The word ‘detoxification‘ refers to the process of neutralising and removing toxic substances from the body. As a student of nutritional healing, I find it really exciting (yes, I do!) that we are in control of our internal environment and therefore our health and happiness through making good choices. There is a lot of talk about detoxing to cleanse our internal environment, everyone seems to be doing it, so I thought that I would write a 3 part post on the how, what, why, when to help make sense of it all for you.

“Imagine the people buying cars and never changing the oil except for a pint every couple of months, only replacing the filters every couple of years, and seldom driving it except on short trips around town, and often using bad gasoline. When the car runs poorly, falls apart, and eventually burns up, they wonder what happened and empty their bank account trying to fix it. You must have a clean machine to operate efficiently over the life of the vehicle. Your body is your vehicle. Does it take you comfortably where you want to go and do what you want to do, or do you have drag it out of bed, drag it to the office, ache most of the day and drag it home again only to collapse it in the bed? Are you having the ride of your life, or is your life a drag from dragging your body around? Detoxification makes the greatest difference in the comfort and longevity of your body. Remember, you can’t buy another one!
We first must begin with the things we can control. We must start with the things having the most influence upon us from both our outer environment and our inner environment. The three greatest influences from our outer environment are air, water, and food. The three greatest influences from our inner environment are thoughts, feelings, and action choices. In each of these categories we all have many things we can do to improve” – Robert Groves

I think this is such a great quote to explain, quite simply, why we must look after our body machine. It is the only one we have in this life time and it’s in everyone’s interest that you treat it well and help it to thrive!

It’s all about the environment – think about a fish in dirty tank water – is it going to thrive? No. It’s going to die. You need to keep the water clean. Sure, you can go out and buy another fish, but we only have this body. You need to keep the internal environment clean so that your cells can thrive and work optimally. Your cells cannot repair and grow at the same time. If they are constantly trying to keep up with regular maintenance and protection, they won’t have time for repair and rejuvenation. Detoxing allows the body to do just that. The opposite is accelerated aging.

80% of our immunity lies in our gut, the entire cell lining of which is replaced every 72 hours. This means that even a three day detox will do so much to help this process happen optimally by eliminating harmful bacteria and toxins, thereby increasing our immunity and our ability to absorb nutrients from the food we eat. Our gut’s health also directly affects our moods (ever noticed how you feel ‘blurgh’ when you are bloated, eaten a heavy meal, have a cold etc). In the Chinese 5 elements there is a close connection between organ health and our emotions, and vice versa. By detoxing the body, you are also clearing out harmful emotions that contribute to toxicity within the body.

• kidneys/bladder hold fear
• liver/gallbladder hold anger
• heart/small intestine hold joy (or lack of)
• spleen/stomach hold sympathy (or lack of)
• lungs/large intestine hold sadness, grief

So, if your skin is acting up with spots, eczema, psoriasis, if you’re craving sweets or spicy food, if you’re experiencing hormonal issues, low energy (especially on waking), digestive issues such as bloating/wind/diarrhea/constipation, stuffy nose, allergies, fuzzy brain, anger, irritability or feeling just plain ‘blurgh’ – these are signs that your liver is struggling to detoxify everything that is being thrown its way and that toxins are stuck in your body instead of being eliminated efficiently.

Detoxing will give you: more energy, increased clarity and peace of mind, clearer skin and brighter eyes, help you reduce stress in your life, a feeling of physical and emotional lightness and calm, you will feel revitalised and re-charged, it slows down the ageing process and creates the space and awareness needed to be able to choose healthier eating habits.

The main organs involved in detoxification and elimination are the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin and colon. Tune in next Friday to learn about the importance of effective detoxification.

This post is part of Real Food Whole Health’s ‘Fresh Bites Friday’