Top 10 Ways to Detox

Do you ever think about detoxing, cleansing, meditating, fasting, eliminating certain foods from the diet, exercising…all different things to make your body and mind healthy and happy?

Many people focus on this as a New Year's resolution but we should be doing these things ALL year long.  

Life is constantly bombarding us with toxins…in our food, our water, our air, our clothes, cars, EVERYWHERE!  What do you do to cleanse or detox your body?

Here are some of my favorite ways to detox! (in no particular order!)

1.  Dry Skin Brushing

I LOVE this.  It feels so nice to dry brush your skin.  What is it?  It is just like it sounds.  You literally brush your skin with a soft natural bristled brush.  Dry skin brushing exfoliates your skin and massages in a way that helps increase lymphatic flow which helps get toxins out of the body while sloughing off your dead skin. You start at your fingers and toes and work your way in, gently brushing your skin.  I like to do this right before a shower.  It's invigorating.  (Here's a great dry skin brush)

2.  Green Vegetables and Juices

Add green foods to your diet:  kale, swiss chard, spinach, wheatgrass, alfalfa and supplements like spirulina, chorella and liquid chlorophyll to your daily routine.  These contain chlorphyll which rids the body of harmful toxins, heavy metals and helps detoxify the liver.

3.  Hot Towel Scrub

Fill a sink with hot water and wet a wash cloth.  Wring out the water and scrub the skin gently.  Focus on one part of the body at a time.  Reheat the towel as often as necessary.  Scrub until the skin becomes slightly pink.  The benefits are many including reduced tension, improved circulation, increased lymphatic flow and opens pores to release toxins.

4.  Steam or Sauna

Sweating is one of the best ways to remove toxins from the lymph and blood by excreting it through the skin. You can use a steam room, a dry sauna or an infrared saunas for this.  Infrared saunas are particularly great because they encourage profuse sweating and stimulate the body’s metabolism, aiding in calorie-burning.  You can also alternate between sauna/steam and a quick cold water shower to promote circulation.

5.  Drinking Lemon Water

Drinking lemon water helps maintain your body's fluid levels, which helps your kidneys flush out the body's toxins.  It is detoxifying as it helps cleanse your liver, kidney and blood.  A lemon detox drink is especially nice first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

6.  Alternating Hot and Cold Water

Have you ever tried this technique?  You get the shower really hot for about 30 seconds, then ice cold for 30 seconds, then hot again, then cold?  The cold part totally sucks but if you can stand it this is a great way to get your circulation going, improve lymphatic flow, increase metabolism and immunity.  Some spas have hot saunas, spas and cold rooms and ice tubs for this very purpose.

7.  Oil Pulling

I mentioned recently that my new goal is to oil pull every morning!  What is oil pulling?  Oil pulling is an ancient Aryuvedic ritual where you basically swish oil around in your mouth for about 5- 20 minutes and then spit it out.  The idea is that when you swish the oil around your mouth and teeth, it pulls out bacteria, viruses, pus and other yucky stuff.

8.  Bentonite Clay

Bentonite clay can be taken internally or used externally.  Internally, the clay pulls toxins out of the body, sweeping them out the colon.  The clay absorbs toxins before they enter the bloodstream.  Bentonite clay can also be used in baths to detoxify the body.  For more info, check out LA Healthy Living's post on 10 reasons to use bentonite clay.

9.  Epsom Salt Bath

Fill your bath with warm water and add 2 cups of Epsom Salts.  Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) are great for pulling out toxins and heavy metals from the body.  Your body also absorbs the magnesium which is important for almost every function of the body.  Since most of us are deficient in magnesium, this is a great way to get some!  You can even try adding some essential oils to your salts!  It is important to drink a lot of water during and after the bath if you do this.  You can also add magnesium to your dietary supplement regiment as well. 

10.  Fasting or Elimination Diets

Go for a set period of time eliminating foods that could be harming you.  This can be done through an intense cleanse (juice cleanse, distilled water cleanse, Master Cleanse, etc.) or through a whole foods cleanse in which inflammatory foods such as corn, gluten, soy, sugar, etc are removed.

These are great to see what types of food cause problems with your body, to beat sugar cravings, to get off the energy roller coaster and to reset your body.  I try to do some form of cleanse at least 2-3 times a year.

A great one I found is my friend Kristen Boucher's Superwoman Slim Down.  It is a great real food, healthy detox that will help you lose a little belly fat, give your body some TLC and gain energy.  She gives recorded phone calls to keep you going through the cleanse, meal plans, recipes, detox tips and so much more!

But what if you are breastfeeding?  You can detox while breastfeeding!

Check out Superwoman Slim Down today!

Looking for more ways to detox?  Check out Real Food RN's Liver Cleansing Detox Smoothie.  It is delicious!

You can also stock up on Liver Detox Support supplements from Perfect Supplements!  A great way to cleanse the liver!!!

 

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