Detox diets are more popular than ever. With the growth of social media and the ever-growing need to present our bodies in the best possible shape on Instagram, most people are willing to do whatever it takes to look young and healthy.
When you look up detox definition you will find that these are diets which are designed for a short term to remove toxins from your body.
Typically that process consists of a fasting period followed by a strict meal plan full of fruits, veggies, teas, smoothies and tons of water.
If you are suffering from health problems like gut issues, autoimmune diseases, allergies or chronic fatigue it can make sense to try a detox diet to exclude possible toxins, chemicals, and other possibly harmful compounds. Ideally, the symptoms will get better and you can rule out different causes for your problems.
Detox DIY – 4 ways to detox easy
To successfully detox your body you don’t need to buy any expensive supplements which promise fast results. Follow a few simple tricks to make healthy decisions to remove things that distract you in life and make it “toxic”. Whether it is food that has a negative effect on your body or negative behaviors that need to be changed.
1. Alcohol detox cleanse
You had way too much fun at happy hour and way too often? While drinking and dancing all night long is much fun it is sure not for your liver.
When you have too many drinks, the liver gets overwhelmed with the amount of alcohol and processing it all. The unprocessed alcohol then keeps circulating through the bloodstream. As a result, the heart and brain are affected and people become intoxicated.
Luckily, the liver is a very forgiving organ and liver disease caused by alcohol is avoidable.
To detox your body from alcohol start with the most obvious thing: booze less.
Instead, try to incorporate a cup of coffee on a regular basis. According to MecialNewsToday “the exact mechanism behind coffee’s protective role are not understood” yet. But there are studies that hint on the positive effect of coffee on the liver.
In terms of food, include lots of “detox foods”. They provide your body with vitamins and minerals. As a rule of thumb, it is always a good idea to eat colorful fruits and veggies. The colors mostly indicate anti-inflammatory compounds. Think of deep green leafy vegetables or deep red cherries.
And last but not least limit an “unhealthy diet” in general. Unhealthy food choices on a regular basis can cause fat to build up around the liver and lead to liver disease.
My personal favorite and most useful tip for a successful detox is hitting the gym regularly. Muscles absorb alcohol better than fat. So, don’t shy away from lifting some weights.
2. Liquid detox
This is one of the most common ways to do a detox. You follow a 3 day detox diet where you replace all your meals with shakes. There can be variations in the details but you mainly will do one of these things:
fasting for 1-3 days
drinking fresh-pressed juices (fruits/veggies), herbal teas, water
drinking salted water or lemon juice
taking supplements or herbs
By going on a cleanse you help your body to clean itself. Your liver makes harmful toxins harmless and makes sure they are released from your body.
There are contrary reports from people who did a liquid detox.
Some report having more energy and a stronger focus. The improvement of your wellbeing can be due to the elimination of processed foods and other unhealthy foods from your diet. Plus you are likely to get more vitamins and minerals that were lacking before.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people who experience the opposite. They feel tired, unmotivated and overall unwell during the liquid detox period.
You might ask yourself “Is the suffering really worth it, do I have to go on detoxes regularly to be healthy?”
It is more sustainable and makes more sense if you follow a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle so you wouldn’t even be in the situation that you have to do a cleanse.
Your body is capable to clean itself perfectly just don’t flood it with bad foods and an unhealthy lifestyle.
3. My 22 favorite Detox Snacks of all time
To avoid a full-on starvation mode reach for these nutritious and super delicious snacks. They provide you with a variety of nutrients to support your body with what it needs to detoxify itself.
apple slices with cinnamon
chia drink (infuse your water with 1-2 tsp of chia seeds)
celery with peanut butter
asparagus
greek yogurt with berries
popcorn with cayenne pepper
almonds (unsalted)
sunflower seeds
carrots with hummus
watermelon
hard-boiled eggs
roasted chickpeas
protein balls
frozen grapes
turmeric tea
homemade bone broth
kombucha
coconut water
cottage cheese with tomatoes
cucumber with almond butter
artichokes
dates and blue cheese (+honey)
4. Salt Detox
There are two ways you can do a salt detox. You can either drink it or take a bath in it. But be careful, you don’t want to drink the salty liquid you use for your bath. They are two different liquids and I will explain the differences to you in a second. Let’s start in the bathtub.
Salt Bath
When you take a salt detox in your bathtub it is not as simple as pouring your table salt into your bathwater. For this kind of baths, you want to use Epsom salt.
From the outside, it looks similar to table salt but the compounds are different. Table salt consists of sodium whereas Epsom salt consists of magnesium and sulfate.
The biggest benefit of a detox bath is probably magnesium absorption. Magnesium is believed to be absorbed across the skin. As a result, it can help with relaxation and soreness. Soak in the bath for at least 12 minutes.
Soaking in a bathtub with Epsom salt sounds relaxing, right?! The many uses of Epsom salt reach from salt in the garden to Epsom salt showers. Click in for more details about how to detox your life. #healthtips #detox #epsomsalt
Saltwater Flush
When you want to treat constipation, bloating and cleanse your colon this method is a fast cleansing program. Supporters of saltwater flushes claim that they increase immune function and lift up your energy levels. If you have medical problems with colon toxins it can be worth a try and see if your symptoms get better.
A saltwater flush should best start on an empty stomach. Add 1-2 tsp. of non-ionized salt (e.g. pink Himalayan salt) to 1 liter of water. Then drink the mixture slowly over a period of 5 minutes. And make sure you are close to a bathroom.
Bonus Detox
As a fifth way to detox your life, I want to talk about digital detox. Detoxing your life is much more than food and fitness it also about unhealthy habits that pile up over time. Nowadays our iphones are practically glued to our hands and we have nonstop access to social media and the whole wide world via the internet.
The numbers below show the daily usage of social media in minutes per day. While in 2012 the average usage was 90 minutes per day, fast forward only 7 years later the usage increased for more than 58% to 153 minutes per day. That’s more than 2,5 hours per day spend on social media.
Social media has become a huge part of our lives for most of us. For 2019 the expected number of social media users is 2.77 billion.
If the trend continues and social media keeps taking more and more time of our lives we will reach a point in the future where we have to make an active decision. We have to decide how much time of our lives do we allow social media to steal from us.
Too much time spent on social media can cause severe health problems like anxiety, depression, sleep problems or a negative body image of yourself according to psycom.net.
Allow yourself a break from the online world and take your focus back to the real world around you. I know, it is easier said than done.
Here are a few tips you can follow for a digital detox:
1. Be aware WHY you pull out your phone
It’s like mindless munching on snacks when we are not even hungry. Very often we use our phones as a distraction or to avoid situations we don’t feel comfortable in. When you are sitting alone in a group of people, what is the first thing you do? You pull out your phone and use it as a shield to protect yourself from what is happening around you.
Next time you are in a situation like this, keep the phone in your pocket and be present for the moment.
2. Don’t glorify busyness
Too often we take pride in being busy all the time. Staying busy is easier than taking time to pursue what would really make us happy. And having a distraction device aka our phone with us all the time makes being busy and distracted so easy. There is literally no limit for distraction when you are surfing the web.
3. Silent mode
Put your phone in silent mode. Turn off beeps, buzzes, notifications, and alerts. By removing these distractions, we can focus on what really needs our attention and make better use of our time.
According to an article from lifehacker.com it takes 23 minutes to get back to your task after a distraction. Imagine how much faster you can get things done when you minimize distractions around you.
