Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a pollution-free environment, where we drank only the purest of water and ate naturally occurring organic foods? Where the homes we lived in were free of chemicals and the air we breathed, water in which we swam, and even the clothes touching our skin were pure and clear of any artificial chemicals?

Modern day living makes this beautiful ideal, sadly unrealistic. That is why the next best thing we can do for our health is to cleanse our bodies of these toxins from time to time through various methods of detoxification.

Detoxification refers to the elimination of poisons or toxins from the body. Due to the huge amounts of today’s environmental contaminants, our bodies are in serious need of regular cleansing to reduce damage to our immune systems, endocrine function, nervous system and general metabolism. Detoxification is vital to maximise the body’s energy, encourage one’s natural innate healing to take place and to prevent chronic conditions eg. cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, diabetes, autoimmune disease etc. It is also a time-honoured way to keep digestive elimination regular, circulation under control, and stress to a minimum.

Regular detoxification maintains good health, and promotes healing from illnesses.

Massage helps release toxins from your tissues

Massage, dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, is an excellent method to improve lymph movement and blood flow. That, in turn, aids in getting cellular waste products and accumulated toxins out of tissues, into the bloodstream, and to the kidneys where they are eliminated in urine.

Aromatic essential oils such as lemon and grapefruit enhance the detoxification process, as does regularity of treatments.

Heat treatments help transfer toxins to your bloodstream

Sweat therapy has long been known to be a highly effective tool for eliminating toxic waste, removing drug residues (medicinal & recreational), heavy metals, pesticides, excess hormones and chemicals from alcohol and smoking. These synthetic substances are metabolic poisons, which in the long term, damage the normal functions of the body.

Steam baths, hot tubs, and saunas in particular are favourite ways to get your heart beating and your blood circulating, which improves toxin transfer from tissues to the bloodstream, then to the liver, which chemically alters many harmful substances into harmless ones.

Infrared saunas can penetrate up to 45mm inside your body

Conventional saunas transfer heat by circulating hot air, whereas the infrared heat rays warm your body directly. Conventional saunas need high air temperatures to expel impurities from the body, but Physiotherm Infrared saunas can directly penetrate up to 45mm inside the body, so impurities can be eliminated faster than a regular sauna.

Be sure to drink adequate amounts of water before, during, and after heat treatments. The powerful detoxification process takes place when the body reaches 101 to 103 degrees F. Note that one’s pulse rate should not exceed 130 or 140. Check with your physician to see if this technique is right for you.

Colonic hydrotherapy helps decongest your colon

Colonic hydrotherapy (also known as colonic irrigation) is a great tool for detoxification as it helps the body’s natural elimination process by gently decongesting and clearing out the waste.

A colonic involves the slow and gentle introduction of water into the colon under low pressure and controlled temperature. This water is massaged around the colon to enable encrusted faecal matter to be released from the bowel wall, and to be expelled down a waste tube. It does not involve any unpleasant odours, nor a lot of running to the toilet (as enemas inevitably do).

A good colonic treatment should enable cleansing of the entire colon as far as the ileo-caecal valve (where the small intestine joins with the colon), and can take anywhere between 30 to 40 minutes depending on the state of the colon in question. However it must be emphasised that a single colonic will not usually suffice to clear the colon completely. It’s a good idea to book two or three for maximum effect.

I should point out that this is an area I specialise in. So if you’re interested in learning more, or just want to talk through the process, you can call me (Debbie) anytime for a free 15 minute consultation. Book a colonic for more details.

Dry skin brushing enhances your blood circulation

Dry skin brushing is another European technique that has been used for centuries. Not only does it remove toxins accumulated in dead skin cells, it enhances circulation. Dr. Bernard Jensen (author of Dr. Jensen’s Guide To Better Bowel Care) recommends in his book, “your daily regime should begin with skin brushing for a period of three to five minutes. I believe skin brushing is one of the finest of all ‘baths.’ No soap can wash the skin as clean as the new skin that you have under the old. You make a new top layer of skin every twenty-four hours. Skin brushing removes the old layer and lets this clean new layer come to the surface.” He recommends, “the whole body (except the face) should be brushed one-half hour after rising and prior to the morning bath or shower. You may wish to skin brush again before retiring for the night.”

Use an all-natural vegetable fibre brush with a long handle to reach out-of-the-way places. Brush from the outermost points—the feet and hands—toward the centre of your body; brush bottoms of the feet, as nerve endings here effect the entire body. Brush across your upper back and down the front and back of your torso. Use lighter strokes over breasts and do not brush the nipples. Wash your brush every few weeks in water and let it dry. Feel the sensation of newly invigorated skin!

Fresh vegetable juices will cleanse your blood

Certain foods and beverages aid in inactivating toxins or in removing them. These include fruits and fruit juices, fresh vegetable juices, chlorophyll-rich foods, herbal teas, and sea plants. For optimal results, these foods should be organically grown and consumed fresh.

