Springtime heralds the beginning of warmer weather. Days get longer, temperatures increase and most people start to contemplate Summer. Spring is also the time that a lot of people think about a detox. Whilst I’m not a huge proponent of lots of detox methods that can ultimately put the body into a state of acute stress, there are some helpful practices that can help to improve the function of the liver which ultimately improves our wellbeing. Below are my top five detox practices.
1. Infrared Saunas. I’ve mentioned this tool before in relation to weight loss but its primary benefit is to help to detoxify. As most people likely know, sweat is our body’s natural process of eliminating toxins and infrared saunas provide the perfect environment for this. They’re particularly good at detoxing heavy metals like mercury and lead as well as many other environmental chemicals. In addition to this, they’re helpful for weight loss and stress so it’s a winner in my book!
2. Celery Juice. I’ve been getting stuck into a bit of a food trend book called Medical Medium. The author claims to get intuitive guidance around various health conditions and offers plant-based remedies to heal them. His favourite cure-all is celery juice. According to him, celery juice is an amazing source of mineral salts that bind to pathogens and toxins, helping to flush them out of the body. They also aid digestion by increasing hydrochloric acid, decreasing ph, and also lowering inflammation. If you want to read about more of the benefits and how to use this juice, click here
3. Cleanse. One of the fastest and most effective ways to detoxify our body and improve our wellbeing is to follow a cleansing diet. There are many different variations available from pure juice cleanses to something involving food but even simply removing the major toxic foods for 2 weeks can have a profound impact on our liver function. Eliminating processed foods, coffee, sugar, and alcohol is the starting point for this type of protocol.
4. Dry Brushing. This one may be somewhat complementary to other protocols but it’s worth integrating as a regular practice nonetheless. Dry brushing is a great way to improve circulation and also help with detoxification. It improves circulation, removes dead skin cells, and can even improve and help remove the dreaded cellulite (which is one of the body’s signs that there is built up toxicity). It’s a simple and fast tool that you can easily incorporate into your daily regimen to help detox.
5. Breathing. The one thing we all do constantly that is one of our body’s simplest form of detox. Ironically, it is something that very few of us do mindfully or properly. Did you know that most humans breathe 8000-9000 litres of air each day? Most of us however are breathing in a shallow manner which promotes a stress response. When we can breathe diaphragmatically we can stimulate lymph nodes and assist lymph drainage (which is where a lot of the toxins are stored). We can also stimulate the vagus nerve which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. In this calm state, our body can carry out all the important physiological processes (like digestion and elimination) that help to detoxify.
I hope this gives you some helpful ways to detoxify your body this Spring in time for Summer.
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