Detox 101

This week I am doing some detox for the sake of my liver. I'm pretty sure I have been doing some non-stop partying since Cinco de Mayo (though my college friend insists it's been since September 2003), and it's time I gave myself a little break.

I've done the lemon cleanse a couple of times - you know, the one where you drink nothing but three 32 ounce bottles of water mixed with lemons, grade B Maple syrup, and cayenne pepper all day long. Well if you don't know, let me tell you it's simply delicious and so much fun (heavy sarcasm). Actually, it does kind of taste like Gatorade after a while, but I don't know if that's a good thing. Anyway, you're supposed to drink this stuff for 10 days, but I've only ever made it to four and then the desire to chew something really kicks in and I have to quit. It does make you feel great though, so I would recommend trying it if you feel the need to cleanse yourself. It works especially well if you're starting a new diet.

If you don't feel like starving yourself, you can do a fruit and veggies fast for a couple of days. This works especially well if you have a juicer or blender so that you can make some tasty beverages. Just leave out the booze because unfortunately liquor is not included in any sort of detoxification process. Same goes for nicotine, marijuana, sleeping pills, and any other thing you have stashed in your special drawer.

It's also good to throw in some exercise to keep your energy levels up. I would recommend working out in the morning before work, so your energy lasts throughout the day and you have the rest of the afternoon to relax and get to bed early. Lots of sleep is really important when you're detoxing, and probably just in life in general. And drinking lots and lots and lots of water is good because it makes you pee a lot which flushes out all the toxins.

Most of you probably know all of this already because a lot of it is common sense. And if this is the first time you've even thought about the idea of detoxing, well you probably need more professional help than anything you're going to get from me...