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What You Should Know About Spring Detox Before Playing With Your Health
Before playing with detox preparations and nutrients, you should check the critical prerequisites.
A (spring) detox week
I recently read an article about easy ways to detox your body. It’s a good source of information. But a few principal points need additional thought.
Coffee and other ‘favorable’ substances
The author recommends avoiding coffee during detox. But she claims it’s not necessary to get rid of it completely. Her advice is to switch to ‘decaf’ coffee.
I love coffee, but I have to disagree with the author. Studies have found proof on coffee and tea benefits on longevity. Ok, but those studies have not found any harmful effects of not drinking coffee. Can you do it for a week (or two) during detox?
You should limit your food intake to supporting nutrients only. Detailed substances and the effects of ‘decaf’ coffee on digestion are unknown. I recommend you refrain from all avoidable substances.
You only need to devote one week (or two) to this spring detox. And you want to concentrate on detoxing during this time.
Some potential health benefits (like benefits of drinking coffee or tea) might not support the cleaning processes. Some can even obstruct your efforts and diminish the effects of the detox.
You don’t have to avoid anything and the ultimate choice is yours. But you must decide. Do you want to do the work, or are you trying to test something fancy and pleasant?
If you want the full effect, you need to understand which things tend to obstruct your intentions.
During the detox, you must narrow down the intake of nutrients. The non-obstructive ones will help you remove toxins and other stale substances. Any refined (or processed) substances at this point are dubious, at least.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an excellent example of systemic body cleansing. It removes old and weak body cells and replaces them with new ones.
Research has found numerous benefits of intermittent fasting. The most important recognition is to draw back from two nutritional myths:
- 5+ daily food rations, and
- breakfast as the most important meal of the day.
Food industry marketing has persuaded us all to take these as facts.
Reduce your Carbs intake
Reducing the carbs’ intake is a welcome addition to detox. Processed sugar, for example, is one of the most inflammatory foods.
The mentioned keto diet in the article advocates the reduction of sugars intake. In addition to that, you should eat clean unprocessed food. Try for your food to include less or no: gluten, refined oils, and processed dairy.
Bottom line: eat more food in its natural form and avoid fake foods. The difference will amaze you.
Consume detoxifying food
The article lists some heavy metal binding foods. Spirulina and other algae are known to bind with heavy metals. Dandelion, ginseng, and zinc belong to that category, too.
You can use milk thistle, broccoli, lemon, garlic, and turmeric. These will provide additional support to gut and liver detox.
The author suggests adding as many of these foods during the detox.
BUT … before starting a detox
At this point, some subtle differences in the insight of detox processes arise.
Detox is not some magic pill to make your toxins and waste disappear. You can not run the instant diet and beam all the toxins out of the body.
The process is not risk-free or harmless. It can end disastrously.
Detox overdose
A friend is studying to master techniques of self-healing. It’s a complex skill, full of test and trial experiences.
One time, while trying to detox with algae, she managed to overdose herself. Only a few drops of algae essential oils mixture provoked near-permanent kidney failure.
She was careful with the mixture. She took one drop per day, adding one each next day. But in four days, she experienced an extreme, violent reaction.
Less than ten drops of the mixture induced a medium-sized ulcer on her neck. It opened up, generating a metal, aluminum-like, smell.
Algae have managed to release a toxins’ storehouse nearby, throwing it all out. The release was rapid and intense.
Going to a hospital was out of the question knowing that doctors would want to operate. A dose of anesthetic or medicine could induce poisoning. Or even a kidney or another organ failure.
Mixing micro-nutrients
The first notable difference is in detox mixtures and dietary supplements. You should only consume food in unprocessed natural form. Preserving a natural bio-active balance between micro-nutrients is the key.
You are not aware of all micro-nutrients in a specific mixture. Meaning, you don’t know about their effects and inter-dependencies. Adding as many of these foods as possible does not sound wise, then.
Requirements for safe detox
A few of the main reasons for toxins build-up need a careful review.
Healthy stomach and gut
Removing toxins requires a healthy functioning organism. And support from its own detoxing mechanisms. Be careful not to drive your organism to the edge of its abilities.
