After your Thanksgiving meal (or any large dinner, which can happen more than once during the holiday season) you might feel lower in energy, heavy, bloated and a bit guilty. I urge you to let go of the guilt, be thankful for your delicious meal, and instead, just focus on getting your body back on (a healthy) track. The day after your big meal, follow these 9 tips to boost your metabolism, aid your digestion, and get yourself feeling light again!
Here are my (tested and proven) 9 steps to help you Detox the day after thanksgiving (or any big dinner!):
1. Prioritize sleep that night! This is essential. So if you went to bed late, do whatever you can to stay in bed a little longer to reach your 8 hours sleep. Not enough sleep is one of the top contributors to weight gain, gut issues, stress, fatigue and poor health overall.
2. Fast. Allow for a minimum 12 hour fast after your dinner. If you can extend to 14 or 15 hours it can be extremely beneficial. Your body needs time to digest and detox from that heavy meal.
3. Lemon Water. Start your day with a large mug of warm lemon water and probiotic supplement of choice. You need to feed your gut bacteria (especially if you had alcohol!). This warm lemon water and probiotics will get your digestion moving and help you detox from the day before.
4. Ginger Tea. Make yourself a big pot of ginger tea and sip it throughout your day. Ginger is known for aiding in digestion and helping to reduce inflammation. Before a meal it helps to boost nutrient absorption, and after meals it helps with proper digestion. It also helps to grow you “good’ gut bacteria, and is effective in boosting our immune system.
5. Light breakfast. Break your fast with something light, but make sure it has protein and fiber. I highly suggest having a green smoothie with vegan protein and extra fiber like ground flaxseed. Or just a matcha latte with a scoop of collagen peptides and 1 teaspoon acacia fiber. We need to give our body a break from hard to digest foods so avoid having a big heavy breakfast if possible.
NOTE: It’s highly beneficial in this “detox day” to have at least one meal be liquid. I personally find it easiest to do at breakfast. For a more intense detox day, try an 100% liquid day (having smoothies and soups - with protein and fiber, and of course, the above mentioned ginger tea and TONS of water!)
6. Eat extra greens. Add greens to both lunch and dinner, and the darker leafy greens, the better (think spinach, kale, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, rainbow chard, etc). Having liquid chlorophyll or chlorella between meals can also help you detoxify!
7. Limit carbs. Aim to only have balanced 3 meals and keep them on the lighter side (maybe even just 2 meals if you extend your fast), focusing on a small portion of protein with tons of veggies. Aim to get your carbs from lower-starch veggies but avoid rice/ corn/ bread and very starchy vegetables like potatoes, yuca, plantain, etc. If needed, have a small square of 80%+ dark chocolate or piece of lower-sugar fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth. And again, lots of ginger tea!
8. Move your body. Go for a long walk, a sweaty yoga class, or any form of movement that you enjoy (and ideally, that makes you sweat!). Exercise is KEY for balancing your blood sugar and stimulating your metabolism after that heavy thanksgiving (or whatever heavy dinner you had the night before).
*That being said, listen to your body and don’t go killing yourself with an extreme workout just to “compensate”. Remember to practice body love! Do a form of movement that feels good and you enjoy.
9. Sign up for a 10 day detox! Your body will thank you, trust me! And this will help keep your health in tip top shape despite a few heavy dinners here and there. (Thats why this year I did one last group after Thanksgiving!)
Wishing you a happy, healthy, guilt-free holiday season!