How To Detoxify Your Body

I have been asked many times about what is the right way to do a body detoxification and why is it so important. First, let’s take a look at why doing an annual body flush can help to improve your overall health. Many people can attest to how much I discuss and am concerned about the state of our environment and its impact on our health and well-beings, in fact one of my biggest interests has to do with Body Burden Testing. I won’t go into too much detail regarding it, but I do have some links to articles on Body Burden Testing that I will post soon. If you can, spend some time reading up on it and also show your support for the California legislation currently being considered to allow the general population to have Body Burden Testing performed as part of their medical /civilian rights. Anyway, back to the topic and let me wrap it up in the smallest nutshell I can.

Why do a Body Flush?

Basically, we are exposed to thousands of different chemicals and toxins a day through the air we breathe, the water we may drink/shower in, the foods we eat, the cars and industries that release CO2’s and noxious gases to the medications, “health” products and plastics our drinks and foods may come in. In a way you can call our bodies “sponges”; we absorb through our internal (lungs, intestines, blood,etc) and external (skin) systems and once full we release some out. Generally, our bodies are normally pretty efficient in the processing, breaking down and eliminating of toxins and waste out of our systems. Generally meaning if we weren’t exposed to an overload! Which we are in today’s environment. So, our bodies being the efficient systems they are will even store excess toxins and chemicals that need to be further metabolized and eliminated, but seldom does the opportunity arrive because we are just being further bombarded each day with more toxins and they subsequently just end building up in our bodies. Some of the preferred places your body likes to store these are in fat cells (they keep them nice and warm there :-)), our tissues, blood and organs such as the liver, kidney, brain and of course our intestinal lining. As these toxins build up within our systems they begin to have detrimental effects on our health. Plaque and residues build up and provide the perfect breeding grounds for parasitic growths (yes, parasites !) that damage us further and lead to illnesses and disease. Furthermore, the buildup blocks our body’s ability to properly absorb nutrients from our food and supplements, causing deficiencies over time. If your concerned about premature aging or slowing your aging, then body flushes should be as routine as a physical. Suffice it to say that the real question isn’t about why one should do a body flush more how often should someone do it. My suggestion is after you do your first one, they should be done annually. Some may feel the need to do them twice a year depending on how well they know their bodies and sense the need. Please make a careful note of this next statement: Body flushing is NOT meant to be a crash diet weight loss method and doing a body flush should only serve as a starting point of an overall LIFESTYLE CHANGE. When done properly though, it will burn quite a bit of fat (and muscle), but it is even more important what you do and eat AFTER the body flush.

What are Some of the Benefits?

• Eliminate toxins, chemicals and metallics (like mercury and lead). Recent group testing showed positive traces of 432 out of 528 chemicals in adult humans! Click here for the full study
• Slow aging by eliminating these major contributors to premature cellular degeneration.
• Remove plaque and residue buildup on intestinal walls. Leads to better absorbency of nutrients and prevent deficiencies.
• Improved mental clarity and energy levels! If you have never done a body flush before, be prepared to see some very nice improvements in these areas.
• Loss of excess, toxin coddling fat and better overall tone and physique. You may most notice stubborn pockets of fat substantially reduced/eliminated and your abdominal and midsection areas more toned.
• Prevent illness and disease by ridding the body of harmful parasites.

What You Will Need

There are numerous different methods of performing body detoxifications, some that allow eating of certain foods and some that even come as a kit. I prefer the all natural method combined with the eliminating of food completely while detoxifying. Below here, I have provided a checklist of things I highly recommend you want to have to help ease and manage through the fasting / cleansing process:

1. A lot of Distilled or Pure Water. Drink at least 64 ounces a day (8 x 8 ounce glasses).

Water is absolutely essential during the process. Do not drink tap water (chlorine and other chemicals are present from the treatment process). Water acts as the main component of your body’s purification system. It helps to flush toxins and chemicals. Whatever you do, do not skimp on your water! Your body is adaptive and depriving it of water will actually trigger it to hold on to water (goes into survival mode). You want a nice consistent flow of fluids entering and leaving your body. It is easy to tell if you are getting enough fluids by the clarity of your urine. The clearer the better!

2. A Variety of Herbal Teas. Quality herbal teas have long been known for their healing and therapeutic values. I personally love teas and believe they should be a staple in our diets. I have listed some herbal teas I use when doing a body detox and their reasons or benefits.

For aid in detoxification: Dr. Stuart’s Detox or Liver Detox teas. Yogi Peach Detox or Detox.

For stomach ease and laxative aid: Yogi Fasting or Ginger tea (ease hunger pains). Dr. Stuart’s Lax Plus or Yogi Get Regular (laxative)

For Anti-oxidant support: Yogi Berry Anti-oxidant, Green Tea Active Body or Green Tea Super Anti-oxidant

I personally recommend these 2 tea companies as they have the highest quality all natural herbs and I can attest to their potency, especially the Yogi Get Regular :-). I also like “Good Earth” organic teas so they would also be a nice alternative. Try to avoid coffee (decaf if you must) and absolutely keep caffeine intake to a minimum. Stick to water and teas as your fluids. No soft drinks, sport drinks or fruit drinks and especially no artificial sweeteners! If you need a little sweetener for your tea, use organic / raw sugar (just a little) or even better some pure honey.

