Detox

Your Post-Vacation Detox: Feel Better in 48 Hours

Adjusting to first few weeks after a great summer holiday can hit a little harder than expected, which is why we’ve created this deprivation-free, 48 hour plan to put a little spring in your step.

Why It Works

Our bodies are incredibly responsive, and it's often surprising how quickly we can feel better with nourishing food, healthful practices and a little purposeful movement. This quick but energising reset focuses on supporting digestion, blood sugar, and lymphatic drainage, whilst using grounding practices to feel better- and fast.

How To Do It

1. Start Your Day 750mL of Lemon Water

Overnight, we lose water whilst building up by-products from our metabolism, so drinking water in the morning is one of the best ways to rehydrate, encourage the elimination of toxins, and support the gut. Another benefit? Focusing on water first usually means that we push back our morning coffee, which is no bad thing for cortisol levels. If it sounds like a lot of water, don’t worry – you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) chug it. Instead, enjoy it at your own pace whilst you’re getting ready. The lemon gives a hit of citric acid, which can stimulate digestion, alongside a little Vitamin C and Potassium to support energy levels.

2. Have a Cold Shower First Thing in the Morning

This simple but effective form of hydrotherapy stimulates circulation, metabolism and can improve mood. For a contrast shower, start out with a hot shower for 1-2 minutes, reduce the temperature to as cold as possible for 1 minute, then take it back up to warm for 1 minute and repeat 3 times. Alternatively, you can go straight into a cold shower, but we love the contrast is to support lymphatic drainage and boost circulation.

3. Make our High-Protein Breakfast Salad

Protein at breakfast goes a long way for mood, blood sugar, and overall energy. If bloating or digestive discomfort is an issue, steering clear of grains first thing can often help keep irritation and inflammation at bay. The goal of this salad is to hit upwards of 20g of protein and pair it with healthy fats, easy-to-digest vegetables and some raw seeds for their prokinetic effect on the gut. You'll find the recipe below.

4. Take Walking Snacks Throughout the Day

Earlier this year, a study in the European Journal of Cardiology revealed that walking decreased all-cause mortality and provided a plethora of benefits to virtually every aspect of health. Whilst it focused on the minimum steps required to see a long-term reduction in risk (which is 4000 per day), it also confirmed that the more walking we do, the better it is for our health, and that the benefits kept coming up to 20,000 steps per day. (1) Over the next 48 hours, try to up your total time walking so that you’re well above 10,000 steps. To help this feel more management, try taking little walking snacks throughout the day (also great for blood sugar and mental focus) and adding walking into your daily commute.

5. Make Our Liver Boost Salad for Lunch

This salad is full of cholagogues, foods and herbs that stimulate bile flow from the liver, and uses a stimulating herbal dressing for extra phytonutrients. It’s loaded with plant diversity and super easy to make, so whether you’re WFH or in the office, it’s really accessible. Keep scrolling for the recipes.

6. Aim to Avoid Snacking

Digestive rest enhances the health and efficiency of the microbiome, so for the next 48 hours, aim to reduce snacking wherever possible and leave 4 hours between meals. If your schedule makes this too difficult, then stick to one of the following:

7. Do 15 minutes of Grounding Before Dinner

Grounding practices will be different for everyone, but essentially, they include anything that brings us into the present moment. Implementing this before dinner can do wonders; it’s a way to get our body out of the 'fight or flight' stress state and into a more restful and reparative state as we approach dinner and the evening wind down. Because it also supports digestive, it’s a must-have practice for any reset. Our favourite ways to get grounded include:

-A combination of foam rolling, stretching and self-massage
-A gentle, yin yoga practice
-If available, get into nature and walk with your shoes off. No phones allowed!
-Breathwork
-Laying on the ground with your legs up the wall

Before we move on, a quick note to the moms. A grounding practice post-work but before dinner is probably pretty unlikely - so don’t worry, just do this anytime in the evening. In fact, if you need to push it to later in the evening, it’s a great way to wind down after a stressful bedtime (IYKYK) and release held tension.

