5 Ways to Detox Your Body After A Stressful Lifestyle
Food is your fuel for the day: your fuel for life. If you’ve been surviving on a lifestyle packed with junk food, alcohol and stress, your body is likely out of balance on many levels.
When you start eating healthy, you will discover that your overall health will improve.
This means that certain chronic health conditions will start to improve, too.
This also means that you won’t need certain pills or coping mechanisms to “survive”, because you will be actively building a life that allows you not to be in “survival mode” 24/7.
First, you need to look at the health of your liver: the project manager of the body.
After that… well, there’s plenty of work!
1. METAL CLEANSE
Your body probably has metal that shouldn’t be there.
How did metal get there?
Water (lead, arsenic)
Food (arsenic)
Vaccines (aluminum)
Dental procedures (mercury)
Beauty products (aluminum, lead)
What does metal do to your body?
Let’s start with arsenic:
In addition to skin cancer, long-term exposure to arsenic may also cause cancers of the bladder and lungs. Other adverse health effects that may be associated with long-term ingestion of inorganic arsenic include developmental effects, diabetes, pulmonary disease and cardiovascular disease. (Source)
Next is lead:
Exposure to lead can affect multiple body systems and is particularly harmful to young children and women of child-bearing age. Lead in the body is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones. It is stored in the teeth and bones, where it can accumulate over time. (Source)
What about aluminum?
Aluminum accumulates in the kidneys, brain, lungs, liver and thyroid where it competes with calcium for absorption and can affect skeletal mineralization. In infants, this can slow growth. Aluminum attacks your central nervous system. Aluminum is linked to degenerative brain diseases. (Source)
And how bad is mercury?
Mercury may have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes. (Source)
Digesting mercury is particularly bad for pregnant women:
Foetuses are most susceptible to developmental effects due to mercury. Methylmercury exposure in the womb can result from a mother’s consumption of fish and shellfish. It can adversely affect a baby’s growing brain and nervous system. The primary health effect of methylmercury is impaired neurological development. Therefore, cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills may be affected in children who were exposed to methylmercury as foetuses. (Source)
What are some of the foods that may contain metal?
Fish/seafood consumption is the strongest dietary predictor of mercury biomarker concentrations; however, consumption of wine, rice, vegetables/vegetable oil, or liquor may also contribute, especially among non-seafood consumers. (Source)
Being a conscious consumer is the first step. It’s time to start tracking what’s on the ingredient’s list, because ultimately that’s what’s going to create problems in your body — not how many calories you consume or how “approved by society” the brands you use are.
2. PARASITE CLEANSE
After you’ve inspected your environment and body for metals, it’s time to continue clearing your gut!
What do parasites in your body love?
Sugar (cookies, cakes, sweet stuff)
Wheat (bread, pasta, rice)
Dairy products
Coffee
What do parasites in your body hate?
A healthy lifestyle that avoids the types of food mentioned above and includes plenty of water, exercise and garlic (yup, they really hate garlic).
When you’re going on your parasite cleanse, it’s important to give your body a rest from all the foods that are contributing to the growth of your little parasite army, so that you can disempower them and slowly but surely remove them from your organism.
Keep in mind that if you have serious sugar cravings, it might be more than just an addiction to sugar — it might be parasites.
3. HORMONE BALANCING
If you’ve been living unhealthy and eating unhealthy, your hormones are probably out of balance as a result of your “stressful” lifestyle: a lifestyle that is bringing stress to the body.
Hormones are natural chemical responses of the body that carry messages between different organs.
Think of hormones as your body’s chemical messengers.
They affect many processes that are crucial for your overall wellbeing, including mood, growth and development, metabolism, sexual function and reproduction.
Here are some common symptoms you might have hormonal imbalance:
Hormonal imbalances are the leading cause of infertility for women, so they should not be ignored.
There are many ways to start your hormonal balancing journey, but the best way to approach this is to play the long game: heal holistically and organically, opposed to taking pills (synthetic biology) that may cause further damage to the natural processes in your body.
4. NERVOUS SYSTEM BALANCING
What happens to the body when you live in a state of stress 24/7?
Yes, your hormonal levels get all over the place, in particular your cortisol levels.
Cortisol is the stress response hormone.
As long as your cortisol levels are high, you are in survival mode or in the fight-or-flight state.
What does living with high cortisol levels cause the body?
Chronic stress that can manifest as:
Infections
Digestive problems
Fatigue and headaches
Insomnia and sleeping problems
Racing heart and anger issues
Back, neck and joint paint
Hives or skin rashes
Anxiety and vertigo
Confusion and lack of focus
Dissociation and depression
Have I listed enough symptoms and health conditions to emphasise how important your nervous system is for your wellbeing?
The best way to restore the normal function of your nervous system is to simply slow down: meditate, breathe, take a walk, take regular breaks, spend time in nature, do aromatherapy, use colours to ground your attention in the present moment and explore mindfulness techniques.
To calm down your nervous system, you need to switch from operating in your sympathetic system to being in your parasympathetic system.
5. LYMPHATIC SYSTEM DRAINAGE
The final system that requires your attention is your lymphatic system.
If you’ve been living unhealthy, this has weakened your immune system, and there’s likely mucus stored in your body that’s contributing to the development of chronic conditions (yes, even those that happen periodically or “on and off”).
While breathing and meditation are excellent ways to restore the normal processes of your body, and exercise and movement help to reboot your metabolism, there‘s healing that’s needed on a deeper level, physically speaking.
Simply put, the lymphatic system is a network of delicate tubes throughout the whole body that moves a colourless fluid called lymph back to your bloodstream, so it’s kind of a big deal!
When regulated, the lymphatic system protect us from infections and diseases, since it’s part of the body’s immune system.
And when it’s dysregulated, the lymphatic system becomes ineffective in protecting you from diseases, such as:
Skin infections
Body inflammations
Cardiovascular disorders
Metabolic disturbances
Here’s how you can begin to “befriend” your lymphatic system and apply proactive self-care to make sure your body remains in optimum condition to serve you.
