Detoxification is a Process of Removing Toxic Substances
From the Body

The toxic substances could be alcohol, drugs, or noxious environmental chemicals. If your immune system is strong and your liver working properly, your body can often deal with and eliminate the toxins. But if there’s a toxic overload, you can help your body heal by practicing various cleansing techniques.

Lighten Up!

Lightening the toxin load on your body—eliminating alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, refined sugars, bad fats —and eating a whole foods diet with lots of fruits and vegetables can allow a gradual cleanse to occur. And it will occur.

However, because of health problems you may find that you need a faster cleanse. This could take the form of eating just fruits and vegetables, a fresh juice fast, or eating a raw food diet, for example.

If you haven’t done any detoxification methods before, you should probably work with a health professional who is experienced with body cleansing techniques.

During a cleanse you may experience the Herxheimer Reaction which occurs when the body is detoxifying too rapidly. Toxins are being released into the bloodstream faster than the body can eliminate them. You might suffer from nausea, vomiting, aches, and headaches. When I stayed at a raw foods health retreat, there were many people who experienced this during the first couple of days of juice fasting and complained of feeling "spacy."

There are ways to minimize the Herxheimer Reaction: drink lots of water, get a small amount of light exercise, go slowly, rest, keep the organs of elimination (bowels, lungs, skin, kidneys) open, take detox baths, and use certain essential oils (such as peppermint, birch and wintergreen). If it’s a severe reaction, just cut back on your cleansing program.

Click here to read about a possible detox reaction on day 21 of my 30-day raw foods challenge.

You can read more about the cleansing process on day 22 by clicking here.

Read about various detox diets by clicking here.

Click here to read about my getting started on The Garden Diet, a raw food program that is cleansing and energizing. Click here to visit The Garden Diet.

10 Ways to Detoxify Your Body

1. Drink lots of pure water.
   
   
2. Use colon cleansing techniques such as colonics. This can be especially important when you are beginning a cleansing diet and may help reduce the Herxheimer Reaction effects.
   
   
3. Dry skin brushing. Did you know the skin is the largest organ of elimination? Use a long-handled brush and brush lightly all over your body towards your heart before your shower or bath.
   
   
   
4. Take a detox bath. You can use one cup of Epsom salts. Or add a handful of sea salt. Here’s a simple recipe: ½ cup of Epsom salts, ½ cup of baking soda, ½ cup of sea salt, and a few drops of your favorite essential oil, such as lavender or peppermint.
   
   
5. Exercise is important to keep the oxygen circulating in your body. Go for a brisk walk or do some yoga and/or rebounding. Be gentle if you’re experiencing a cleansing reaction, but do keep moving.
   
   
6. Practice some deep breathing. The lungs are also eliminative organs.
   
   
7. Stop the consumption of animal products. Your cardiovascular system will start to heal itself and blood will bring healing oxygen to all of your tissues and cells more easily.
   
   
8. Try a fresh juice fast. Juicing will help your body detoxify and heal.
   
   
9. If you want to try fasting you really need to educate yourself. If you’re planning a fast longer than a day or two, I recommend working with a health care professional who is knowledgeable about fasting.
   
   
10. Go to a health retreat such as Optimum Health Institute (in Lemon Grove, California, or Austin, Texas) or Creative Health Institute in southern Michigan). You will be able to enjoy a good rest, get education about healing and detoxification from experts, enjoy healthy juices (including wheatgrass juice) and live foods , all by placing yourself in the best environment you can.