How to Detox Your Body – Cleansing Diet
Unless you have lived in a cave for the past couple of decades, there is a very good chance that you have heard about or even tried a detox cleanse. In fact, you more than likely hear a lot about all of the supposed health benefits that doing a detox cleanse can provide for you, as most of them have been specially designed to help your body eliminate built up toxins from your body. In fact, there are actually many different claims about many different detox regimens, some of which will come in the form of either a diet, a fast, a powder, or even a drink.
When you are able to remove built up toxins from within your body it is going to have some very questionable benefits, some of these including:
- Weight loss
- An increase in your energy levels
- Relief from being constipated
- A decrease in the amount of muscle aches, headaches and fatigue that you feel
While this may all sound amazing, the one important thing that you may not actually realize is that your body is actually going to naturally detox itself as often as it needs too. Your liver, digestive tract, skin and kidneys are actually very advanced organisms and have been designed to break down any toxins that may start to build up within your body and then eliminate them through your sweat, stool and urine.
How do Detox Cleanses Really Work?
The whole theory behind doing a detox cleanse is that when you are able to eliminate the solid foods or even a specific food group from your daily diet, you will be essentially eliminating the toxins that those foods provide your body. When this happens, your digestive system will be getting a break and give itself a chance to heal so that it will be better equipped to start absorbing more nutrients in the near future.
In many of the detoxes available to you, you are going to be replacing most , if not all of the solid foods that you eat with special drinks that can include water with lemons, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, green tea, and even freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juices. As for how long your cleanse is going to last, the typical cleanse can be as short as one day and last for as long as one month. It all simply depends upon the cleanse that you decide to do.
Are Detox Cleanses Effective?
When it comes to the question of whether or not detox cleanses are actually effective or not, there is actually no real scientific or medical evidence that is 100% conclusive. What this means is that there is no proof that your detox cleanse is going to help your digestive tract heal when you stop eating solid foods, the exception to that being if you are suffering from some type of digestive disorder such as celiac disease or Crohn’s disease. With that being said, solid foods are actually very helpful to your body as fiber, which can be found in foods that are plant-based like vegetables and fruits, have actually been proven to help slow your body’s digestion.
This is good as it will give your body that much more time to absorb all of the nutrients that it requires while removing all of the toxins that it does not want through your stool. Your digestive tract is going to use something known as probiotics from the fiber that you eat to continuously nourish your intestines, as probiotics are going to be the good bacteria that is required to maximize your nutrition. On top of that, probiotics are also going to help you maintain your immune health as well.
If you are looking for some long-term weight loss, a detox cleanse may not be the way to go. While they can work great for short term weight loss, most of the time all of the weight that you are going to lose will be in the form of water, carbohydrate stores, or even stool. Unfortunately, as soon as you stop doing the detox cleanse and get back to your regular eating habits, most of the weight that you have lost will come right back. On a side note, starting a long-term diet can reap you some excellent results if you start it out with a detox cleanse to purge your system and get your body ready for the diet ahead.
If you are an athlete, when you lose all of your carbohydrate stores, it means that you are going to be losing all of your body’s ideal source of fuel during your exercise regimens. That being said, a detox cleanse may not necessarily be appropriate if you are doing any type of serious training for a particular sport. If you do choose to do a detox cleanse, be sure that you are not going to do it for more than just a couple of days while you are taking a recovery week where you are performing little to no exercise while on the detox cleanse.
Pros and Cons of a Detox Cleanse
While there are always going to be pros and cons to any type of detox cleanse or diet, here are some of the more common of both, the pros and the cons that you can expect to experience when you are doing a detox cleanse.
Pros:
- You will experience an increased amount of minerals and vitamins during the length of your cleanse naturally from either the supplemented drinks that you will be consuming or the excess of vegetables and fruits that you are eating.
- It will be able to help you identify the food sensitivities that you may not have known you even had. This will occur as you will be eliminating certain foods out of your daily diet regimen for days at a time, eventually being able to reintroduce those same exact trigger foods gradually. This will let you know the foods that you are sensitive too.
Cons:
- All of these detox cleanses are going to be extremely low in calories, meaning that you can expect to have much less energy than you normally do. While this may not sound like such a bad thing, keep in mind that if you are planning to exercise while on your detox cleanse, it may potentially disrupt your metabolic rate and even your blood glucose levels. While this may not sound like that big a deal, it has the potential to lead you to passing out, as well as other health consequences.
- Depending upon the detox cleanse that you are doing, you may experience some type of gastrointestinal distress or even frequent bowel movements, sometimes having them be very wet and liquid.
- Just about every detox cleanse is going to be extremely low in protein.
No matter what you decide to do when it comes to your detox cleanse, just remember that your body has already been designed to detox itself whenever it needs too. As long as you are eating a well-balanced diet that is packed full of whole foods that include fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, you will have a healthy body that will not interfere with your exercise regimen. With that being said, how do you know that you really do need to start a detox cleanse program?
Do You Need a Detox Cleanse?
Some health and fitness professionals suggest that everybody needs a good detox at least one time per year. While your body is going to naturally detox when it needs too, who doesn’t need a little help every now and again?
With that said, just make sure that you are not going to detox if you are a nursing mother, you are a child, you are pregnant, or you have some type of chronic degenerative disease, tuberculosis, or cancer. Also, always be sure that you speak with your healthcare provider before you start with any type of detox cleanse so that you can make sure you are doing so the right way that is not going to cause you any type of health risk.
If you are unsure as to when you should do a detox cleanse, if you are feeling as though you have been experiencing any of the following symptoms, you may need to give your body a quick little boost by utilizing a quick detox cleanse. Some of these symptoms include:
- A slowed rate of elimination
- Always feeling fatigued
- Your skin has become constantly irritated
- Your allergies have picked up
- You are suffering from a low-grade infection
- New bags under your eyes or you have puffy eyes
- You feel bloated
- You are experiencing menstrual problems
- You feel as though you are mentally confused
If you feel that you are experiencing any of the above listed symptoms, you may need a detox to help your body eliminate any excess toxins and waste that has been built up, as well as recharge your system. Just be sure that you speak with your medical provider prior to starting any type of detox cleanse.
