It’s late February, and now’s the time to start planning your transition from winter to spring. While we’re merely anticipating longer days and warmer weather outside, the glandular system is already fast at work making subtle metabolic shifts to prepare the body inside. And the more we can do right now to help it, the better.

5 Tips for Healthy Seasonal Transitions

1. Eat Warm Soups with Raw Garnishes – We’re not out of the cold yet! We need to keep the body feeling warm and safe, and soups top the list. Homemade stocks with stewed veggies and meats supply needed minerals, but adding raw “garnishes” will help alert the body that you’re slowly moving toward more fresh, raw, seasonal fare. Try grating raw carrots, fennel bulb, radishes, parsnips, beets, zucchini or anything you have, onto the top of the soup as a fresh (and pretty) edible garnish.

2. Protect the Thyroid – The thyroid is one of the most sensitive glands in the body. Did you know it takes about ten days for the thyroid to transition from temperature fluctuations of just 5-10 degrees? Here in the Rockies, where it’s common in the springtime to go from a sunny 70-degree day to a snowstorm in 24 hours, it’s imperative to blanket that thyroid! Pull out your lighter-weight cotton scarves (try pastel colors to match the season!) but don’t put them away until it truly is summer.

3. Eat Liver Detoxifying Foods Daily – Despite popular belief, detoxing doesn’t happen that one week a year when we go on a “cleanse”. It’s the liver’s job to detox the body each and every day, but we can help it now by getting it get revved up for the season shift. The following liver detox foods can be added to your daily diet for the next 2-3 months: grapefruit, radishes, watercress, beets, broccoli, arugula, green apples, bitter greens and sulfur-rich foods like garlic and onions.

4. Do Coffee Enemas – Used as an enema solution, certain compounds in coffee purportedly stimulate the liver into its detox pathways. All the while, toxins are easily flushed out via the colon through the enema. Read more about taking a coffee enema in my article: Double-Tall Non-Fat Coffee Enema – Your Morning Cup o’ Joe.

5. Start Juicing (with added protein and fat) – Fresh veggie juices are a great way to get a concentrated, therapeutic supply of nutrients into the body quickly. Juicing any of the above liver detox foods can greatly help the liver. But since we’re still in transition, most of us need some protein or fat along with the cooling, spiking surge of carbohydrate that a glass of fresh juice begets. After pressing, blend a little protein powder or nut butter into the drink. Who says you can’t make a smoothie out of veggie juice?