Methods to Help Support Your Detoxification Process
1. Rebalance your gut
The healthier and more intact your gut is, the fewer inflammatory particles you’ll have in circulation, and the less clean-up work your body’s detoxification system will need to do. Try including foods such as turmeric, sauerkraut, asparagus, onions, garlic, artichokes, kidney beans, bananas, jicama, and broccoli.
2. Exercise and Movement
The body is designed to move. However, we live in a busy modern world that includes less movement on a daily basis. When we are moving more frequently the body can naturally refresh the system with clean, disease- fighting, white blood cell-rich lymphatic fluid. Gentle movement like walking, yoga, swimming, or even cruising a few laps around the office, or a walk after dinner is just fine. Bottom line: keep moving every day — and throughout it — to facilitate fluid flow!
3. Yoga and Breath-work
Not only does regular stretching feel good and increase blood flow, but a regular habit of full-body stretching, be it classic athletic stretches or yoga-based, will help boost the flow of detoxification.
Try this exercise:
• Place the short side of a yoga mat against a wall, then put a bolster or three firmly folded blankets on the mat a few inches from the wall.
• Kneel to the side of the mat, facing away from the wall.
• Lean sideways over the bolster, pivot your hips, and swing your legs up the wall.
• Rest your pelvis on the bolster and your sit bones and heels against the wall.
• The back of your head and the tops of your shoulders should be sinking into the mat while you hold up your legs vertically.
• Your arms should be turned out at the sockets, resting comfortably at your sides with your hands and wrists relaxed. Feel your lumbar spine releasing and spreading from the center to the sides. Soften the sockets of your eyes, feeling the body release tension from the skull down to the heart.
• Remain in the pose for five to 15 minutes.
• When you are ready to come out of the pose, bend your legs and push your feet against the wall to slide off the bolster.
• Then bend your knees to your chest and roll over onto your right side before slowly pushing yourself up, rolling your head up last.
4. Hydration
In order to assist the body to detoxify properly it is very important to hydrate. The body is after all, roughly 95 percent water. Have fun with your hydration! Try mineral water, infused waters with fruit slices, and unsweetened green, black, red or herbal teas.
5. Focus on Whole Foods
Crowd out processed foods and fill up on nutrient-dense whole foods! Packaged foods put a strain on all your system, but focusing on a whole-foods diet will help keep your gut strong and leak-free, inflammation low and immunity high, thus enabling the body to focus its attention where it matters most: fighting infection and disease and delivering nutrients.
6. Stress-Management
Meditation is a perfect activity to manage stress! It is the ultimate relaxation tool and a fantastic stress-buster you can take advantage of anywhere, anytime. Meditation’s deep, focused breathing and muscle relaxation supports the health of your body, relieving the waste and congestion that tends to pile up when you’re stressed out! Meditate, walk, stretch, and breathing exercises are all great ways to work on lowering the stress level and reset your nervous system.
7. Nourish the Sould with Self-Care
Improve your quality of life with some good self-care! There are many things you can do to include in your self-care routines! Try a few feel-good, self-care staples like massage and infrared sauna sessions. These can help flush out toxins and excess fluids, reduce blood pressure, and encourage better detoxification. You can reduce stress and boost your mood! Try adding in some foam-rolling to your tool box for additional relaxation benefits, better muscle performance, and blood flow.
When you take the time for decreasing stress and increasing time for self-care you are giving your body the ammunition it needs to fight off the kind of health problems.
