You may have seen lots of emails about cleansing strategies from other people in the health and fitness space recently.
When people talk about detox it is typically only about what you put in your mouth and what comes out the other end.
But that’s not the only way the body detoxes. In fact there are numerous systems.
Food and Poop
Yes, what you eat is important. There are supplements and various things you can take that can accelerate this process.
An important thing to note is that your body is always working at detoxing to a more or lesser degree. And the truth is too much detox can be a bad thing.
Since we live in a world that is abundant with toxic substances, ideally you’d want your body to handle these on a daily manner and not let things build up, leading to issues like the common cold, or much worse diseases later on.
And looking at the frequency (also, shape, smell and other factors) of your poop can give you good insight into your health. While going to the bathroom regularly is a good sign, its not the only thing you should be looking at.
Water
Then you have the liquid channel filtered through the kidneys. Drinking enough water is important. I see many people pay lots of attention to the quantity but the quality of your water is at least as important. Some waters, filled with chemicals, are going to add toxins that then need to be eliminated. Not only this, but often these waters aren’t that hydrating, meaning the water doesn’t get into your cells due to its poor structure.
On the other end you can see what comes out. Is it mostly clear? Or is it a dark color with a strong smell? (Hint: that’s a sign you need to drink more.)
Breath
And then you have your lungs. Most people don’t think of this as an organ of detoxification but it is. With every breath in, you’re taking in stuff you need, and every breath out releases stuff you don’t. Here too you can look at the quality of the air you’re breathing.
But that’s not all. HOW you breath is equally important. You see, the lungs always maintain some air. If you got rid of all the air in your lungs they would collapse so you’re actually incapable of doing that. But most people are only using a small percentage of their lungs. Its called shallow breathing.
To breathe deeply and fully and then expel the same, especially like when doing the abdominal vacuum, is going to squeeze stale, old air out of your lungs, just like you would a dirty sponge.
Sweat
And finally we come to sweating. This is the under utilized system of them all but let me tell you why its important.
Both the kidneys and lungs can only get rid of water soluble toxins, but most of the worse ones are fat soluble. These can be eliminated through the digestive and eliminative tract. But they have to be transported from the fat cells, where they’re frequently stored, to the liver and out. