Ahh, spring. A time for cleaning out your home and your body. What’s this about spring cleaning your body you ask? If you are like most of your fellow mammals, eating more and exercising less during the colder months, you have probably stored some new fat over the winter and with that some preservatives, food color, and heavy metals.

In Chinese medicine spring is the time when the functioning of the liver is at its weakest, making it the best time to assist in this organs healing. The liver is one of the main organs of elimination and is in charge of getting many toxins and chemicals out of your body. If you tend to get symptoms like seasonal allergies, constipation, headaches, fatigue and indigestion especially from fatty foods you would be a great candidate for doing a spring cleanse. Even if you are generally in good health a spring cleanse is an excellent way to slow down cellular aging, feel lighter and more energetic and keep the health that you already have.

There are numerous ways to cleanse your body. The most beneficial way is by juice cleansing. This typically takes five days, with three of the days actually being where no food is eaten. Some people prefer to make their own juice, using organic vegetables so that they are not concentrating pesticides. Fruit juicing is not recommended as their sugars are too high and can lead to an energy crash.

A good cleansing drink that you can make on your own is called the Master Cleanser. It is like a lemonade and contains one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, one to two tablespoons of maple syrup, 1/10 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and eight ounces of water. You should have at least six cups of a juice daily to keep your blood sugar and energy up while you are not eating and also to assist in cleansing. Other people prefer to buy kits available from the health food stores for cleansing. These kits are usually not cheap but they are complete and take any guess work out of how to cleanse if you are a first timer.

If you chose to try a five day cleanse the day before and the day after you go without food are just as important as the days you do not eat. The types of food that you eat on these days must be limited so that you have less to clean out of your system and to minimize weight gain when you do return to eating. A typical meal plan for the first and last day of a cleanse would be for breakfast a fruit salad, for lunch a large tossed salad and for dinner rice and steamed vegetables. On these days you do not eat any protein or fats as they take longer to digest. If you are someone who feels that you can not go without food, you may want to consider the before mentioned diet plan for eight to ten days. You could also use the Master Cleanser or vegetable juices for in between meals and to assist in detoxifying.

While you are performing a cleanse you can also drink herbal teas, water and carbonated water. While cleansing it is suggested to avoid caffeine, alcohol, spices, sugar, cigarettes and unnecessary supplements, but do not stop any needed medications. It is not recommended to perform a cleanse without food for over five days unless supervised. Light exercise is encouraged, but if your job is very physically active you may want to pace yourself.

Until you perform a cleanse without food you will not realize how much time is taken up by either preparing, eating, cleaning up after or thinking about food. I highly suggest cleansing with a friend. It helps so much to be able to talk to someone who knows exactly what you are experiencing. Many people when they cleanse find that they require less sleep. Some people may experience constipation, headaches, fatigue, increased body odor, lowered body temperature, nausea and hunger pains during a cleanse. All of these symptoms and any others that may show themselves with a cleanse are fleeting, hang in there!

Now after all of this discussion on how great cleansing can be there are actually some people who would not benefit from a cleanse or at least should speak to a health practitioner who is knowledgeable about cleansing before considering one. These people would include those with insulin dependent diabetes, people with active TB, cancer patients, people with great emotional stress or physical weakness, children, pregnant women and people with unstable heart conditions.