Detoxing your body of harmful chemicals and years of built-up toxins is imperative for a healthy and happy body. The human body has a built-in detoxification process, but today, it is rarely enough.
Between the chemicals and processed foods that we ingest daily to the pollutants steadily building around us, our bodies, often aren’t able to keep up. This backup can cause severe issues with our health, both mind, and body.
When we are filled with unnatural toxins, our bodies are continually trying to fight them. We are in a constant healing mode, which can lead to sluggish and exhaustive bodies. These toxins can also affect our mental health.
Exercise and all-natural diets have shown to help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Clearing the toxic waste from our bodies enhances that effect, giving our bodies the ability to produce the chemicals we need for positive and healthy mental health.
Detoxes are essential, but also need to be achieved through safe and healthy means. We are all unique, and the route you take to detox is personal to you.
Make sure you check with your physician before undergoing any detox program and follow the guidelines set out by your doctor and the plan you choose to follow.
In the following report, we will discuss some helpful tips and strategies you can follow to get the most out of your detox.
Create a Plan
The preparation stage is just as important as the cleanse.
If you are already living a clean and healthy lifestyle, then preparing for a cleanse will be much easier for you. If you’re not, that’s okay! We all have to start somewhere, and this will be an excellent opportunity for you to begin your clean eating regimen.
You want to start the cleansing process days before you begin the detox. Beginning about three days before, start eating light.
Choose easily digested, highly nutritious foods such as soups, leafy greens, steamed veggies, raw veggies, and clear liquids. By doing this, you are allowing your body to ease into the cleanse.
You don’t have to go cold turkey on processed foods, but it’s a good idea to begin to ease out of them. Start by ingesting more whole grains, fresh veggies, and fresh fruits. Replace one meal a day to start, then two, until you no longer crave those highly processed chemical-laden foods. You can start doing this long before your detox if you believe it will help the process go smoother.
Here are some specific tips to help you prepare your body for your cleanse:
- Begin every day with a glass of lukewarm water. You can even squeeze a little lime or lemon juice in it to help boost your metabolism. This room temperature water will help kick your digestive track into gear and prepare you for the day.
- Drink water, lots of water. Replace the sodas and sugary drinks with big glasses of water. If you want something a little different, you can incorporate natural or cleansing teas into your routine.
- Hungry? Try drinking light soups or broths. These carry an incredible amount of nutritional value and help keep your body stay hydrated. They also help to fill you up between meals.
- Avoid table salt. Table salt has absolutely no nutritional value and is toxic to your body. Instead, use sea salt, pink salt, or even kelp for seasoning.
- Have a healthy breakfast. After you have sipped down that room temperature lemon water, make a shake. Include leafy green veggies, and all-natural juices.
- 6. Reduce the amount of red meat you are intaking. Processed meats are also bad for your body, so attempt to avoid sausages or anything cured.
- Cut down on bread and pasta, but increase your whole grains and gluten-free grains like quinoa!
- Avoid those fried foods and baked goods. I know…it sounds so hard! But there are plenty of healthy and delicious alternatives.
Most importantly, listen to your body. You will be amazed how, after your body detoxes from all of those refined chemicals, you will feel so much better.
Your body will be healthier, less tired, and the fog will begin to lift from your brain. If you start out eating this way before your detox, you may just continue after.
Patience is Key
Don’t be fooled, detoxes and cleanses don’t immediately make you feel fantastic. You will go through the initial period of detox and possibly feel even worse than before you began.
This is a natural thing.
Doctor Mark Hyman with EcoWatch puts it perfectly:
“You might not want to hear this, but initially feeling bad is a good thing. When you eliminate inflammatory, processed foods and stop feeding your body garbage and chemicals, your body goes through withdrawal just like with drugs or alcohol. It is good because it means you are on your way to getting clean!”
Sounds great, until you are knee-deep in it. One of the biggest reasons people quit their detox before they even start to heal their bodies, is due to the sluggish, draining feeling during the beginning of a detox. But there are things you can do to combat this.
