Spring clean your insides Today our lives and diets put our bodies under a massive toxic invasion, and for a lot of us, our body is losing the battle to keep the toxic load under control. This is when it’s great to detox.
The point of a detox is to help your vital organs to clear toxins from your body, which helps to revitalise your digestive system. This is important because you could eat the best diet in the world, but if you don’t digest your food properly, there’s no nutritional value. The detox process usually focuses on the stomach, liver and bowel. The stomach needs to be cleansed to stimulate digestion and reduce problems such as bloating, cramps and indigestion. A liver cleanse improves its ability to convert fats into energy and flush the digestive system. Cleansing the bowel rids the body of unwanted impurities and waste, and should be done at least once a year as a spring clean.
When you are in need of a detox, it can be due to your body having low levels of vitamin C, zinc, and glutathione (a detoxification substance, normally synthesised from the food we eat). Glutathione is required by all cells of the body and in high concentrations. Without this substance, the cells cannot protect themselves from inner and outer free radical damage. Glutathione is also required to produce energy inside the cells. Without glutathione to protect cells from this damage, they die earlier than they should. High cellular turnover begins, and this in turn puts pressure on the bone marrow to make replacement cells.
The body begins to store the toxins it now can’t get rid of in the fat cells, as a method of further protecting the body. The problem is that this causes a lowered thyroid function as the body signals not to burn the toxic fats, and in the search for an alternative energy source, the body switches to adrenal metabolism. Two common signs that this has occurred is when someone experiences cold hands and feet, and a racing heart as adrenaline floods the body to compensate, and rapid weight gain can occur.
- Dr Glen Curd
