The One Thing All Detox Diets Need

In this age where we expect everything to happen as quickly as a Facebook post or Twitter feed, many people find difficult to actually wait for anything. This is especially true when it comes to losing weight, getting healthy and reversing disease. Unfortunately when we talk of the human body and its many intricacies, the one thing we cannot do it speed up the process.

Removing toxins is a process and it is not one that can be sped up simply because you are ready to get healthy now. The quickest route to success in detoxifying is patience. You will need to be patient when food cravings hit, or when you really want a smoke or a cocktail or else you will succumb to those cravings.

Then there is the whole ‘lifestyle’ factor that you have to consider. Changing how you eat, sleep, exercise and see the world is a major life change; it is not something that can be accomplished in a few days or even a few weeks. You may not succeed your first time out of the gate, but if you have patience with yourself and the process then you will succeed in the end.

Why should you wait for your healthy new life to start? Well, a few reasons actually…

Time Is On Your Side

Before you can really begin to understand why time is such an important factor in detox dieting, you have to understand how crucial a role time plays in the development and progression of sickness and disease. Chronic illnesses and diseases are not like the common cold, the flu or even pregnancy; it takes time for the disease to fester before symptoms actually begin to occur.

Let’s take an illness like cancer. If you have ever known someone who has developed cancer then you know probably felt like it happened all of a sudden, but it didn’t. According to the American Cancer Society it takes cancer about two decades to develop inside the body, which means the body is slowly being transformed for years before any symptoms are present. This is why Dr. Bernard Jensen advocated a program of prevention, starting with regular detox diets.

So if it takes chronic illnesses such a long time to develop and progress, how can we logically expect to reverse the effects and detoxify our systems in just a short period of time? The simple answer: we can’t. According to Dr. Jensen (7), the body gets used to its environment. If you have sustained on a diet of cheeseburgers, soda and French fries then it will take some time for your body to get used to a diet filled with raw fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Actually your bowels will grow accustomed to a new diet in less than a day…it is the rest of you that will find it difficult to keep up.

The fact of the matter is that mistreating our bodies for years at a time is the culprit for these chronic diseases. Whether it is smoking cigarettes, inhaling asbestos or consuming toxic foods and drugs, the beating the body takes both internally and externally causes the cells that protect it to break down over time.

Consider that you are ingesting toxins every single day and combine that with a diet heavy in animal protein which makes the body’s internal infiltration system have to work that much harder to get rid of toxins. Over time your body will simply become inefficient at removing toxins and more and more toxins will seep out of the wall of the bowels and into the blood, causing a host of chronic sicknesses from diabetes to cancer.

It doesn’t have to be all ‘doom and gloom’ though. Let’s take something that is spreading across the Western world: obesity. Obesity is a long term chronic illness. One does not become obese over a weekend binge or a big holiday season, but rather due to years and years of consuming too much food and not exercising enough. As amazing as it would be to simply start eating right today and get thin tomorrow, more than half the world’s population knows from personal experience that it does not work that way.

It takes time for the body get accustomed to smaller portions of food, more vigorous physical activity and simply being healthier. While that is happening your body is now in a position to fight off diabetes, heart disease and of course, obesity. In fact it is very similar to a detox diet in that way. Your body will constantly remove toxins but it takes time to not only get them out of your system, but to slowly improve the health of your entire body.

Now that you know how long it takes and how much damage is done in that time, you can see why it is important to begin a healthy lifestyle complete with frequent detoxes.

Prevent It, Not Treat It

Since most of us have been doing damage for years without realizing it, we of course must talk about how a detox diet can help treat and ultimately reverse these chronic illnesses. But the more important factor here is prevention. By taking care of your body today you can prevent many of these illnesses from developing at all.

A healthy, all-natural diet filled with raw fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes is a great place to start. It has been said that the body begins to respond to a healthier diet within 15 hours of ingestion, which makes starting today more important than ever. You won’t see results right away, but by starting a healthy lifestyle today, you are effectively halting the progress of toxins already inside your bowels and the rest of your body.

Throw in a detox regularly to jump start your built-in detox system and exercise regularly and you will be on your way to a happy and healthy life.

Getting Started

Allow time to do its thing and don’t attempt to rush through the detox process. This is a lifestyle overhaul, not a ‘diet’ in the traditional sense of the word and it must be treated as such. Don’t attempt to do everything all at once; take small baby steps until those steps are a fully integrated part of your life. Once that has been done you can add a few more baby steps and eventually you will be living happier, healthier and guess what else…longer!

Start your healthy life today with these simple steps:

1. Remove 3 processed food items from your diet this week.
2. Replace bread, pasta and rice with whole grain and or whole grain gluten free options.
3. Replace 1 cup of coffee or soda with water or green vegetable juice every day.
4. Start your switch to organic foods with items that you eat whole such as tomatoes, apples and cucumbers. It is cheaper in the long term.
5. Try 1 new physical activity each week until you find what you enjoy and therefore will do regularly. It is not only to obtain a goal, but also sustain it.