Question: "I've been hearing the spring is a good season to detoxify. Can you recommend a complementary program for "spring cleaning" my body?"
Suggestions:
Corrective Exercise
Taking part in a detox program is a very important thing to do since we are exposed to many different toxins on a daily basis. The confusing part is that there are so many different types of detox programs out there and it’s hard to know which one is the best for you. This is why it’s necessary to seek professional guidance from a Naturopath or Nutritionist in order to choose the right program and complete it safely and effectively.
When detoxifying the body it’s essential to drink plenty of clean, filtered water, eat right for your body- knowing your metabolic type, and exercise. Exercise is one of the most effective ways to rid the body of toxins because it causes an increase in respiratory rate and it makes you sweat. With balanced exercise the body will release toxins through the sweat glands and rid itself of metabolic waste due to an increase in oxygen exchange. It is important however that the right intensity is applied during a detox program. It must be understood that exercise is a stress to the body and too much stress creates diminishing returns. The right amount of exercise is dependent on what detox program your health care provider recommends.
You can find more information about eating right for your metabolic type by visiting:
www.metabolictyping.com
Jasson Zurilgen
C.H.E.K. Practitioner
Heroics
www.heroicsusa.com
Aromatherapy
It is extremely beneficial to treat the skin and internal organs with Essential Oils for detoxification in the Spring. During a Detox, take a nightly bath with essential oils of: Grapefruit Citrus x paradisi (5 Drops), Fennel Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce (4 drops), Frankincense Boswellia carteri (4 drops) and Juniper* Juniperus communis(10 drops) per 1 cup of Dead Sea Salts or Epsom Salts. You may enjoy accompanying your Detox with a biweekly massage. Take these oils to your regular massage therapist or massage partner: Laurel* Laurus nobilis (5 drops), Juniper* (10 drops), Cypress Cupressus sempervirens (6 drops) and Lemon Citrus limon (4 drops) in 1 oz. of Organic Jojoba or Sunflower Oil. (*Exclude Juniper and Laurel from these recipes if you are pregnant).
By getting rid of old anger and starting fresh, you are giving yourself the gift of Emotional Detox. Just before leaving your home for the day, meditate for 10 minutes using essential oils. To do this, sit for 10 minutes and repeat a meaningful phrase demanding the exit of negative energy with the following essential oils on the soles of your feet: Geranium Pelargonium graveolens, Rosemary ct. verbenone Rosmarinus officinalis ct. verbenone, German Matricaria recutita & Roman chamomile Chamaemelum nobile, Fennel, Carrot Seed Daucus carota, Helichrysum Helichrysum italicum and Blue Tansy Tanacetum annuum. Some of these oils are quite pricey, but you can pick and choose as these are all effective. And, refer to your Aromatherapist for purchasing and customization questions.
Carol Walter
Certified Aromatherapist
Solace Essentials
www.solaceessentials.com
Cranio Sacral
Spring is a very natural time for the body to go into a process of shedding and cleansing, so I like to keep it simple with “spring cleaning”. Focus on nourishing yourself with whole foods, pure water, fresh air, and time for relaxation. Simply relieving your body of the burden of some of the habits we become accustomed to, such as poor food choices, high stress, and shallow breathing, can go a long way in helping to cleanse the body.
Craniosacral treatments help renew the fluid systems in the body and allow people to feel greater mental clarity as well as profound relaxation. People receiving this work during “spring cleaning” find it becomes much easier to create new habits for Spring and make healthy choices.
Shawna Lendzion Harbin, LMP, CCSP
Licensed Massage Practitioner & Certified
Craniosacral Practitioner
NoctiLuca Essential Wellness
www.noctilucaessentialwellness.com
Medical Intuitive
Ionic Foot Bath - The Ionic Foot Bath is a great detoxing machine which helps with extracting inorganic items in the body. The body has a hard time getting rid of these substances itself, so in this extreme time of environmental toxins, its takes an extreme machine.