- As mentioned in the previous chapter, utilize those prep days leading up to your cleanse. Ease your body into accepting those healthy foods, and allow it to begin cleansing you of the built-up toxins.
- Don’t give in to cravings. Detoxing from refined sugars and carbs can quickly bring on incredibly intense cravings. Instead of giving up and indulging, try eating healthy fats to satiate your body.
Things like nuts, seeds, fatty fish, and avocados are great fill-ins. Your mind still might tell you differently, but you’ll be better able to fight that off if your body is full of healthy foods.
- Again, drink lots of water. Water helps the body get rid of those toxins.
- Easy exercise and stretching, which we will cover later in this report, will also help with toxin release and soothing of achy muscles and joints.
- If you experience constipation, and you are meeting your water intake goals, try a bit of flaxseed. Put it on your salad, in your smoothie, or cook with it.
- Magnesium Citrate helps with toxin release, stress, pain, and can help you sleep. Doctors recommend around 400 mg, but you can take more to help with constipation. Always check with your doctor if you are taking other medications.
- Sleep is critical. Our body’s natural detoxification occurs during sleep. Not getting enough sleep stops that process in its tracks. If you struggle to sleep 8 hours, try adding in naps throughout the day or evening.
- Watch your blood sugar. You don’t want to wait until you are so hungry you have little control over your cravings. Try eating a high protein-based snack every three or four hours. Fish, legumes, and almonds are great fillers.
Just remember that whether its exhaustion, mood shifts, or withdrawals, these symptoms will pass and usually after two to three days. So, hang in there, because you will soon begin to feel so much better.
Natural Detox Supplements
When your body is struggling through your detox, sometimes it’s good to give it a little help. All-natural supplements are healthy and can be taken even after your detox is over to help your body’s natural detox process.
Most of these supplements can be found at your local health food store or online. Just make sure they are all-natural.
As always, if you are currently taking medication, check with your doctor before taking any supplements. Some supplements, even though natural, can interact with medication.
Schisandra- The Schisandra berry has been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The berry’s benefits are vast, but it is most well known as a booster for your liver. Schisandra is full of antioxidants and help to push the detox process along, protect your cells from free radical damage, and helps to ward off diseases.
Schisandra can be taken in a pill, capsule, dried extract in water, or even as a tea.
Magnesium– Toxic overloads in the body can cause constipation. Magnesium can help because it assists in the relaxation of the muscles inside the digestive tract. It can also help to neutralize stomach acid.
Milk Thistle- Milk Thistle is a powerful antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. It is probably one of the best supplements to take before, during, and even after your detox.
Milk thistle strengthens the liver’s cell walls, protecting it from toxins. It can also help to reverse years of damage to the liver from prescription meds, antibiotics, alcohol, metals, and pollution.
There are a lot of beneficial supplements on the market. Make sure to research them thoroughly, and take those that fit what you need best.
How to Stave Off Hunger
Hunger seems to be one of the biggest struggles during detoxing, and it’s not just physical desire. The mental changes that occur when switching from toxic foods to healthy ones can be difficult.
As mentioned before, if you are truly hungry, snack on high-fat foods such as nuts and legumes.
If you’re physically satiated, but withdraws have your mental status struggling with cravings, try some of the following activities to help stave off that psychological hunger.
- Take a bath. Indulge in a warm bath surrounded by candles, light music, and relaxation.
Practice mindfulness to help you understand exactly what type of hunger you are experiencing. This will help you pinpoint the best way to tackle it.
- Naturally, a cluttered or dirty space makes us anxious. Try cleaning and organizing your home to help reduce the amount of anxiety you are experiencing.
- Relax at home. We usually have regular routines like shopping and social activities with friends. During your detox, try staying home and relax. This will help keep you from situations where you may be tempted to eat unhealthy foods or ingest alcohol.
