The benefits of a detox have come under question in some circles. Yet, in our modern living environment, it is impossible to avoid at least some toxins while living our everyday lives. Simply walking down the road exposes us to vehicle fumes. Farming chemicals pose a risk in the countryside. Paint, carpets, cleaning products, and many everyday objects can give off toxic chemicals in the home and other indoor environments. There’s really no escape. Therefore, it makes sense to keep the negative impact of toxins in the body to a minimum by moving them out.
Whilst a healthy body can handle some toxicity, an overload can lead to physical and mental health problems. Stress is also increasingly common and depletes the body’s nutrients, making it more vulnerable to the effects of toxicity. Therefore, taking time out of our regular routines to cleanse and nourish our bodies will benefit many.
What are the benefits of a detox?
Undertaking a short detox means granting your body an internal rest and allowing it to recuperate and recharge the batteries. Clearing toxins and debris from the system is a beautiful gift to give yourself. The benefits of a detox are brighter skin, more energy and greater mental clarity. It can also help the body to heal itself.
Cells are the body’s building blocks and are where all health begins. We have around 50 -75 trillion cells; inside them, trillions of activities occur in nanoseconds. All the cells miraculously work together in an astonishing process of signalling and coordination for optimal health. A detox will assist this process in working more smoothly.
How does a nutritious detox work?
There are two main reasons the body’s cells cannot fully perform the incredible magic of an optimally working healthy system. The first is a shortage of the nutritional raw materials the cells need. The other is the presence of some form of toxicity. This toxicity means damaging elements are present that interfere with the cells’ ability to function at full effectiveness.
Giving the body an abundance of nutrients enables the cells to remove debris and toxic matter. When you give your body pure nutrition, a detox effect can occur. This is because additional resources become available, enabling both toxicity and deficiency to be addressed simultaneously. This is where a diet comprising a wide range of fresh, organic vegetables, fruit juices, and nutritious smoothies can be particularly effective.
Flooding the body with nutrition might appear at first to be counterintuitive, as it doesn’t involve starving or fasting. Instead, it means giving the body plenty of nourishment in an easy-to-digest form and thus providing plenty of resources to do what it does best: organise its healing and repair.
In addition, rather than spending precious resources to enable the digestion and processing of more complex foods, resting the system means more supplies are available to the body to facilitate the removal of unwanted elements.
What to avoid and what to include to achieve the benefits of a detox
While cleansing, it’s critical to avoid processed foods, especially white rice, white flour, white sugar, or chemical table salt, as these will affect and even halt the process in its tracks.
Dried fruits such as dates and figs can help to clean the colon. The liver is also an essential detoxing organ. Limiting healthy fats to later in the day will help increase its detoxing capacity.
Some especially beneficial fruits and vegetables for a detox programme include raw beetroot for its high folate levels, asparagus for its high glutathione levels, and apples for their antioxidant effects. Carrots are also high in antioxidants and support the elimination organs of the lungs, colon, kidneys, bladder, liver, and skin. Ginger is antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, and antioxidant. Warm lemon water helps flush toxins from the body and can also help dissolve uric acid.
What supplements can support a detox?
The benefits of a detox can be increased by including supplements for additional support. Taking magnesium chloride flake baths or footbaths can help release and pull out more toxins, and many people find them to be a soothing and nurturing part of cleansing. Absorbing plenty of magnesium into the cells has also been shown to protect them from toxicity.
Supplementing with a good glutathione product is also useful as this master antioxidant is a significant resource for the liver in its functions as the critical detox organ.
It is essential to ensure the bowels move thoroughly and daily whilst cleansing. A build-up of toxicity in the colon while cleansing can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, as well as a tendency towards headaches and nausea. Some people utilise colonics or enemas to counter this, and the relief can be immediate! Including enemas and colonics in the cleansing process can imbalance the gut microbiome by removing healthy bacteria along with unhealthy ones. Therefore, plenty of good quality probiotics are essential alongside Vitamin D3 to help both regular movements and, where needed, support a balanced gut microbiome.
When doing any cleanse programme, drinking plenty of pure water throughout the day is always important to help flush any released toxins out of the system as quickly as possible. Finally, taking time to rest to allow the body to fully use the extra resources to do what it needs to do is also beneficial.
If you have not done a detox programme before, it is best to begin gradually and seek professional advice if you have any health concerns.
