A new year is upon us and with that comes resolutions involving more trips to the gym and less trips to the fridge. Resolutions, both big and small, are always heavy on January 1st due to the chance at a new start or big change that the date represents.
While personal cultivation can and should be taking place constantly throughout each year, we can’t deny the symbolic, cultural opportunity the new year presents. It is because of this that the idea of a cleanse and/or detox is ideal to clean the slate and start you out on the right foot.
No matter how healthy or cautious you may be, exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins is inevitable. Some of these cause immediate damage, while others can accumulate in your body, leading to future damage, especially as the accumulation builds. Other times these outside invaders (some invited, some not) can cause damage to various organs in the body like your brain, liver, or gut, leading to future issues due to sub-par function. Think of a leaky gut here, coupled with food sensitivities, systemic inflammation, autoimmunity, and more.
There are many different types of cleanses that serve to assist in ridding your body of the various wastes and toxins that have accumulated in your tissues throughout the holidays, this past year, or your whole life. Through various dietary restrictions and supplemental support, your body is allowed the opportunity to calm itself rather than being on heightened defense or attack. Toxins are mobilized and detoxified through the liver and thus prepared for removal by way of excretion.
Depending on the type of cleanse utilized, the intestinal tract is also relieved of the constant bombardment of processed foods, grains, and sugars. This allows your major barrier system and site of 80% of your immune system to begin to heal. Providing additional support can then help repair, rebuild, and refortify the wall between you and the chemicals, bacteria, and other pathogens that can and may have already been disrupting your internal systems causing inflammation, organ malfunction and an over or under active immune system.
Depending on your personal goals and individual health condition, it is important to select a cleanse/detox program that is not only going to relinquish the inflammatory external stimuli, but deliver support for the systems involved in the process (liver, intestines, kidneys, etc.). For example, you want to provide the body with the proper support to mobilize any toxins from the fat cells throughout your body and then provide the necessary co-factors to convert them to a water soluble form so that they can be eliminated.
An added bonus to any adequate program is the opportunity to reap the benefits of a sustained restricted diet. This involves sticking to a menu where the usual hyper-allergenic and problematic foods are avoided for 3-4 weeks. This is the basic premise behind a standard elimination diet and allows your body to completely eliminate certain potentially problematic proteins from the body.
At the conclusion of the cleanse you now have the option to reintroduce any of the foods you avoided. When you do this one by one it provides the opportunity to identify potential sensitivities by way of a rash, headache, fatigue, bloating, etc. Or after refraining from ingesting a certain food you may decide to forego reintroduction altogether and eliminate it outright from your usual meal routine.
To reiterate, and at the risk of being too cliché, the new year provides the perfect time to clean out and restart, repair, rebuild, and recharge your life. A cleanse/detox program can serve as an ideal way to not only take your health to the next level, but can be quite physically and mentally liberating as well.
If this sounds exciting to you then please, by all means give us a call (321-848-0987). Together we can sit down (in person or over the phone), discuss your health history, identify your goals, and ultimately construct a plan to leave you refreshed and recharged for 2014 and beyond.
Clarke Chiropractic and Wellness 