“I am on Detox!” We love saying that. Don’t we?
It makes us feel like a hero. We are doing something super special and amazing for our body. Like our body has never heard of detoxifying, and it needs us to rescue it.
Here is the thing!
Detoxification is nothing special for our body! Our body is detoxifying all the time. It is part of our survival. If it was waiting for us to start a detox, we would be very unwell and probably … dead. The body processes what we eat, what we breathe, what we absorb through the skin, keeps what is beneficial for functioning, and eliminates what is not or what is beyond its “best before” date. It’s clever like that.
Having said that, there is a lot we can do, and also not to do, to support the detoxification and make it much easier for our body. Let’s be honest; there will be a time when our body will just struggle to keep everything moving if we won’t join in and give it a helping hand.
Before we get into some tips, I would like you to understand a bit better what is happening.
The easy way to imagine the detoxification pathway is to imagine a conveyor in a shop. There is a cashier who puts items on the conveyor. We take them and sort them out to our bags. If the cashier is adding more and more onto the conveyor (it tends to annoy me when they do that), and we don’t have enough bags to pack it all away, or we are not fast enough, the conveyor gets cluttered. A similar thing happens in our body, in the liver. Then what?
Also Read: 3-Day Detox Food Cleanse Meal Plan and Recipe
All the over spilling items are falling off the conveyor, meaning that the metabolites and used compounds, hormones, enzymes may get returned back to our body. Because they served their duty, they are not at their 100% anymore. Far from. Their function is impaired. New ones were made already, and these should be on their way out! Proper confusion and chaos, right?
What can we do to avoid the conveyor getting cluttered?
The first step is to start thinking about our body and us, as an individual, as ONE THING! We often think about our body like it’s something we need to carry around. Some of us like our body enough; some of us just tolerate it.
The second step is to remove the extra load. Extra load means stress. A bit of acute stress may make us stronger. Too much of it may cause chronic stress and inflammation. Neither of them is our best friend. The more stress WE must deal with internally, the less resilient we are towards the external world.
Also Read: How The Vegan Diet Could Help Improve Your Health And The Planet
What do I mean by extra load?
- Physical load/stress e.g., over-exercise or workload.
- External stress e.g. processed food; any packaged, long shelf life food; cosmetics which contain lots of nasty chemicals; plastic bottles and containers when heated
- Malnutrition and dehydration
All the above are adding to the amount on the conveyor.
The third step is to give our body all it needs to do its magic. That is the ONE AND ONLY TYPE OF DIET for me – real, good quality food which our body can recognise. REAL FOOD is the key. Real FOOD is THE DIET!
It does not matter to me whether my client is vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, pescatarian … or any other preferences, if what they consume is nourishing, fueling, supports growth and repair.
Yes, it’s as simple as that. On a day to day basis, there is no need for expensive products, special treatment rooms.
One important thing we often overlook is hydration. Drinking water and unsweetened teas are essential for keeping everything moving.
Here are some signs that your body needs your help:
Skin rashes, feeling tired all the time, having a coating on our tongue, feeling sluggish all the time, headaches. If you decide to do a “detox” using supplements, I would recommend doing some research on the products before you buy them.
Also, sometimes just removing for a few weeks those things that we overindulge on is also very beneficial.
How often should you detox? Why?
As I mentioned above, we are detoxifying all the time. Our body knows exactly what it’s doing, and we should be supporting it daily by consuming the right, good quality food and sufficient hydration (I recommend 1.5L of water and herbal teas in combination).
What are the most important things to avoid when detoxing?
Alcohol, coffee from the high street, sugar from processed snacks and food, red meat, takeaways, junk food, packaged food, soft drinks, chocolate below 80% cacao content.