The Ionic Foot Bath takes out: Metal, Tobacco, Chemicals, Smog/Pollution, Yeast from Sugar, Mold, Viruses. Can help with: Weight Loss – Inability to Release toxins, Increase in immunity - more function back to the organ, Sore Joint Relief due to debris in joint capsules, Allergy relief, overloaded Liver and Kidney. After a 30 minute treatment you will not be able to see your feet due to the amount of toxins in the water.
If you have any type of metal from traumatic injuries, such as plates, rods, or screws the Ionic Foot Bath is essential for the removal or metal from the body. It will increase circulation and take away the pain; the pain is the leaching of metal into the body.
Jacob Caldwell, LMP
www.StepsToEnlightenment.com
Acupuncture
Yes, Spring is a great time to cleanse. From the Five Element Acupuncture perspective, it is the time of the Wood Element and the meridians of our Liver and Gallbladder. These meridians are not only greatly in charge of how we detox physiologically, but also how we detox the mind and spirit as well. Detox regimens can really vary. On the extreme end, there is the Master Cleanser, essentially the only nourishment that you take is a lemonade concoction made from lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water, six to twelve glasses per day for a minimum of 10 days. I don’t recommend this as a first-time cleanse option. On the other end of the spectrum, you can simply take two weeks to eat only organic, whole grain foods, cutting out sugar, minimize meat and dairy, and only drink water or herbal teas. I did a 10-day cleanse last year that is somewhere in the middle.
Day 1 – fruit, raw or cooked vegetables, whole grains, half your body weight in water
Day 2 - fruit, raw or cooked vegetables, half your body weight in water
Day 3 – vegetable or diluted fruit juice, half your body weight in water
Day 4, 5, 6 – 8oz of water per hour
Day 7 – same as Day 3
Day 8 – same as Day 2
Day 9 – same as Day 1
Day 10 – slowly start to incorporate beans and other proteins
Some things to keep in mind with any cleanse:
- getting enough water is REALLY important
- having a lighter schedule from both a work and emotional standpoint would be ideal
- incorporating a fiber supplement can also facilitate the process
- our skin is our largest eliminative organ, so dry skin-brushing is great
- oxidative stress is a huge player in toxins being built up in the body – I carry two products called OPC-3 and ORAC from Nutrametrix which are superior anti-oxidant supplements
- while a controversial topic, many people have found exploring colon-hydrotherapy as a means to detox from many things, including heavy metals – for those here in Seattle, check out the Tummy Temple
- From a Chinese medicine standpoint, the strongest time for our Gallbladder and Liver meridians is from 11pm-3am, so being in bed by 11pm and allowing our body to rest, can really allow these processes to happen in the most efficient ways
Finally, because you are going to also be detoxing the mind and spirit, its good to let people know you are doing a cleanse. Having professional work can also be a very powerful adjunct, either through bodywork (e.g. acupuncture, massage, reiki, etc.) or exploring more mind/spirit related avenues such as going to a meditation center or working with a counselor.
For more information, visit: http://www.thzenofhealing.com
David A. Tucker, MSAOM, L.Ac, LMP
Acupuncturist, Herbalist, Massage Therapist
The Zen of Healing
Chiropractic
Every moment is a great moment to detoxify. The problem with detox programs is that it promotes a binge/purge philosophy. The whole idea behind wellness and health is consistency. There really is no need to detox if you are living consistently within the laws of normal body function because the body will take care of itself in spite of what you do to it. As an aside, detox programs are in fact very hard on your adrenal glands because the starvation response of the body relies heavily on the functions of the adrenal glands. The challenge with relying on the adrenals in this way is that most people in the western world are in a sub-clinical state of adrenal fatigue anyway due to stress.
