Updated 10/8/23; Originally posted 3/16/22
Detox and working to reduce your toxic load does not have to be scary! It is simply the act of helping our bodies remove harmful things so we feel better and live longer. A good detox plan restores your body to optimal functioning (or gets it closer!) via getting nutrients to the parts of the body where they are needed most, supporting fantastic functioning of all of your body’s systems, and removing the harmful things that are stored within your body.
There are many ways to detox and many things to detox from including chemicals, environmental toxins, bacteria, yeast, viruses, pesticides, and more! Keep reading to find out how a detox plan can help you feel better not older or sick.
16 Signs You Should Detox Your Body
Ancient humans needed to detox their bodies daily from the simple acts of eating, moving their bodies, and creating energy (ATP) to power their lives. They simply did not live long enough to have poor detoxing catch up to them like we do today.
In our age of easy-to-find modern foods, living long lives, sedentary lifestyles, man-made chemicals in the air, water, and soil, obesity on the rise, highly prevalent pharmaceutical usage, and chronic physical and mental illness more prevalent than ever – all our bodies need opportunities to detoxify from our normal lives and from unusual exposure to body and mind damaging elements.
If you experience any of the following, a gentle detox plan would be beneficial:
- Migraines and headaches
- Allergies
- Digestive Issues
- Depression
- Obesity
- Feeling like you have had 10 pounds to lose for the last decade
- Insomnia
- Chronic low energy or fatigue
- Chronic pain
- Mold Exposure from your home, workplace, school, or other building
- Joint pain
- Memory problems (senior moments are not normal!)
- Sinus issues
- Low sex drive
- Skin issues like eczema and acne
- Silver (mercury) fillings – whether current or past
21 Potential Benefits of Detoxifying Your Body
There are tons of potential benefits and which ones you receive depend on your unique biology and what detox steps you choose to take. I hope this list gives you inspiration to want to learn more and take action!
- Better sleep
- Greater energy without needing stimulants like caffeine
- Better mood
- Increased sex drive (who wants sex when you are tired and cranky?)
- Shift towards your optimal weight
- Clearer thinking
- Higher motivation to do the important things in life
- Stronger immune system that prevents you from getting sick
- Greater enjoyment of the little things in life
- Less dark circles under your eyes
- Lower pain in joints and body as a whole
- Improved digestion and elimination
- Reduced risk of the 4 main killing diseases: cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and heart disease (not in order)
- Better looking and feeling skin
- Improved hormone and insulin regulation
- Aging gracefully and slower
- Pleasant body odor – no need for deodorant or perfume!
- Reduced autoimmune issues
- Lower cravings for foods that fight with your wellness goals
- Lower inflammation in the body
- Less puffy in your face
The Wrong Way to Detox
Many detox plans and protocols that you find on the internet or hear about involve 3-21 days of feeling like crap, removing things you love from your diet and home, eating or drinking weird things, following a prescribed set of instructions that may or may not be working for you, and generally making you miserable – all in the name of detoxifying your body so you can feel good.
Detox does not need to be like that!
When you opt to improve the detox of your body and mind, everything you do should make you feel better. Yes, there might be an adjustment period, but you should not feel worse for long. When you stimulate detoxification too fast for your body’s ability to heal, you experience a Herxheimer reaction – often called Herx-ing. A Herx reaction happens when your body is in crisis mode – trying so hard to heal but failing. You are killing things (mold, bacteria, viruses) and mobilizing toxins in your body so fast that your body can not get everything out before the things try and kill you! Sometimes they just move to a different place and get stuck again!
Gentle Choices for Your Detox Cleanse Plan
I put together a 2 month Guided Detox Cleanse Program to help my clients get started with detoxing their body and their environment. The most important elements of this program are ones you can use on your own or you can join us!
- Promote cellular health by ensuring nutrients get into the cells and metabolic waste products get out by supplementing with fulvic and humic minerals
- Support your body’s digestive detox pathway (poop!) by improving your water intake, electrolyte intake, and magnesium supplementation so you can get a daily bowel movement that is soft, easy to pass, and slides into the toilet like an Olympic diver – minimal splash!
- Stimulate your body’s lymphatic system (trash removal system) through gentle daily movement focusing on stimulating lymph fluid flow and eliminating stagnant lymph flow near the lymph organs
- Encourage healing and functioning of your liver, kidneys, and lymph system (your body’s blood cleansing organs) with gentle homeopathic remedies like the Big 3 Detox Kit from Pekana
- Remove potentially harmful things from your home to minimize your exposure to toxins then returning/replacing with products that make you feel good to use – these are things like:
- Cleaning products – kill germs not brain cells
- Pesticides – if they kill small creatures so well, what do they do to your own body?
- Personal care products – feed your skin and hair they nutrition they need to look good
- Items with fragrance – those scented trash bags and candles are contributing to brain fog and irritability!
- Plastics – no endocrine disrupting chemicals in your food or water please!
- Water – clean water is a health priority
- Products that emit chemicals into the air (called off-gassing) – clean air is a health priority
Additional Components for Your Detoxification Plan
There are plenty of complimentary detoxification actions that you could choose to add to the basics above. My favorites are:
- Feed the body nutrients for health and optimal functioning with a focus on an inflammation reducing diet with minimizing sugar intake, eating healthy fats, getting a wide variety of organic fruits and veges, using spices for flavor and health, and ensuring mineral rich protein sources
- Mobilize your fat cells to release stored toxins by heating your body in an Infrared Sauna — If you have enough toxins, your body will grow more fat cells! If you decide to get hot enough to stimulate sweating, you are encouraging another of your body’s natural detox pathways. Sauna sessions are particularly good at helping your body rid itself of heavy metals like mercury. You need to ensure that the beneficial heat stress of a sauna session does not get you so hot that you detoxify faster than you can handle.
- Break the bonds holding toxins in your cells and draw them out of the body with a session in the Ionic Detox Foot Bath — this creates work for your lymphatic system but speeds up your detox of harmful things like mold and other things causing whole body inflammation
- Treat yourself to a lymphatic massage from a massage therapist whose expertise includes the specialized needs of the lymph system
- Bathe in the healing red and infrared lights during a light therapy session in order to promote blood flow through capillaries, stimulate production of energy on a cellular level, and facilitate good sleep – all important for a successful detox and healing afterwards!
If you live in or near Charles County, Maryland, Zen and Vitality’s services are available to you in person. If you live elsewhere, I look forward to meeting you virtually for this detox program!