Fresh vegetable juices provide the body with necessary vitamins, minerals, and enzymes to power the natural detoxifying activities of cells. For example, a combination of three carrots, three celery stalks, ½ bunch spinach, and ½ bunch parsley is high in potassium and is one of the most effective juices for cleansing blood and tissues, neutralising acids, and rebuilding cells.

Leafy green vegetables have chlorophyll, a detoxifying agent that helps clear the skin, cleanse the kidneys, and cleanse and build the blood. Eating any chlorophyll-rich food will help to boost immunity, treat illness, and rid the body of unwanted substances. Spirulina (blue-green algae) and chlorella (green algae) have become popular supplements due to their extremely high chlorophyll content. Powdered concentrates of these green ‘superfoods’ may be purchased at your local health food store and added to fruit and vegetable juices.

Sea plants (‘sea vegetables’) aid in detoxification by transforming toxic metals into salts that the body can eliminate. They also are rich sources of vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, and proteins. Seaweed, dulse, kelp, nori, and wakame are examples. Two tablespoons of dry minced sea vegetables added daily to a bowl of miso soup is a wonderfully therapeutic dose.

China introduced us to the miraculous green tea, which is high in antioxidant content and combats free radical damage to protect against degenerative diseases. It also boosts enzyme production in the body. It has antibiotic, antiviral, and antibacterial properties, and is highly valued as a cancer preventative.

Milk thistle, one of the best liver cleansing tonics, used with honey by the Romans, is also rich in nutrients and antioxidants to prevent free radical damage. Burdock, known as the plant of longevity, is one of the best blood purifiers of the herbal world and its use dates back to ancient Greece. The leaves make a delightful medicinal addition to soups and salads, or chop it into vinegar to drizzle over green salads.

When taking these herbs in tea form, drink over a long time period as opposed to all at once. This allows the tissues to absorb as much of the medicinal value as possible. Drink two to three cups daily for optimal medicinal effects.

Blend or juice your favourite fruits in the morning for a detoxifying breakfast. Fruit juices speed up metabolism to release waste quickly and have an alkalising effect (acid-neutralising) on the blood; citrus fruits and their juices in particular are rich in alkaline salts, mainly potassium. High-fiber fruits aid digestive regularity and stabilise insulin levels. Together, these properties of fruits reduce fat storage, speed metabolism, and minimise sugar cravings. Fruits should be eaten by themselves, without protein or complex carbohydrates, and before noon for best energy conversion and cleansing benefits.

Exercise eliminates toxins through the skin

One of the most important detoxification methods is regular exercise. Exercise accelerates the removal of toxins through our largest organ of elimination, the skin, when we sweat. It also stimulates lymph flow, which depends solely on muscular movement (or massage). Lymph function is critical to our body’s ability to cleanse itself. Exercise also enhances metabolism and circulation. Almost any kind of exercise, from riding a bicycle to planting flowers in the garden, increases the circulatory system’s transportation of oxygen and nutrients to our cells, while carrying away toxins and wastes from tissues to the organs of elimination. Further, exercise counteracts the greater risk for some diseases, such as heart disease, that correlates with a sedentary lifestyle.

Yoga is a wonderful form of exercise because it sends blood flowing to particular places in a tactical way. A shoulder stand, for example, gets blood flowing the opposite way from its usual course. Yoga poses, or asanas, help soothe the muscles and soften blocks of stress that have accumulated over time. Yoga also incorporates conscious breathing and meditation; just 20 minutes each day can do wonders not just for the body, but also the spirit.

Breathing exercises deliver oxygen to replenish your cells

India’s Ayurvedic system of health utilises breathing techniques, or pranayama, to settle, balance, and detoxify the body. In the Ayurvedic tradition, prana refers to the vital life force, and pranayama is the process by which this vital force is increased.

Certain breathing techniques enhance your body’s ability to eliminate toxins because detoxification is directly related to the delivery of oxygen to cells and removal of carbon dioxide.

Try ‘calm belly breathing’ (breathing into the gravitational centre of the body to ease stress and anxiety). Start by lying down in relaxation pose: on your back with arms relaxed to the side and palms up, feet naturally splayed open, and eyes closed. (If you need to modify this pose due to pain in the lower back, simply bend the knees, leaning them against one another, or if the legs are extended, place a towel underneath the head and/or knees.) Now exhale without force while observing the navel fall. Breathe in and out through the nose for five minutes; meditate or mentally focus on the navel rising and falling during this period.

Thomas A. Edison once said, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause of disease.”

Give your body the tools to detoxify itself

The body naturally attempts to heal itself, but living out of accordance with nature means we are putting excessive strain on our organs which are no longer able to cope. By giving our body the tools to heal itself through correct and informed nutritional choices, herbal medicine and in conjunction with various detoxification methods such as infrared sauna, colonic hydrotherapy and lymphatic stimulation we are allowing the natural healing processes of our body to occur, resulting in regained health, harmony and vitality.

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