Beauty Tip: One of the very best supplements for boosting liver detox is Milk Thistle, which is completely natural and easily available in health food shops. Its potent ingredient, Silymarin, helps to boost the two phases of liver detoxification. I put a few drops of liquid Milk Thistle into a glass of water before a night out when I know I’ll be having a few drinks, and again the morning after.
Although you probably don’t think about it often, at every second of every day of our lives, our cells are working hard to keep us alive, which also creates waste products. It’s a normal part of cellular metabolism. An accumulation of this body waste produces toxaemia. According to Dr. Herbert M. Shelton, “Toxaemia is the universal, basic cause of all so-called disease.”
Imagine that each of the trillions of body cells is an individual tiny factory, producing the hormones, collagen, hair, protein, enzymes and everything else you need to exist. Each little ‘factory’ is powered by the glucose in the food we eat and the oxygen in the air we breathe. Cleansing and detoxification are attracting more and more curiosity in today’s busy world. Fasting for body and soul have been a part of human spiritual and biblical practice for many centuries. For modern humans going about their hectic and pressured daily lives, many look to detoxification to lift some of the lack of energy, lethargy, excess weight and brain fog they increasingly experience. I know I once felt like that a few years ago, and I was desperate for a solution. Detoxing also means a fresh start. Weight loss, an increase in beauty and health, and of course looking years younger.
But detoxing needn’t have to be about deprivation and starvation on a water or juice-only diet. This works very effectively for some people, but for the majority, we need a regime that is more accessible and can be worked into our lives. I have tried detox plans before, such as surviving on juice for three days, but I felt zapped of energy and it was in no way sustainable for any longer than a short period of time. Any of the other fad diets I’ve tried have always ended up in eating far too much food straight afterwards and gaining even more weight back. So I really needed to develop a way of eating that would be consistently effective and never lead to a yo-yo dieting situation again. The way of eating across this site is a lifestyle intended to continuously encourage our bodies to work as effectively as possible to eliminate waste materials, constantly support our detox organs and build beautiful, healthy and vibrant cells with living foods. This system harnesses the greatest power available to us – our body’s natural intelligence and ability to heal itself.
Our Detox System
Our detoxification set-up is based on a series of organs and systems working together to neutralise and expel toxins, from the normal waste generated from body cells, to the outside toxins we take in from food and air. The complex and well-designed human detox organs are the liver, kidneys, intestines, skin, lungs, blood and lymphatic system. Between them, they rid the body of carbon dioxide, uric acid, sweat, urine, homocysteine from the breakdown of some amino acids and food waste. Without this system, we would become so full of toxicity that we would quickly die.
Detoxification is constantly happening in our cleverly-designed bodies. But in terms of the body’s list of top priorities when it comes to its energy demands, detox comes in the middle. It can easily put off detoxing until the extra energy is available. Intense exercise is an example of when detoxing is put on hold as the body’s precious energy is being used to burn sugar and oxygen in muscles and eliminate carbon dioxide through the lungs. The lactic acid build-up in muscles created through extremely taxing exercise is a good example of the body working so hard that its energy bank has to be directed towards supporting it, so detox is halted temporarily and lactic acid is allowed to accumulate. The body knows that the muscle discomfort this brings will soon stop the intensity of exercise, allowing the lactic acid to be eliminated. In this case, pain is a method of survival.
Late-Night Meals
Eating our final meal of the day too late in the evening can actually impede detox. This is because we generally finish up digesting and assimilating our food about eight hours after eating. Of course, this depends on the type of food eaten. Fatty, protein-rich food will take more energy to digest than salad and vegetables, but a big smoothie or soup is all ready for digestion and needn’t have to go through the process of being turned to liquid before being absorbed. Since cooked foods lack the enzymes needed to aid in digestion and we must produce them ourselves, detox takes even longer kick in after eating a cooked meal. Food sensitivities and allergies can also slow down detox, as the body must deal with the immune reaction to the allergen first. This takes up considerable amounts of the body’s energy and other reserves. Though, foods rich in magnesium and living enzymes like leafy green vegetables, help to speed up detox but moving food more quickly through the digestive process. After normal digestion is finished, the body is signalled to switch to ‘cleaning mode’, and to filter through the accumulation of toxic rubbish in our system.
If our body is allowed to deeply cleanse frequently, we will be rewarded with the most beautiful results. Glowing skin, glossy hair, strong nails, weight loss, a de-bloated body, better energy and a clearer mind are all the results of the body cleaning itself of the toxic build-up that causes us to age rapidly and hold onto excess weight. I often recommend elimination diets to clients, because removing a food you think you’re sensitive to gives the body a chance to regularly enter detox mode and for a longer period of time. Drinking a morning smoothie of blended fruit and leafy greens, continues the detoxification process that began in the middle of the night, right up until at least mid-morning or even lunchtime. But dig into a big breakfast of greasy fried food, and our body cuts the detox process short and must focus on digesting heavy, fatty cooked food. You’ve probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and to eat like a king in the morning! It is important to get the right nutrients in to break the overnight fast, but choose our first meal of the day wisely and we’ll be rewarded with increased beauty, health and vitality. That’s why I swear by my staple Green Goddess Smoothie!