Detox your body

You will hear the word "Detox" related to diet everywhere. Plenty of companies are selling supplements to help you detoxify your body. The reality is that you don't have to spend lots of money on any detox supplements, you just have to know what your detox goal is and know what you should or should not eat.

Why is it good to cleanse your body occasionally? Well, we consume hidden toxins in the modern day foods that we eat no matter how healthy we try to be. On occasion its just good practice to cleanse yourself of these toxins and let your body release the excess water as well.

I mentioned detox goal, sometimes all a person wants is to eliminate sugar from their diet, meat or alcohol. Or all. So what is your goal? Lets cover a full detox which will fully encompass all of the mentioned.

This guideline is for a three day. It is preferable if you do so over a weekend that you can relax, detox and center yourself. The side effects of detoxing can make you irritable so this would be the best time to do it. In preparation for the weekend, try to start cutting out caffeine, heavy proteins and fatty or heavy foods the week prior. Increase your water intake as well to help de-bloat your body.

Prepare a pitcher of water with lemon for the day, drink approximately 8 - 10 glasses of it throughout the day itself. Your body will tell you how much is the right amount of water.

For Breakfast on all three days, have an herbal tea (Yogi brand teas have a wonderful "Healthy Fasting" tea) with a fruit salad with raw almonds and flax seed oil sprinkled on top.

If you need snacks between meals have a piece of fruit (except bananas and grapes). Do not worry about the sugars in the fruit itself, enjoy with a tall glass of water with lemon.

Lunch and dinner would be a large colorful salad with lemon or a white vinegar as the dressing with a white protein (egg whites, 3 oz. grilled white fish, 3 oz. clean chicken breast), also with a tall glass of water with lemon.

Contrary to juicing detox diets you are consuming food and nutrients. The salads themselves provide the fiber needed to help clean out your system.

Every night take a nice hot (not too hot) Epsom salt bath with essential oils of your choice (lavender is a good one, do not use peppermint though, it may irritate the skin). Drink a hot cup of herbal tea and try to get as much sleep as possible throughout the three days. Rest will help the body.

As the toxins are released from your body you will experience side effects including:
-Irritability
-Possible headaches
-Smelly sweat
-Fatigue
-Skin irritations

Some people report feeling like they have the flu, this is normal. Yoga and meditation will help clear out your mind and detoxify the body.

Clear out any plans for those three days and take the days to yourself to thoroughly detoxify the mind, body and soul.

Once you resume your day to day life, try to keep a diet as clean as possible

Pain or No Pain? That is the question!

The biggest hurdle many personal trainers encounter when training clients both old and new, is trying to understand the pain that the client might have during or after exercise. Of course, everyone is different and some are much less in tune with their bodies and the pain they might encounter having better proprioception but also can differentiate what is warning pain and what is healing pain better than others.

Healing pain might sound like an oxymoron, however when it comes to working out and exercise, after a particularly intense workout you will feel muscular pain that is the result of breaking down the muscle fibers and those will now begin to rebuild stronger.

Learning to feel the difference will help you communicate to your trainer in a more efficient way and help your trainer train you correctly.

It is important also to pay close attention to what you are feeling and not to ignore the pain. The next time you are say, in an Indoor Cycling class and your legs are burning, instead of doing everything possible to ignore the pain, focus on it. FEEL it, learn exactly how it feels and what you are experiencing. As a matter of fact, when you actually turn the pain into a learning tool it becomes much easier to deal with. You learn more about your body and become in tune with it. After you have done this just breathe and focus on making the pain go away. Trust me, if you do this it becomes surprisingly easy to deal with.

Bad pain, such as shin splints or joint pain feel completely different than something like the pain you feel the day after a good workout (DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). Be fair to yourself and know that DOMS is necessary for your body to go through the changes it needs to.

Good DOMS? Soreness the day after that makes you feel stiff.
Bad DOMS? You can't function you worked out so hard. Even going to the bathroom brings you to near tears.

A good trainer will keep you within the good DOMS range, and again communication is key. Be fair to everyone and know when to cry out without crying wolf.