CLEANSE. RENEW. As we enter a new year and you’re thoughts turn once again to your health, you may be asking yourself, “Why should I cleanse?” Consider this: Do you have trouble losing weight? Do you feel tired? Do you feel older than you are? Do you have trouble sleeping? Do you have blood-sugar problems? Do you have high cholesterol? Do you have high blood pressure? Do you live near a high-traffic area? Do you eat non-organic and packaged food? Have you had any occupational exposure to chemicals? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you should definitely continue reading.
Hair products, makeup, lawn fertilizers, food preservatives, dry cleaning chemicals, flea repellents on our pets, pesticides, plastics and many more products are considered toxic! Unfortunately, we live in a society that depends on these products and thousands more. But while we surrender to living with these harmful substances, we still have hope.
There are detoxification programs that will help eliminate toxins stored in your body and improve your health. A well-designed program will support your natural, built-in elimination and detoxification organs such as your liver, lungs, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract and skin. Don’t let toxins accumulate because sooner or later you will feel their effect on your body: low energy, slow metabolism, reduced immunity, headaches, depression and the list goes on.
With so many options out there, here are some simple points to keep in mind in your search for a good cleanse: It is important that you ease your body in to detoxification. The cleanse should be gradual and gentle, and last long enough to ramp up your body’s own ability to detoxify and eliminate. Consider a time frame of at least two weeks and preferably three to four weeks to yield profound results and significantly change the way you feel.
Make sure the cleanse is designed as a “whole body” cleanse. Most cleanses focus on the liver and colon but in order to make sure that detoxification is truly successful, you must also detoxify the blood and lymph. A good program will include herbs and supplements that naturally scrub your intestines, promote binding of toxins for proper excretion and elimination, decongest and up-regulate the liver and gall bladder, purify the blood and cleanse the lymphatic system.
Once you find a cleanse that offers these things, follow these general guidelines:
• It is essential that you change the way you eat during any cleanse.As long as you continue to be exposed to toxins, it’s impossible to truly cleanse, and you want to restore your body and replenish it with nutrient-dense foods.
• Consume ample amounts of raw or steamed vegetables, moderate amounts of fruit, whole grains, nuts and lean meats.
• Avoid refined foods such as white flour, sugar, trans fats, artificial sweeteners and highly processed foods.
• It is ideal to eliminate dairy, wheat and soy.
• Supplement with protein shakes to make sure you get enough protein to support phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification pathways.
• Drink plenty of filtered water – the solution to pollution is dilution!
•Avoid alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and vigorous exercise while cleansing since your body needs time to rest and rebuild.Yoga, walking, stretching and fresh air are excellent.
• Feed your body every two hours with healthy snacks to avoid getting hungry.
If you are interested in learning more about cleansing programs, come by and see me at Peoples Pharmacy on South Lamar Boulevard for more guidance.
My favorite program is the a 21-day purification and weight loss program from Standard Process. You can read more about it at www.standard process.com/display.
