If you're at all like me, when someone mentions cleansing or detoxing, you immediately have images of sitting on the toilet with your pants around your ankles, sweating, feeling faint, and groaning in pain, all the while wondering how in the world you ever could have thought cleansing might have been a good idea and vowing never to do it again. It doesn't have to be this way. It can be much, much easier. Painless, in fact.

Anytime you suffer from complaints, such as skin problems, aches, pains, digestive problems, weight problems, or frequent colds or herpes breakouts, consider cleansing and detoxifying your lifestyle to remove toxins from your system.

Cleansing has been practiced for hundreds of years by cultures worldwide. However, it's best to cleanse and detox gradually by getting plenty of rest and optimizing your immunity for a certain amount of time to begin the process of cleaning up your blood and your body's trillions of cells from impurities before attempting to remove toxins. Rushing out and buying wheatgrass or an intestinal detox kit without nourishing your body first can cause unfavorable reactions, whether the methods are natural or not, especially if you're highly sensitive.

Cleansing and detoxifying are part of a lifestyle and not just a once-a-year ritual. It takes commitment. Once you're living a clean lifestyle, obviously, you'll be able to use that wheatgrass or detox kit to help eliminate more stubborn toxins, such as biofilms and heavy metals, if there's a need to. 

Your lungs, kidneys, intestines, lymph glands, and skin all help to eliminate toxins from your body. The following symptoms may arise when your cells can't eliminate toxins properly.

• Unexplained fatigue
• Constipation
• Skin irritations and rashes
• Puffy Eyes
• Bloated abdomen
• Allergies
• Low-grade fevers
• Repeated infections, including herpes breakouts
• Menstrual irregularities or pain
• Brain fog or mental confusion
• Moodiness or depression

The Benefits of Cleansing

• Cleansing detoxifies every cell in your body by improving circulation.
• It increases your body's natural ability to eliminate toxins and, when fasting, gives your major organs a rest.
• It raises your energy level but in a calm, uplifting way.
• It gets rid of bodily toxins and wastes.
• Improves circulation
• It helps you to sleep better.
• It improves memory and focus.
• It helps with weight loss.
• It boosts your immune system.
• It makes your skin look radiant.
• It improves your breath.
• It enables you to live longer by balancing your pH.
• It makes your hair healthy and shiny.

Cleansing Precautions

Cleansing at least once a year is suggested unless you are under 18, pregnant, a nursing mother, or have a chronic degenerative disease,  a thyroid disorder, Diabetes, or Cancer. Ask your doctor about cleansing if any of these conditions apply to you.

Cleansing Steps & Methods

Detox Step I. ~ Elimination

First, eliminate alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, refined sugars, fake sweeteners, and trans-fats. All of these are toxic. You will also want to review your personal care products at home and ensure they are all 100% natural. Also, eliminate using household cleaning products that are not 100% natural.

Detox Step II. ~ Exercise

Stress hormones are released whenever you become overwhelmed. These hormones may give you the edge you need to cope in the short term, but when stress is ongoing, you end up with too many of them floating around in your system. They create toxins in the liver and slow your body's natural detoxification process. One of the best ways of dealing with stress is to exercise but within limits. Too much exercise is stressful to the body. Tai Chi, Yoga, Mermaid Pilates or swimming, and jumping rope (or on a rebounder) can help you detox more quickly. Isometrics help move acids out of your muscles and improve muscle tone.

Detox Step III. ~ Choosing a Method

Choose a method of cleansing and detoxing. I've provided a few methods below. Just look online. However, some are ridiculously unsafe. Generally speaking, when detoxifying your body, you'll be limited to eating or drinking only particular foods or beverages for several days or weeks. During this time, you'll also be implementing other strategies for improving cellular function and immunity. 

Method #1: Fruit & Veggies ~ Juicing & Cooking

Eating whole fruits and veggies can be an excellent way to detox. However, thin-skinned fruits and vegetables should be organic.

Unless you have a blender that uses the entire fruit and vegetable, including the pulp and skin (or close to it), eat your veggies and fruits raw or cooked until tender (boiled, baked, or broiled).

The best fruits and vegetables for cleansing and detox are beets, blueberries, cabbage, carrots, celery, cranberries, cucumbers, kale, lemon, and pineapple.

As mentioned earlier, wheatgrass is often touted as good for humans, but humans are not built to digest grass. You will undoubtedly hear differently from other sources, but I don't suggest it at all. If you insist on trying it, start with minimal amounts to see how your system responds.

