In the Spring we exchange our dark and heavy clothes for lighter and brighter ones, we lighten our bedding and clean our spaces. It's also a very natural process to begin to eat lighter, craving foods that are fresh, crisp and raw to naturally cleanse our bodies of the heavy and fatty foods of the winter.

The words "cleanse" and "detox" have become quite the buzz words of late but what exactly are they? Simply put, a detoxification or cleanse is the neutralization and elimination of toxic and excess substances in the body. Many types of cleanses have been employed over the millennia. Naturopathic medicine uses detoxification to support and enhance the function of the body's organs of elimination, the primary ones being the kidneys, colon (large intestine) and liver. The liver specifically is quite amazing in that it performs over 600 different reactions. It is the organ that breaks down and cleans us of all drugs, hormones, any chemicals that come from our food as well as help us process cholesterol and even activate some vitamins. Not surprisingly, the liver is a main organ of consideration when doing a detoxification.

The liver also happens to be the organ of the spring according to the several thousand year-old Traditional Chinese Medicine. So what better time than the spring to give your liver some love?

Some helpful and easy tips to begin your internal spring cleaning include drinking adequate water since it is the carrier for all water-soluble wastes (adding a little lemon will help stimulate your liver's detoxification pathways as well contribute to a healthy blood pH), avoid processed, sugary and deep-fried foods that are nutrient depleted and eat organically when possible as the pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, antibiotics and hormones used in non-organic farming all tax the liver that has to clean your body of these.