How do you know when you need to detox your body? How do I go about detoxifying my body? What or the benefits of a detox program? These are all extremely common questions that are asked on a regular basis by people who have an interest in holistic health. Before I continue, please allow me to say that I am a huge fan of detox programs, but obviously I don’t recommend all detox programs. In fact, some of the recommendations you come across on the internet should be avoided like the plague.
Why Do You Need To Detox In The First Place?
The human body is a fantastic thing, and under ideal conditions, it can detoxify and repair itself for many decades without any help at all. Unfortunately, we no longer live in an ideal world. Each and every day we are being exposed to countless number of harmful chemicals and other toxin. Even potentially deadly heavy metal and radioactive substances find their way into the food chain, not to mention all the chemical fertilizers; pesticides and insecticides which are applied to the fruit and vegetables we buy in supermarkets.
Because of the environment in which we now live, our bodies inevitably become overloaded with harmful toxins, and eventually our immune system is simply unable to keep up. Studying the rapid decline in bee colonies, scientists discovered traces of up to 29 different chemical contaminants on certain crops and/or in the soil in which they were growing.
Seafood has historically always been seen as a source of good health, but today health experts warn against eating too much seafood due in an ever increasing level of heavy metal contamination in the world’s oceans. Farmed fish on the other hand are often fed foods of dubious quality, containing a seemingly endless number of additives.
Livestock represent the same sort of risk in terms of human health. Most modern livestock farms use animal feed that contains growth hormones, and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed is common knowledge these days.
Doesn’t it just make sense that we should help our bodies out from time to time? You know, sort of lend ourselves a hand? The big question is: how do you know when you need to detox your body?
10 Signs That Could Be Telling You That You Need To Detox
A build up of toxins can cause an almost infinite number of health problems, including several potentially fatal diseases such as cancer. However, before your body’s level of toxicity causes such serious problems, it’ll almost certainly try to alert you that something is wrong. In other words, you’ll start experiencing certain unpleasant symptoms. Now, I don’t mean to offend you, but if you choose to ignore the symptoms, then you only have yourself to blame when you suffer the consequences. Here are ten very convincing telltale signs that your body is in urgent need of some maintenance:
1. Constant and/or recurring fatigue, often accompanied by periods of low energy
2. Unusual constipation or a reduction in daily bowel movements
3. Always feeling bloated or experiencing excessive gas/flatulence
4. Persistent loose stools and/or blood in your stools
5. Joint pain
6. Mood swings
7. Lower than usual sex drive
8. Persistent headaches
9. Regular colds and/or flu
10. Insomnia
It’s important to keep in mind that all of the above mentioned symptoms can be caused by a wide array of illnesses, but if you are generally feeling fine, other than experiencing so of these symptoms, then I would recommend a detox. If a detox doesn’t produce any noticeable results, then yes, it’s time to start looking for other probable causes.
What Sort Of Detox Program Should I Adopt?
There are many different types of detox programs and detox diets, but I would personally recommend you try a diet based detox. By this I mean you should make a real effort to avoid certain foods, while at the same time making an effort to include certain foods. If your diet already includes food that are known to assist with detoxification, then you should try to eat even more of those foods than you currently do.
Foods To Avoid, Especially During Detox
To be perfectly honest, most of the foods that are best avoided during your detox should actually be avoided all the time. These include things like:
Foods containing refined sugar
Processed foods
Excessive salt
Refined grains
Dairy foods (unless from grass fed pastured cattle)
Fried foods
Fast foods (including readymade meals)
NOTE: I recommend that you avoid any and all foods that contain any form of GMOs. I also recommend eating only organic foods.
11 Detoxifying Super Foods
If you believe you need to detox, then you really need to add the following foods to your grocery list. Each and every one of them will help to speed up the detoxification process, while at the same time benefiting your body in several other ways as well. The ten super detox foods I personally recommend are:
Garlic
Cabbage
Kale
Broccoli
Blueberries
Cranberries
Flax seed and/or flax seed oil
Almonds
Beets
Avocados
Dandelion leaves
Generally speaking, all fruit and vegetable are helpful when it comes to a detox, and of course they are also renowned for their outstanding nutritional value. However, as mentioned already, it is best to only consume organic produce, and nothing which has been genetically modified.
SOURCE