Doing a Detox Cleanse

Doing a detox cleanse is such an amazing gift to give yourself!!!

I have done many of these in my life and I give a detailed account of exactly how we prepared, what we bought, what we did and how I felt here. 

Keep in mind that you are always eliminating toxins every day, a cleanse fast is a period of time where your body gets a chance to catch up on the back log.

Remember that the idea here is to give your digestive system a complete rest and, by doing so, allowing your body to remove built up toxins, repair, heal, re-balance and reset.  

This page contains details on how to detox, if you want to know more about why you should be doing a detox cleanse or a cleansing fast, read this page.

I recommend doing a 5-10 day detox cleanse once or twice per year (at the changing of the seasons - see spring cleaning tips - is a nice time to do this) and doing shorter cleansing fasts in between whenever you naturally don't have an appetite.

There are three stages to doing a 5-10 day cleanse;

• Pre-Cleanse
• Cleanse
• Post-Cleanse

... all described below.

Pre-Cleanse

Give yourself a proper pre-cleanse period of at least a week and up to a month or longer before your detox cleanse. The time you pre-cleanse is dependent on how toxic your diet and lifestyle is.

During this time fill your diet with alkaline foods such as fresh organic whole fruits and vegetables. Grains such as quinoa, millet, amaranth and buckwheat are okay to have during this stage but make the bulk of your diet fruits and vegetables. Be creative and make it fun. Drink good quality water at room temperature and on an empty stomach. You can add a squeeze of fresh lemon or a tsp of apple cider vinegar to your water.  Good quality proteins are okay during this time but keep the bulk of your pre-cleanse diet towards fruits and vegetables (including active fermented/cultured foods).

Stay away from acid forming foods like processed and refined foods (cakes, cookies, breads, pastas), coffee, artificial sweeteners, refined sugar, additives and preservatives, sodas, candy, etc. Start looking at the ingredient lists of everything you are taking in and stay away from any unnatural ingredients.

Support your body with plenty of rest and light exercise as you may already start to feel the effects of the detox cleanse during this stage. Just removing toxic and acid forming foods from your diet, which are difficult for your body to process, frees up so much energy that is now being redirected to cleaning house.

Cleanse

The cleanse stage is where you will remove solid food from your diet and just have liquids for 5-10 days.

Doing this part of the detox cleanse with others is hugely supportive.  It is always easier when around like minded people doing the cleanse at the same time as you.  There are many retreat centres around the world that offer cleansing fasts like this.  I am honoured to say that I was able to be the Executive Health Advisor at a world famous detox retreat in Thailand for many years and can attest to the magic that happens at a place like this.

If doing this at home, get friends or family members to do this with you.

If doing this at home on your own, create as much of a retreat environment as you can by freeing up your schedule and engaging in many calming, nourishing and inspiring activities and ensuring that you can get as much rest as you need.

Whether at home or at a retreat, take heed of the following important information and tips for use during your detox cleanse.

During the cleanse, it is very important to make sure that your body is still getting adequate nutrients and electrolytes. This is done by the intake of fresh green juices, coconut water, vegetable or potato peel broth and plenty of good quality water with a squeeze of lemon and/or a pinch of sea salt added.

Click here to read a detailed account of our recent 10 day juice fast.

It is important to make sure that a variety of fresh organic vegetables and fruits are used to make the juices and broths to ensure that they are full of a wide range of nutrients.

Your body doesn’t have to break down any solid food during this stage which gives your digestive system a complete rest. Your body can now fully concentrate on cleansing at a cellular level by releasing built up toxic and unwanted matter. During the detox cleanse your body will be able to repair and heal on many levels; physically, emotionally and psychologically.

Very important now is to support your body while all of this is happening.

Know, that as toxins are being released, you may feel a variety of cleansing reactions. Some common cleansing reactions are headaches, nausea, constipation or diarrhea, intestinal disturbances (gas, bloating, cramping), flu like symptoms, fatigue, aches and pains. On a psychological level you may experience mood swings, intense emotions, strange dreams, etc.

Two things are happening,

• Toxins are being stirred up within your system
• Toxins are being eliminated from your system

It is very important to keep a balance here by releasing toxins as they are being stirred up. If toxic debris is being stirred up in your system faster than you can get it out of your system you will feel sick. The balance is kept by either slowing down the stir up of toxins or by speeding up the elimination of toxins.

There are several ways to help your body to eliminate toxins during your detox cleanse. The best and fastest way is by doing some sort of colon cleanse; either an enema, a colema or a colonic.

An enema you can do yourself with an enema bag. Nowadays, there are several colonic irrigation places around where you can also book a series of appointments and go and have a colonic done. A colema is a cross between an enema and a colonic and is what I believe to be the best way to cleanse the colon. Not everyone has the room in their home to set up a colema board but if you do, this can be a great asset to your health.

Retreat centres will typically have something set up for you to clean your colon. Whichever option you choose, do some colon cleansing during your detox cleanse if needed. This is very important in the elimination of toxins and in helping you to feel good during the this time.

Also helpful is light exercise like yoga or walking. Our lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump like the heart to move its fluid around our body. Our lymph can only move when we move which is why our lymph nodes are located in our joint areas.

During a detox cleanse it is important to move your body in order to get that lymph moving so that the toxins in the lymph can get to the places in the body where they can be filtered out and removed.

