Show Notes on How to Detox your Body:
Thank you for listening to Wholebeing RN Radio! Today we are talking about how and why to detox your body. We are going to find out what exactly it is and what it is good for.
Detoxing has been practiced for centuries all around the world, native Americans practiced it, Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine systems practice it. When we talk about detoxification, or detoxifying we are talking about resting, cleansing and nourishing the body from the roots up and the inside out. This is achieved by removing and eliminating the toxins going in, and speeding the flushing and elimination of toxins already in the body.
As a side note, starting today we will feature as many ways to get down on the content here as you would like, each week we are striving for a video on the Facebook page, (you can find the Detox video here and we also post it on YouTube), as well as the podcast here on the page or subscribed on Itunes, and we now will have the text article as well, just scroll down to see it!
In this episode, we are talking about these key detox points (you can scroll down to read the article if you prefer) :
- What is detoxing? Is it possible?
- How do you know when to detox?
- Using nutrition to detox
- Supplements to help you detox
- Movement to help your body detox
- Energetic detox breathing, crystals, sound
Links mentioned in this episode:
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Detoxing has been practiced for centuries all around the world, Native Americans practiced it, Ayurvedic and Cchinese medicine systems practice it. When we talk about detoxification, or detoxifying we are talking about resting, cleansing and nourishing the body from the roots up and the inside out. This is achieved by removing and eliminating the toxins going in, and speeding the flushing and elimination of toxins already in the body. Detoxing helps to protect you from disease and renew your ability to maintain optimum health through a range of methods. My personal preference and general recommendation for most of my clients is a routine and gentle detox, one that is cautious to avoid or at least minimize “healing crises.”
What is detoxing?
Detoxing is removing and eliminating the toxins going in your body, and speeding the flushing and elimination of toxins already in the body. Detoxing helps to protect you from disease and renew your ability to maintain optimum health through a range of methods. You can detox your body, mind, emotions, and energies.
Often times, detoxing is a way to treat environmental exposures, digestive tract disorders, autoimmune disease, and even preventative medicine or wellness maintenance.
- When you think of detoxing the physical body, generally we are referring to the liver and the digestive tract or the gut and movement.
- When you think of detoxing the emotions/mind, generally we are referring to the digestive tract and working on some thought patterns and beliefs or points of view that you have inherited along the way.
- When you think of detoxing energy, you can generally expect that you will be working on breathing, meditation, crystal healing and other energy therapies.
In most instances, detoxing involves one or more of these actions:
- Resting the organs via fasting methods
- Working to stimulate the liver to release toxins better/faster
- Encouraging elimination of toxins through the kidneys, digestive system, or skin
- Improving circulation
- Replacing and refueling the body with nourishing nutrients
How do you know when to detox?
Generally I recommend detoxing every quarter, so every 3 months, if you have a pretty good energetic and wellness hygiene. If you are eating nourishing foods 80% + of the time and moving your body, meditating, and generally maintaining things, then that's likely all you need. I also recommend that you detox while starting a new regime OR when you notice something isn’t right, maybe your immune system is down, maybe you have been moodier than normal.
Here are some other signs you might need a detox:
- Digestive troubles
- Irritated/inflamed skin
- Allergies
- Poor immune system
- Bags under the eyes
- Trouble with bloating
- Irregular menstrual cycles
- Mental fogginess
- Moodiness
- Fatigue
- Swelling
There are many other possibilities that include lifestyle choices, so after traveling, dining out a lot, drinking too much, getting sick frequently, lots of other indicators can nod towards needing a detox - including clinical data such as vital signs and lab work.
How can I detox?
There are so many ways, and depending on what you can do, where you are, what you may want to stick to it can be tricky to find the methods that work best for your goals. Often it's a combination of several of these methods in a particular order that will be the key to wellness for any given individual. If you want to get started with detoxing your body, then jump over and join the free 10 Day Sugar Detox here. This may be important for you, because the very first step in any detox, is to lighten up your toxin load. For the best success, you must get rid of alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, refined sugar, and rancid fats because these are all obstacles to your healing process.
Using Nutrition to Detox
Nutritionally, there are a few good ways to flush the toxins from your body:
- Fasting. This is a great way to push the reset button, I really love this method because it is #frugal and no fuss. Simply no food for a period of time that you are comfortable with. My longest was 40 hours. This helps to reset your immune system, it is my go-to method. If you can’t fast for 24 or more hours (diabetics should seek help for a safe fasting plan) then even skipping a meal or practicing intermittent fasting can help reset the body in minor ways.
