Detoxing…part 1.

Fact: Our bodies are constantly exposed to a toxic cocktail of heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides, and other pollutants, now more than ever. They are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.    I’ve been wanting to write a post about detoxing for a long time, and each time I’ve started, I find there is more and more information on the subject and I need to bring it all together. I hope this all makes sense, and that this is not too long!

I want to start by saying that  I think the word ‘detoxing’ has become a mainstream concept. In this post I want to delve deeper and talk about the history of what it really means to ‘get rid of toxic waste’.   Go into any pharmacy/ health shop and you are bound to see the words ‘detox’ on a poster or product in the store. We hear the ads for ‘lemon detox diet’ on the radio, friends say they are ‘detoxing’ by cutting back on coffee and alcohol and then there are others who drink nothing but juices for a week which get delivered to their front door as part of a ‘detox’. Let’s face it, it’s now cool to detox. Which in many ways is great, as it means many of us will feel more comfortable doing it.

I don’t want to make light of others detoxing efforts, I think everyone is on their own health journey- there was a time when I didn’t know what I now know!   I’ve talked before on here how I have done a 4 week detox where I cut out coffee and dairy, and now subsequently I am not consuming either of these two items, and at that time, I felt great and it was what I needed. However, I wanted to take this a step deeper. One thing I haven’t gone into detail about before but which I want to blog about is a proper detoxing for our insides. After my time in Bali when everyone was having Colonic irrigation ( I wrote about this here) I investigated this myself when I got back to Melbourne. I had a couple of colonics on and off and found these to be amazingly beneficial. My skin was clearer, my digestion was much improved and I felt lighter and healthier! The logic goes, as much as you can put good ‘stuff’ into your body, your body also needs a way of getting rid of additional ‘waste material’ which has remained in the colon for some time. This can include: accumulated toxins, parasites, impacted faeces, worms, dead cellular tissue, accumulated mucous  and extra food and bad bacteria that didn’t escape when you went to the toilet (if we eat 3 times a day, essentially we should go to the toilet 2-3 times per day – how many people do that?) and this is built up often from years before. Travelers are often exposed to parasites and we all have ‘baggage’ we need to let go of. It’s scary to think that the average western female will have around 5-7kgs of impacted faeces sitting in their colon!!

So, keeping all that in mind, and aware of my family history and mothers health issues, my detox this time is a little more ‘hard core’ than before. Some would wonder “why a healthy young girl needs to detox”- and my answer is simple: we now exist in an environment very different to the one in which our ancestors were first created. The world has changed around us, but our genetic makeup not so much.   There are five main parts of the body through which toxic waste is excreted from the system; the skin, the lungs, the kidney, the bladder and the colon. When we sweat, we get rid of toxins. But in the case of the colon, the situation is similar as to what happens in your kitchen sink…layer upon layer of grease, partially decayed food, and other debris attach to the pipe and make the passage in which new waste water flows. This sticky residue is full of poisonous toxins and if it doesn’t get eliminated it gets reabsorbed through the colon wall, back into the blood stream, and allowing the toxins to recirculate in the body.   Just think about that for a second…  Scary?                                                      In any normal day, our livers, kidneys, lymph glands, and other organs all work hard to maintain an alkaline state and to clear everyday waste from your body- without the overload from pre-existing toxins in the colon. When I think about what a lifetime of exposure to these chemicals and toxins is doing to our bodies (combined with the affects of a cluttered environment to our mind and spirit, a packed schedule, and other day-to-day life challenges ) it’s no wonder many of us end up being tired /stressed/ overweight/ not sleeping well/ have a ‘poor immune systems’ / suffer from migraines / digestive issues. It’s the same as if you were to work overtime for weeks on end without taking a break. Your mind and body start to fall apart! That’s why a regular ‘full body servicing’ is in order! (A fact I read the other day: many of us take better care of our cars than of our bodies).

Everyone will have different objectives when undertaking a detox of this kind. For me, I already have a good level of health and have been on this journey for some time. However I am aware of the external environment I exist in, as well as my personal environment. Not always able to eat perfectly, and also enjoying alcohol and sometimes rich food, I like to give my body a yearly cleanse. A month a year off alcohol, sugar, anything processed as well as really strict with gluten and dairy (I already don’t drink coffee), it was a good time to take the cleanse to the next level.
So, this week I have existed on four freshly squeezed vegetable juices per day, lots of water, supplements and daily colonic irrigation, and 2 sessions of far-infrared saunas. Day 3 and I’m feeling fantastic…and it is amazing how much of you there is to still shed…even after effectively fasting for 3 days! I can recommend Purity in Hampton for this type of program. http://www.colonicirrigationmelbourne.com.au/
If you choose to take on this type of detoxing program, I can guarantee that there will be people who don’t ‘get’ it. They want to question why you do this and what is the need, they’ll say things like “It’s 2012, why do we need this” or “ It’s not natural” or “ Surely there’s a modern solution” etc.  Ironically, it is this ‘modern technology’ which is in many ways the culprit. Historic artifacts and records show that people have regularly purified their bodies, including cleansing the colon. Around the turn of the 20th century, the present-day colonic machine was developed, providing a significantly improved method of accomplishing colon cleansing. Up to the late 1920′s many medical doctors had colonic machines in their offices, and machines were found in hospitals as well. Articles dealing with colon health frequently appeared in prestigious medical and scientific journals until the early 1930s.

But then, at around the same time modern man began a 50-year love affair with drugs and surgery. These seemed to offer us (relatively) instant relief for body ailments, meaning purification and prevention techniques became less attractive. However, there has been a resurgence of interest in using natural approaches for healing the body, when these modern technics sometimes don’t work, or when people don’t feel good from medication. And thus, colonics have rapidly been regaining the respectability they have already earned. And, as I say to my friends “Cleansing detox programs offer us all preventive measures so that you can be in control of your own health”. And isn’t that what we all need to do anyway?

I’m aware there is a lot in this blog to consider. I’d love to hear what you think.