In my natural health center, I see many clients who have had bad experiences in the past when they were doing a detox program. They were moody, had headaches and body aches, nausea, diarrhea, and brain fog. That’s because they didn’t really do a detox – they did a Re-tox!
Think of your body like a house that has its own cleaning crew. The crew’s job is to take out the trash, wash the dishes, clean the floors and generally keep things running smoothly. Over the decades of your life your body is exposed to toxins from the foods you eat, the products you use in your home and on your body, the air you breathe, and the water you drink. Your body is equipped to handle small amounts of natural toxins – like the small amount of arsenic you ingest when you accidentally eat an apple seed.
Toxins: Your body, your cleaning crew (colon, liver, lymph, kidneys) sometimes gets overwhelmed by synthetic toxins (artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, perfumes, petrochemicals, and the like) and it can’t keep doing its job. When this happens, rather than taking out the trash (toxins), your body starts to shove them under the kitchen counter, into closets, the spare room, the garage, and before you know it you can barely walk through the house; it’s so full of junk! Once the body gets so congested with junk, it becomes a big challenge to get things to flow properly. I can be standing on the front steps with a huge basket of organic produce from the farmer’s market and there’s no way to get it into the house. It’s time to detox.
ReTox? In many cases when people start a detox program, the go right to opening up all of the cupboards and closets and pulling out all of the stored toxins. The problem there is that there’s no clear pathway to eliminate them – so you detox and retox! And that’s why you feel like crud. Decades of stored toxins get released into circulation without any way for your body to eliminate them. It’s a sucker punch to your immune system and it is worse than not detoxing at all. You should feel better when you detox – not worse!
Phases: I like to set up detox programs in two phases. Phase I: open the body’s pathways of elimination. Gently clean out the colon, liver, lymph, and kidneys, while enhancing the body’s electrical and chemical communication systems. Once there’s a clear path to the door, you can open up all the cabinets (cells) and the spare room & garage (organs and tissues) and clean them out thoroughly as part of Phase II. At the same time, we can be stocking the shelves with nutrients and water so the body has everything it needs to restore and rebuild.
Slow & Steady: You didn’t collect all these toxins all at once. When you follow a logical process to eliminate toxins from the body and provide optimal nutrition, you actually feel better! Many of my clients call me four to five days into their detox program and ask me “Can I really be feeling this good this soon?” The answer is YES! Proper detoxification is energizing. I have people who come back to my office in a week and they are simply vibrant. You can throw nutrients at people all day long, but if their cupboards are full of toxins, it’s a real challenge to get them in there. Start with a detox and head confidently in the direction of your wellness goals!
About the Author: Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. is a Natural Health & Wellness expert with an office in Onalaska, WI. She works with clients globally and locally to introduce them to natural options to consider along their path to wellness. Learn more about Patti.