To get the most out of your next detox or cleanse, it is important to prepare the body to let go and release.
If you’re new to cleansing or detoxing, it’s important to understand that to get the most out of it, addressing drainage is crucial.
What’s the difference between a detox and a cleanse?
A detox is all about cleaning out the liver, blood, and your tissues of toxic waste. It means focusing on opening up your detox pathways to allow more bile flow, easier and more efficient elimination of toxins on a daily basis, and releasing toxins that have been stored in tissues for years. The liver is the epicenter of making sure the blood and body stay clean and is often overlooked. Liver function is crucial to optimal wellness.
A cleanse is all about cleaning out the gut of built up waste, toxins, parasites, etc. It is focused on cleaning the long, spirally tube we call the digestive tract that begins at the mouth and ends at the anus. There is a very specific order in which you want to go through protocols, and opening up detox pathways/drainage is essential to successfully healing the gut.
Depending on your particular symptoms and level of toxicity, you can decide whether to do a gut cleanse or the liver detox first.
What is drainage?
Optimal wellness depends on your body’s ability to effectively process food and to eliminate bodily waste. The five drainage pathways in the body are the colon, kidneys, skin, lungs, and uterus. These elimination pathways are considered your body’s natural organs of detoxification.
Supporting drainage means that you are:
- having 1-2 good bowel movements per day
- hydrating well enough to get the kidneys flowing
- sweating on a regular basis to help eliminate toxins through the skin
- breathing deeply to exhale waste out of the lungs
- supporting liver so it can do the 500 jobs it has in the body
- moving your lymphatic system daily (it is the sewer system of the body that collects all waste)
Getting your drainage/elimination working optimally BEFORE you start a cleanse or detox will reduce the risk of feeling tired, heavy, and sick from releasing toxins that just recirculate because they are not moving out of the body.
ways to prepare your body for a deeper detox or cleanse
Knowing how to prep for a detox can set you up for success. Here’s a few tips:
1.Hydrate first thing in the morning. Add lemon juice and a pinch of good quality sea salt to your morning water.
2. Make sure you are pooping EVERY day, at least once, ideally twice. Read more about tips for constipation HERE.
3. Move your body every day. Stagnation breeds disease.
4. Move your lymph daily. Wake up and use a dry brush for a few minutes in the morning. Jump on a rebounder or trampoline. Jump rope. Move your body.
5. Sweat. Take a sauna, exercise, or take a HOT epsom salts bath with fresh ginger in it. Get your body used to sweating it out and releasing toxins out of the skin.
6. Reduce toxic exposures by paying attention to pesticides and chemicals in your foods and chemicals in your personal care and cleaning products. Check the EWG SkinDeep Directory and the EWG Cleaning Product Directory to see how safe your daily products are.
Important things to know going into a detox or cleanse
- BE KIND TO YOURSELF!!! This is NOT a way to punish your body or “diet”. This is healing and will not be easy or comfortable.
- Having a positive mindset and being open to healing is essential.
- Everyone is a bio-individual and will react differently to a detox or cleanse.
- Food prep and planning are going to be key – you don’t want to be thinking about food shopping while doing deep work. Plan ahead. Make food ahead of time. Meal prep and freeze easy meals for later.
- It’s important to do some PREP beforehand to get your body ready to detox (see list above.) If you are not pooping every day, you are not ready for a detox.
Last Thought
Don’t over-think it. Just focus on getting all the things flowing in the body so elimination is more efficient when you start to cleanse or detox. Start slow. Drink your morning water. Add some dry brushing in. Try to work up a sweat as often as possible.
Be well,
Katja
