Do you feel sluggish and low on energy? Toxic substances are all around us...learn how to detoxify your body and experience vibrant health.

Because of our modern lifestyle, we’re exposed to more toxins than our bodies are designed to handle. The air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat may contain toxic chemicals. And if waste builds up, we get sick. It stands to reason, then, that detoxification should be your firststep to a healthier you. Try the following five tips and this delicate process will put you on the fast track to a better sleep, consistent energy, clear skin, healthy organs, more clarity and a revved-up sex drive:

Fix your gut

Did you know that 70 percent of your immune power resides in your digestive tract? Unfortunately, because of our daily exposure to toxins, our intestinal health is under massive attack. Needless to say, you don't want that to happen. Eat real food rich in antioxidants and fiber, take probiotics and stay away from pesticides, preservatives, refined sugar and antibiotics.

Hydrate

"Drink enough water!" You've heard it a million times - and with a good reason. Each one of us is made up of over 70 percent water and that's why we need to drink enough fluids in order to help acid wastes flow out. And not just any fluids - remember that if you don't filter your water, your body will experience the negative results.

Detox your mind and spirit

Detoxification is not just about what you drink or eat - it's about what you think, too! Put some time aside to relax deeply every day to inhibit sympathetic nervous activity.Try meditation and deep breathing and replace online surfing with real-world activities. You'll feel more focused and enjoy a steady supply of energy.

Get moving

Sooner or later, your tissue will suffocate in their own waste products if you don't exercise regularly. So move your body (at least 35 minutes a day) and let your blood and lymphatic circulation do their job.

Try sauna

If you're walking around with toxins in your tissues, you'll never get a skin that glows. Fortunately, you can always utilize sauna to induce sweating and stimulate a deep cleansing process. The sauna heat releases both chemical and heavy metal toxins under the skin so that they can be purged through respiration - along with various other waste materials. As a result, you'll experience a level of renewal that is hard to surpass.

Detoxification is as invaluable for our health as the beating of the heart. Maximizing your body's detoxification capacity will soon bring a healthy domino effect, allowing you to take charge of your own health and well-being.

Further reading:

• http://chetday.com/spencedetox.html
• Natural News Detox article

Start the new year with a clean slate and detox before you start your new healthier lifestyle.

There are many prepared detoxes available- if you prefer a liquid detox A. Vogel has a Detox Box, which contains Calendula Complex (for lymphatic drainage), Solidago (for kidneys), Milk Thistle (liver cleanse) and Frangula tablets (bowel cleanse). This is a very thorough detox which also recommends the best foods to eat. Pukka also have an excellent detox called Triphala Plus which comes in tablet form.

All detoxes recommend the elimination of tea and coffee, but sudden caffeine withdrawal may cause headaches. Headaches may be less severe if you reduce caffeine consumption gradually over a few days and substitute a detox tea and drink at least a litre of water per day. On the food front we have 9 top tips to help your new year's detox plan:

1. If you are not already a vegetarian, why not decide to reduce red meat consumption and concentrate on fish or organic chicken
2. Introduce vegetarian dishes a few times per week, these are healthier and cheaper.
3. Make your spag bol or lasagne with lentils instead of minced meat.
4. Be prepared by having suitable food in the press, and don't allow yourself become hungry - that's where the chocolate craving comes in, try oatcakes with hummous, or rice cakes with soya cream cheese and sliced tomato.
5. Brown rice is richer is B Vitamins and fibre than white rice, and once you change to brown the bland taste of white won't be as attractive. (You could also try brown pasta instead of white).
6. Enjoy lots of colourful vegetables - why not buy seeds in March/April and start planting - if you have no garden, plant in pots
7. Try making your own flapjacks or muffins using organic oats or flour, adding some flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame or chia seeds and sweetening with apple concentrate, agave syrup or xylitol, this way you know there are no nasties in what you are eating.
8. Avoid temptation by not keeping sweets or fizzy drinks in the house. Have some apricots or dates available to satisfy that sugar craving, or organic popcorn for a snack.
9. Try and get some exercise every day - maybe having a brisk walk after dinner.

Follow the above and by summer you should have clearer skin, brighter eyes and be a few kilos lighter. Forget diets, a healthier lifestyle is much easier to stick to and you won't have hunger pangs.

[Note: This was originally published in our January Newsletter]

We recently started sending out monthly email newsletters to customers who opt-in to receive them. We thought it would be a good way of passing on whatever special offers are running from month-to-month, and sharing health tips, recommendations, and anything else of interest that's going on in Healthwise. We've put all the newsletters we've sent so far up on the site (only two so far, but it'll grow!).

If you don't normally sign up for newsletters, we thought this would give you a good idea of the type of thing you can expect from us (and we wanted to show off our Christmas-y December newsletter!). We send out our newsletter once a month, and only to people who have opted-in to receive it (we don't like spam. No-one does). That's why everyone of our newsletter mails gives you a way to instantly unsubscribe (meaning you're removed from the list and won't get any more of them.)

After you've had a look at the types of mails we've sent so far (it's only early days for us), if you'd like to get a monthly newsletter, you can pop your email address in the "Newsletter" box on the right of the page. If you're reading this on Facebook, you can sign-up to the mailing list by going to the "Mini-Site" tab on our Facebook page and filling in your details there. It's almost too easy!

I've been doing some searching on the web for various resources connected to special diets, and I'm particularly interested in what's available in Ireland. I decided that it might be useful to put some of them up here in a series of posts to help point anyone who's interested in the right direction.

First up are sites related to vegetarians or vegans in Ireland.

• The Vegetarian Society of Ireland (www.vegetarian.ie) have a nicely put together site full of useful information (and have a big Facebook group that you should become a fan of if you're interested in finding out more about them).
• It wouldn't be a complete list of Irish resources without a link to Boards.ie - the Vegetarian & Vegan board has some good lists of local resources.
• IrishVegetarian.com is another directory type site that also includes links to recipes, restaurants etc that might be of interest.

On the Irish blogging front,

• VegetarianIreland is an active blog that's published some nice recipes;
• Ommnomnom has some nice looking food, although it hasn't been updated for a while
• CheapEats.ie have a category for vegetarian food
• FromMars has some Vegetarian & Vegan guides  (and a blog that has an odd mix of vegan food and linux development) 

That's the list that I've been keeping an eye on. I'd love to hear if you have any other Irish sites (and blogs in particular) that you'd recommend. Feel free to add a comment below, or on the Healthwise Facebook page.