A Different Way to Detox

How to nurture your body, mind and spirit to flush anxiety and be brilliant.

BY DR. JAMES ROUSE

recently shared that she was leaving Facebook. She didn’t have the strength or desire to read the daily barrage of posts any more. I understand where she’s coming from: I recently read a study that said that for many in the U.S., the new normal is a moderate grade of constant anxious feelings from a variety of elements.

If you’re one of these people, how can you best deal with anxiety? By trying a different kind of detox for your body, mind and spirit.

BODY

Look at detoxing your body as a form of spring cleaning. Start with food and what you put in your body. Think about what you put on your weekly shopping list. Take a scan of what’s in your refrigerator; look at your fridge as a medicine cabinet and ask: What is the ROI—return on ingestion and intention—I’m getting from its contents?

Ingestion: Are you satisfied with the taste of the contents? Are the contents natural and healthy versus unhealthy and processed, giving you the ability to cleanse and detoxify?

Intention: When you’re done eating the contents, do you feel more powerful?

Everything you put through your teeth and across your tongue is a hormonal experience waiting to happen. Food impacts your neurochemistry and your physiology; there is a cause and effect. This spring, consider changing (detoxifying) your food consumption to give you a better ROI and foster greater vitality and courage.

MIND

It can be difficult to find a place where you are not being met with toxicity, judgment, ideology and politics. You experience toxicity from media, from people, from your environment. What can you do for peace of mind? You must decide that you truly want to detoxify these negative things from your life by standing guard against the system of power and surround yourself with what you want to become. Remove any elements that bring toxicity to your mind. Tell yourself: “I’m going to stay off social media today. I’m not going to watch the news. I’m not going to engage with that person who pushes my buttons.”

Focus your brain on positive elements to begin reaching peace and personal confidence. Research supports that by jotting down five things you are grateful for at the end of each day, you will be more apt to follow through on good intentions for self-care, build a positive and healthy neurochemistry, and enjoy deeper and better sleep.

SPIRIT

Optimism is a spiritual practice. Feeling positive and inspired is one of the most powerful tools to fight inflammation and to make you feel stronger and live longer. Are you meeting every day with optimism? This is the real work. Your spirit is intertwined with your body and mind. When you follow through on good intentions to care for your body and mind, your optimism and spirit will thrive and flourish. It’s the ultimate detoxifying and empowering practice.

Dr. James Rouse has a doctorate in naturopathic medicine. He is an inspirational speaker, personal coach, author and the cofounder of Skoop, a line of powdered superfoods.