As we transition out of winter, many of us will be feeling a little lethargic and heavier. We often slow down and indulge ourselves with heartier meals in the colder weather. This is completely okay, but spring is the perfect time to rejuvenate and revitalise our health. It’s an ideal opportunity to heal, cleanse and nurture our bodies.

A detox or cleanse can be a fantastic way to boost health and wellbeing.

Since 1960, Hopewood has advocated juice and water fasting for short periods as an excellent way to achieve this. Put simply, fasting helps cleanse the body, while enabling our digestion to take some much-needed ‘time out’. The human body has an incredible capacity to heal itself and a natural detox gives your internal organs a genuine opportunity to rest, reset and heal itself. The process assists your body to flush out toxins and cleanses the liver.

One of the liver’s principal functions is to detoxify the body. It’s our internal cleanser. The liver is the largest internal organ in the body, weighing around 1.5kg in an average adult. It’s responsible for up to 500 bodily functions and processes almost everything we ingest, breathe or absorb through our skin.

If we indulge in alcohol, consume processed and junk foods, take drugs or smoke, the liver becomes congested. It can become blocked, fatty or bloated resulting in high cholesterol, poor synthesis of nutrients and the inability to clean up the blood. Chemicals and toxins then accumulate which in turn affects our health and mental state.

A congested liver can produce a number of symptoms from headaches, fatigue, mood swings and depression to poor concentration, feeling overly sensitive and overwhelmed. Other common reactions to a congested liver can include acne, rosacea (itchy, blotchy skin), trouble digesting fatty foods, a tendency to overheat and perspire excessively, or unexplained weight gain and an inability to lose weight, even with calorie restriction.

How does fasting help?

Juice and water fasting, cleanses the liver, which in turn cleans the blood. This helps to boost and strengthen the immune system. Fasting is the best way to kick start our body’s natural healing ability while it can also slow down, or possibly reverse, the progress of ageing by lowering free radical damage.

A juice or water cleanse can help you feel motivated to improve other facets of your lifestyle, like your exercise regime. Over more than 55 years of supervising juice and water therapy at our health retreat, we noted significant improvements in many health conditions including:

• liver, kidney and immune function
• skin conditions and chest congestion
• cholesterol and blood pressure
• fatigue and poor digestion,
• joint and muscular aches,
• energy and mental clarity.

To put a spring back in your step this spring, we recommend you take a few days off to completely rest and do a juice or water cleanse. It’s very important to have someone care for you during a fast and, when it is done, physical activity should only be resumed gradually.

The good news is that a thorough detox will really deliver rewards and you can expect to feel healthier, happier and more energetic.

Gradually introduce fruits and salad vegetables, followed by cooked vegetables and then more substantial foods. To keep your liver healthy, drink plenty of water and ensure your food is as natural, whole, pure and as fresh as possible. Consume up to 60% of your food raw. Include foods that support the liver such as beetroot, carrots, dark green leafy vegetables, garlic and ginger.

For more information about cleansing and for lots of great juice recipes buy your copy of “Lifestyle – Hopewood’s recipe for wellbeing” today.