A juice fast for beginners can last between 1-5 days. If you have Diabetes or lean toward hypoglycemia, please speak to your doctor before trying a juice or smoothie fast. If your blood sugar issues are diet-controlled, add fat or protein to your juices and smoothies to keep your blood sugar level balanced. You can add real butter, walnuts or almonds (no peanuts) and seeds (ground flaxseed comes to mind), oils (virgin olive, ghee, or coconut oil), seaweed, and spirulina (algae) to your fruits and veggie concoctions to maintain blood sugar.

Method #2: The 'No Sugar' Diet

No added sugars allowed. The American Heart Association recommends limiting your added sugar intake to 100 calories daily for women and 150 per day for men. Added means any sugar not naturally found in whole fruit or vegetables, which means no granulated sugar, donuts, pastries, ice cream, dried fruit, cereal, or granola bars with added sugar. Some fruits are too high in sugar to be on the no-sugar diet (bananas, apples, lychees, and grapes).

Do not eat white flour products, and limit your pasta and white rice consumption.

The No Sugar Diet usually takes about 21 days to get used to. It is normal to experience headaches, irritability, aches, and pains for the first 3-5 days while you detoxify from sugar. Cravings may also be off the wall because the overgrown bacteria in your gut will signal your brain for sugar, which will cause intense cravings. So, have some whole fruit or coconut flakes on hand, but only indulge a little.

You can use stevia (a sweet plant leaf). It doesn't affect blood sugar levels like sugar and is safe for people with diabetes. You can find stevia in most grocery stores. Green stevia (bulk leaf) is best.

You may also use raw honey (1-3 teaspoons daily), even if you have Diabetes. Adding a bit of cinnamon to your food or beverage containing honey will reduce the sugar spike in your blood. Of course, be sure to talk to your doctor about following a "no sugar" diet and adding any new sweetener to your diet if you are being treated for Diabetes, which is also known as Sugar Disease. 

Method #3: Hypoallergenic Diet

Typical foods that cause food sensitivity and allergies are eggs, nuts, nightshades, beans, dairy, and foods containing gluten, dyes, preservatives, or artificial sweeteners. Avoid these foods for two weeks. Then, add them back into your diet to see if symptoms return. You might try eliminating all white foods during this time as well.

Cleanse & Detox Diet Tips

• Fuel your body with healthy nutrients like fresh fruits, vegetables, and seaweed.

• Eat fresh fruits, vegetables, and fiber-rich foods daily, such as brown rice, seaweed, raw cabbage, broccoli, and beets. Steam or lightly cook vegetables rather than eat them raw to avoid an upset stomach.

• You might supplement your diet with dandelion root (digestion), milk thistle (liver cleansing), spirulina, chlorella, seaweed, or Vitamin C (an antioxidant) supplements.

• Eat fish 2-3 times per week or take fish oil supplements to give your body the healthy fats it needs.

• Drink 3-4 cups of green tea per day (unless you find it irritates your bladder or are sensitive to oxalates). You will want to limit caffeine consumption, so choose decaf or green tea with less caffeine content, such as Sencha.

• Drink plenty of fresh, pure water (at least four to eight 8-ounce glasses daily).

• Do NOT use ordinary table salt. It's poison. Your body can't do anything with it but store it as a toxin. Use natural sea salt instead.

• Sweat, either by sitting in a sauna or through exercising, and breathe deeply to reduce stress as often as you can remember to do so.

• Use a loofah to remove dead cells from your skin and boost circulation during your bath or shower. While in the shower, alternate warm water for 5 minutes and cold water for 30 seconds. Repeat two more times. Then, wrap up in a blanket for a half hour and read, sleep, or watch TV. Drinking 8 ounces of water after this hydrotherapy treatment can also help to move toxic wastes out of your system.

NOTE: Glutathione is the primary antioxidant in the body and detoxifies mercury (from old dental fillings and other sources) out of the body. You can take glutathione as a supplement but make sure it's a bioavailable form.

Have You Had Your Gallbladder Removed?

If you have no gallbladder, it's best NEVER to use drastic cleansing and detox measures. Instead, change your diet and use intermittent fasting (12 hours overnight, every night) to cleanse and detox. Your system works differently when your gallbladder has been removed, and detoxing too quickly with kits or supplements may pose problems.

Additionally, if your gallbladder has been removed, you may have difficulty digesting fats and absorbing fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. You may have to take more of these vitamins to get a sufficient quantity or take digestive enzyme supplements to encourage assimilation.

Also, see Guarding Against Deficiencies & Toxicities.