Gwyneth Paltrow has warned against the trend towards juice cleanses as a way to detox. She told The Telegraph that after 10 days of doing the Master Cleanse in her 20s, she ended up hallucinating. “Be aware,” she said. “A juice detox can crash your metabolism and lead to future weight gain.” This isn’t to say that a wellness detox is a bad idea, however: our bodies are exposed to toxins every day, and a detox every now and then can be of great benefit to our health. The key is to harness the power of your own body.
Your Body Has A Natural Detoxification System
Detox diets are often promoted as ways to improve your health, help you lose weight and remove toxins from your body, and they tend to involve the use of teas, vitamins, minerals, laxatives and diuretics. Few trendy detox diets specify which toxins they target or how exactly they remove them, and there is no evidence to suggest that these diets are effective in sustainable weight loss or toxin elimination. The body naturally eliminates toxins through the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin and digestive system, and an effective detox simply means boosting your body’s innate detoxification system.
How Do You Know If You Need A Detox?
Our bodies are exposed to toxins every day, and sometimes they build up to leave us feeling under the weather and uncomfortable. This tells you it’s time for a wellness detox, and there are a few specific signs to watch out for. The body eliminates toxins through your sweat, and when it is working hard to do this, you may experience skin problems such as rashes, eczema flare-ups and acne. Studies have linked the standard western diet, a diet rich in fat and sugar, with skin inflammation, and when skin conditions flare up, your diet is usually the first place to look for answers.
You should also watch out for digestive problems: if you’re regularly experiencing heartburn, stomach cramps, bloating or excessive gas, your body may be telling you it needs to detox. Other signals include pain in the joints and muscles (which signifies chronic inflammation), sugar cravings, insomnia and mood swings. If you’re regularly experiencing any of these symptoms, your body’s trying to tell you it needs some help to boost its detoxification system.
How To Optimize Your Body’s Detoxification System
Rather than buying into a commercial detox plan, nurture your body’s natural detoxification system by making a few simple changes to your lifestyle. Start by drinking more water, which helps detoxify your body by removing waste. Reduce your consumption of salty, sugary and heavily processed foods, which affect detoxification by damaging vital organs like the kidneys and liver. In their place, try to consume more foods that are rich in antioxidants, which will help your body battle oxidative stress. Foods rich in antioxidants include berries, nuts, vegetables and cocoa.
Your gut health is integral to a healthy detoxification system. When your body is overloaded with toxins, the bacteria in the gut can become unbalanced, which can reduce the body’s effectiveness in detoxification. To re-establish good balance in the gut, choose foods that are rich in prebiotics, such as bananas, asparagus, tomatoes and oats.
In addition to making dietary changes, you can boost your body’s ability to detox by prioritizing sleep and exercising regularly. Stick to a regular sleep schedule, aiming for seven to nine hours of good quality sleep each night. Regular exercise, meanwhile, will reduce inflammation, helping your detoxification system to function at its optimum level.
Detox diets are often sold as ways to help us lose weight and boost our health. This isn’t completely unfounded: our bodies are subject to toxicity buildup, particularly if we don’t take care of them. However, we have an inbuilt system to help us deal with the problem, and a healthy wellness detox simply means helping it to do its job so we can detox and heal naturally.
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