Detoxifying the Body Naturally
THE BODY COMMUNICATES
Experiencing any physical discomfort in the body is the worst! It’s not fun to feel pain, inflammation, stiffness, bloating, digestive disturbances, skin irritations, you name it, the list of possible aches and pain is endless. Not to mention feeling like you have ZERO energy to do anything can be extremely irritating! We have been so conditioned to believe that symptoms in the body are a bad sign, and they certainly can be especially if you keep ignoring them. But what if symptoms are simply ways that the body communicates to us. It is literally trying to grab our attention, screaming at the top of its lungs in desperation, “HELLLLOOOOO! We’ve got a problem coming! Are you going to listen and answer the call?”
Instead of being afraid of the uncomfortable and often debilitating symptoms the body presents us with, why not turn it into an opportunity to see just what the body is trying to tell you? We have been led to believe that our body is being invaded on a regular basis with germs, bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, the list goes on and on in the world of microorganisms. Yes, the body can become overwhelmed with these nasty critters, but the question you should really be asking is, “Why do I have an overgrowth of these invisible destructive inhabitants in the first place? What causes this to happen?”
From a naturopathy perspective, the system of the body and the current condition it is in will determine your overall health. If you have a highly acidic environment from eating a plethora of acidic foods and drinks, then chances are you are creating a breeding ground for certain bacteria. Bacteria are present to help eliminate this situation in the first place, so the idea that we want to eliminate bacteria with antibiotics is an interesting one. The medical world uses them routinely for anything and everything, even if you have a so-called virus they will still give you antibiotics. It’s the go to drug in allopathic medicine. But is there another way to solve unwanted and detrimental symptoms the body throws at us? Can we solve this problem in a simpler way?
DETOXIFYING NATURALLY
With the New Year approaching us, it is a time for new beginnings, and what a perfect time to give your body the gift of healing and detoxification. When you start to feel puffy, tired, and heavy it might be time for a good old fashion cleanse. The world of cleansing and detoxification is huge today. You can get online and search how to clean the body and numerous websites with all different kinds of information will pop up. Many of them will be selling you a product to detoxify, which is not really the natural approach. We are so used to putting things in the body as a means of healing, that we rarely just stop, lighten up on the amount of food going into the system, so the body can actually begin to repair itself.
The body is highly intelligent and knows exactly how to eliminate waste. The problem arises when we keep shoving indigestible products, high acid foods, and toxic air that eventually the body struggles to eliminate. It becomes clogged, constipated from the inside out, and symptoms begins to appear. There are only so many ways waste can escape. You will either detox through the bowels, the kidneys via the urine, sweating through the skin, your breathing exhalation, or through mucus running out of any exit point it can. The body is always trying to get rid of what it doesn’t need or want. If you come down with a urinary tract infection, the doctor will tell you, you have a bacterial infection, and your urine will burn like crazy. Burning is acid leaving the body. You probably have more bacteria because the bacteria are trying to clean up the situation, it’s possible they are not causing the situation. It could simply be waste trying to leave the body from too many wrong food choices over time. Consider it like an “out-fection,” the body’s way of keeping you healthy is to get rid of what is harming it. This causes pain and discomfort; however, it usually passes, and the problem is extinguished.
The natural approach to detox and cleanse the body is to eat less food and eat only clean foods such as fruits and vegetables. This does not mean you need to eat this way forever, however, when you are trying to detoxify your system, using natures best is the easiest approach, not to mention it is the most affordable. Fruits are full of water, natures true means of hydration, so eating alkaline watery fruits can help the body move unwanted materials out of the cells, through the lymphatic system, and out of the body permanently. The most alkaline fruits are watermelon, mangoes, grapes, papaya, and berries which have a very astringent quality that helps remove cellular wastes.
All of the green leafy vegetables have high alkalinity, so get a mixture of these into your diet for a certain amount of time. You can certainly follow a cleanse protocol if you desire, however, intuitively knowing and listening to your own body is very helpful during this process. Not everyone reacts the same to every food, so listen to your own body as you detoxify the system.
SUPPLEMENTS
The alternative health community has gotten almost as bad as the pharmaceutical industry. Supplements are isolated minerals, amino acids, proteins, chemicals, dehydrated powders, oils, vitamins, and any other component you can think of. Making formulas and taking only certain elements out of food and putting them in the body solo, is what is referred to as reductionism theory. The problem in doing this is you have no idea what these isolated chemicals do inside the body. When you eat a whole food, such as an apple for example, the body will utilize the nutrients and water it needs from the apple, then eliminate what it doesn’t need. How can anyone be certain how much the body is actually utilizing? How can you measure this scientifically? It seems almost impossible to know how the body uses the food it’s given.
