Cleanses are all the rage, especially at the beginning of a new year when many people are focused on their health and losing weight.
I learned about cleansing and fasting in my health coaching course this past week, and one thing stood out to me.
Cleanses and fasting allow your body to release toxins they have been holding on to. And the important part was that if your body isn't able to eliminate those toxins, they stay in your body. Except now that they're free, they can basically float all over and make you sick.
So here it is, the one thing to know about cleanses:
If you're cleansing, you need to have your avenues of elimination open.
Your body has five primary avenues of eliminating waste and toxins. In the naturopathic world, we refer to them as BULLS:
B - Bowels
U - Urinary
L - Lungs
L - Lymphatic
S - Skin
So to effectively cleanse your body, you need to be sure these avenues are working their best.
Bowels - Yes, you really should have a bowel movement every day. In truth, the ideal is 6-8 hours after every meal.
Urinary - Stay hydrated to flush those newly freed toxins out of your body. Aim for half your body weight in ounces of water each day.
Lungs - Practice deep breathing to release more toxins when you exhale. Most of us only use a small percentage of our lung capacity with each breath. Breathe with your belly rather than your chest and rib cage.
Lymphatic - This is a system you might not know much about, and I'm not going in depth here. But the best way to get your lymphatic system working is to move. Walking, jogging, even jumping on a mini trampoline are effective.
Skin - Don't load your skin up with a lot of toxic products. Leave it free to breathe and, yes, sweat.
When those avenues are open, your body can get rid of all those toxins you're working so hard to cleanse your body from.
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