I will be following Dr. Ben Kim's Full body cleans plan that I have tweaked to work for me, and it is what I will be following for the first 2 weeks of the new year. So I won't be sharing any cooked recipes during this time, unless I cook some new healthy dishes just for my family. Dr. Kim's blog is fabulous! I encourage you to check it out.
Over the next few days I will share his information on detoxification and how I will adapt his plan and my experiences on it.
Today's focus...Full Body Cleanse Basics
Detoxification refers to the process of eliminating toxins from your body.
There are two major types of toxins that your body accumulates over time:
Environmental Toxins: Sometimes called exogenous (made outside your body) toxins, environmental toxins include all the chemicals and pollutants that you're exposed to through air, water, and food.
Common environmental toxins include pesticides, herbicides, prescription and over-the-counter medications, carbon monoxide, triclosan, bisphenol A, phthalates, and volatile organic compounds.
Metabolic Toxins: Sometimes called endogenous (made inside your body) toxins, metabolic toxins are produced by each of your cells as they go about their everyday metabolic processes. Metabolic toxins can also be produced by microorganisms that act on incompletely digested food in your digestive tract.
It's normal for your cells to contain some toxins at all times. After all, your cells need to manufacture energy on an ongoing basis, and the manufacturing process results in waste (toxin) production.
Toxins only present a challenge to your health when they accumulate to a point where they interfere with cellular function - we call this state toxicosis. Which can contribute to coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes mellitus, respiratory illness, kidney disease, liver dysfunction, autoimmune illness, hormonal imbalances, skin conditions, and most types of cancer.
Your Body is Constantly Detoxifying and Cleansing
Your body is designed to constantly gather up and remove toxins from your cells. Most of the toxins that are stirred up from your cells are broken down in your liver, and then eliminated from your body via your kidneys, colon, skin, lungs, and mucus linings in your nose and ears.
If your eliminative mechanisms cannot keep up with the number of toxins that are coming in and being generated in your cells, in an effort to preserve your health, your body attempts to store some of the toxins in your fat tissues. Even if you are lean for your body type, your body can store toxins in fat tissues that can be found interspersed between your muscle fibers and surrounding your organs.
Full Body Cleanse
So your body is experiencing a full body cleanse at all times as it is constantly at work to keep every cell in your body as healthy as possible.
Any effective full body cleanse or any other type of cleansing program that you go through should be designed to accelerate the detoxifying process that your body is already engaged in. This is what I will experience this first month of the year.
You can accelerate cleansing and detox by reducing the number of exogenous and endogenous toxins that you are exposed to, and by giving your body the rest that it needs to devote its resources to its cleansing and detoxifying mechanisms.
Put another way, to experience a truly effective period of intense cleansing, you don't need to give your body much by way of nutrients. Actually, all you need to give your body are physical and emotional rest, fresh air, water, and enough fuel to sustain your most basic metabolic processes. And as people who understand water fasting know, the fuel that you need for intense cleansing can actually come from reserves found in your liver, muscles, and fat. But this won't be water fasting.
One point to realize during a cleanse is that your body detoxifies all of its cells at about the same pace...not one organ at a time. But you may notice changes in some parts of your body before others. And with that said don't forget this fact: many chronic health challenges take years to develop, so it's unrealistic to expect such challenges to fully heal within months, even if you fully support your cleansing mechanisms.
Also, please remember that the positive effects of an intense period of cleansing will last only as long as your dietary and lifestyle choices support your health after your cleanse. Which is why I mention the full body cleanse being a Kickoff to a healthier lifestyle for the new year:) If you want to experience your best health, your job is to support your body's self-cleansing mechanisms every day.
How to Experience an Intense, Full Body Cleanse
Here are the most basic requirements for an intense, fully body cleanse:
- Expose yourself to as much fresh air as possible (even if it's cold out...bundle up for some fresh breaths every single day)
- Get as much physical and emotional rest as possible (get no less than 8hrs of sleep, even more if possible during the cleanse)
- Stay hydrated with water-rich foods and liquids (be sure to drink filtered water and no sugary drinks)
- Minimize your exposure to exogenous and endogenous toxins
Tomorrow I will go over the diet plan for the cleanse....