Science has almost taken the place of religion. Although there have been many advancements and helpful discoveries in medicine, especially when it comes to emergency surgery and trauma care, how can we know for sure that taking blood and tissue samples from the body, putting them in a petri dish, injecting them with solutions, and observing them under a microscope is replicating what actually goes on in the body live time? When these tissues and blood are in the body, there are so many chemical reactions, cellular and energetic communications that we can’t possibly know.
Can we really know how everything is working together synergistically in the moment that it is happening? Do we have cameras inside the body watching this microscopic event? Even taking a small blood sample, does that really represent what the entire body is doing? And, if you test for a virus or a bacterium, how can you know for certain that that small sample of tissue is causing your symptoms? These are questions to think about because there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to the complicated nature of our human body. Science loves to tout that it knows everything, yet they are always discovering new contradictions from past information.
Pointing out how truly miraculous the body is, and just how little we may actually know, seems risky to take random isolated elements without really knowing the long-term effects. Companies that claim miracle cures selling powders and potions are most likely just trying to make money. They’ll even show you studies supporting their claims. Tread lightly and ask who funded the study? Each one is claiming there’s is the best, the cleanest, the purest your money can buy! How many people online try and sell you their proven system of health, or their perfect total body cleanse, and then you see they are selling countless overpriced products that you probably don’t need. Either that or they are getting a percentage of the total sales when you use their special code.
There may be some supplements that are beneficial, but everything within a supplement came from something. Most likely it is already in the food. Remember, the body wants to be hydrated. When you consume powders, pills, and other supplements, you typically have to guzzle a lot of water along with them. Why not just eat some watermelon or grapes and call it a day! It’s full of water and tastes amazing! It definitely beats taking hundreds of huge pills, awful tasting potions, and cringe worthy colon supplements.
GET READY FOR THE NEW YEAR
If you are feeling the urge to clean your own house, then by all means go for it. The New Year is always a great time to feel a whole new you! There are a few simple things you can do to start giving your body a break from the constant ingestion of food. If you have never cleansed before, you may want to step in very slowly. Start by eating less food in general and incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Eat only whole foods and plant-based is recommended.
If you eat a lot of animal products, start by eliminating dairy, or certain meats at first, then work yourself slowly away from all of them and into more plant foods. A transitional approach can be really helpful for many people, especially if you are used to eating a lot of heavy, salty, processed, fattening, and cooked oily foods. The more you cook your food, the more altered it becomes, the less water content it will have, and the harder it will be to digest.
Avoid mucus forming foods. You can look for charts on mucus versus non-mucus forming foods, however a general rule of thumb is all animal products, processed foods, oils, breads, pastas, many grains, and refined sugars are mucus forming. Most fruits and vegetables are mucus free. You can consume cooked squashes, zucchini, sweet potatoes, as well as steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts all of which are not mucus forming. Mucus can clog up in the system and become difficult to remove. Why do people with the flu and pneumonia cough non-stop? Because the lungs are working to remove excess mucus out of the body so you can breathe easier.
Not only that but removing excess mucus and waste from the body allows for efficient oxygen exchange, which is the number one thing the body needs to survive. We can all live a fair amount of time without food, less time without water, however we cannot live without oxygen. It is our life force! As you work to detoxify your body, take time to incorporate deep breathing exercises at some point during your day. Whether it’s 5 to 10 minutes, any little bit can be beneficial. The more you do it, the easier it will get and you will begin doing it automatically. Deep breathing not only helps detoxify the body through exhalation, but it keeps the nervous system calm.
Move through your detox as simply as possible. Have fun with it! Keep yourself in a curious state of mind and it will make all the difference. Don’t over complicate it. Eat fresh food. Eat when you’re hungry. You do not have to starve yourself. If you feel compelled to do a juice fast or water fast after eating clean for a fair amount of time, go for it. Start with a one-day juice fast and see how you feel. If you feel great, consider adding another day. If you feel terrible, maybe add some fresh fruit or a light salad if you really need to.
It is pretty normal to feel poorly when you first start cleaning out your body. All the toxicity that has built up over the years can make you feel horrible. It is not uncommon to get flu like symptoms, colds, fevers, lack of energy, headaches, digestive issues, and other aches and pains. Just listen to your body, go slowly, and when you are ready to reintroduce other foods, do it one food at a time. This way you will know what foods your body may not necessarily like digesting.