Welcome back!  We hope everyone is staying well and keeping their minds above the fear that seems to be going around.  It is important to remember that fear causes stress on the body and those stress hormones will affect the quality of your natural immune response.  So turn fear into something more productive.  Cleanse and detox for better health!  This is a great way to support your whole body and boost the quality of your immune system response!  There are many different types of cleanses you can try if you feel called to take the DETOX journey.

Cleansing/Detoxing

Why would you need a cleanse or detox if your body is already equipped to naturally detox itself?  A cleanse/detox would only be helpful if you feel your body is out of balance or needs some assistance to get back on track.  It might be necessary if you’d like to get to a more optimal state of health.  They can be beneficial to help clear out toxins, parasites, negative thoughts, and harmful bacteria/viruses and/or fungus. The raw truth is ALL of us interact with parasites, bacteria, fungus, and/or viruses.  Some systems are able to safely remove these irritable organisms.  However, most of us have stress and live fast pace lives that might make our systems a safe haven for these harmful organisms. 

As far as duration and intensity of a detox/cleanse will be up to the individual.  There are things you can do on a daily basis and there are more vigorous ones that you can do for a week or two.

Let’s take a look at different types of detoxes/cleanses to explore.  

Heavy Metal Detox

We are all exposed to heavy metals every day due to water/food contamination, household cleaning items, certain paints, furniture, dental work, etc.  Heavy metals such as fluoride, mercury, aluminum, arsenic, lead, etc., can all cause various unpleasant symptoms in the system.  There have even been studies that heavy metal toxicity can be linked to different disorders like ADD/ADHD, Autism, Thyroid imbalances, Leaky Gut Syndrome and more.  You can read more specifics about heavy metals on our blog about Heavy Metals.

Foods

The following are foods that chelate (bind) to heavy metals and help remove them from the body:

• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Leafy Greens

 

Supplements

There are a few supplements that can help remove heavy metals from the body.  For a daily regimen to remove heavy metals from the body try chlorella or spirulina.  These two supplements are blue-green algae that contain vital nutrients that also help bind to heavy metals and remove them from the system.  This is a simple and slower detoxification method. 

For a more intense cleanse try bentonite clay for a short period of time to help remove the toxins from your system.  You can take it on its own or mix with psyllium husk powder to really push things through the digestive system.  Do your research before you take this cleanse to see if it is right for your body.  If you choose this method you may want to make sure you are eating nutrient dense vegetables to help replenish your good minerals because the clay will pull lots of minerals out of the body including the heavy metals.

Parasite Cleanse

This is a cleanse that may seem intimidating.  It doesn’t have to be.  The fact is, it’s almost impossible to live a life without ever interacting with these microorganism.  For the most part they come and go depending on how healthy our immune system is.  However, certain parasites have evolved to live in our system and they can be stealthy.  They can cause various symptoms that can look and feel like it may be due to another ailment.  Most doctor’s do not test for parasites unless you specifically ask, leaving them once again undetected.   And some parasites will have stages of life-cycles, so testing for them can be difficult depending on what cycle they are in at the time of testing.  That being said, it may be worth exploring a parasite cleanse if you are dealing with various ailments, digestive discomfort or pain that has been difficult to resolve.  

Foods

For parasites it can be more about what NOT to eat.  The idea being– don’t eat what parasites THRIVE off of.  These are the foods they love- sugar, processed foods, processed wheat, and dairy.  Avoid fish and meat as an extra precaution, if you can go without them.  Here are a few foods that can be helpful in combating parasites:

• Honey
• Garlic
• Papaya Seeds
• Pumpkin Seeds

 

Supplements

Supplements are very helpful to implement when doing a parasite cleanse.  You can do a slow day to day protocol or a more intense cleanse.  For a day to day measure try taking Diatomaceous Earth (DE).  This is a type of sand made up of fossilized algae.  The DE is mostly made up of silica.  The silica removes the waxy outer coating from the parasite’s exoskeleton.  Without the waxy coating the parasite cannot retain water and will eventually die off.  For a more intense cleanse add a Black Walnut Wormwood Complex, another effective remedy to rid the body of parasites.  

Emotional Cleanse

Negative or burdensome emotions can lower over-all health, especially the immune system.  Have you ever considered that you can try an emotional cleanse to get back in balance?  

There isn’t a specific Emotional cleanse.  This is just about allowing yourself to let your emotions through.  Essential Oils are great for relaxing the nervous system and balancing emotions.  Try adding lavender oil or frankincense oil to your daily regimen.  Simply smell it or add it to lotion.  These scents are calming and meditative.  You can also try avoiding any t.v. or social media for a little bit to give time to process emotions. Guided meditation can be great too!

Liver Cleanse

When the liver is not functioning at it’s optimum this will throw off the entire digestive system.   It can pave the way to skin ailments or even leaky gut syndrome. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the liver is the seat of all emotions.  This means the liver regulates how much chi (life force energy) the body is able to harness.  A “blocked” liver can throw the whole body off. 

Foods

There are a few foods to incorporate in your diet that are beneficial to the liver:

• Warm water with lemon
• Artichokes 
• Beets
• Carrots

Supplements

There are many supplements that can help sustain liver health and some that can help with the detoxing process of the liver.  Milk Thistle, Ginger, and Turmeric are all herbs that help nourish and detox the liver gently.  There are specific formulas that can help detox the liver more thoroughly like Liver Refresh and Bupleurum Liver Cleanse.  Again, this is up to you to decide what’s best for you, how long you want to cleanse, and how extensive you want your cleanse to be.  You can find MANY options with some deeper research.

Digestive Cleanse

Most digestive cleanses will help detox the whole body.  There are many variations of this type of cleanse.  You can do specific juice cleanses for digestion (fresh celery juice) or you can look into fasting of all sorts.  They can help reset the system.  

Foods

There are many different foods that can help with digestive cleanses.  Fibrous foods can be helpful to incorporate into a digestive cleanse.  Foods like broccoli, flax seed, brussel sprouts.  However for some, these foods may aggravate the weakened digestive system.  If this is the case, figure out what foods work best for your system.  Bone broth can be a great and gentle way to sooth an off balance digestive system and help prep it for cleansing.

Supplements

There are many digestive cleansing supplements to choose from.  You can do a specific 2-part formula for cleansing with the 7-Day Ultimate Cleanse.  Renew Life has a Bowel Cleanse formula that is gentle yet effective in helping to cleanse the digestive track. Incorporating Aloe Juice Stomach Plus Formula  before every meal can help pave the way for healthy digestion and be a good every day measure of keeping the digestive system nourished.

As you can see, you have many options to explore in the cleansing arena.  Hopefully you learned a new type of cleanse or maybe you were inspired to try a cleanse.  It is your body, explore what works best for you and be compassionate with yourself along the way.  Habits are habits.  They’re just as hard to start as they are hard to change.

 

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**Bonus- Try a Kill-Bind-Sweat protocol for a mold or mycotoxin detox .  This is a protocol designed to help rid the body of these stealth pathogens.  Learn more here.
As always, do what you feel is best for YOUR body — if you aren’t sure, ask your doctor.  We are health ENTHUSIASTS not licensed practitioners.