Before we get started, I must tell you I am no medical expert, merely a whole body enthusiast, and I don’t want to dissuade you from seeing a medical professional. It has just been my experience that when I have gone to see my doctor for similar symptoms, I don’t get diagnosed with anything particular just told to eat better and rest more. I must recommend you see a doctor to be sure you are not suffering from a more severe condition before starting your cleanse.
We have all seen those commercials and advertisements about whole body cleanses or detox diets and asked, do I really need that? If you have asked yourself that question, the answer is probably yes. Doing a whole body cleanse or going on a detox diet can have some pleasantly surprising side effects. The hardest part of detoxifying your body is staying committed to the process
If you find yourself relating to any of these symptoms it’s time to consider doing a cleanse.
You find yourself feeling constantly tired, even after getting a good night’s rest.
You find it hard to concentrate at work.
You recently have had an acne break outs or skin irritation
You are suffering from constant headaches or frequent migraines
You are suffering from bad breathe, despite good dental hygiene
You commonly have unpleasant or painful bowel movements
If two or more of the above symptoms describe you then it is time for you to consider a whole body cleanse or detox diet. I really want to point out something important you everyone reading, I can not emphasize this enough. Do NOT do a detox diet or body cleanse strictly for weight loss. Yes, weight loss is a nice ‘side effect’ or changing your diet during a detox, however, almost all the weight comes back after you come off of your cleanse. Weight loss requires a life style change not just a diet change.
So we have decided we are suffering from a few of the symptoms listed above, and we have agreed we are not going to do a cleanse for weight loss, but to detoxify our body. The next step is probably the most important, even more important than deciding what type of cleanse to do, you must be ready to make a real commitment to seeing the cleanse through and stick to it every day. If you are ready to make that commitment then you are ready to choose the best cleanse for your body.
I apologize it was a little more than a week since I promised to be giving you weekly updates on all the latest buzz words surrounding diets and cleansing and all that jazz. I believe last time we talked about antioxidants, free radicals and diet detox. Today we will be talking about the terms colonic, parasites and toxins. I know, pretty grim and unpleasant, but necessary as I hear this words thrown around a lot as well.
You can say this about body cleansing . .
“The process is not always pretty, but the results are always beautiful”
Colonic
A colonic, simply put is the flushing of water into your colon to remove waste and feces that normal bowel movements do not pass. That is it! Yes you can buy $100 kits that will give you the best colonic ever, but honestly all you technically need is a beer bong and an open mind. . Sorry there is my sense of humor shining through again. For the record, I do recommend you get a kit for this, just don’t spend over a $100. Pictured is the minimum that you need, and you should only be spending about $20 – $25 on the product. The part most people won’t tell you is that performing a colonic can cause ‘discomfort’.
Parasites
While the term ‘paratsites’ can refer to any number of things including leeches. Typically in the world of body cleanse and when people refer to parasite cleanse they are talking about intestinal parasites, also known simply known as worms. The best way to prevent the contraction of parasite is to avoid undercooked meat, avoid unclean water and avoid skin to skin contact with any on who may have parasites.
Toxins
Toxins in the world of health and cleansing can refer to any number of things that we take into our bodies. From free radicals from processed food to cigarette smoke to car exhaust. Toxins is really just referring to any unnatural substance, unfortunately the life style we typically all live exposes to a large amount of toxins on a daily basis. The are unavoidable. The can reduce your exposure to them by eating organic and natural foods, not exposing yourself to second hand smoke and limiting your intake of alcohol. Ultimately you will be exposed to and ingest toxins in most of your daily interactions, so while this is a huge buzz word right now, just know that almost any legitimate cleanse you decide ot use will rid your body of toxins, you don’t need a special ‘Toxin Cleanse’ to do so.
Okay so that is it for this edition of Body Cleanse Jargon and Nonsense, again you can email suggestions or leave them in comments (i love comments!) about any other topics or buzzwords you want me to ‘expose’
There are a lot of buzzwords surrounding body cleansing, some of them are just fancy ways of stating the obvious others are legitimate terms you should know to help you decide how to cleanse your body. I can’t possible fit all the information on one page, well I could but who would read it? I will cover a few words or phrases every week. If you have something you are curious about the meaning, please leave a comment and I will research it for you and write about it in part 2 of ‘What is all this Body Cleansing Jargon and Nonsense?
Antioxidants
In short, antioxidants prevent the oxidizing of molecules on a cellular level. This process oxidation produces free radicals (another buzz word!). These free radicals attach themselves to other cells and can actually set off a chain reaction of sorts that can cause damage to your cells. Antioxidants will bond to these free radicals and prevent them from damaging cell. Acai berries, blue berries and pomegranate juice have some of the highest levels of antioxidants, consuming these daily can prevent cell damage.
Free Radicals
Free radicals are simply the name given to unstable molecules produced by a chemical reaction. These molecules are unstable and can easily bond with and alter other molecules. Free radicals don’t just occur in your body, these unstable molecules are the primary causes of combustion and other violent chemical reactions. These are produced in your body when our bodies try to break down unnatural products such as preservatives, food coloring and other nasty things we Americans eat on a daily basis.
