choose one product you currently use and replace with a natural alternative

– Face exfoliator (free from SLS)

– Natural moisturiser (free from parabens & phthalates)

– Natural clothes washing liquid

– Natural cleaning products

Although the term ‘natural’ is often used to describe these products, they do not ONLY contain natural ingredients. There are plenty of man-made ingredients which are fine for your skin, or even beneficial. We are not striving for perfection here, but we are trying to select the best products for you all round, also considering household products used on or near your skin.

The main point to understand is that while some products choose to have simpler ingredients, other commonly used high street brands often add unnecessary harsh chemicals or fragrances. You ideally want to avoid these, as they can really impact the skin barrier, causing skin to become irritated and more sensitive over time.

Challenge 8: Make a detox smoothie or soup containing fibre, vitamin A rich foods and protein
– Include a high fibre food (fruit, oats, seeds, lentils etc)
– Include vitamin A rich foods – green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale) or orange fruits / veg (carrots, sweet potato, mango)
– Include a protein rich food (nut butters, protein powder, beans, lentils, cheese)

Recipes for week 4

Kale & stilton soup
Butternut squash soup
Mango & coconut smoothie
Banana & avocado smoothie
Carrot & ginger soup
Pear & cinnamon smoothie

Recipe of the week

Print

Banana & avocado smoothie

Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

  • 300 ml milk (e.g. almond milk)
  • 1/2 avocado (scoop out flesh, remove pip)
  • 1 tbsp oats
  • 1/2 banana (frozen for thicker consistency)
  • 1 handful spinach
  • 2 dried apricots
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter

Instructions

  • Cut an avocado in half, remove the pip and scoop out the flesh of one half.
  • Add the almond milk and then all other ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth.