5 Easy Ways to Detox after a Thanksgiving Day Binge

Try these tips to quickly rebound:

Fill up on potassium-rich foods. Overdoing it with too much salt, alcohol or sugar leads to swollen hands, feet and a puffy body. You need to restore your normal fluid balance. Try consuming potassium-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, low- and non-fat dairy products, nuts, seafood and poultry to help flush out bloat and puffiness.

• Colorful Detox Salad
• Roasted Asparagus and Grapefruit Salad
• Crispy Cran-Mango Brussels Sprouts

Flush with fluid. Although it sounds counterintuitive, when you’ve consumed too much and are bloated and holding on to fluid, you actually need to drink more water. Typically, salt or sugar is causing the body to retain water in an attempt to dilute the salt or sugar. However, once you consume enough water, your body is able to dilute the bloating culprit and flush it and the excess water out of the body. Water also helps you to stay regular, prevents constipation and quickly moves wastes and toxins out of the colon.

• Lemon Ginger Detox Drink
• Weekend Detox Elixir
• Homemade Lemon Basil Detox Tea
• Lemon Lime Detox Spritzer

Detoxify with phytonutrients. Last night’s brisket, stuffing, pie and cocktails are creating inflammation in the body and damaging cells thanks to high quantities of salt, saturated fat, alcohol and sugar, all of which increase the load on the liver. The good news is that powerful plant chemicals (phytonutrients) come to the rescue and mop up destructive free radicals and help to repair damaged cells. Meanwhile, glutathione, a protein found in veggies, clings to toxins and drags them out of the body. Top glutathione-containing vegetables include asparagus, potatoes, peppers, carrots, onion, broccoli, avocados, squash, spinach, garlic and tomatoes. The following drinks include fresh veggies because cooking or processing makes the glutathione less effective at detoxing.

• Ginger and Carrot Slimdown Smoothie
• Detoxifying Green Tea Smoothie
• Slimming Strawberry and Mint Detox Spritzer

Go lightly. Although you may not feel like eating, don’t skip meals. You’ll just end up feeling worse as your stomach starts to gnaw at the leftover bacteria in your stomach and the nausea rages on. Plus, not eating will give you low blood sugar, which can result in overeating again later in the day. Keep it small and light. Try potassium, phytonutrient, fluid-rich foods like these:

• An apple with peanut butter
• A 3-ounce baked potato topped with nonfat Greek yogurt and broccoli
• String cheese and a small handful of nuts
• Tea, a piece of fruit and non-fat Greek yogurt

Exercise—even if it’s just going for a walk. Getting some exercise will kick your body’s feel-good chemicals—endorphins—into high gear so you’ll feel a little less guilty about what you ate yesterday. You’ll sweat and flush out more sodium and toxins, and you’ll burn calories, too.