13 Tips for a Post-Diwali Detox at Home

With Diwali just around the corner, it’s natural to feel excited. Since a large part of the celebrations are bound to be muted, we’re going to make the most of whatever we can do under the circumstances. I imagine it’s going to be lots of shopping online, Zoom calls, decking up the home and of course – eating and drinking merrily!

Let’s face it, pandemic or not, we’re going to be gorging on sweets, fried foods, heavy meals and alcohol for celebrations. Maybe a little more than usual this year since everything else is cancelled. While it’s perfectly fine to let our hair down during a festival and focus on having fun, we can’t ignore the fact that our body bears the brunt of our reveling. And hence we came up with this post that lists easy tips for a post-Diwali detox at home.

Must Read: Easy ways to decorate your home this Diwali.

So the result is that you feel bloated and unwell after Diwali, which is a sign from your body – it’s time for a detox! It’s tempting to go to a spa retreat for a full detox, but since that’s not feasible now, we’ve got some easy tips for a post-Diwali detox at home.

13 Tips for a Post-Diwali Detox at Home

Once you are done and dusted with the Diwali celebrations, ensure that you take time out to rejuvenate and take care of yourself. Here are our tips for a post-Diwali detox at home.

1. Clean out your Kitchen

Since most of the ‘damage’ done is because of unhealthy eating habits, let’s start from there. Your health is made in the kitchen, so get rid of all kinds of sugary, fatty or processed and packaged foods. If you’ve got too many sweets or mithais leftover from Diwali, give them away – you don’t have to finish them in one go! When done, stock up on enough groceries for at least a week, including whole grains, fruits, vegetables and dairy products. Be sure to include healthy snacks and get rid of instant foods like breakfast cereals or 2-minute noodles. This is surely the first step teasy tips for a post-Diwali detox at home.

2. Drink lots of Water

Festive eating tends to be high in salt, thanks to all those namkeens and munchies. This increased sodium causes more water retention, which may be what’s responsible for the increased weight on the scale. Alcohol can also have the same effect. The best way to get rid of excess water retention is – more water! Having at least 2-3 liters of water a day helps flush out all the toxins in the body. Go for a warm water-lemon juice mix first thing in the morning. Herbal teas like green tea and fennel tea also boost digestion which helps the body in elimination of toxins. These are again simple tips for a post-Diwali detox at home
Must Read: Easy Detox Drinks You Can Make at Home

3. Get enough Sleep

Festivities often lead to a lack of enough sleep or erratic sleeping patterns with people staying up late partying and waking up at odd times the next day. We often underestimate the effect sleep has on overall health and wellbeing. You can, in fact, detox your body simply by getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can have effects similar to that of 0.1% alcohol in the blood. Many hormones are affected by sleep, and getting in at least 7 hours of sleep every night can let everything slide back into its natural rhythm. For best results, get into bed latest by 11 P.M.

4. Workout Every Day

This is probably the most difficult on this list – especially if you’re someone who likes to lounge all day on the couch! However, exercise plays an important role in detoxification. It gives the lungs a chance to really flush out the toxins, and also increases blood flow to different parts of the body. For this, you need to ensure that you get in some workout that’s a little intense; that which makes you break out in a sweat. Sweating is one of the body’s way of detoxification, and a good workout also raises the levels of certain hormones in the body. If using an activity tracker, aim for at least 10,000 steps in a day.

5. Time your Meals

You have to eat, but when you eat is about as important as what you eat. Go by the saying of eating ‘like a king’ at breakfast, ‘like a commoner’ at lunch and ‘like a pauper’ at dinner. This is not with regards to nutrition – it’s more about the quantity. Have a heavy breakfast that has at least 20 grams protein and amounts to one third of the day’s calories. At dinner, keep it light with soups and salads. Try to eat at the same time everyday – this also gives your digestive system a chance to reset.