Toxins tend to deposit in numerous places in your body. Detoxing mechanisms transport toxins and waste through the excretion pathways. Slow or damaged lymph can halt toxins in any specific area. Stale toxins will do additional damage there and that will affect your overall health.
When on the move, they can impair the tissue and organs. Stale or clogged toxins can cause poisoning. Dense clusters of toxins are dangerous and can be lethal. For that matter, quick and effective transport mechanisms are vital.
The first step is digestive power. To transport toxins out of your system without causing damage, you need a healthy stomach and gut. The human body removes a lot of toxins through the digestive tract.
An understanding of what the body does during detox
The second step of safe and efficient detoxing is to understand your body.
Some people make a significant mistake at this point. They find a problem, get sick, or not feel well. The next thing they think they need is a detox.
But detoxing is only the last step in the complete process. First, build your immune power, or at least understand your body well.
When sick, you should know what specific processes are doing. Lots of symptoms of various diseases are the show signs of some cleaning and removal process.
Ignorant burdening of your organism with additional exertion is the worst choice.
Building the hormonal system and energy
The third step is building energy, your hormonal system.
Chronic fatigue, lack of energy, insomnia, and depression point to mood swings. It is a condition caused by hormonal imbalance.
It is as well responsible for your body not to be able to utilize stored fats.
What starts the swing?
- If you eat a lot of carbs, it causes a big swing in insulin.
- The body wants to get rid of sugars. The following step is the rapid deposition of excess sugars to fatty storage.
- Fructose syrup will cause an even three-times faster process and a fatty liver. HCFS is present in most of the industry-processed sweets.
- Next comes a negative swing of sugar and a terrible mood. Fictitious hunger and a strong need for food follow. And that can be easiest to satiate with carbs.
And the cycled swinging begins.
In such situations, a careless start of a detoxing process can do a lot of damage. Your hormonal system is sensitive to poisonous substances.
Supplying essential minerals
The fourth step is supplying essential minerals with your food. Without minerals, you will be unable to catch toxic substances and remove them.
Your organism needs minerals to decompose toxins. Then fats bind and remove toxins out of your system.
The detoxing process can work like a well-oiled system when you ground these four pillars of safe detox. But most people are unaware. They fail to understand the complete process and how to support it.
You must perform a slow and careful detox to keep the system from overloading. Your goal is to master safe support. And to avoid facing adverse reactions or even dangerous situations.
Heat therapy and cardiovascular system
The author mentioned heat therapy with steam baths, as sweating removes toxins through the skin.
In addition to heat therapy, Kneipp’s hydrotherapy applies hot and cold water.
Hot water slows down blood circulation. In contrast, cold water is beneficial for speeding up blood circulation. Your circulatory system will benefit from stretching and contracting your blood vessels.
Regarding sweating, I wanted to mention high-intensity intermittent running. Running is excellent for increasing the blood circulation in the entire organism.
That way, your body releases and speeds up the release of waste through sweating and other mechanisms. The more intense (uphill in particular), the more efficient.
Your muscular, skeletal, and circulatory systems will benefit from it.
A shorter distance safeguards your bones and joints. The specific uphill (and downhill) movement strengthen your ligaments. More of a strain will charge your muscles, ligaments, blood vessels, and heart.
And that sounds like a win-win situation.
Detox benefits
In the end, if performed with care, detox can be beneficial. A January detox week can help detoxify your body.
It lowers the remaining toxic storage for the seasonal cleaning process — cold and flu. The effects of cold and flu will then be less burdening for your immune system and body.
I started to run and recreate more. Practice intermittent fasting, and perform the spring detox. I can cope with my seasonal cleaning episodes of cold and flu much easier.
You should consider the fact that your body performs automatic detoxing.
Your continuous support for these processes is vital. You need to remove stored toxins and waste from your body. That helps lower the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.
Build your own perspective and understanding. When your responsibility receives an invoice, no doctor will pay it for you.
Disclaimer: Please note that this post does not intend to replace health or professional advice.
I research various topics and studies and try to connect them to reasonable conclusions, which might not necessarily be correct. I share my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only for information and to provoke your own thoughts.
In case of any disease or symptoms, please consult healthcare professionals.
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