195: Winter to Spring Detox
Seasonal transitions are the perfect time for a detox. The winter to spring transition, in particular, naturally encourages fasting, burning fat and releasing toxins. Winter is a higher fat and protein focused (more animal based) season of the year because there’s less plant life available when it’s freezing outside. It’s also a more natural time to fast longer because the daytime is shorter. That will change on the other side of spring when the plants are growing and it’s naturally a time for more carbohydrates and less fasting because there is more light.
This all coincides beautifully with the season of Lent. Nature mirrors the physical way we move through this starker season before the new growth, light and life of spring in the same way we spiritually move toward the light and life of our resurrected Savior.
Listen to this week’s podcast to consider and prepare for the way YOU want to physically and spiritually move through the seasonal transition.
EPISODE 195: Winter to Spring Detox
Show Notes
(0:00) Intro
Hello my friend, welcome back to the club, how are you today?
It may be the dead of winter, but it won’t always be, praise the Lord, thank God for the change in seasons. I am already looking toward spring.
Today I want to talk about how seasonal transitions are a perfect and traditional time for detoxification.
Seasonal transitions are when ancient cultures and religious groups traditionally engaged in detoxification and self-discipline practices as we do for Lent as Christians.
The spring and fall are especially important transition points because the spring is when the body is in more of a cleansing, fat-burning, detox mode as we move toward the heat of summer and fall is when we’re in more of a cleansing yet fortifying mode as we move toward the cold of winter.
The spring is the most well regarded for detoxification time because it’s like nature’s new year - there’s new growth, there’s new life and as Christians this coincides beautifully as we move toward the celebration of the resurrected life of Jesus which is a new life for us - eternal life.
(3:00) Historically, macronutrient ratios were driven by season:
Winter is naturally a higher fat and more protein focused season of the year.
Historically, late winter and early spring - it’s slim pickens. It would have also naturally been a time of the year for some longer fasting because of a lower food supply and because we still have longer dark days at this time of the year.
Here’s where we go wrong in our modern dietary world. We try to impose macronutrient rules like: fat is bad, don’t eat fat; or carbs are bad, don’t eat carbs; or animal foods are bad don’t eat meat or saturated fat. We have the luxury of “deciding” our macronutrient ratios because we have grocery stores packed with food and refrigerators to store it.
Our food choices and eating practices are meant to shift along with the seasons.
Historically people did not count calories or track macronutrient ratios - they didn’t even know what those were - they ate according to season and the season would dictate their calories and macronutrient ratios which would vary.
Our food choices and eating practices are meant to shift along with the seasons. Also our microbiome - our gut bacteria - shift with the seasons to help us utilize seasonal food to best benefit our bodies.
Fat vs. Carbs for Fuel:
With a lower supply of plants in the cold frozen months of winter, we rely on burning more fat. Remember that the two sources of energy our body uses as fuel are fat and carbs.
I teach this concept in F2F that we want our energy sources to work in a seesaw relationship with one another. When one is up, the other is down - so if fat is up, carbs are down and vice versa because we don’t want to overwhelm our body with too much energy or fuel because that’s when it gets stored as fat.
(6:18) Fasting and Detoxing variance with the Seasons:
The other thing is, we’re naturally designed to fast a little longer in the winter months because the light of the day is shorter - so that naturally gives us a shorter eating window.
That also leads to more fat-burning - the longer you fast, the more you burn fat.
When we burn fat we release toxins, we’re moving them through our lymphatic system and out with our bile - our bile is produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder and released to help us break down fats and take toxins out of the body through our poop.
And you know a lot these fresh greens that start cropping up in the spring - like dandelions - have properties that support liver and bile flow which, again, circles back to how God puts foods in nature to support our bodies and that early spring is a natural and targeted time for detoxification.
The other thing about primarily burning fat at this time of the year is that - I read this phrase in a book which I thought was interestingly well put - that fat is our spiritual fuel. When we’re primarily burning fat our brains use ketones for energy.
When there’s more sugar in the body from carbs it uses glucose for fuel, when there’s no sugar to use it use ketones - which are fatty acids for fuel. Ketones are a more energizing, clarifying, focus-inducing brain fuel.
So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:2
People fasted as a spiritual discipline out of reverence but also with the intention of hearing God.
A lot of people do like a higher fat diet because they feel like they have better brain performance, less brain fog, more focus. And studies show that a high fat diet is helpful in reducing symptoms of alzheimers, parkinsons and ALS.
(13:38) Feast 2 Fast for Lent:
In F2F we do our regular daily intermittent fasting between 12-16 hours and we always do a Superfast but for the Lent round we add in a weekly Superfast which is choosing one day a week to challenge ourselves to a longer fast and that’s going to be different for each person .
We use our Superfast to be more intentional in prayer and repentance and thanksgiving and overall lean more into the Lord for strength to get through the fast and also use our clean burning ketone brain fuel to be open and receptive to hearing the Lord.
In F2F, we also do 3 weeks of sugar detoxing - 2 on the front end and one on the back end during the last week which is Holy week, the week leading up to Easter.
I love the way this winter to spring transition pairs so beautifully with the season of Lent - both are kind this starker time before we get to the beautiful bloom. I always think of Lent as a time to simplify, to minimize, to pare down which is what is really reflected in nature at this time of the year.
Physical detoxification encourages spiritual intoxication because we intentionally seek to fill ourselves up with more of Him. That’s really what our goal is in F2F for Lent - honoring our Creator with our mind, body AND spirit. We eat real food. We fast. We focus on scripture. We burn fat. We clear our minds. We get really really intentional about the season.
I also like to make more use of simple detoxifying practices like doing more dry brushing- shedding that dry winter skin and encouraging lymphatic flow, taking more epsom salt baths, using my essential oils- I really love using the ancient oils of scripture like frankincense, myrrh at this time of the year - doing my daily walks and listening to something like The Bible Project podcast.
(18:35) Closing thoughts:
Our first class of The School of CHN kicks of THIS week and we’re spending the month talking about light - both the sun kind and the Jesus kind.
We’ll be starting F2F on February 22nd - we’re actually going to have our first Zoom call on the 21st - on fat tuesday.
F2F will be a good time to reset if you’ve gotten a little carb heavy.
I invite you to join us for F2F if you feel led to do something special this season of Lent, if you want to physically detox and spiritually detox. You can go here to sign up and get all of your information right away.
(23:50) Outro & Disclaimer
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!