Diet Detox
Diet detox refers to body cleanses that require you to (often drastically) alter your diet. I recommend every does their research before doing a detox diet, or any whole body cleanse for that matter. The idea behind these is the by replacing solid foods with a nutritious liquid diet you will be able to rid your body of toxins by flushing them out. These can be very effective, however you cannot neglect your nutritional needs and just fast hoping to cleanse your body. You will need to provide your body with adequate nutrition from the juice blends or smoothies, you often see a lot of detox diets asking you drink vegetable broth for this reason. While there are some critics, the master cleanse is the most popular of these, often being referred to as the lemonade diet.
Most cleanses require and investment in supplements to be taken daily or purchases vegetables and fruits on a daily basis for your fruits. The latter doesn’t necessary have to be expensive depending on your access to local produce.
If you are looking to do a body cleanse on the cheap I would have to recommend the master cleanse, also known as the lemonade diet. The components required to do the master cleanse are easy to come by and be found at ALL grocery stores, you do not need to go to a health food store such as whole foods to get the required materials. You have an added benefit of not eating solid foods the duration of the cleanse! Though I do not recommend starving yourselves as a way to save money, you will be surprised how much money you spend on food on a daily basis.
The items you need to cleanse your body for 10 days (recommended duration of the master cleanse)
100% Pure Grade ‘B’ Maple Syrup (the grade B is VERY important, also recommend going organic for the cleanse)
Lemons freshly squeezed or natural lemon juice (I know the master cleanse manual specifically says not to use lemon juice, but it was written a long time ago and you can a good quality natural and organic squeezed lemon juice in most grocery stores.
Water (I recommend you get distilled water)
Cayenne pepper
Sea salt or tea with senna leaf (again I would recommend that latter, as drinking the tea is much more pleasant and relaxing than drinking a cup full of warm salt water)
The total cost to do the master cleanse for 10 days
100% Pure Grade ‘B’ Organic Maple Syrup 32oz approx $26.00 (prices vary a bit depending on the selection in your area, more than enough for 10 days)
100% Pure Lemon Juice 16 oz approx $6.00 (might need two for 10 days)
Organic Cayenne Pepper 3 oz approx $3.00 (more than enough for 10 days)
Water Distilled 128 oz $0.99 (need six for 10 days)
Senna Leaf tea 16 bags $3.99 (depends on how often you want to drink the tea, if drinking 2 – 3 times a day you will need two boxes)
Decaffeinated Peppermint Tea 16 bags $3.99 (this is not part of the master cleanse but I needed to give myself a treat at night before bed!)
The total cost is $58.91, which comes to $5.89 a day, which I guarantee is way less than you spend on a food per day. Your cost will be a little higher if you want to squeeze your own lemon juice to account for the juice squeezer and fresh lemons and a little cheaper if you go with the salt water rinse instead of the tea.
If you think this is the cleanse for you, I recommend you get a book about the master cleanse they can usually be found online for about $10.00.
There are literally hundreds of different cleanses out on the market. There are cleanses that target specific parts of the body, such as a colon cleanse and liver cleanse for example. There are cleanses that can be done without requiring you to fast. There are cleanses that require you to fast or go on a detox diet. There are cleanses that require you to go on a juice only diet. There are cleanses that are herbal and natural. Then they are cleanses that centered around weight loss and often use unnatural chemicals offering to cleanse your body fast, these are the ones I recommend we all stay away from
Target specific cleanses do just what the name implies; they target specific parts of our body. The most common ones are liver cleanse, kidney cleanse and the colon cleanse. These typically are done to correct specific symptoms and some of them are not for the faint of heart, like the liver flush. I have never personally done a target specific cleanse, but as I learn more I will write about the on my blog here.
The most popular type of cleanse (next to the master cleanse) is the herbal supplement body cleanse. These are generally the easiest cleanses as they allow you to continue with your normal diet. This doesn’t mean that you can eat whatever you want and still gain the benefits of a body cleanse! These generally come in capsule form and focus on milk thistle and adding fiber to help clean out your system. Milk thistle focuses on detoxifying your liver and can actually aide in the repairing of damage done to you liver. The fiber adds bulk to your stool to help with the passing of toxins and other unwanted material.
Fasting cleanses typically involve removing solid foods completely for your diet for a set amount of time. There are a few different programs often called detox diets, with various juice recipes to help in the removal of toxins from your body.
The most famous of these is the master cleanse or the lemonade diet. The master cleanse had been around for more than forty years. This involves mixing lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper into a concoction that some refer to as spicy lemonade. While popular most who start this diet rarely commit to the recommended length of time, which is 10 days. This is why (like I have talked about before) it is very important to fully commit to cleansing your body before you start.
The last type of cleanse isn’t really a cleanse at all and I recommend you stay away from. These are weight loss cleanses that often have you on a supplement that speeds up your metabolism in an unnatural way. Remember the primary focus of a cleanse is not weight loss, the focus if a cleanse is to detoxify your body.
Sorry there is my sense of humor shining through again. For the record, I do recommend you get a kit for this, just don’t spend over a $100. Pictured is the minimum that you need, and you should only be spending about $20 – $25 on the product. The part most people won’t tell you is that performing a colonic can cause ‘discomfort’.