- Try not to smoke. Smoking not only introduces thousands of toxins into the body, but it also raises your blood pressure. That blood pressure rise will increase your anxiety and mental acuity.
If you are a heavy smoker, it’s not recommended you quick smoking cold turkey at the same time as a detox, but try to reduce as much as you can.
The most important thing is to understand your body and mind and know what you need to help get through the cravings and anxiety. It won’t last forever.
Best Detox Workouts
While you’re taking care of your nutritional intake during a cleanse, you also want to get your heart rate up and introduce some physical activity into your routine.
Working out during a detox helps in a multitude of ways. It stimulates your lymphatic flow, helps with circulation, strengthens your respiratory system, and promotes sweating, which releases toxins. It also improves kidney, liver, and digestive tract functionality, which aids in the detox process.
Remember, though, you are most likely taking in fewer calories this time around, so don’t overdo it. You want to make sure you are continually listening to your body and stopping when you feel you’ve reached your limit.
Exercise also aids in your mental clarity, which can help push away cravings. Here are some excellent workouts you can do during your detox. Make it a goal to raise your heart rate and break a sweat.
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Low-Impact Bouncing or Rebounding
- Light Cardio such as walking, hiking, or quick interval routines
- Foam Rolling
- Dancing!! Low Impact Cardio doesn’t have to be boring!
Push yourself to work out, even in the beginning, when you are going through the initial detox of the addictive toxins in your body. You may not feel like it at first, but it can help pull you out of the funk and keep you motivated to keep pushing through.
Exercise has a fantastic effect on mental health. Besides, sweating out the toxins might speed-up that initial withdrawal.
The Truth About Fasting Detoxes
Fasting has become a very popular way of detoxing and resetting our bodies, especially before changing the way we eat. But fasting is nothing new.
Societies all over the world have been practicing fasting for thousands of years. Some do it for health reasons and others for religious reasons.
Regardless of why, studies have shown that fasting has an incredibly strong effect on the body.
Not all detoxes include food. Some include a mixture of fasting and clean eating. And others base the detox process solely on water intake. If fasting is something that interests you, or you are experienced in the process, fasting for detox purposes might fit you perfectly.
Here are the 3 main types of fasting.
The Water Fast- A water fast is exactly what it sounds like. It is where you only consume water for a specific period of time. For the inexperienced, it is recommended you start with a 24 hour fast and work up from there.
Dry Fast- The dry fast is where you don’t consume anything, not even water, for a specific period. First-timers should not do this type of fast for more than 24 hours at a time. Always make sure you are highly hydrated before starting the fast.
Intermittent Fast- The intermittent fast has been studied a lot in recent years. It has shown to significantly help reduce body fat and increase muscle mass. This fast is done by choosing a specific period every day that you are allowed to have food. The rest of the day, you do not eat.
For example, you may choose 9am to 5pm as your eating window. All foods must be consumed during this period, and the rest of the time, only water.
There are many other types of fasting out there, including mono fasting, coconut water fasting, and juice fasting.
Make sure to research the different kinds of fasts, and follow up with your doctor. Listen to your body very carefully when fasting.
Natural Detoxes
If you look at the root of what a detox is, you will find that it is natural in nature. You are ridding your body of the toxins and chemicals that it has acquired through pollution, processed foods, and chemical prescription medications. It would only make sense that if you are to choose a detox, you choose a natural one.
There are many different programs out there touting a specific pill or drug to help you detox. In reality, the best way to get rid of the toxins is to do it how your body naturally was meant to. Here are the four most popular natural detoxes.
Simple Fruit and Veggie Detox:
During this detox, which usually lasts around seven days, you consume only water, fresh and organic fruits, and vegetables.
All fruit juices should be extracted from the fruit through a juicer. Store-bought juices are usually laden with additives and sugars. You can eat your veggies steamed or raw.