- Juicing. If you have a masticating juicer or access to pure juice, (let me know where you are and I can help you find it) then this is a great option. You can chose to do it as a juice fast (where you only drink juice) or just have 2-4 oz of juice on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. A few good ingredients to try are watermelon, cucumber, lemon, lime, grapefruit, raspberries, celery, spinach, strawberries, mint, ginger, carrots, kale, rosemary, dandelion, and apples. Each have their own healing and detoxifying properties. A good rule of thumb is for every 1 fruit you put in your juice, put at least 2 veggies, and ALWAYS use organic.
- Increasing fiber. Vastly increasing your fiber is a great way to detox your digestive system. This doesn’t mean chugging metamucil or eating pounds of grains. Choose high-fiber veggies such as broccoli, leafy greens, seaweed and add in high fiber seeds such as chia and hemp.
- Adding in kombucha. Using a low sugar kombucha 2-4 ounces as your very first drink is a good way to increase energy and improve digestion.
Often times you can pair these up or make these nutrition detoxes part of your daily routine.
Using Supplements to Detox
Generally, unless you are prepared and also nutritionally detoxing, I advise against simply trying to detox via supplements. The following can be used with a sound nutritional detox strategy:
- Milk thistle. This is great at internally “massaging” the liver so it can do a better job of releasing stored toxins and processing incoming nutrients. Milk thistle is generally in a capsule, make sure you look for an organic option.
- Vitamin C. Taking a high dose of vitamin c is excellent for detoxing the kidneys as well as helping the body produce glutathione. Glutathione is a liver compound that drives away toxins. You must ensure that you are taking a bioavailable form of vitamin C.
- Aloe Vera Gel. Nope I’m not talking about the kind you find in the sunscreen aisle. Make sure that you source food grade aloe. Aloe is awesome because it has a laxative and anti-inflammatory effect. It helps digestion, normalizes pH balance, reduces candida (yeast) and promotes the proliferation of good bacteria. Additionally the enzymes in aloe help to turn the proteins we eat into amino acids to make fueling the body easier. You can add this to your pure juice or water.
Using Movement to Detox
Just about anything that generates sweat is detoxing, even sitting in a sauna so get sweaty and open those pores and let it out! Of course, I love to get dual benefits out of anything I am doing, so I like to do a little more than just sit in a sauna. Here are some other options:
- Yoga. Hot yoga or not, yoga is detoxing to the body, mind, and spirit. In yoga you are twisting and detoxing the organs, stretching, sweating, and moving in ways that are detoxing to the entire body. Don’t get hung up on what style or where or the clothes or if you have a “yoga body” because yoga is for all bodies and it is one of my favorite methods to help get clients in touch with their Body Wisdom and open up all types of new wellness to them.
- Rebounding. Yep, I mean simply jumping on a trampoline, and it can be big or small. This is especially great after you have been traveling or doing any other type of extended sitting. Rebounding helps to get your lymph system flowing again, sweat out toxins, and release stress all at the same time.
- Anything else that makes you sweat. Yep, just breaking a little sweat is all it takes to start detoxing your body through your skin!
Techniques for energetic detox. As we go through our days and our lives we pick up things along the way that can dampen our light. Detoxing energetically helps us shed all of the “things” and “dirty bits” we have picked up in the way of emotions, points of view, and even just stress. I have loads of techniques, so let's look at a few:
- Breathing. There are specific techniques for breathing based on what you may want to achieve. A universally detoxing breath is simply to sit and focus on your breath while inhaling and filling your belly full of air, and then exhaling through your mouth (maybe even sighing it out) You can do that as few as 5 times in a row and reset your energy.
- Crystals. There are a few different crystal detoxing methods you can use depending on what it is you are trying to release. Probably the best “overall” method is to heal and balance the chakras with your crystals. The simplest way to do that is to look at a chakra diagram and match the color stone to the color of the chakra. Easy peasy right? Other crystals that are good for detoxifying are bloodstone, obsidian, smokey quartz, and shungite.
- Sound. Our human suits are made of billions of cells and below that atoms. Each atom vibrates at a particular frequency. Some refer to this as the dominant oscillary rate. Now a crystal for example has a single DOR because of its symmetrical and geometric anatomical pattern, humans have lots and lots of DORs because we have lots of different types of tissues. You can use sound to reset these multiple frequencies in the physical and subtle energy body. This may mean meditating with a particular sound, using singing bowls, or simply playing loud music.
Given all of these techniques, and this isn't nearly an exhaustive list, you can see how there is some sort of detox that works for every body. Have you tried detoxing? It's one of the key ways to get in touch with your body, release toxins and energies that are no longer serving you and replenish those areas with new and nourishing nutrients.