As we prepare to say goodbye to 2012 and welcome in 2013, many people are getting ready to “detoxify” their bodies. It’s the first of the year, New Year resolutions, January is kind of a dull month for most with little to look forward to so why not detoxify?
Well folks, here’s the skinny on detoxification. You’re already detoxifying. Our body detoxifies itself 60 seconds every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year for our entire lives. It is programmed to constantly clean up the mess we throw at it.
The spleen and liver clean our blood, the kidneys clean our urine, the bacteria in our colon “cleans” our food, our lungs and respiratory tracts filter the air, our skin sluffs off old toxin containing layers, our sweat carries toxins out through our skin as well, we are in fact a perfectly programmed detoxifying machine. Even crying can help to detoxify our emotional state. It is true, however, that the more toxins you throw at your body, the harder your body has to work to maintain itself in a healthy state. The more alcohol you consume the harder the liver has to work to process the alcohol. The more inflammatory foods you eat the harder your system works to protect your body from the inflammation. The more dirty air you breathe, the harder it is for the respiratory system to filter and clean the air. The more sedentary you are the less you sweat, depriving the body of the cleansing achieved through sweating.
The bottom line: the more toxins you throw at the body, the more potentially toxic you become. The more toxic you become the more likely it is that your health will degrade. Yes, detoxifying and being clean with your diet for two weeks a year is helpful but if you return to the same old toxic loading behaviors, what have you really gained?
Detox programs can range in price from a $20 supplement at the health food store to health care professional lead classes in the thousands of dollars. If you want to follow the program and feel better for a couple of weeks, go ahead but don’t be fooled – if you go back to your old habits the benefits of the detox will likely dissipate. Find a healthcare practitioner (I’m personally biased toward licensable naturopaths) that you like and trust and work with them to build the habits that will allow you to diminish your toxic load on a permanent basis. Help your body do what it’s programmed to do (detoxify) by changing your inputs and decreasing your toxic load. Make the changes now to incorporate healthy living habits, make those habits lifelong and you’ll naturally want to focus on a different “resolution” in 2014 because you’ll know and feel that your body is functioning exactly as it was intended. Happy New Year!