8. Take ACV Before Dinner

No reset would be complete without some raw, organic, apple cider vinegar. Look for an unpasteurized version that still contains the ‘mother’ (the culture of bacteria that creates the vinegar itself). If you’re already an ACV enthusiast, take 2 tbsp in water before dinner in water. If you’re new to this practice, start with 1 tbsp and work your way up the next time you do this reset.

9. Keep Dinner Light and Nourishing

Since our daytime meals during this reset are rich in protein, fat, and fibre, we're keeping dinners light and easy. Choose from our Butternut + Fennel soup, or if you have a favourite green or all veg soup, go for that (if it’s extra hot when you’re doing this, go for a fresh gazpacho). A rich, plant-based soup is the perfect cleansing meal to help us stay nourished whilst giving our digestion time to rest and recover overnight. We recommend making this the day before for a quick and easy dinner after you’ve grounded.

10. Optional: Add In an Energy Booster

Optional, but recommended, adding in electrolytes can help support energy, focus, mental clarity and more. Because electrolytes are essential for energy production and metabolism, they can also be a helpful tool when trying to space out meals, reduce snacking, and combat sweet cravings after a particularly indulgent holiday.

The Recipes

High Protein Breakfast Salad:

- Handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
- 3 handfuls of spinach
- 1-2 inches cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 to 1/3 avocado, sliced
- 2 tbsp raw sunflower seeds
- Fresh dill, coriander or parsley (or all 3), to your liking – the more the better.
- Approx 120g or 1 full palm-sized serving of your choice of protein (salmon, mackerel, chicken, turkey, or extra firm tofu). You can also use eggs; you’d need to use 3 large eggs or 2 eggs + an egg white to get close to 20g. Alternatively, you can combine protein sources for more variety. For example, a smaller portion of salmon with an egg. To make this quick and easy in the morning, you can make an extra serving of protein the night before.
- Extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper and your choice of lemon or apple cider vinegar to dress.
- Assemble and toss with herbs, EVOO, sea salt, pepper, and lemon or vinegar. Enjoy immediately.

Liver Boost Salad:

- ½ cup cooked chickpeas, we love the jarred ones as they’re softer and easier to digest
- 1 small beetroot, grated
- ½ red apple, grated
- ½ carrot, grated
- 1 stalk celery, sliced
- 2 tbsp your choice of chopped nuts, we love pistachios or walnuts
- Baby gem lettuce for a base; serving size up to you
- Optional other toppings: we love olives, spring onions, sprouts, artichoke, or sauerkraut
- Dressing: 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, ½ tsp maple syrup (optional), a pinch of cayenne pepper (start slowly, it’s strong!), 1/8 tsp cumin. Mix everything together and stir until combined.
- Assemble everything and toss with dressing. Optional (but recommended) - add a generous drizzle of runny tahini once dressed. If you don’t have runny tahini, you can mix 1 tbsp of a harder tahini with a bit of water and olive oil. It will be on the mild side, but still delicious.

Squash + Fennel Soup:

- 1 butternut squash, peeled and sliced
- Handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1 red onion, quartered
- 1 head fennel, roughly chopped
- 1 courgette, roughly chopped
- Optional: ½ head garlic
- 500mls sugar/msg free vegetable stock or water
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of ½ lemon, plus salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 180C (fan). Put all of the chopped vegetables into a large roasting pan and toss with a generous amount of olive oil. Once everything is coated, top with sea salt and roast in the oven until everything is soft, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a large pot on the stove. Add vegetable stock and 500mls water. Cook at a simmer for about 15 minutes and then remove from the head. You can use a hand blender or immersion blender, whichever you have. Purée and taste for seasoning. You may need to add more stock, depending on how large your squash was and how thick you like it. Add the lemon juice and lots of cracked black pepper. This soup is also great with different herbs but also lovely on its own. The recipe makes a lot of soup, so you can enjoy throughout the week, or freeze for whenever you want to repeat the reset.

Optional Extras:

If you’re looking for a refreshing, sugar free electrolyte, add Cellular Hydration
If you’re looking for digestive bitters to support digestion and address discomfort, add Digest + Debloat
If you’ve been on a sugar roller coaster and need some extra support with cravings, add Metabolic Fix

SHOP ALL

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and the implementation of the theories and practices discussed is at the sole discretion of the individual. All information given is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns about your health, you should speak with your physician.