The autumn reset: Gentle detox & foods to support your body after summer

How have you been feeling last week? Have you been aware of that shift when summer ends, the light changes, and mornings are darker? And honestly, your body knows it before the brain does…

Summer is a wonderful, energising season, but it can also place extra demands on the body. Hot weather, irregular eating habits, outdoor dining, barbecues, and social events often mean more alcohol, processed foods, and exposure to environmental pollutants such as air particles, combustion by-products, and sunscreens. Longer daylight hours and later nights can also disrupt the circadian rhythm, affecting sleep quality, hormone balance, and the body’s ability to repair and restore itself.

While your body copes with these demands, and as autumn arrives, your body intuitively shifts towards balance and renewal, adapting to new stresses such as cooler temperatures, heavier foods, and reduced sunlight. This seasonal shift offers an opportunity to support gentle detoxification and restoration, helping your system recover from summer’s metabolic demands.

We can help to support this transition without a harsh detox or strict elimination diet. It’s a time to nourish the liver and digestive system, strengthen resilience, and prepare for winter, a season that brings its own stresses, including heavier foods, reduced daylight, and increased indoor toxins.

Traditional medicine systems understood this. We used to eat with the seasons because that was what was available, and our genes had optimised benefit from this. It also fitted what the body required. Right now, you probably want heavier, grounding foods like the root vegetables, squashes and starchy vegetables in season now. That's not random; your body is telling you something.

Foods that actually support detox

Bitter greens: For example, rocket, radicchio and dandelion leaves. These bitters foods stimulate bile production, which is how your liver packages up toxins to get them out. Add them to salads while it is still warm enough or wilt them into soups.

Root vegetables: Beetroot, carrots, celeriac, and turnips. They're grounding (literally grow in the ground) and they support your body's natural detox pathways. Beetroot especially helps liver function. Roast them with olive oil and herbs. Simple.

Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. They contain compounds that help your liver process and eliminate toxins. This is actual biochemistry, not wellness marketing. Steam them, roast them, throw them in soups.

Warming spices: Turmeric, ginger, cumin, and coriander. They support digestion and have anti-inflammatory properties. Your gut is probably tired from summer. These help it recover.

Good quality protein: Your liver needs amino acids to run detox pathways. This means actual food, such as fish, eggs, legumes, and organic meat, if you choose to eat it. Not protein powder.

The soup thing

Make a big pot of soup once a week. This isn't Instagram content - it's practical. Use bone broth or vegetable broth as a base. Add whatever vegetables you have, some legumes, warming spices and garlic. Let it cook while you do other things.

Your digestion doesn't have to work as hard with cooked food. It's warm, which your body wants now. And you'll actually eat it because it's already made.

What to pull back on (gently)

You don't need rules, but your body might feel better with less:

• Cold, raw foods - save the smoothie bowls for summer

• Processed sugar - it creates inflammation, and your immune system needs support now

• Alcohol - your liver will thank you for giving it a break

• Caffeine after 2 pm: your sleep needs to shift earlier with the light anyway

Notice we said "less," not "never." This isn't about restriction.

The morning light

Get outside within an hour of waking up. Even 10 minutes.

Your circadian rhythm also affects your detox pathways. Your liver does most of its detox work at night. If your sleep-wake cycle is off because you're not getting morning light, your liver can't do its job properly. Everything is connected. You can't fix one thing without the others.

Sort out vitamin D

Don't wait until January when you're already depleted. Your skin can't make vitamin D from sunlight in autumn and winter if you live anywhere with real seasons.

Vitamin D isn't just about bones. It affects your immune system, mood, hormone balance, and inflammation levels and gut health: all the things that matter for your body's natural detox processes.

We test our clients' levels, but if you can't get tested, starting with 2000-4000 IU D₃ daily is generally safe for most adults. Some people need a lot more, while others need less. But starting now means you're not playing catch-up in the dark months. Take it with food that contains some fat; it absorbs better.

What this actually looks like

More soups and stews. More cooked vegetables. Root vegetables roasted in the oven. Bitter greens with your meals. Warming spices and less sugar and alcohol. You're not doing a 7-day juice cleanse. You're just eating real food that's in season and happens to support what your body is already trying to do.

That's it. Your body knows how to detox itself; you're just giving it what it needs to do the job.

And remember, the goal isn't perfection. It's working with the seasonal shift instead of fighting it. Your body is already trying to transition. You're just making it easier.