3 Things You Should Detox From Your Body

Do you feel sluggish? Is your brain not as sharp as it could be?

It could be that you need to help your body get rid of substances that are dragging you down.

Your body is naturally adept at self-cleansing when given the right foods and fresh water. So it’s important that you choose a healthy lifestyle to get there.

A clean lifestyle is one that chooses organic as well as more whole food. If you buy pre-packaged, you’re also eating pesticides and chemicals used to process the food.

We can get toxins from cosmetics, fragrances, cleaning supplies, and plastics.

These toxins are filtered through the liver which strains the out of your blood. When your liver gets overwhelmed, it doesn’t pull things out as well, and the toxins can continue to circulate around your body.

The Second Toxin Filter In Your Body

The second organ that helps filter out toxins are your kidneys. The liver breaks down toxins, and the kidneys help break them down further and allow you to excrete them.

Your organs often have to filter and clean approximately 130L of blood every 24 hours.

Drinking a lot of water will help keep your kidneys healthy in a few ways. It allows your body to flush out toxins as urine.

And as we mentioned last week, water keeps everything lubricated and running at optimum levels. Additionally, staying hydrated helps with the production of saliva.

Saliva has digestive enzymes that also aid in detoxification. It breaks food down making it easier to digest which makes it easier to filter through your organs.

When you’re eating (and drinking) clean, your sleep should get better as well.

You should also take a probiotic regularly to help maintain the positive balance of good bacteria in your gut.

There are some things you can do to help your body get rid of the toxins faster. I’ll look at some of the three biggest offenders.

Heavy Metal Not In Concert

Often we ingest metals like copper and iron that can get stuck in our systems. This can definitely affect how we feel and how well our minds work.

We can help our body excrete the heavy metal through natural herbs like cilantro which is a wonderful natural way of healing our blood.

Zinc is also a great way of helping your body filter out heavy metals. But make sure you don’t overdo it since too much zinc can be bad as well.

Sugar May Be Natural, but So Is Arsenic

Our bodies have gotten addicted to sugar.

Once upon a time, sugar was not easily accessible. Most sugar was harvested from sugar beets. Then sugar cane was discovered, and became industrialized and available everywhere.

So natural sugar used in moderation is not bad. But when it is highly refined, and put in everything, then our taste buds and brain starts to require it.

We want everything to be sweeter. The downside is that it reduces our feeling of satiety.

Too much sugar also affects our immune system, and ability to sleep well. When you eat too much sugar, your body depletes magnesium and chromium.

Your insulin increases. And if you go to the sugar well too often, your body becomes desensitized to insulin leading to a condition called insulin resistance. And your body is unable to store nutrients in the cell.

This leads to increased triglycerides as well as belly fat.

And cancers thrive on white sugar, white flour, and high fructose corn syrup. So cutting these out of your diet will help you on your path to stay cancer free.

So you want to avoid processed sugar as much as possible.

Is Fruit In the Same Boat?

No, thankfully. Fruit also provides fiber as well as good nutrients for your body to process at the time it’s working on the sugar.

If you notice that you aren’t responding well to something, let it go.

And you can always focus on lower sugar fruits.

Are Artificial Sweeteners OK?

Not really, and that’s the third item on my list of things you should break away from as much as possible.

There are many types of artificial sweeteners, and we’ve been given a lot of misinformation.

Saccharin was around for quite a long time when aspartame popped up. The company that invented it pushed out some negative marketing about saccharin to make the public think it wasn’t safe, and therefore should switch to aspartame.

Many people have had negative reactions to aspartame including bad headaches and brain fog.

Some studies state that when you drink an artificially sweetened soda, your body gets fooled into thinking it’s having something sweet and sends out insulin leading to insulin resistance. Other studies show there is no correlation.

So the bottom line is that chemicals really aren’t good for you no matter what.

But are there acceptable sweeteners?

There are some natural low calorie sweeteners such as monk fruit and stevia.

Stevia is harvested from the leaves of a plant and has been used for sweetness and medicinal purposes in South America for centuries.

Some studies have shown that stevia can lower high blood pressure in people with hypertension, and can lower blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.

So this may be your healthiest choice. Some people find the flavor to be a bit off.

Honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and agave syrup are all natural sweeteners that could be used in moderation in place of sugar and artificial sweeteners.

The bottom line is to try to find a well balanced whole food diet and get over the addiction to sweet things.

Surprising Things to Help You Detox

Eat sulfur rich foods like eggs, broccoli and garlic. They help your body excrete heavy metals like cadmium, iron, and copper.

Look to the sea with a type of algae called Chlorella which helps with the elimination of toxins.

As I mentioned earlier, cilantro enhances excretion of certain toxins, such as heavy metals like lead, and chemicals, including phthalates (from plastics) and insecticides.

Switch to natural cleaning products. There are many wonderful ones out there. And find a routine to stay on top of messes so they’re easier to clean.

Switch to natural body care including deodorants, makeup, cleansers, and moisturizers.

This helps you to keep the toxins out in the first place.

My Final Thoughts

As I mentioned in Detox vs Cleanse, your body has an amazing ability to keep itself healthy.

But you can help by choosing natural and organic choices so you’re not putting as many toxins in for it to cleanse. And there are things you can eat and drink that will help your body flush out things like heavy metals that may be affecting your balance.

It may take a few days to a few weeks depending upon your body and the health of your liver and kidneys.

Pretty soon you will feel fantastic because you’re giving your body the best fuel. And you will find you’re sleeping better, and thinking better.