The rejuvenating and cleansing energy of spring often inspires us to clear out the clutter that has accumulated throughout the year. This includes our body too. Spring is a time for clearing out those heavy, winter foods and toxins that accumulated over the past few months.
WHY CLEANSE?
Detoxification is a purification of your body, a revitalization of your physiology. Looking healthy on the outside the begins when we are feeling healthy inside. The question to ask when you are considering a detox is not whether you’ve been exposed to toxins, the question is whether or not these exposures are significantly impacting your health. A detoxification or cleansing program is one way to help determine if this is the case.
TOXIN OVERLOAD
We are exposed to toxins on a daily basis from the pesticides in our foods, the pollutants in our air and water, and from the synthetic chemicals ingested in the forms of prescriptions drugs and processed foods. Research has shown that many of these chemicals disrupt our immune, endocrine, nervous, and reproductive systems.
Although your body has many ways to naturally detoxify your system, there is a tendency for these pathways to become overburdened over time. As a result, toxins build up in your tissues, resulting in a sub-optimal functioning of the body’s systems. This decrease in function can often go unnoticed as we slowly adapt to our diminished vitality.
Physical symptoms that may indicate you have a toxin overload:
- Difficulty losing weight
- Weight gain
- Fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping
- Digestive concerns
- Food cravings
- Mental fog
- Low Libido
- Congestion
- Headaches
- Allergies
- PMS-related symptoms
BENEFITS OF CLEANSING
There are numerous benefits to a spring cleanse including improved digestion, reduced inflammation, balanced blood sugar and enhanced immune function. A cleanse will also help reduce the inflammatory reactions associated with spring allergies.
A BASIC CLEANSE
The 5 pillars of a healthy spring cleanse includes the following:
Remove Toxins:
- Adopting a diet that is low in whites (sugar, flour, dairy) and high in color (berries, veggies) for a period of 2-3 weeks allows the digestive tract to reset itself.
- More specifically, eat organic food and animal products to avoid petrochemical pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics.
- Drink filtered water (reverse osmosis or carbon filter).
- HEPA/ULPA filters and ionizers can be helpful in reducing dust, molds, volatile organic compounds, and other sources of indoor air pollution.
Improve Elimination of Toxins:
- Have 1-2 bowel movements a day.
- Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day.
- Sweat regularly. – Use exercise to help you sweat regularly. – Use steam baths or saunas – infrared saunas may be even more beneficial. These are ways we rid the toxic burdens from our system.
Increase Fiber Intake
- Eat more beans, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.
Support the Liver
- Your liver is your body’s detoxification powerhouse. Among its many duties, your liver helps to filter your blood through the phase I and II detoxification pathways.
- Incorporate Milk Thistle as a tea or supplement.
- Increase your intake of cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, cabbage, kale, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts)
Feed Your Gut with Healthy Bacteria
- Taking probiotics such as lactobacillus and bifidobacter species helps normalize gut flora and reduce endotoxins (toxins produced by imbalances in gut bacteria).
To read more about Dr. Krista Brayko, please click here to visit Natura’s About Me page.
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