3. A High Quality Multi-Vitamin and Other Supplements. Since you will not be eating during the fasting process, it is extra important to make sure your body is still getting the nutrients it needs. Using a multi-vitamin will help tremendously to ease some of the “deficient” feelings when your fasting and gives your body a pure, concentrated form of vitamins, minerals and micro-nutrients to support systemic functioning. Remember you are “starving” your body. For a multi-vitamin, I recommend Xtend-Life’s Total Balance for Men or Women. The benefit of these is they have additional detoxifying properties to them all while providing necessary vitamins and minerals. Micro-Nutra’s Vita-Male and Vita-Female are an excellent alternative. Both are more of a multi-nutrient than a multi-vitamin. You may also want to use the Xtend-Life Natural Energy to help with some of the fatigue or low energy levels you may experience while fasting. Natural Energy provides a nice, steady flow of energy release throughout the day and also has additional beneficial enzymes and amino acids, which you still want to provide your body while fasting / detoxifying.

4. An All Natural Fiber Supplement. Finally, the last thing you will need is a quality fiber supplement. I use Yerba Prima’s Colon Care fiber supplement with great results. Basically, during fasting, the plaque lining your body will start to break away and will need to be eliminated. That is where your fiber supplement comes in handy. Fiber, of course, helps to “scrub” your system and this will help to further loosen up the residues in your body. The fiber supplement will also act as an absorbent of toxins and chemicals that your body will be releasing and will then carry them out with other body waste.

Ok, What Do I Do Now?

An effective body detoxification routine should take anywhere from 3 days to a week. Most people will find, that if you follow this routine, 4-6 days should do well in getting you cleaned out. Once you have done your initial cleanse, as noted above, it’s a good idea to make it an annual routine and should then only require a 3 day flush (use your judgment as you get to know your body). You should first plan the date of when you are going to begin. Please do not go gorging on food prior to fasting :-). Eat normally up to the day you begin. Here is an ingestion schedule to follow:

1. Morning time approx. 8am- take either (2) Xtend-Life Total Balance or (1) Micro-Nutra Vita-Male / Vita-Female and (2) Xtend-Life Natural Energy (optional, but recommended). Drink at least 1 cup each of an Anti-oxidant tea and a Detox tea and 2-3 servings of water up to afternoon time. NOTE: When preparing your tea, steep teabag in hot water for AT LEAST 5 minutes. It is best to cover the mug while steeping. This ensures all the good stuff in the tea gets released. “Press” out the teabag to drain. Take one serving of your fiber supplement.

2. Afternoon time approx. 2pm- take either (2) more Xtend-Life Total Balance and (2) more Natural Energy. If you take Vita-Male or Vita-Female, do not take another. Follow with (1) cup of Anti-oxidant tea and 2-3 more servings of water. I recommend taking in the majority of your water requirements prior to 7pm at night to avoid waking to urinate. You can opt to drink any of the Yogi teas to help with stomach hunger pains at any time you feel like your starving.

3. Evening time approx. 8pm- take your last (2) Xtend-Lifes for the day. Do not take the Natural Energy. Drink at least one cup of Detox tea and some water. Right before going to bed, take another serving of your fiber supplement and have 1 cup of a natural laxative tea. If you are sensitive to the laxative tea, try diluting it or start by drinking half of a cup.

The first day and a half will probably not be much fun as your body is adjusting to lack of food. By the end of the second day, your body should have started to adjust and the hunger pains will ease or subside completely. Your body is going into the state of ketosis. Ketosis is when your body is not getting carbohydrates to burn as energy and such will gradually switch itself over to burning your fat as an energy source. This is very good because as your body burns its fat, the toxins and chemicals stored in them will be released into your system for elimination. Please note, your body will also burn muscle during this time as well. You will probably notice you will urinate frequently (if you are taking in your recommended fluids) and this a good thing. It is possible that you may become temporarily “constipated” for a day or two, but don’t worry, things will get moving. You may want to increase your fiber supplement to 2 servings morning and night. Right around the fourth day, you may notice that each time you go to the bathroom (#2), when you are finished you feel as if you have a burst in energy and mental clarity. This is also good, it’s a positive sign that the toxins weighing you down are coming out. If you cease to have bowel movements for a couple of days, continue on the fast until things get moving and they will. You will want to let your body decide how many days to go through the detox process. If you’ve never detoxed before, you’ll definitely want to do at least 4 days. 6 days are probably more than sufficient. An alternative would also be to do a 4-5 day cleanse and then follow it up in a month’s time with a 3 day. After your cleanse, I feel confident that you will be very happy with the results. You will most likely feel more energetic, sharper mental acuity and general overall sense of well-being and the benefits can last for a substantial time afterwards.

Next Read - Improving Your Diet