Body Cleanse Hub

Body cleansing is the process of removing toxins from your body.  Simple concept, right?  In modern society, we consume more toxins than we know.  That Whopper from Burger King, the Grilled Stuft Burrito from Taco Bell, the Big Mac and fries….all of these things contain substances that the human body cannot digest.  Over a lifetime of consuming these substances, our body gets backed up with toxins it cannot digest and needs a little help.  That’s where a body cleanse comes in.

A body cleanse can be done in a multitude of ways.  Contrast showers, detoxification foot pads, oil pulling, Scientology’s Purification Rundown, the Master Cleanse and the Fruit Flush are just a few.  There are mild and easy methods like the contrast shower and there are harder and longer methods like the Master Cleanse.  Most health and vitamin stores carry some sort of body cleanse formula; generally these are taken in pill form over the course of a week.

There are many different reasons to do a body cleanse or detox.  One reason for the huge fad in detox diets is weight loss.  The human body retains a lot of water so in the first few days of a detox, your body sheds this water and you quickly lose pounds and inches in water weight.  What most people DON’T know is that this weight is the easiest and quickest to gain back.

Another reason to detox is for general wellbeing.  The toxins that dwell in the body can affect many things.  That craving for caffeine?  The need to smoke?  Cravings and addictions are caused by a build-up of toxins.  By body cleansing, you get rid of the toxins causing these cravings and can ultimately get rid of the cravings themselves.  Ever spoken to the smoker who quit and now can’t even be in the same room as cigarette smoke without gagging?  Same thing.  Their body got rid of the toxins that made cigarettes attractive to them and now the body is rejecting those toxins, remembering what it did to the body.

Body cleansing and detox diets have been referred to as elaborate hoaxes by the scientific community.   While there may not be any scientific data that truly explains the inner workings of toxins in the body and body cleansing methods, there are thousands of people who have tried the methods and experienced great results.

You feel better.  Feel refreshed.  Most people report an increase in energy and an improvement in mood.  Could this be all in the head?  Perhaps.  But there is not enough quantitative data to prove one way or the other.  So be safe.  Read your directions.  Follow them.  Judge for yourself.

The Master Cleanse is a serious, long term body cleanse created by Stanley Burroughs in 1941.  Burroughs considered it a detoxification program that removes harmful toxins, promotes weight loss, and cures ulcers.

The cleanse is done in 3 different parts; the Ease-in, the Lemonade Diet and the Ease-out.  The first part, the Ease In, is a three day body prep.  The amount and types of food that most people consume on a daily basis are not conducive to this cleanse, so the first 3 days will slowly wean you off of foods and onto a juice diet.

The cleanse itself can be done for any amount of time.  3 days is the shortest time frame, but some people do it one day a week.  5-7 days is a good first try and 10 days will give you the best results.  Each day, you prepare your daily allotment of “lemonade”.  The lemonade you will be consuming is not your standard lemonade.  You will be making it with fresh squeezed lemon (or lime) juice, organic maple syrup and cayenne pepper.  This will be your diet for the next 10 days.  Anytime you feel hunger, you drink the lemonade.

The other big part of this body cleanse is the Salt Water Flush.  Each day (you can do this in the morning or the evening to fit your schedule) you will mix Organic Sea Salt into a glass of water and drink it.  You do not have to drink it in one go, but if you take a break, you may not be able to continue drinking.  This will cause a bowel movement.  It can take 5 minutes or it can take 60 minutes.  You should make sure that when you do the Salt Water flush that you are in close proximity to a bathroom.  You will most likely have 3-7 movements.  During the first few days, you will be moving all the solid matter out of your body.  In the following days, you will expel the toxins that are the reason you’re doing this body cleanse in the first place.

During the cleanse, you can drink as much water as you want.  Water will help keep you full and will chase the taste of both the Salt Water portion and the Lemonade out of your mouth.
The Ease-out is the same thing as the Ease-in.  Because your body has not been used to solid foods, reintroducing them slowly is a good idea.  Running out to McDonald’s for a cheeseburger would most likely make you very sick very quickly.  You should start slowly, with juices and then work yourself back up to where you are eating solid foods.

The Master Cleanse is not for the faint of heart!  It’s one of the most extreme detox methods available and can be one of the harshest of the body cleanse choices.  Jared Leto and Beyonce have both tried this diet with great results.  Beyonce, however, denounced the diet, saying that there are other ways to lose weight and she would not recommend it if someone wasn’t doing a movie.  It is a fairly large time commitment and can be more hassle than it’s worth.

Pop star opinions aside, The Master Cleanse is NOT for everyone and you should make sure you prepare yourself adequately for such an extreme body detox method.

Periodic body cleanses are certainly a staple of a well-balanced lifestyle but what about eliminating the factors that necessitate such cleanses?  While the majority of Americans have awful diets full of saturated fats and processed supplements, there are those of us that want to clean up our dietary lifestyle for the long term.  Obviously, a person who makes healthier food choices on a daily basis is going to be far less toxic, and thus require fewer periodic cleanses.  But how?

It always seems like such an insurmountable task to “eat healthy” or “go on a diet,” right?  Even the phrase itself gives you shudders because you imagine getting sick of salads for dinner all the time and avoiding everything that you love to eat.  But, I assure you, there are subtle changes you can make to your lifestyle and eating habits that will have a large impact on your overall health without leaving you feeling deprived.

1.    Commit to three vegetarian dinners per week.
Meat is very dense substance that takes our bodies a lot of effort to break down and digest.  Certain proteins in most meats have a tendency to cause build-up in the colon.
2.    Use lighter, fat free salad dressing.
3.    Add fruit to your cereal.
4.    Switch to skim or fat free milk & dairy.
5.    Drink a glass of pure, organic 100% juice three times a week.
6.    Replace one beef or pork entrée with fish.
Fish is easier on the digestive tract and has helpful Omega-3 fatty acids that other meat does not.
7.    Replace fried foods with something baked or grilled.
Greasy fried food is accountable for a large percent of the trans fats and heavy toxins in the modern diet.  Try to replace 2 portions of fried food per week for starters.
8.    Drink 6-8 glasses of water per day.
Getting more water through your body helps in the digestion process and keeps your muscles and joints lubricated and working at peak performance.  Water is essential to any body cleanse as well.
9.    Eat Wheat bread instead of its bleached White counterpart.
10.     Eliminate that second cup of coffee or that soda refill.
Caffeine is a drug that does several physiological things to your system.  The excitation of the nerves is the desired effect but the crash afterward is the body running low on essential nutrients burned up in the caffeine rush.

Some of these will seem harder to do than others but they are all relatively easy ways to reduce your toxic intake.   Instead of a full multi-day body cleanse, consider implementing a small step to improve your health.  Whenever you think of it, check the list and keep one of the points in mind for the next couple days.  These subtle changes to your diet will have lasting impacts on your health and longevity.