Why should we detox? What are 'toxins'?

Our bodies are fantastic machines that are finely tuned for splendid results across the board.  We can run, jump, sing (badly in my case), breathe, eat, communicate, process thought and generally make an awful lot of mischief. But what happens when our body is out of balance?

Our main elimination organs are the lungs, skin, bowel and the kidneys.  These organs expel by-products from natural bodily processes and also deal with the chemical load of anything we take into our system. 

When we talk about 'toxins' in nutritional therapy, we refer to the substances that exist in the body that are treated as toxic and disarmed and eliminated through the excretory organs.  These organs silently do their jobs so religiously throughout the day that we are barely aware they exist.

Everything we breathe in, put on our skin or ingest is dealt with by these organs.  All substances we need are utilised and everything we don't need is excreted; a finely tuned system we rely on for good health.

The problem is that as we breathe in pollution, eat chemically loaded foods, lather our bodies with chemically laden cosmetics at the same time as naturally creating chemical by-products from our bodies own functions, our elimination organs start to tire.  When one organ tires the others take on the load and we end up in a constant state of toxicity with little chance of processing it all.

Our intestines and colons are loaded with undigested rubbish due to low fibre, low water diets.  The waste sits in our bodies and putrefies whilst the new food we eat passes by it slowly and gets expelled at a sluggish rate.  Instead of only absorbing the new fresh food, we are also constantly absorbing the putrefied matter and it is sent directly to our liver for processing all the time.  This continual process is called auto-intoxication and it leaves us feeling rubbish!

Symptoms of toxic overload:

Fatigue
Bags or dark circles under the eyes
Low energy
Skin/complexion problems
Digestive disorders
Frequent illness
Bloating
Weak hair and nails
Bad breath/body odour
Shallow breathing

Eventually remaining in a toxic condition can lead to other more serious illnesses so addressing diet, lifestyle and doing a good detox is preventative medicine that we should all be putting into practice to remain fit and happy.

Start today by drinking more water and eating as much fresh fruit and vegetables as you can.  The road to good health is one step at a time and this seems like an easy first move to make... be kind to your liver :)

Josie