6. Eat lots of Yogurt

You may have heard about people making a big deal about gut health, and they’re right. The gut microbiome is crucial to the proper functioning of many important processes in the body, including digestion, immunity and inflammation. If your gut isn’t healthy, you’ll always feel unwell. Consuming lots of yogurt restores the balance of the gut microbiome that may have become subject to an assault of processed foods over Diwali.

7. Include more Fiber

What’s the best way for toxins to leave your body? Through digestion and the elimination at the end of it! However, in order to have regular bowel movements and frequent elimination of waste, you need to ensure that it has enough bulk to move through your body. For this include lots of fiber, available in oatmeal and fruits and vegetables. Many people feel backed up after festivals due to the increased intake of refined foods, and adding more fiber can fix this.

8. Include Liver-friendly Foods

Your liver is one of the most important organs in your body that spear heads the detoxification process. The liver does this process on its own, but a little help from your diet can aid the process. If you’ve overdosed on alcohol during Diwali, you know your liver needs time TLC. Go for healthy carbs like sweet potatoes that are slowly digested. Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and Brussels sprouts as well as greens like spinach, mint and coriander are also helpful for detoxification. Have them as side dishes or in smoothies.

9. Cook at Home

All these guidelines regarding a detox diet are pointless if you eat outside all day, every day. You have no control over the food that is prepared in a restaurant, and in all probability, it is loaded with oil, butter, salt and sugar. The only way to monitor exactly what goes on your plate is to cook your own food. Not only is this more economical, you can include all the right foods to aid your post Diwali detox.

10. Practice Intuitive Eating

During festivals like Diwali, most of our meals are pretty much out of our control. We eat when someone offers us something, or simply because we see it lying around. Or maybe we’re the kinds who take little bites and slurps out of whatever we’re cooking. Take a break from all that by practicing intuitive eating. Recognize the signs of true physical hunger or ’emotional hunger’. Eat slowly and carefully, paying attention to what your body is telling you at every point. By following this, you’ll be able to help your body along its natural recovery process.

11. Try Fasting

One of the most popular detoxification methods today is fasting. There are many kinds of fasting, but it generally refers to giving your body a break from food. This can either be restricting certain foods for an extended period of time, or cutting out all foods for a certain interval. Intermittent fasting is the popular choice, where you avoid eating for 16 hours a day, and eat only for the remaining 8. When you have such a narrow window for eating, you’ll be more likely to make it count, and include nutrient-packed foods rather than those with empty calories.

12. Practice Yoga

One thing to include in your daily routine that has many benefits including detoxification is Yoga. Yoga involves a certain mind-body connect that many other exercises don’t provide. It is a great way to center the mind, massage the internal organs and bring everything back to equilibrium. Yoga also balances the nervous system and restores your body to its balanced state. The best yoga poses to try for detox are twists and forward bends, as well as poses with legs raised. Go for the twisted chair pose, three legged dog, legs up the wall, wide forward fold or camel pose.

13. Get an Essential Oil Massage

After all the hustle and bustle of Diwali, all you want is to stretch out like a cat and relax. The best way to do this is with a massage, either done by another person or by yourself, as in abhyanga. When done properly, a massage can have a positive effect on the muscles, tissues and lymphatic system. It stimulates waste removal in the body, and soothes the nervous system. Make the most of the massage by using a mix of a carrier oil like coconut oil and detoxifying essential oils like fennel, lemon, rosemary and mint.

The most important thing to remember when starting on a detox plan is to not treat it as a punishment for the ‘sin’ of unhealthy eating. Trying to go at it all guns blazing is also a bad idea, since you’ll burn out quickly. Start with any one tip and then build on from there. For instance, focus on getting your sleep right, then start monitoring your water intake and so on. This will also avoid causing a shock to your body, which it will resist. Slowly but surely, your body will respond positively to the changes you’re making, and you won’t have to wait till the New Year to start living healthy. These were some of our tips for a post-Diwali detox at home. Do you have some easy detox tips to share? Leave a comment!

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.