Forget about spending hours sourcing those vintage 501 cut offs, finding the perfect shade of red, or even splurging on those Marant suede ankle boots … nothing looks as good as healthy feels. Spend time on getting the inside right, and the rest will roll from there. Take it from us, 2018 was all about late nights, work, work and more work and maxing out our credit cards (ug!). Mindfulness and meditation kind of went out the door, as did the diet, which consisted of take away, convenience, and mid-afternoon sugar highs.

So, this year is all about clearing the slate, making way for healthier, happier choices, more positivity and radiant skin. And guess what? For the most part, the answer is food. Which suits us fine because we love eating.

So here are our tips for getting rid of toxins, because guys? Beauty is an inside job.

Eat organic
Detox does not have to be a dirty word. Let’s not strip down our everyday diets to lemon and hot water – it’s not about starving, it’s about eating whole foods that help to reduce toxins. Keep it realistic. Yes, maybe you need to back off from the gelato and dark chocolate but supporting your liver with a few green beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage and kale daily isn’t so bad. Add additional spices like turmeric and cayenne pepper – and you’re on to a good thing.

Green out
There’s a reason why getting out in nature is so healing. Generally if it’s green, it’s good. Dark leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, swiss chard and collard greens build blood cells, boost your energy and they’re chlorophyll charged to help your body rid all those nasties like heavy metals. Cucumber, avocado, celery and apples are easy additions to your lunchbox.

Ditch the caffeine and alcohol
Ok we know you guys have heard this before but if you really want to feel differently this is a no brainer. If you’re open to giving your body a break, you’ll be amazed at how you feel after you survive one week without the daily macchiato (give or take a few headaches) and the glass of red wine upon arrival (home). It’s an interesting one to consider; drinking caffeine every morning to give us energy, but the opposite is actually true; it has the effect of making us wired, then tired. We asked biochemist and dietician Dr Libby Weaver about what she had to say about the effects of caffeine on our bodies;

“When you consume caffeine, it sends a message to the pituitary gland in your brain that it needs to send a message to your adrenal glands to make adrenalin … [and] get you out of danger that doesn’t actually exist. When adrenalin is released, your blood sugar elevates to provide you with more energy, your blood pressure and pulse rate rise to provide more oxygen to the muscles, which tense in preparation for action [the fight or flight response] … you make insulin to deal with that elevation in blood sugar. And insulin is one of our primary fat storage hormones.”

“This biochemical state can either lead you to slenderness [often at the expense of your nervous system health] or fat storage, because insulin … will firstly convert unused glucose from your blood into glycogen and store it in your muscles and what is left over will be converted into body fat.”

Ok, so in short, caffeine is never the answer guys, here to deliver the truth and only the truth.

Just breathe

Shout out to Blu Cantrell and Sean Paul on this one. Just like sleeping, there’s an art to inhaling and exhaling and if done right it can be really cleansing to your entire body. Try every morning to take in gentle breaths, and note how it can make you feel when you set aside that time for you. A tip we learned? When you close your eyes to meditate, close them for you and you only. Feel the eyelid close around the circular shape of your eyeball to bring you truly into the present moment, into yourself. As you gently breathe in, feel the cool air entering through the tip of the nostril (this can take some practice), try not to overthink it, just allow it to be. Then, gently breathe out. It only takes 5 minutes, and this is a practice to check in with yourself and feel a little more connected during a busy day.

Nourish your stomach ecology
Keeping your stomach healthy is like the holy scripture of health. If your digestive system is in good shape then you’re already winning. It’s also the best way to get your glow on. Welcome fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, miso, and kefir yogurt into your life and you’ll never look back. It can even be as easy as drinking a glass of kombucha or even sprinkling some Glow Powder by the Beauty Chef into your smoothie every day. Good bacteria in your gut is like shoes, you can never have enough.

Tea
We like to put tea in the same category as a hot bath, there’s nothing as ritualistic and centering as a beautiful cup of tea. Your good old English Breakfast has its place but let’s go deeper. Add dandelion for liver function, burdock root for purification and chamomile and goldenseal to improve circulation and increase metabolism.