How You Know It’s Time to Detox

Have you been feeling bad lately but you have no idea why you can’t feel better? Are your symptoms physical and psychological but you don’t feel as though anything significant has happened to cause such a change in your well-being? These are signs that your body is overloaded with toxins and is long overdue for a detox.

Unfortunately these are not the only signs; there are a great many illnesses, symptoms, sicknesses and diseases that could indicate that your body needs to rid itself of harmful toxins. The reason you cannot identify an exact reason for your fatigue, sluggishness, nausea, dizziness or sickness is because there isn’t one exact thing that occurred recently acting as the culprit. The reason for your current state is years, if not a lifetime, of ingesting unhealthy foods and beverages as well as other environmental toxins and not evacuating them quickly or efficiently enough.

Like all chronic illnesses you may just feel as though your symptoms have come from out of the blue, but it has been steadily building up over time and you simply haven’t exhibited any symptoms. This is the way in which chronic illnesses work; no symptoms present in the early stages. Now that you have been exhibiting symptoms you are prepared to treat them, but are you prepared to do what it takes to reverse those symptoms?

A healthy lifestyle combined with regular detoxification is the most effective way to reverse certain illnesses and to prevent nearly all illnesses and diseases. So how do you know that the time has come for you to detox?

Sluggish Digestion

It is time to detox if you noticed that your digestion is slow or sluggish. If it is taking a long time for you to digest your food, this is a sign that at least one component of the body’s internal detoxification system is not functioning properly. One of the ways in which sickness begins and chronic illnesses are allowed to progress is a poor diet full of toxins.

A “toxic diet” is one that lacks an essential element of a healthy diet: high fiber foods. Think of the foods you eat regularly, are any of the staples fresh? Does your diet contain healthy amounts of fruit and vegetables? Do you eat whole grains like whole wheat bread and pasta or do you gravitate towards refined grains? Does your diet contain plenty of processed foods like frozen meals, luncheon meats and candy?

These are toxic foods that, in the long run, can lead to a variety of short and long term illnesses. In the short run these foods are full of toxins that simply sit in your body and often seep into other organs. Food coloring, fillers and chemicals that fill these foods have no nutritional value and do not aid in proper digestion and detoxification. A raw food diet consisting of high fiber fruits and vegetables will help flush out toxins quicker by decreasing the “transit time” in the bowels. Fiber will make sure those toxins are flushed out regularly so they don’t have time to make you ill.

Inability To Heal

When you get sick, does your illness linger for weeks or even months? Do you always feel as though you are just getting over an illness or another one is just beginning? This is how you know it’s time to detox. Prolonged sickness is the body’s way of telling you that something is wrong, preventing it from flushing the toxins out.

Whether your illness is something as simple as the common cold or influenza, or something more serious such as diabetes or heart disease, detoxifying the body will help flush out the bacteria causing these problems. In fact Dr. Jensen cites several studies (Eustis, 1912; Rochester, 1906) in which medical problems such as bronchial asthma and arthritis were relieved by treated intestinal toxemia and adapting a natural, raw diet. The more backed up the bowels and other detoxifying components become, the more inefficiently these components function and the more likely it is that your illness will linger.

A compromised body is incapable of healing without the help of a thorough detox and an overhaul in your current diet and lifestyle.

Underperformance

If you suffer from an irregular bowel movement, a detox diet will do more than treat the symptoms of any illness or disease you may have; it can also fix the problem. You see, when you suffer from an underactive bowel, the toxic waste building in your body can be absorbed into the walls of the bowel where they may end up in the bloodstream. The main problem with this is that the blood circulates throughout the body and ends up in other organs and tissue, which is where (and how) the sickness begins. It is important to note, as Dr. Bernard Jensen does, that regular bowel movements are not always evidence of what he calls “proper bowel function”. Many people believe a regular bowel function (as in daily evacuations) indicate optimal health, but with a poor diet that is rarely the case.

The other problem with underperformance is toxins tend to congregate in the weakest tissues and if other detoxifying systems are also underperforming, more toxic waste will settle throughout the body. It is this settling in particular areas of the body that lead to chronic and degenerative diseases. Not only is the toxic waste circulating throughout the body, but because some of the food has not been properly broken down and digested, the body doesn’t get to retain the nutrients.

This, in a nutshell, is why illnesses form and why they persist. It is only after the body has been detoxified properly and a healthy diet becomes part of your everyday life that the body as a whole will begin performing properly. To maintain a high performing elimination system, your diet should always contain the following:

• Water
• Fresh raw vegetables and fruits
• Whole grains
• Legumes

Meds Aren’t Working

If you have ever suffered from constipation then you likely know that over the counter medicine such as laxatives simply do not work. While it is true that after a regimen of laxatives you might feel some…relief, not the kind that will alleviate or eliminate your symptoms. In fact tens of thousands of laxatives are sold every year yet the number of people with chronic illnesses has not decreased as these numbers would indicate.

Taking medicine to ease any symptoms you feel is only a temporary solution to long term problem. Whether you are given prescription medication or you choose over the counter drugs, if you haven’t experienced any improvement then it is time to detox.

Getting Started

A detox diet is a healthy way to rid your body of toxins while also improving the rate at which you are able to absorb nutrients. Take these steps to improve your healthy and remove toxins;

1. Add more raw food to your diet, starting with snacks like green leafy greens, baby carrots or bell peppers.
2. Check the fiber content of your foods and upgrade to high fiber foods.
3. Eliminate processed foods from your diet as much as possible
4. Monitor your bowel health by noting how frequent ( at least twice a day) and robust movements are to determine how much waste your body is retaining.