Does Learning How To Detox Protect Your Immune System

I’ve always considered myself to be fairly healthy and in reasonably good shape. I very rarely got ill, and can’t remember the last time I had a cold or virus of any kind - or at least not that lasted longer than about 12 hours. So it came as a bit of a surprise when I started feeling run down and tired all the time, and struggling to find the energy to even get out of bed in the morning. I’d been to see the doctor on many occasions, and had undergone several test, but they all came back negatve.

A friend of mine, who also happened to be a physiotherapist, recommended I would likely benefit from a detox diet, and take some time to learn how to detox your body and how my eating habits may be affecting my health. I didn’t know the first thing about detoxing, so I decided to learn all about it, and try to understand why alternative health therapists say it’s so popular and advocate doing a detox and in particular the 7 day detox diet so avidly.

Another thing she suggested to me was to try a foot detox. I now use a foot spa about twice a week, if you don’t want to invest in a foot spa, the detox foot patches can be just as good - but doing it this way you miss out on the relaxing foot massage at the same time

This is what I learnt about detoxing your body.

Herbal teas and water and plenty of both

One of the most important things you need to is drink lots of water while you are following a detoxification diet because it will help purge excessive toxins from your body. There’s lots of other health reasons to drink water as it helps prevent constipation, stops water retention (believe it or not), and improves your complexion. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day (about 2 liters), but increase that when the weather is hot.

A general pointer is to increase your water intake by about half a liter for each hour of exercise. Tap water which has been filtered to remove the chlorine and impurities is the best option. Try to store your water at room temperature rather than in the fridge. If the thought of drinking that much water is overbearing, try herbal teas as well - preferably loose leaf rather than tea bags. Dandelion root, yarrow, roibosch and green tea are especially great in a detox as their hidden ingredients help boost the detox process. Roibosch and green tea is especially healthy as it is very high in OPC antioxidants.

Choose Organic Food Where Possible

You do not need to switch to a totally organic diet on a detox diet, unless you can afford it, but if you can afford to stretch to buying a few organic products it will be a great help.

If you can’t buy many organic foods, don’t worry. Just eating plenty of fresh fruits and veg is more important, whether they are organic or not, rather than not get enough of them. However, there are some good reasons for going organic on a healthy detox diet.

Organic foods are produced without the use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers, so they have very little or no potentially toxic man made chemicals. Although it’s a controversial area, there is evidence that the build up of man made fertilizers and pesticides overtime may cause health problems in the future.

There is a lot less processing of organic produce on its journey to your kitchen. Ultimately this means organic foods not genetically modified and are free from hydrogenated fats and artificial additives. The taste and flavor of organic food is usually much better as well.