Why and how you should detoxify your body

Fast-paced urban life sees us exposed to different chemicals everyday. In the process, we tend to abuse our bodies to their limits.

Never in the history of the earth have human beings been more exposed to toxins than we are in these times. These toxins include environmental toxins like cadmium, chlorine, pesticides, chloroform as well as those produced by our own bodies.

Thus, detoxification is the need of the hour and is a major component of good health.

What is detoxification?

Basically, detoxification is the procedure of removing toxic chemicals or poisons that have found their way into your body.

There are toxins in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. These are termed as external toxins. Our own body produces toxins as a result of its many metabolic processes that keep us alive. These are termed as internal toxins.

Our kidneys, liver, lungs and intestines work continuously to clean out every cell, organ and tissue in our bodies. However, because of the increasing number of toxins around us, we need to help our bodies cleanse internally by detoxifying regularly. If we don't, then we are allowing for the build-up of these toxins, which play havoc with our health and wellbeing, causing problems like:

• Headaches or back pain
• Joint pain or arthritis
• Depression or lack of energy
• Frequent allergies
• Poor digestion
• Stress
• Premature aging
• Bad breath
• Chronic infections
• Cancer

Practiced for centuries by many cultures around the world (including ayurvedic and Chinese medicinal systems), detoxification is about resting, cleaning and nourishing the body from the inside out. By removing and eliminating toxins, then feeding your body with healthy nutrients, detoxifying can help protect you from disease and renew your ability to maintain optimum health.

What are its benefits?

The benefits of detoxification include:

• A strengthened immune system
• More energy and improved performance
• Stimulation of vitality and retardation of ageing
• Strengthening the body's fight against cancer cells
• Washing the colon, sinus tracts, stomach etc
• Purifying the blood
• Improved digestion and regular bowel movements
• Healthier hair, skin and nails
• Improved cognitive function
• Scavenging free radicals and eliminating toxins
• A reduced dependency on habit-forming substances such as sugar, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and drugs
• Improved sleep

When should I detoxify?

If you feel tired, fatigued and mentally confused even though you have had a relaxing day, then it is time to detox your body. There are various other indicators as well like skin problems, bags under the eyes, digestion problems, irregular menstrual cycles, unexplained allergies etc. If you have one or more of the above symptoms, then it is time for a detoxification to flush out the poisons.

Detoxification can take place in several different ways and at various levels of severity. There are many detoxification techniques prevalent that range from fasting snd juice fasts to diet modification and lifestyle changes. Learning the different ways to detox your body, mind and spirit can help you lead a more balanced life.

The good news is you can make small, everyday changes that will dramatically improve your health and wellbeing by enhancing your body's natural process of detoxification. Here are some tips to get you started:

Avoid alcohol, smoking and caffeinated beverages

They are loaded with harmful chemical substances that may damage internal organs in the long process.

Alcohol and smoking irritate nerve functions and disturb mental focus. Alcohol affects the liver badly, especially if you make it an everyday habit. When it goes into the system, it takes the liver about 24-48 hours to excrete every last trace of it. When the liver can no longer cleanse the alcohol, it stays on, thus causing diseases like cirrhosis.

Smoking introduces nicotine and other compounds into your body, which result in high toxin levels. Over a period in time and with increased frequency, the toxins accumulate in your body, posing tremendous danger to its vital organs and the functioning of your lungs, in particular. Smoking also clogs bronchial tubes, preventing natural air passage to the lungs.

Caffeinated beverages are nothing but calories and sugar and can cause excessive weight gains.

The kidneys cannot perform adequately without sufficient water intake. Our kidneys remove wastes like uric acid, urea, and lactic acid, to name a few. All of which are dissolved in water. When there aren't adequate amounts of water, these wastes aren't removed effectively and kidney damage may result.

The suggested amount is around 33 ml of water for every kg of body weight, ie 2.3 litres for a 70 kg person (around 1/2 an ounce for every pound, ie 60 oz for a 120 lb person). But water alone is not an ideal tool for detoxification because it lacks balanced nutrition to supply the body with enough vitamins and minerals.

Fruit juices are strongly recommended by some health professionals, so as not to deprive the body of important nutrients. Fruits are also good sources of natural blood sugar that help sustain brain's normal function.

High caloric and processed foods are mostly hard to digest and lack a good amount of soluble and insoluble fibres to cleanse the digestive tract and intestinal wall. They often make the body prone to bloating and constipation. They also include toxins that are unhealthy for you. So, to detoxify your body, just keep those processed foods off your menu.

Meat, poultry, fish, pork, game, eggs, dairy -- sure, these foods can taste great, but they also contribute to poor digestion, a sluggish colon, high blood pressure, kidney stones and gall stones, to name but a few of the associated downsides.

In addition to that, meat contains difficult to digest enzymes, which means that it can hang around in your system for longer than is desirable, causing your digestion to be blocked by mucus. Some studies even claim that eating red meat can contribute to colon and prostate cancer.

Fibre-rich foods are excellent for flushing toxic residues out of the body. If you try this approach, you will see an improvement in your overall health, with many minor niggling symptoms disappearing altogether.

Increase the intake of foods like beetroot (chukandar), berries, broccoli (hari phoolgobhi), red grapes, spinach (palak) and carrot (gajar). These foods contained antioxidants that fight free-radical attacks and inflammation, protecting the immune system and body cells. They also help keep the skin texture radiant and glowing.

Moreover, they contain important antioxidants called flavonoids and polyphenols that fight cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Spices are excellent for the purpose of drawing toxins out of your body and leaving you feeling more energetic and healthier in general.

Eat plenty of raw garlic (lehsun) either whole, chopped up or in juices. Garlic is a premiere infection and disease fighter, which unlike antibiotics does not harm our body's beneficial intestinal flora. Garlic increases phagocytosis; the ability of white blood cells to fight off bacterial infection (toxins).

Eat fresh ginger to aid digestion, and to stimulate blood circulation and lymphatic flow.

Ginger (adrak) also helps to open the pores and eliminate toxins. Consume some hot chili peppers with your meals; start with mild chillies if you are sensitive. Eating chili peppers will increase circulation, which means more nutrition reaching your cells and wastes leaving efficiently.

A sedentary lifestyle and worn out body cells make the immune system prone to illnesses. Exercise like walking and jogging are best recommended to maintain strong stamina and boost energy levels.

When your body is not healthy, it will let you know in many ways. You don't need products or supplements to obtain good health. If you take good care of yourself through simple ways, your body will cleanse itself naturally.