Fluids

While you are detoxing, it is important to drink at least 1.75 litres/3 pints of fluid every day to help flush through your system properly. That is about eight mugs or tumblers. And in hot weather you should drink rather more than this.

Eight tumblers might seem like an awful lot of liquid but, in fact, many of us drink much less than our bodies really need because we have learnt to ignore our bodies’ thirst signals. When you detox you are returning your body to its natural balance and learning to respond to your body’s needs.

Little and often is a good rule to follow, and you will soon get used to drinking the full 1.75 litres/3 pints a day. Start with a glass of hot water when you wake up in the morning, or one of the early-morning wake-up drinks suggested on pages 38-9. These are especially good for getting the system working.

You can then easily make up the rest of your allocation of fluid by spreading it throughout the day. For example, you could have a glass of juice with your breakfast and juice or herbal tea mid-morning. At lunchtime you could choose clear, unsalted stock or herbal tea, and more juice as an energy booster mid-afternoon. You could then have a cup of herbal tea or clear stock at around teatime, followed by a hot drink or juice during the evening and perhaps a glass of hot water or soothing herbal tea last thing at night.

You can drink all kinds of herbal teas while you are detoxing – mint and chamomile are soothing after meals and in the evening, fruit and spice mixtures are warming on a cold day, while nettle tea is considered an excellent cleanser. You can make your own or buy commercially prepared tea bags, but do make sure shop-bought varieties do not contain caffeine, artificial additives or added sugar.

Water is also an ideal drink for detoxing; chilled still and sparkling mineral waters can be especially refreshing – there is a huge range available these days, but make sure you do not buy brands with added artificial flavourings.

Fresh fruit juices are also perfect detox drinks – you can make your own using a blender or juicer (see pages 53-7 for recipes) or buy freshly squeezed juices from the chiller cabinet of the supermarket. Do not keep fresh juice for more than a day or two.

Drinks to avoid when detoxing include alcohol of all kinds, coffee (including decaffeinated), tea, cocoa and drinking chocolate, all sweet fizzy drinks, squashes and cordials except those made entirely from concentrated fruit juices without added sugar or other additives.

Clear broths and stocks make a pleasant change, but make sure they are not salty and do not contain artificial additives. A home-made vegetable stock (see page 15) will keep for two days in the fridge, and is useful for cooking as well as hot drinks. You can use any vegetables you like, but remember that potatoes will make your stock cloudy, cabbage will give it a very pronounced flavour, and beetroot (red beet) will turn it deep pink.