Detoxification
The human body is continuously exposed to harmful or even poisonous substances in the course of day-to-day life. Some of these are produced within the body itself, as the waste products of essential metabolic process. In addition, there are an enormous number of harmful substances in the environment to which the human body is inevitably exposed. Pollution, stress and the wrong kind of food can leave your liver, kidneys, lungs and the excretory system, struggling to maintain the balance within the body. With more people falling prey to the adverse effects of stress, health complaints like poor digestion, lack of sleep, allergies, chronic fatigue, cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc. too are increasing. All these diseases are complex disorders that accumulate over a lifetime. The most deeply seated toxins that cause diseases are heavy and sticky, lodging tissue layer. A specific program of detoxification permanently eliminates these toxins from the body, allowing complex disorders to heal permanently.
What Is Detox:
Detox (short for detoxification) is a systematic approach to assisting your body to remove toxins stored in its tissues. It is a process that occurs naturally and marvelously within the body.
Do You Need To Detox:
If you are overweight or tired all the time, have headaches, other aches and pains, frequent colds and flus, constipation or digestive problems, high blood pressure, PMS, allergies or sensitivities or if you often drink too much alcohol, drink caffeinated beverages, smoke cigarettes, use over-the-counter or recreational drugs, or eat fast, fried or refined foods you definitely need to detox.
1.Obese:
If you’re overweight, you have more toxins in your body than a thin person because the body stores excess toxins in fat cells. But don’t despair– one of the great additional benefits of detoxing is losing weight!
2.Tired all the time: Toxicology textbooks list the first symptoms of chronic poisoning as low energy, fatigue, muscle weakness, inability to concentrate and intestinal complaints.
3.Headaches: Food additives, sugar, alcohol, caffeine withdrawal, constipation, hormonal imbalance and exposure to irritants such as pollution, perfume or after-shaves are all causes of headaches that can often be relieved by detoxification.
Warning: If your headaches are accompanied by fever and stiffness in the neck, pressure behind the eyes relieved by vomiting, pressure in the sinus area, throbbing of head and temples, a pounding heartbeat, visual color changes, feeling as though your head will explode, light sensitivity, confusion or loss of speech, blurred vision, or chronic headache pain that worsens after coughing, exertion, straining or sudden movement, consult your health care provider.
4.Other aches and pains: Holistic practitioners are finding that several forms of arthritis can be significantly relieved by a detoxification diet, plus proper supplimentation. Arthritis pain may be related to a toxic reaction to specific foods (food allergies), dehydration from inadequate intake of water, a very common problem, and bowel toxemia.
5.Frequent colds and flu: Frequent colds and flu are signs of a suppressed immune system. Detoxification, appropriate nutritional supplementation, improvement in diet, incorporating a healthy diet, improved stress management and regular, but not overly strenuous exercise are part of a comprehensive plan for improving your immune system.
6.Constipation or digestive problems: A healthy digestive system eliminates its contents one to three times daily. If you do not have at least one bowel movement a day, or if you have flatulence or chronic indigestion, a detox program as part of a larger change of diet and awareness about food can often change those problems rapidly.
7.High blood pressure: Naturopaths recommend fasting (an ancient, but what we consider extreme, form of detox) for three to five days a month for those suffering from high blood pressure. Those who are motivated to change their lifestyle will find numerous less strenuous forms of detox. You need to be under a doctor’s care, but we encourage you to work with a holistically oriented physician who can support you in lifestyle changes that will address many of its risk factors.
8.PMS:In general, detoxing, at any level, enhances a woman’s ability to deal with the ebb and flow of hormones that characterize her adult life. Watch out, though, for the initial phases of more serious forms of detox, i.e going beyond more than gradual “pre-detox” diet improvements. The liver is major storehouse for excess toxins, which includes hormones. As you enter a period of more intensive detoxing, the excess hormones stored in the liver come back into the bloodstream for processing, and it’s like the worst PMS you ever had. Just stay home with your stuffed toys, maybe your dog and watch sweet movies. Never mind that your own life is not a fairytale. After a day or so of the blues, everything is much better.
9.Allergies or sensitivies: By and large, conventional health care only deals with masking the symptoms of allergies and food sensitivities, rather than attempting to resolve them. The first step that many alternative practitioners recommend is a change of diet that cuts out wheat and dairy foods, two common allergens. To do so is also the first step in “detoxing.” Higher levels of detoxing, as well as additional immune support through nutritional supplementation, have been known to help many allergy sufferers. Allergies are, however, almost by definition, a very individualized condition. Allergy testing can yield important insights, but those who are disciplined may be able to forego the costs by following the extensive method for self-testing of food allergies.
10.If you drink moderate to excessive alcohol: If you are ready to quit alcohol consumption then detox programs can help you feel better, younger and stronger. If you insist on drinking then a weekend detox program wont do you much good.
11.Drink caffeinated beverages: Even if you’re not ready to quit for good, a spring and fall detox can give your liver a chance to rest from detoxifying all that caffeine every day, and that can have tremendous physical benefits in terms of more energy, better sleep and reduced stress which in turn can also make it possible to cut down significantly on caffeine after your detox.
12.Smoke cigarettes: One great way to look at this is if you can kick this habit (and you can) which is detoxifying in itself, other health improvements are going to be easy by comparison.
13.Use over-the-counter or recreational drugs: Any drug (that’s right, even if it’s prescribed by your doctor, or sold in a drug store as safe-to-use) has to be metabolized by your liver, your prime organ of detoxification. Your liver is also busy doing a lot of other things that keep you alive, and if it gets too overloaded, it can’t process all the toxins, so instead of processing them, it stores them within the liver itself, as well as in other organs and in fat cells. The process of detoxing supports the liver’s ability to do its job by 1) reducing the amount of toxins you ingest; 2) supplying additional nutrients to help the liver transform toxins into molecules that can be excreted by the body’s systems; and 3) giving you techniques that allow the stored toxins within your body to gradually reenter the bloodstream where the liver can prepare them for excretion.
14.Eat fast foods, fried foods or refined foods: In addition to having very little, if any, nutritional value, fast foods, fried foods and refined foods have to be processed by the liver and take its energy away from other detoxification work it has to do. A low fat diet, with lots of whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables supports the liver with nutrients and easy-to-digest food. Switching to such a diet is the first step in an over-all detox program that can give you more energy, help you to lose weight and feel years younger.