Be sure to only engage in light, non-cardio exercise during the cleanse stage. Cardio exercise will require too much energy which will take energy away from the cleansing you are trying to achieve. A cleanse is a time of rest when your body can do work at a cellular level.

Other things that are very helpful while detoxifying your body are:

• Dry skin brushing
• Tongue scraping
• Steam baths
• Saunas
• Massage
• Neti pots
• Oil pulling
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Light exercise (no cardio or strength building)
  
• LOTS of rest
  

A cleanse is a retreat for your entire system. Plan and allow yourself to have several days of quiet, little stress, little tv, computers or cell phones. Get others to do the cleanse with you so you have support. Book colonic sessions or buy an enema bag and use it. Fill your time during the cleanse with healthy activities that you enjoy in order to make this time fun and enjoyable; long hot baths, good books, sharing green juice with uplifting friends, light work in the garden, going for walks etc.

A cleansing fast like this can be done at home but being at a retreat centre allows you to be fully removed from the stressors and distractions of daily life at home and also to be supported by the atmosphere of the retreat centre. The retreat centre will prepare everything for you and will usually have yoga and meditation classes as well as massage and other therapies available to you.

When doing any cleanse, always listen to your body. And always arrange the time of your cleanse to be one where you have plenty of time to relax and rest.

Post-Cleanse

The post-cleanse period is at least 2-4 days after your detox cleanse.

After your detox cleanse (your days on liquids) it is time to slowly start to introduce solid food back into your diet. Even though you are now eating be sure to keep up your intake of good quality water (add lemon for taste) in between meals on an empty stomach.

Start with some fresh papaya or some fresh watermelon. Have blended green smoothies and blended soups.  Eat some active cultured/fermented foods.  Have soaked prunes, berries or cherries.

During this post-cleanse period, it is very important to start with simple and easy to digest foods and to slowly build up your diet to, hopefully, a healthier diet than you had before. Stay away from packaged, processed and refined foods especially during this time and try to limit or eliminate them as you move forward.

As you start to re-introduce solid food back into your diet, support your digestive system with proper food combining and better digestion tips.

Tips and Reminders for Your Detox Cleanse

• the pre-cleanse and post-cleanse periods are very important, do not skip these stages.
• listen to your body. Slow or stop the cleanse if needed.
• get plenty of rest, don't plan anything stressful.
• drink plenty of water.
• ingest plenty of nutrients (green juices, vegetable/fruit juices, coconut water, broth).
• cleanse your colon.
• move your body with light, non cardio exercise (yoga, rebounding, walking).
• use skin brushing, tongue scraping, steam baths, saunas, massage, neti pots, oil pulling, deep breathing.
• meditate.
• limit use of electronics (cell phones, computers, tv, etc).
• have others do the cleanse with you.

Remember that, although cleansing is beneficial to better health, the most important part of any detox cleanse is how you come off the cleanse and the diet and lifestyle choices that are made after the cleanse is over and in between cleanses.

Take the time and make the effort to take care of your body and it will take care of you... you are so worth it!

Shorter Cleanses that come Naturally

The human animal is a cyclical creature, meaning that we have many natural rhythms that repeat over time.

One of these natural rhythms or cycles is our appetite. 

Look at a baby/toddler.  Some days they eat LOTS and other days they just don't want much.  It is instinctive and unplanned, it is the body naturally saying that, sometimes, it just doesn't have much of an appetite.

As adults, we get these same instinctive feelings as well and it does us well to pay attention to these and heed these messages.

Why would our body not have an appetite sometimes?

For many reasons.  Your appetite may be naturally lessened if;

• You are healing, recovering or repairing from something
• A great stress has entered your life
• You are all consumed with a mental/creative project
• Something else is going on in your system

It is hard to say exactly why we may wake up with no appetite at times but I truly believe in the wisdom of the makeup of our bodies and believe true health can come when we clean up our system and then heed the messages we get from within.

Not according to a Calendar, but according to Your Body

I don't recommend doing these short fasts according to a calendar. 

I tried this before, deciding to fast one day a week or one weekend a month ... and it didn't work.  It was very hard to stick to a schedule laid out ahead of time and nearly impossible to try and not eat when my body very much wanted to.

So I let that idea go very quickly and now I do short fasts whenever my body naturally feels to do so.

Several times a year I will just not have much of an appetite and it is during these times that I will either fast on water or on very easy to digest foods.

The fast will usually only last a day or two and then my appetite naturally comes back.

What to Consume during these Short Fasts

See how you feel.

If just doing water feels great, do so.  Very nice to structure the water you are drinking by adding a little fresh lemon or raw organic apple cider vinegar.

If you feel like you want something a bit more than just water try;

• Green juice
  
• Green smoothie
• Watermelon or other easy to digest fruits like papaya or other melons
• Raw fruits and vegetables

When to Break these Short Fasts

Listen to your body.  Pay attention to your appetite signals and when you naturally start to feel more hungry, feed yourself something nourishing and more substantial.

This is all about becoming more in tune with your own inner guidance system. 

Keep adding great things into your life, and the non-beneficial things, foods, people, etc. will naturally and effortlessly fall away in time.

Keep doing meditative practices to more and more open up the channels of communication between your instinctive inner guidance and your conscious mind

You are worth it!!!

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