Cleansing – or detox – is a popular buzzword these days.
Typically, this means following a specific diet or using special products that claim to rid your body of toxins, thereby improving health and promoting weight loss.
Our body is actually capable of eliminating any toxins from the body, but adding these detox supplements can be a helping hand to you.
However, you can enhance your body's natural detoxification system.
This article explains some common misconceptions about detox and lists nine evidence-based ways to rejuvenate your body's detox system.
Detox diets are designed to remove toxins from your body, improve health, and promote weight loss. Laxatives, diuretics, vitamins, minerals, teas, and other foods are believed to have detoxification properties.
When it comes to talking about detox diets, the list of toxins for elimination gets really huge. These typically include pollutants, synthetic chemicals, heavy metals, and processed foods that can negatively impact health.
However, popular detox diets rarely identify the specific toxins they aim to eliminate or the mechanism by which they claim to eliminate them. Additionally, there is no evidence to support the use of these diets for toxin elimination or sustained weight loss.
Your body has a sophisticated way of eliminating toxins that affect the liver, kidneys, digestive system, skin, and lungs.
But only if these organs are healthy can they effectively eliminate unwanted substances.
So, while detox diets don't do anything your body can't do on its own, you can optimise your body's natural detox system.
Your liver metabolises over 90% of the alcohol you consume. Liver enzymes metabolise alcohol into acetaldehyde, a known carcinogenic chemical. By recognizing acetaldehyde as a toxin, your liver converts it into a harmless substance called acetate, which removes it from your body.
While observational studies have shown that low to moderate alcohol consumption benefits heart health, excessive alcohol consumption can cause many health problems. Excessive drinking can seriously damage liver function by causing accumulation of fat, inflammation and scarring. When this happens, your liver cannot function properly and do its necessary jobs, including filtering waste and other toxins from your body. Limiting or completely abstaining from alcohol is one of the best ways to keep your body's detox system strong.
Healthcare professionals recommend limiting alcohol consumption to one and two drinks respectively per day for women and men. If you don't currently drink, keep it that way because of the potential heart risks associated with light to moderate drinking.
Getting enough sleep each night is essential to support your body's health and your natural detoxification system. Sleep allows your brain to reorganise and recharge, as well as eliminate toxic byproducts that build up throughout the day.
One of these byproducts is a protein called beta-amyloid that is known as a contributor to the development of Alzheimer's disease.
With sleep deprivation, your body doesn't have time to perform these functions, so toxins can build up and affect many aspects of health.
Poor sleep leads to some serious health consequences such as stress or anxiety, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity. You should get regular sleep for 7 to 9 hours a night to promote good health.
If you have trouble sleeping or falling asleep at night, lifestyle changes, such as sticking to a sleep schedule and limiting blue light before bed, are helpful in improving sleep.
Water does more than just quench your thirst. Regulates body temperature, lubricates joints, promotes digestion and absorption of nutrients and detoxifies the body by removing waste. Your body's cells must continually repair themselves to function optimally, breaking down nutrients that your body can use for energy.
However, these processes release waste products in the form of urea and carbon dioxide, which can cause harm if they build up in your blood.
Water transports these wastes and eliminates them effectively through urination, breathing or perspiration. It is therefore important for detoxification to drink enough fluids.
Adequate daily water intake is 125 ounces (3.7 litres) for men and 91 ounces (2.7 litres) for women. Depending on your diet, where you live, and your activity level, you may need more or less.
Many of today's public health crises are often blamed on sugar and processed foods. Research links a high intake of sugary and highly processed foods to obesity and other chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
These diseases interfere with your body's ability to naturally detoxify by damaging organs that play an important role, such as the liver and kidneys. For example, a high consumption of sugary drinks can cause fatty liver, a condition that negatively affects liver function.
You can keep your body's detox system healthy by consuming less junk food. You can limit junk food by keeping it on store shelves. If you don't have it in the kitchen, the temptation is completely gone. Replacing junk food with healthier choices like fruits and vegetables is also a healthy way to cut back on consumption.
Antioxidants add a protective layer around the cells against damage from free radicals. Due to overproduction of free radicals, oxidative stress happens and that impacts the body very badly.
Your body produces these molecules naturally for cellular processes, such as digestion. However, alcohol, tobacco smoke, a nutrient-poor diet, and exposure to pollutants can produce an excess of free radicals. These molecules damage a range of cells. A lot of research and studies have shown that free radicals encourage conditions such as heart ailments, dementia, liver disease and asthma. The list does not end here; it also affects certain types of cancer. A diet rich in antioxidants can help your body fight off oxidative stress caused by excess free radicals and other toxins that increase your risk of disease.
Focus on getting antioxidants from foods, not supplements, which can actually increase your risk of certain diseases when taken in high amounts.
Examples of antioxidants are selenium, zeaxanthin, lutein, vitamin A, C and E. Berries, fruits, nuts, cocoa, vegetables, herbs, and beverages like coffee and green tea contain some of the highest amounts of antioxidants.
Good gut health is important for keeping your detox system healthy. Gut cells have a detoxification and excretion system that protects the gut and body from harmful toxins, such as chemicals. Good gut health begins with prebiotics, a type of fibre that feeds the good bacteria in the gut called probiotics. With prebiotics, your good bacteria can produce nutrients called short-chain fatty acids that are beneficial to health. Antibiotic use, poor dental hygiene, and diet quality can alter the bacterial balance in your gut. Therefore, this unhealthy bacterial change can weaken your immune system and detoxification system, increasing your risk of disease and inflammation.
Eating prebiotic-rich foods can keep your immune system and detoxification system healthy. Some of the good sources of prebiotics include bananas, tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, garlic, onions last but not the least oats.
Although there is no current evidence to support the use of detox diets to remove toxins from your body, certain dietary changes and lifestyle practices may help reduce toxin levels and support your body's detox system.
Eat foods that contain sulphur. Sulphur-rich foods like onions, broccoli, and garlic stimulate the elimination of heavy metals like cadmium.
Try chlorella. Chlorella is a type of algae that has been shown in animal studies to have many nutritional benefits and may improve the elimination of toxins like heavy metals (59). Season dishes with coriander. Cilantro improves the elimination of certain toxins, such as heavy metals like lead and chemicals, including phthalates and insecticides (60, 61).
support glutathione. Eating sulphur-rich foods like eggs, broccoli, and garlic helps improve the functioning of glutathione, an important antioxidant produced by your body that is heavily involved in detoxification.
Switch to natural cleaning products. Choosing natural cleaners like vinegar and baking soda over commercial cleaners can reduce your exposure to potentially toxic chemicals (63).
Opt for natural body care. Using natural deodorants, makeup, moisturisers, shampoos, and other personal care products can also reduce exposure to chemicals.
Although promising, many of these effects are only apparent in animal studies. Therefore, human studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Detox diets are designed to eliminate toxins, which improves health and promotes weight loss. These diets have gained popularity but they are not necessary. Your body has a very efficient detoxification system. However, you can enhance your body's natural detoxification system and improve your overall health by staying hydrated, eating less salt, staying active, and sticking to a diet rich in antioxidants. You can buy detox supplements from S???????etu, Plix, etc.
