Ways to help your body detox

“A healthy outside starts from the inside” – Robert Urich

Detox? Is that fasting?

If you think it is too late to start your own detox, or if you think detox is too hard to do because it only involves fasting, or if you think detox sounds dangerous; you are reading the correct piece of information.

Detoxifying your body or “spring cleansing” is a way to recharge, rejuvenate and renew your body from a kind of hibernation mode. As per Linda Page, PhD, naturopathic doctor and lecturer, detoxification can happen at any time, and is a way of pushing out toxins from your system by clearing out all the tubes and pipes, in order to restart your life to a more active and healthier direction.

Some purists like Chris Strychacz, PhD, psychologist at Naval Health Center, San Diego believes detox means “water only.” He also explains how it is a form of fasting that has a long-standing spiritual tradition seeing from how Socrates, Plato, Jesus and Gandhi did it! The clarity of thought and the peacefulness alongside physical cleansing is what one feels after detoxification.

However, Dr. Page differs from Dr. Chris in that there is no age or time for a detox, nor any specific rules. One can clear their body of toxins at any point in time using the following pointers to a detox.

How to do your own detox!

Achieving your own detox does not have to mean an “all juice no salt” or “only-water” diet. It can be done through simple ways of helping the liver which actually is your body’s natural filter, as suggested by integrative medicine physician Dr. Frank Lipman. Boosting the liver function can help to decrease the toxic products being accumulated. Here are some good daily mantras to follow.

1. Bend it out

As quirky as this sounds, twisting yoga poses help with detoxification by stimulating digestion and elimination as suggested by Dr. Lipman. Releasing the stress and the grip on the belly and taking deep breaths can relax the muscles and the diaphragm and this can facilitate the function of the digestive system. Look out for Seated Spinal or Twist yoga poses in your yoga class!

2. Lemon and warm water

Lemon with warm water in your early morning routine not only adds magnesium, calcium and potassium into your body, but also hydrates and replenishes the dehydration that the body suffers in the night. As Dr. Lipman further iterates, lemon juice helps in the liver producing more enzymes to aid digestion and purge out toxins.

The Vitamin C content further helps to strengthen the immune system because lemon juice is a powerful antioxidant to protect the body from radical substances. So start your day with a glass of warm water and lemon juice, or just lemon tea with honey and ginger.

3. Use dry brushing

This ritual a few days a week before your shower helps to unclog pores and shed off old skin cells, as well as enable the skin to perspire freely and naturally. This also helps to stimulate the circulation beneath the skin and promotes cellular renewal and vitality. Use a soft bristled brush and dry brush your body carefully a few times a week, before your daily shower.

4. Fill up with that Tea

Tea can help immensely to decrease the build-up of toxins in the tissues as per a study review conducted by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, especially when consumed with dandelion or milk thistle.

As per the study it can help protect against cell damage and stimulate the repair of the liver tissue. Tea with dandelion or milk thistle are best for health because it helps to strengthen cell walls that prevents toxins from getting in, and blocks free radicals from attacking cells.

It is important however to avoid teas that promise to curb appetite through detox because they are laced with herbs that deliver unwanted side effects like headache, temper tantrums, etc.

5. Eat the Broccoli

We all know how beneficial broccoli is to our health, however it is best because it has antioxidants that support the body’s ability to fight off toxins, as per Dr. Lipman.

Further, a study reveals that women that eat the most cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, collard greens, and sulfur-rich foods like onions and garlics had substantially less inflammation in their body. This further helps to reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

6. Enjoy that relaxing bath

It is important to have a relaxing bath with some salts added to the water because these hugely calm and soothe along with other health benefits. As suggested by Dr. Lipman, using two cups of Epsom salts available in any local pharmacy or store and soaking for 20 minutes helps to absorb magnesium, other minerals and nutrients in one’s skin that further helps with the detoxification process.

Scientifically, the minerals increase the action in the colon that prompt the body to eliminate the backed up waste that would have otherwise gotten reabsorbed into the bloodstream.

Hence, soaking oneself in bath salts can have health benefits and further aid the detoxification process.

7. Fill up with those fluids

Fluids like juices rich in Vitamin C and water hugely help one to flush through toxins quicker especially when consumed every 90 minutes to two hours as advocated by Dr. James Dillard, MD and clinical professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

They further recommend massage therapy and aromatherapy or sauna, deep breathing exercising and walking to firm up the detoxification process. Dr. Dillard advocates herbal laxatives and probiotics as well to replenish healthy bacteria. The fluids however flush out the toxins the fastest.

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