Smoothie Cleanse:
Think of the Smoothie Cleanse as the Fruit and Veggie Cleanse, but all in one glass. There is a plethora of recipes on the internet that help those on the smoothie cleanse to drink specific nutrients and vitamins that the body needs. Luckily, this type of detox is inexpensive and straightforward and all you need is fresh food and a blender!
Juice Cleanse: The Juice Cleanse is very similar to the smoothie cleanse, except that instead of blending your fruits and vegetables, you are juicing them. You can also find some very clean premade juices, though they can be pricy.
Sugar Detox: Some people choose to take the detox process a step at a time. Detoxing yourself of refined sugars is incredibly essential and can be very difficult to do. White sugar has been found to have the same addictive properties as some drugs. If you can detox and withdrawal from sugars, the full-body detox will be so much easier for you.
Whichever you choose to do, make sure you research the process beforehand. And remember, it takes time for a body to completely detox, so try to stay on the system for at least seven days.
Best Detox Teas
Before, during, and after, detox teas can help keep your body clear of toxins. There are so many different types on the market today that it’s hard to keep them all straight. You want to make sure that when you choose one, it is organic and unsweetened.
Teas are also great ways to stay hydrated during your cleanse.
These are some of the best detox teas on the market:
Yogi Detox
Yogi Detox teas are organic and clean. They come in several flavors, including peach and dandelion. The detox tea has burdock and dandelion, which help strengthen the liver and juniper berry for purifying the kidneys.
Capital Teas Organic Detox
Capital Tea is grown and manufactured in the United States. Their detox tea if very complex in nature. It begins with a base of green tea, which helps to cleanse.
Lemongrass, lemon peel, and lemon oil are added to the tea mixture for taste as well as purifying properties. Last, mango, strawberry, and peppermint infuse the loose leaf tea to help make the tea favorable and balance the strong citrus tastes.
BaeTea (14 Day Teatox)
This tea was made specifically for those interested in undergoing a tea detox. The tea includes ginger root, senna, rooibos, guarana, oolong, vitamin C, pomegranate, lemon, and honey.
This tea is not decaffeinated. It has a strong and spicy taste and helps to push the toxins from the body. The senna leaf acts as a natural laxative.
Detox teas can be helpful in and out of a cleanse. Find the one you like the best, but make sure not to add creams and sugars to it during your cleanse.
Ending Your Cleanse Safely
You have just undergone an incredible journey with your body. You have enabled and assisted your body in the process of ridding itself of the dangerous toxins it had been carrying around.
At the end of your cleanse, you should to take steps to ease your body back into a regular routine. Take this time to change your eating habits. Instead of going back to processed foods, move into a more whole and holistic way of eating.
If you go from detoxing to full meals without allowing your body to adjust, you will get sick. Everything from nausea to diarrhea can occur. So, it’s best to ease yourself back in. Here are some pointers to help with that transition:
- The day after your cleanse ends, eat mostly vegetables, fruit, and nuts. Continue to drink water, and reduce your portion size from your before cleansing size.
- Don’t include sugars, coffee, wheat, processed foods, or dairy.
- Day Two starts to introduce starches and grains such as brown rice, nuts, beans, and extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil for cooking.
- Day Three is when you can reintroduce dairy if you want to.
- Day Four is the day for meat, poultry, and/or fish.
- Day Five, you should be able to incorporate other healthy foods and begin to normalize your eating habits.
The main thing to take away from this is that you want to test what your body can handle.
Always listen to your body. Make sure if you have any questions or adverse side effects, you contact your doctor immediately.
Conclusion
Deciding to undergo the process of detoxing or cleansing is a fantastic way to help your body improve physically and mentally. We deal with so many toxins in our world that our human bodies haven’t had the chance to evolve to deal with them.
Keeping toxins from your body can help reduce symptoms of arthritis, gastrointestinal issues, anxiety, depression, and many more.
Your health and safety is the most important thing to keep in mind when you are deciding on a detox program so it’s always best to consult your family doctor prior to starting.
Good luck with your cleansing journey!