The Right Way to Detox

How does this 7 day detox diet plan "to get fit and healthy" sound to you?

• Breakfast: fresh vegetable juice (carrots, beetroot, celery, mint, coriander, parsley, wheatgrass, spinach, kale) + 1 TBSP chia seeds for extra fiber and a power boost
  • *No fruit juiced in or that will shoot blood sugar up
• Lunch: raw or lightly steamed vegetables
• Dinner: vegetable stew
• Snacks: as much water and unsweetened tea as you want, plus trail mix of nuts and seeds as desired

If you can believe it, this is the advice you get on a top Google page when you search "detox diet".

*Please DO NOT follow this plan, it's here only as an example*

You may be thinking, who would ever search for a detox diet on the internet? You'd be surprised....

"Detoxing" is a normal, physiological process the body performs on its own. But of course, society has made it a fad to sell expensive juices and supplements.

A really restrictive diet (as described above) may remove tough to digest foods from people's diets (like improperly prepared grains and fast foods), which very well may lead to some level of "cleansing" - but this is ultimately unsustainable, unnecessary and un-supportive of the metabolism. 

What does that mean longterm?

This type of restriction (both of food groups - like protein... where was the protein in that entire full day of eating vegetables?) and calorically (how many calories do we think that detox diet plan was, maybe 500 total for the day?) hinders our body's natural ability to detox, because we're no longer supporting energy production.

We'd need to keep doing extreme things, such as more juice cleanses or extensive fasting, to feel like we're "cleansed"...

Oh, and we'd probably start to feel absolutely terrible, starving, and more than likely wind up binging on all the foods we restricted after the fact. So much for that cleanse, right?

But what if there was another way?

What if we could support our bodies to naturally detoxify on their own, regularly, how they are intended to do so?

Improving the metabolic rate is synonymous with improving the way your body uses energy, which can be accomplished by prioritizing easy to digest foods in proper macronutrient ratios, smart exercise, stress reduction, good sleep, etc.

Notice, I did not include restrictive, 7 day detox diets eating exclusively vegetables and seeds...

Of course it also helps to reduce/eliminate external factors that block energy production, such as direct & excessive mold exposure, utilization of cosmetic and cleaning products with known toxins, BPAs in plastics, and so on.

Thus, detoxing effectively can and should be viewed from two perspectives:

1. Supporting energy production via improving the metabolic rate
2. Reducing toxin input and encouraging the excretion of existing accumulation 

We believe that there are 3 foundational principles to detoxing, plus 3 supplemental "tools" that you can use to enhance detoxification - which are especially useful if you've been exposed to mold or are dealing with environmental toxin or estrogen overload.

Here's some more information on the three foundational principles:

More information about 3 supplemental tools you can use to enhance detoxification are included in an Instagram post from this past week. But you should really only explore these once you have mastered the 3 basics. 

If this is something that peaks your interest, you feel like you've got a lot you could work on in regards to improving your metabolism, opening up detox pathways, and ridding excessive build up of toxins (this all goes hand in hand), this just so happens to be one of the main focuses of our course, Rooted in Resilience.

We teach you how to simultaneously improve your metabolic health whilst ridding excess toxins in all aspects of your life. The result? A body that does the work for you.

It's amazing what the body is capable of when you provide it what it needs.

Remember this: your body can heal itself of anything if you provide it the right environment to do so.