Detoxification and cleansing diets

What is detoxification (or detox)?

In this section I talk about medical and CAM uses of the word I describe the signs that the process is happening and why it happens.

Later I provide a link to a great cleansing diet I've used myself. It helped me move out of a very lacklustre phase and boosted my energy - without the need for supplements or anything else!

Detox or de-tox is short for detoxification. It means “the removal of poisonous substances from the body.”

This is carried out by several organs. The most important one is the liver. Kidney, skin and lungs and bowel may also be involved. When this happens, it’s usual to experience some mildly unpleasant symptoms, which I’ll talk about in a while.

Drug withdrawal

So, let’s make sure we don’t confuse this with the medical use of the word detox. You might have heard about the serious effects of stopping drugs or alcohol when people have become dependent on them. It’s also called “cold turkey” or “rattling” and can be very dangerous.

Suddenly stopping any kind of drug can cause symptoms that are unpleasant (such has sleeplessness, sweating, shaking and anxiety). It can also cause dangerous symptoms, like rapid pulse-rate, fits, black-outs and hallucinations. Withdrawing ANY drug requires medical supervision, support and frequently admission to a specific centre or clinic. I’m not talking about that!

Traditional practices

Yogic breathing is thought of as a cleansing breath. Native peoples have often used devices like sweat lodges to promote cleansing of the system - physically, psychologically and spiritually – to mark a rite of passage of to prepare for a particular test or ordeal.

You might find it helpful to think about the transition you are seeking to achieve in changing your diet.

What will this process mean to you? What are your goals? How consciously – and with how much clarity of focus – are you deciding to make these changes to your diet?

A little commitment now can have a big payoff for you in future. The clearer you are about your goals, the more likely you are to reach them.

Cleansing diets and the healing process

If it cannot get rid of them, our body has a way of taking toxins out of circulation. It stores them in fat. Our tissues experience a build up of toxins taken in from the environment, mainly in our food. This may also occur where constipation has been a problem: toxins may pass from the large bowel into surrounding tissue. Time for a detoxification regime of some sort.

As soon as the body feels healthy enough, it will start to dump these toxins. This can also happen when there is low blood sugar, if you suddenly reduce starches and/or sugars from your daily diet. The body needs to get energy from somewhere. It starts to break down fatty tissue (see below for a more measured approach to a cleansing diet).

One example I've seen time and again is this: the smoker who develops a "smoker's cough" after they give up! It's as if the body says: "I'm not being overloaded anymore, I'm going to get rid of the gunk that's built up." This kind of detox happens quite naturally.

Detoxification may result in one or more of the following:

• bad breath
• furry tongue
• bad taste in the mouth
• increased sweating, sometimes with increased odour
• darker, smellier urine
• diarrhoea and … you guessed it! … smellier stools (are you still with me?)
• headache
• sleepiness, physical tiredness
• ’flu-like muscle soreness

Quite a list! What’s the payoff? Well, there should be a pretty immediate one. You may have felt any of the signs of natural healing I’ve already referred to.

The sequence of events is likely to have been … “I started to take the supplement and for a few days I felt nothing. Then I started to feel better …” (more relaxed, more energetic, sleeping better, for example).

“Then, I was hit by some headaches …” (or something else off the list).

What’s happening? Simply the body first feels the benefit of the supplement. It’s getting stronger, healthier. When it’s ready it’s going to say to itself, “OK, now I’ve got the energy I need to dump those toxins.”

To do so, it must pass them into the blood stream, where the liver and kidney get to work on passing them out of the body.

But for a while, as these substances are increasing in the blood stream, you could feel mildly unwell. And I do mean “mildly”.

My usual test is that it shouldn’t keep any one off work or school. If it is heading that way, slow down! Take it easy. Be kind to yourself. You’re replacing old habits with healthy new ones.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. You’re much more likely to have these good habits become an established part of your routine if you build them up slowly and steadily. Take some time to get the foundations steady. Take care of yourself.

Is there anything we can do to reduce these symptoms?

Yes, there is.

First drink plent of water to ensure the system is flushed. What's plenty? A minimum of two litres per day.

Gradually removing certain foods from the diet, and replacing them with healthier foods will prepare the way, and mean that detoxification is less dramatic.

You may have heard that western diets cause the tissues to become acid. If you'd like to find out more about how to counteract this, check out this link to information on cleansing and alkalizing diets.

Like to read more about detox or cleansing diets from me? Here’s a basic dietary approach to supporting the detox process.

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