The truth of the matter is that we are bombarded by pesticides and other toxic chemicals daily. It’s just the truth. Knowing this and what those toxins in our system cause should be a great motivator to learn some Simple Daily Detox Methods.
As EWG reports, “Personal care products are manufactured with 10,500 unique chemical ingredients, some of which are known or suspected carcinogens, toxic to the reproductive system or known to disrupt the endocrine system. Though some companies make products that are safe to eat, others choose to use dangerous ingredients like coal tar and formaldehyde, both human carcinogens, and lead acetate, a developmental toxin. “1 Triclosan, which is in a lot of personal care products, causes preterm birth and smaller newborns. 2
There’s not just a danger in our personal care products. Over 16,000 products on the shelves are packaged in BPA. 3 And that doesn’t take into account pesticides, preservatives, and other harmful ingredients, as well as what sugar and processed foods do to the body that we can also come in contact with daily.
It all adds up.
I’m not pushing fear. The fact is that our exposure is incredible and all of the little things (besides simply eliminating our exposure as much as possible) that we can do each day to detox our bodies will help strengthen our immune systems and insure we live a better quality of life.
What is Daily Detoxing?
Your body will get rid of toxins on its own when it is healthy, when we move, and when our exposure to toxins is limited.
The problem is that our exposure is high, we often lead very sedentary lifestyles, and we do not eat the best of foods. See the problem?
Detoxing is purposefully helping our bodies do what they were designed to do: get rid of toxins. There are things you can eat, drink, and activities that you can do that will speed the detox process and help to strengthen your liver, kidneys, intestines, and immune system in general. Let’s get to it!
Simple Daily Detox Methods
I am not a doctor. All of these suggestions should be taken as a step to give you ideas and to help you do your own research on simple daily detox methods.
1) Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is the idea of fasting for part of each day instead of for one to multiple days at a time. Beginners can aim for 12 hours of fasting (including sleep time, so this is not a huge leap) and 12 hours of eating time. So a schedule may be to not eat anything after 7pm and not eat in the morning until after 7am. Ideally, giving your body a bigger time period is better according to various research.1
8 Hours of an eating window and 16 hours fasting will do more to train your body to balance hunger, insulin, and more. For example, eat between 10am and 6pm. Fast the evening and early morning.
What will this do?
- normalize your hunger urge (train your body not to have extreme hunger feelings)
- promote insulin sensitivity – too much sensitivity to insulin is what causes diseases like diabetes.
- increase HGH production – maintains youth through promoting fitness and slowing the aging process.
- lowers triglyceride levels
- helps suppress inflammation, helping in joint pain and fighting free radical damage
- and of course, detoxing by allowing your digestive system to empty.
Obviously, you need to pay attention to whether this helps you feel stronger, not weaker. Fill your eating time with healthy food to fuel your body.
Eat to Live, not live to eat! If it’s not working for you, then change it!
2) Sleep Well
It’s something we know, but often ignore. If you are not serious about getting proper sleep, then you should be. Studies are showing that lack of proper sleep can cause memory problems and brain damage. 2
Late night movies and book reading can destroy routines and get us into bad habits. Stress, eating late, hormonal changes can all effect quality of sleep as well. If you’re not getting enough sleep, your body cannot repair itself properly.
- Use your bed for sleep only. Don’t eat, watch movies, etc. If you train your body to sleep when it hits that pillow you will see a big difference.
- Keep it cool. Studies show that you sleep better when you are cool and can cover up if needed rather than being too warm or even hot.
- Keep it dark. The darker the better, encouraging your body to produce melatonin.
3) Lemon Water
The first thing you should drink in the morning should be a glass of lemon water, especially if you are doing intermittent fasting. Use fresh lemons, because bottled lemon juice contains a lot of preservatives. This will help cleanse your digestive system and help detox your kidneys.
4) Juicing
Proper juicing involves very little to NO fruit! If you juice vegetables in the morning on an empty stomach your body is ready and waiting for that nourishment.
