I certainly hope you had a grand time, and that the New Year is a good one for you.  And does your New Year’s resolution include cleansing and detoxing your system?  If so, here are some ideas, from the least complicated to the most committed.

1.    EAT LESS!  If you just overdid it but don’t want to spend too much time worrying about what you should or should not eat, try just cutting down on what you normally eat.  In every meal, pay close attention to how you feel, and as soon as your hunger is assuaged, STOP.  This takes some attention, but only while you’re eating, not for planning or cooking, so you’re off the hook there.

2.    Go low-fat and vegan for a few days – no dairy, eggs, meats.  LOTS of vegetables, soups, whole grain breads and brown rice.  Chew well!

3.    Start each day with a detox drink.  Examples:  freshly made fruit or vegetable juice, with some garlic, ginger, and ground flax seed.

4.    Try a liver flush: Into the blender, while running, drop a garlic clove, stop when chopped.  Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, blend briefly, pour, drink up.  Chase with a glass of water.  Then for lunch have a big salad  and nothing else, a light dinner.  You can do this 3-4 days in a row.

5.    Do a one-day vegetable juice fast – try carrot, celery and apple, or carrot, celery, beet, parsley, in the juice machine, and one snack of freshly squeezed orange juice.  Then only soups (no flour or cream) and salads with lemon juice and olive oil the next day.  Back to normal eating the third day.

Eating with consciousness – that is, chewing well and paying close attention to how your food makes you feel – is a good idea, as it will prevent “eater’s regret” next time you have a fine event where the food is truly tempting.  If you just eat some of it, savoring it slowly and stopping when you had enough, you are less likely to overdo it.

Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D.

ANNEMARIE COLBIN, Ph.D., CHES, is an award-winning leader in the field of natural health   She founded Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts (TM) in New York City in 1977, and is adjunct professor of nutrition at the city’s Empire State College. She is the author of four books, including The Book of Whole Meals (Autumn Press, 1979; Ballantine Books, 1983), The Natural Gourmet (Ballantine Books, 1989, 1991), and Food and Healing (Ballantine Books, 1986, 1996).  Her website is: www.foodandhealing.com