The benefits of detox are, by definition, right there in the name: DETOX — getting rid of toxins that build up in your body and over the long-term take a toll on your health. Detox allows your body to return to a natural state and to function more efficiently, and more to the point, the way it is supposed to function.
You eat toxins every single day. These toxins include additives in processed foods, heavy metals found in certain food products like fish, and pesticides that are sprayed onto fruits and vegetables to kill bugs. These toxins reduce your ability to metabolize, digest, and use energy, and can lead to major illnesses that you have heard of and wouldn’t wish on your frenemies.
How does this happen? The main effect of these toxins is inflammation. Over a long period of exposure to these foods, you experience whole-body inflammation, which causes bodies to break down and leads to damage of vital organs and disorders like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and even degenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Luckily, it is possible to purge toxins from your body through a detox even if you have had a long history of bad-eating habits. A detoxifying cleanse will change your body’s chemistry in ways you may never have imagined.
Making Cleanliness a Lifestyle
Detox, or more formally, detoxification, is a complete overhaul of the foods we consume with the goal of eliminating additives and chemicals from what we ingest. That means cleaning the body of processed foods, “contaminated” fresh foods, and anything that contains the sweet poison that is known as high fructose corn syrup.
But that also means detox is not a diet or merely a temporary cleanse. To get rid of the inflammatory state that leads to disorders and diseases, eating properly needs to become a way of life. Once you complete a detox, you can’t just go back to the old ways and expect to feel as good as you will during the detox. You’ll need to make a conscious effort to eliminate most or all of these substances from your diet long after the detox has ended. And among the benefits of detox, a complete behavioral change is probably the most beneficial of all.
But here are several other benefits of detox.
Weight Loss and Weight Management
The toxins and extra sugars in the typical Western diet are processed by the body in ways that increase whole-body inflammation, but also increase unhealthy weight gain. When the liver is overloaded with sugars to the point that it cannot process them all into energy, those sugars are stored in fat cells.
By purging the excess sugars from your diet, your body will naturally begin to regulate its weight as it is designed to do.
Increased Energy Levels
During the early part of a detox, many people experience fatigue. That’s perfectly normal. That is the body starting to undergo some pretty drastic changes very quickly! But many people who follow the process and stick to the detox report that their energy levels are higher later on in the process.
One point to emphasize during a detox is that it’s vital to make sure the body is hydrated. Even a small level of dehydration can caused decreased energy levels, along with things like headaches, anxiety, mood swings, and lower cognitive performance. To keep your energy levels up during this cleanse, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water!
Better Vital Organ Function
When toxins are cleansed out of your system, vital organs do not have to work as hard to keep the body going. The liver and kidneys can better filter blood. The stomach will be able to digest what is put into it because these healthier, organic foods are packed with healthy substances that fuel the body with good nutrients and supplements.
When blood is properly filtered and the liver and kidneys don’t have to work as hard, circulation improves, and that helps to keep all parts of the body properly supplied with oxygenated blood, which again leads to higher energy levels.
Stronger Immune System
When organs are freed up to function as they ought to, and are not overloaded trying to filter out toxins, they can better protect the body from sicknesses. With more efficient organ function, the body is able to absorb vital nutrients like vitamin C that help to fight sickness.
Better Mental Performance and Focus
Extra sugars found in the substances of the typical American diet can cause our minds and bodies to go on sugar highs and (later on) crashes. By substantially reducing the amount of sugar you consume, you’ll have fewer fluctuations in your blood sugar, which will result in elimination of those crashes. When energy levels are fairly consistent, and not subject to fast and wide changes, this enables our minds to function more clearly.
Blood Sugar Management
Speaking of blood sugar, managing this facet of your health is often overlooked in our society. When our blood sugar is too high (medically known as hyperglycemia), it can cause all sorts of problems that will make life pretty miserable. In the short term, high blood sugar can cause you to feel weak and tired, be very thirsty, have to urinate frequently, be susceptible to infections, and have blurred vision. If left unchanged, in the long-term this condition can lead to diabetes.
Reducing your sugar intake will stabilize your blood sugar, and enable your body to properly and efficiently digest the good food that you feed it with. It will stabilize your energy levels and bodily functions in the short term, and reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases like diabetes in the long term.
Increased Metabolic Health
Metabolism is a whole range of biochemical processes that keep the body at the best operating conditions (homeostasis). This involves both the intake and breakdown of food substances into energy for the body to use. When there are a great deal of toxins in our system, proper conversion of food to energy and of natural cleaning becomes more difficult, and an overloaded system cannot properly process what we put into it.
By reducing the amount of toxins going into our systems, our metabolic processes run more efficiently and better convert food into energy.
These are just a few of the benefits of a bodily detox. It’s a process that requires work and dedication, but the results are most certainly worth it in the long term. Interested in learning more? I will be hosting a special detoxification seminar on Tuesday, May 8. It’s free to attend, and you can learn more on how to detox your body from these invasive chemicals and get rid of the pain, fatigue, energy spikes, and extra weight — not to mention reduce the risk of the serious diseases associated with regular consumption of toxins!
