Detoxification – short or long term?

Is detoxification something we do once year after holiday excess? Are we able to reverse all the damage from a whole year with a one week juice fast? This has never made sense to me. When we look at detoxification processes in our body, it is clear that a one week juice cleanse is not a silver bullet. Detoxification is an ongoing process and not something our body stops to do occasionally. This is something we should think about every day because our body is always going through a process of detoxification.

We are constantly taking in toxins and working on eliminating them to keep our body healthy. We eliminate toxins through our sweat, urine, and bowel movements. When you take in more toxins than you can eliminate, you can get sick and not feel well. You might feel tired, achy, have digestive issues, and even develop disease. There are two ways to solve this problem. First is to minimize the amount of toxins you take in and second is to help your body be a superstar at eliminating toxins.

To minimize the intake of toxins, strive to eat all organic whole foods, use natural cleaning products, avoid environmental contaminants, drink clean water and avoid stress. Living in our world today even when we do everything right it has become impossible to avoid being exposed to some level of contaminants. Toxins are all around us. We are increasing our toxin load when we eat processed foods, have residual pesticides on our food, ingest chemicals in our water or breathe them in air. Even taking care of our homes can introduce toxins with household cleaners and lawn products.

Because of all this exposure, it is important to help your body eliminate these toxins. A juice cleanse or short-term detox certainly can be helpful to supercharge your body’s elimination processes, but you also want to make sure your everyday elimination processes are working well. When your body is detoxifying well, you have improved energy, glowing skin, weight loss, brighter mood and a clearer mind.

So, if you’re setting up a detox for the New Year such as a juice cleanse or a sugar hiatus make sure that you’re also detoxing in other ways.

Here are some things you can do:

Filter your water and eliminate drinking water out of plastic containers

Ditch the aluminum cooking pans

Go through your household cleaners

Read labels—try to avoid artificial sweeteners

Do a workout where you sweat

Drink enough water to support elimination