Since there is no digestion involved, it moves quickly through your system and is able to be absorbed. A lot of vitamins and minerals break down during the digestion process, meaning that we do not get as much as we would prefer from our food. By juicing you are introducing a powerful amount of veggies into your body and it is able to take these powerhouses directly to your cells in need.
Why not fruit? Fruit is very high in natural sugars. These are fine combined with food, but can disrupt receptors and responders when you are trying to juice, defeating the purpose. If you feel you have to, then blueberries are the best choice since their sugar levels are very low.
Caution, go slow. Some people experience strong detoxing (running to the bathroom often), so start small by juicing 4 oz a day for only 3-4 days in a week.
If you are a regular juicer and want more, I have heard of people juicing up to 16oz at a time, multiple times, for no more than 3 days as a juice fast for serious detoxing, but this should be done after a lot of research as your body will seriously respond and detoxing can be hard for some people who have not detoxed in a long time or who eat a poor diet.
5) Green Smoothies
Smoothies are different from juicing for 2 reasons. First, it contains fiber from the vegetable and fruit pulp. Second, it contains protein from the milk or yogurt that is used.
Why smoothies? You get a ton of veggies into your system after a sleep fast when it is ready and open for nourishment. Also, you’ll probably consume more veggies (and more of a variety of veggies) than you would if you didn’t drink the smoothie.
Keep the fruit to a minimum or eliminate entirely! Again, you defeat the purpose if you load up on highly sweet fruits such as strawberries, apples, and cherries. If the first thing you have in the morning is a smoothy, then make it as green as possible with as little sugar as possible (I personally like juicing for this reason. It’s as smooth as water so you can chug it down if it doesn’t taste great).
If you do not have access to raw milk, then use almond, coconut, or rice milk. Be careful, some brands have a lot more ingredients than others (preservatives).
6) Move
Your lymphatic system is key to a good immune system, healthy blood, and healthy organs. Your spleen filters your blood (Yes, your liver is not your only filter), while your lymph nodes put out an amazing attack army to fight against intruding forces. But guess what! Unlike your blood that is pumped throughout your body by your heart, your lymph movement depends on your movement! This is why bounding, or jumping on a trampoline, is considered an amazing exercise for your immune system.
So whether you just have time or energy for a short walk, a run, or have access to a trampoline, get up and MOVE!
7) Oil Pull
Oil pulling is an ancient practice that helps to cleanse your mouth, strengthen your teeth, and “pull” toxins from your mouth. The swishing movement stimulates saliva, while the oil (such as coconut oil) works to cleanse. Check out my article on Oil Pulling for more information.
8) Load Up on Phytonutrients
Phytonutrients are the parts of plant cells that protect the plant from dangers (UVA rays, pests, fungi, etc). These phytonutrients have been found to do amazing things in people as well. Just like plants, we need help. Phytonutrients are highly antioxidant foods that fight free radicals and help repair cell damage.3 By doing this they can improve immune function, repair damage from toxins, and now studies have found that they reduce blood pressure.4
How to get phytonutrients: eat colorful fruits and vegetables, as well as a variety of herbs. Simple, right?
Plants highest in phytonutrients are: carrots, broccoli, beets, kale, tomatoes, red bell peppers, blackberries, apples, peppermint, lavender, aloe, clove, dandelion, arrowroot, ginseng, witch hazel.
9) Drink Kombucha
Have you heard of kombucha? It is a fermented tea that often has a small percentage of fruit juice added for a fruity flavor. There is a HUGE list of why to drink kombucha, but here are a few reasons:
- supports digestive system with probiotics
- probiotics enhance immune system
- helps detox liver
- helps to reduce sugar and other food cravings
- increase energy
- reduce joint pain by reducing inflammation
Those are great reasons to check it out.
You can learn more about the health benefits of kombucha by clicking here, as well as learn how to make your own kombucha. I have tutorials and recipe ideas at those links. It’s a fermented tea with more vitamin C than orange juice.
Do you have more ideas? Let us know what works for you and what other things you are doing to stay healthy.
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