When people begin to feel unlike themselves, they turn to a detox method to cleanse the body. Essentially, this is a way of ridding the blood of the toxins that it has been collecting over time. In addition to cleansing, it’s necessary to employ an overall healthier routine to your eating habits.
Why is Eating Healthy Better Than Dieting
First, it should be noted that there’s nothing wrong with dieting, as long as you’re doing it right. The main criticism of dieting is that it focuses on weight management, which can cause the individual to obsess and develop harmful eating disorders. If you or someone you know suffers from an eating disorder, it is important to get to an eating disorder center for their own safety. Additionally, most diets focus on a temporary condition in which the individual sacrifices the foods they enjoy in favor of limiting calorie intake.
Eating healthy, on the other hand, is a long-term solution to correct poor eating habits, which have probably been learned since birth. For that reason, it’s not easy to make permanent changes, but good nutrition can be more beneficial than dieting. Your body benefits from healthier eating habits in more ways than simply by limiting the intake of empty calories. Eating more plant-based foods will resupply your body with the vitamins and nutrients it probably hasn’t been receiving for quite a long time.
Additionally, you’ll be dumping fewer toxins and harmful additives into your system, so the need to detox will be lightened. You may still need to detox from time to time, but not nearly as often. You’ll feel better for longer and you won’t feel as though you’re missing out. Instead of sacrificing your favorite foods, you can learn healthier ways of incorporating them into your new lifestyle.
When You Do Need to Detox
For many people, the need to detox becomes obvious. They often develop symptoms or telltale signs that their blood is overrun with harmful toxins. They can feel sluggish or experience unexplained fatigue, they may become bloated, or experience mental fogginess more often.
Other signs that you need to detox include:
- Skin irritations
- Allergy flare-ups
- Low-grade infections
- Menstrual complications in women
If you are going to pursue a detox regimen, it’s important to eliminate the sources of those toxins from your daily routine. This means stopping smoking and the use of other tobacco products, quitting drinking alcoholic beverages, and eliminate recreational drug use. You should also look for ways to reduce stress, such as yoga, meditation, or outdoor exercise.
Typically, when the word “detox” is mentioned, people generally think of a basic fruit and veggie smoothie, but there are several ways to perform this type of body cleansing.
- Eat More Fiber – This means eating whole grain foods, such as brown rice, as well as adding more plant-based foods to your diet. Some of the best natural sources of fiber include: beets, artichokes, seaweed, and cabbage.
- Drink Herbal Tea – While green tea is excellent for detoxifying your body, there are other herbs that can prove just as effective. Try Try burdock, milk thistle, or dandelion root.
- Water – Some view this as the best way to cleanse the body. For best results, you should drink a minimum of two quarts of water each day.
- Sweat – Whether through strenuous exercise or spending time in a sauna, your body can sweat out the toxins it has been accumulating through regular perspiration. This is your body’s natural way of dispelling waste.
- Deep Breathing – Many people benefit from performing daily breathing exercises. This is because it helps replenish the supply of oxygen in the blood, reducing the hormones that cause stress and helping the body to purify the blood.
There are a number of ways to detox the body and doing so can leave you feeling refreshed and invigorated. By changing your lifestyle to include healthier eating habits that will give your body the nutrients it needs, you can more fully benefit from the detox and feel better for longer. A full lifestyle change can lead to a healthier, longer, and happier life.