Therefore, adding more onto the plate of the adrenal glands is not what I would recommend. Remember that the adrenal glands are the organs that connect the nervous system to the hormone system. In other words, the adrenal glands are told by the nervous system to send out chemical hormones that slowly regulate functions like metabolism and energy levels. So, keeping your adrenal glands healthy and stress free is of paramount importance to the whole system. Instead of undergoing a stressful detox program, start to change your lifestyle habits. Learn to eat, think and move in a way that supports what the body is genetically programmed to do anyway which is to be healthy! Give yourself a year. Start with exercising, a great way to detox, at least thirty minutes every day. This doesn’t mean joining a gym and walking on a treadmill monotonously for hours either. Exercise means moving your body in a vigorous way.
So, get outside and walk, hike, swim, ride or garden. Increase your intake of fluoride and chlorine free water (66% of your body weight in ounces per day). Consume at least 3grams of fish oil per day. Finally, pick yourself up a quality Greens powder. The greens will help to supply the nutrients required by the organs of detoxification (namely the liver, kidneys, spleen, skin and digestive system). Then, when your year is up and you take a moment to reflect back, you will have created permanent habits that will serve you for your entire life and not just the length of your detox program! Remember the old saying, “Catch a fish for someone and he/she can eat for a meal. Teach someone to fish and he/she can eat for a lifetime!”
Yours in health.
Dr. Jason Penaluna
(Chiropractor and owner of Penaluna Chiropracitc Studio, PS)
(For more information visit www.penalunachiropractic.com)
Massage Therapy
Energetically, Spring is a wonderful time for cleansing… out with the old and in with the new, as they say! It’s generally a more active time of year and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables begin to be readily available at your local farmer’s market! From a bodywork perspective, massage and reflexology are fantastic complements to any detoxification program. Massage promotes toxins to be released from the tissues and increases circulation to help move the waste out of the body. Releasing the diaphragm can also encourage deeper and balanced breathing, which is a huge component to an effective detox. In addition, the holistic approach of therapeutic massage can ease some of the side-effects of harsher cleansing, such as headache, fatigue and irritability During a professional reflexology session, specific organs can be addressed to help promote healing and detoxification of the digestive system.
Guinevere Amadeo, LMP.
Massage Therapist, Reflexologist
Holistic Health Examiner
Naturopathic Medicine
Spring is a great time to detoxify.
1. A good detox program will support all 5 organs of elimination (emunctories): Liver, Bowels, Kidneys, Lungs, Skin and for females, the Uterus is a 6th emunctory.
The program should contain: a simple organic diet free from packaged foods, filtered water that is ½ the person’s weight in ounces or more (150# person = 75 oz water) herbal supplements and essential oils to support the detox pathways in the liver and elimination processes in the other organs.
Physical medicine such as lymphatic massage, chiropractic adjustments, yoga therapy, acupuncture, dry skin brushing, netipot/sinus irrigation, full body oil applications and steams, breath exercises, walks in the fresh air, sleep hygiene etc.
2. Your current state of health should also be considered. Some people should NOT start a detox plan until their state of health is improved in order to handle the circulating toxins mobilized by the detox process. If a person has one or more emunctories not fully functioning they should have a few weeks to a month of “prep” work.
3. It is highly recommended you seek professional support during this important process. Not only will they be able to help assess the current state of your elimination organs but will be able to establish a plan that will be safe and most helpful to you. Please remember, it is normal to feel sick during this process. However, when is too sick unsafe? The professional person (ND, Accupuncturist, Herbalist etc) can assess the level of sickness and offer further support to help you move through the sickness and into a healthier state.
Alexandra Porter, N.D.
Kerala Ayurvedic Clinic & Academy, Seattle
or Northcreek Clinic, Bothell
Although OMM contributors are professional healthcare providers, the information and advice published on OneMindMedical.blogspot.com is generalized and not intended to replace a thorough evaluation of your unique physical concerns. You should not use this information for diagnosing or treating a medical or health condition. You should consult a physician or applicable practitioner in all matters relating to your health, and particularly in respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. Any action on your part in response to the information provided in this web site is at the reader's discretion
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