The new year brings new goals, new ways of thinking, reflection on your lifestyle and health. January is one of people’s top choice times of the year to begin detoxing to reset the body’s system whether it is for weight loss, a sense of well-being or specific organ cleansing. The changing of the season is always a great time to practice detoxing or elimination. The benefits of detoxing are internal and external. Detoxing has the capability to cleanse blood and tissues and naturally stimulates the cleansing capacity of the organs. It cleanses cellular metabolic waste, dietary toxemia, environmental toxins and general toxic inundation. Giving your body a rest from the daily taxing processes has great restorative benefits. Typically everyone should cleanse twice a year and people who own pets benefit if they cleanse four times a year. There are lots of different choices out there on the market. A good start is activated charcoal which draws out impurities and helps magnet toxins to effectively remove them from the body. Activated charcoal can be used internally orally or externally with a cloth as it can stain the skin if used directly topically. Citrus cleansing, grapefruit and lemon in particular, help ward off fungus and bacteria and helps clean the colon if drunk with warm water first thing in the morning. Citrus combined with raw garlic and rubbed on psoriasis issue areas can help clear it up. A drop of cranberry juice with no sugar added drunk with warm water is good for cleansing the urinary tract. A juicing fast is a more aggressive cleansing process and can be done for 3-7 days. Juicing is an awesome way to get maximum nutrition and a multi mineral boost that is easily digested whilst cleansing. Notice how your skin begins to glow after just one week of adding an array of vegetables and fruits freshly squeezed, juiced or cold-pressed into your daily routine or on a cleansing program. Dry brushing your skin first thing in the morning helps activate the lymphatic drainage and is a great added benefit when cleansing. There are more aggressive processes to cleanse with health stores selling cleansing kits of all different kinds, ionic cleansing for a deeper internal cleanse, or you can add tinctures to your water or juices for more specific organ cleansing. Make sure you check with a health practitioner if you have health issues before cleansing so you perform it safely.
Here are a few examples of recommended tinctures and supplements for organ cleansing:
For liver cleansing the top choices are Milk Thistle seed, Dandelion leaf, Kutki, Burdock root, Oregon Grape root, Artichoke leaf, Gentian root, Indian gooseberry, Turmeric, ginger, Hawthorn berries, Eleuthero root, Astragalus root and St. John’s Wort. Next to the skin the liver is the largest organ with at least 200 separate functions for the body. Some health practitioners believe lethal diseases cannot form in the body if the liver functions optimally. Liver cleanses can help remove all the excess fat stored up, get bile flowing freely again, remove old cholesterol deposits, eliminate toxic waste, eliminate poisons and drug residue, dissolve and pass out accumulated gallstones that are stored in the liver, facilitate in regenerating damaged and destroyed cells of the liver and eliminates any parasites that have invaded the liver.
For cleansing the kidneys use organic Cornsilk, Horseradish, Hydrangea, Marshmallow, Gravel root, Parsley root, Cleavers, or Burdock root. To rid the body of stones a local remedy consists of warm water with cayenne pepper, lime, honey and drink to flush out the kidney stones. The kidneys are often overworked and can have crystalline growths. Calcified kidneys often present themselves as persistent lower back pain. Your two kidneys are part of the urinary system, the endocrine system; they filter the blood, regulate the urinary system and produce hormones. People over 40 are highly suggested to do kidney cleanses.
For the lungs Osha root as long been used by Native American culture to cleanse the lungs after colds, coughs and other respiratory ailments. The root contains oils including camphor, saponins, ferulic acid, terpenes, and phytosterols. The Osha root helps clear mucus from the sinuses and lungs, relieves congestion and makes breathing easier. It also helps improve blood circulation to the lungs which helps increase dilation during construction. The lungs are the vent system for pollutants, irritants, dust, mold, fungus, harmful organisms and toxins. Eucalyptus helps for lung cleansing to promote an open respiratory system, Lungwort protects against harmful organisms in the lungs by increasing oxygen utilization. This is helpful for those who suffer from emphysema, pneumonia, asthma, and allergies. Oregano helps the lungs because of the carvacrol and rosmaric properties, Plantain leaf calms the lungs, Elecampane sooths and relaxes the tracheal muscles, Lobelia thins mucus and helps you breath more deeply, Chaparial also Native American helps detoxify lungs with powerful antioxidants, and finally peppermint relaxes and sooths the respiratory tract.
For the colon there are many cleansing kits on the market and include things like sienna leaf, psyllium husks and marshmallow root. Dr. Schultze is a great choice and he provides various levels depending on how deeply you want to cleanse from a daily fiber supplement to a week long clay cleanse.
When adding tinctures to cleanse body parts make sure you take something to actively flush out the body such as a fiber supplement, flaxseed left in warm water over night and drunk first thing in the morning works effectively on plumbing. Drawing out stored toxins from the body is good but it is essential you flush them out as well. Cleansing is not recommended to do if you are pregnant or nursing.
Cleansing is the first stage of detoxing, the second is restoring. Good quality probiotics and fish oils are great ways to restore the body. Custom Probiotics is an amazing company for purchasing high end probiotics, specific to ailments and made from food sources. Consuming probiotics on a daily routine is the fastest way to improve your immune system and create a strong internal environment to ward off any imbalance. Probiotics heal the gut and produces the number one defense environment in the body to prevent fungus, viruses, bacteria and parasites attacking the body. Fish oil is such an essential daily supplement for every human being. A high quality brand that is made from young fish is a good oil, such as Innate Choice. There is less contamination from metals and toxins in oil that is extracted from young fish. Fish oils contain Omega 3 which helps prevent inflammation, helps with brain function and cognitive tissue development. Fish oils help heal tiny tears in joint tissues as well.
The third stage to detoxing is replenishing. Eating organic food and eliminating processed food from your diet helps the body stay toxic free after cleansing. When coming off a detox ease the body into food again. First week you could add steamed veggies and soups made from healthy broths and vegetables, and snack on fruits and nuts. Second week add more raw vegetables like salads. Third week you can start adding back meats and rice. Leave out the other grains as they often cause inflammation in the joints, create allergies and digestive issues in the body. Dairy can also be added in third week but stick to raw and organic where possible. Emotions are stored in different areas of the body, for example anger stores in the liver, so be aware when detoxing these emotions may come up to the surface. When we detox we release what is stored by the body, this is one of the purposes of detoxing. Be nice to yourself when in the cleansing process and just know all toxins whether physical, chemical or emotional are better out that in.
Caroline Tee
Owner of Horizon Health and registered C.H.E.K. Practitioner
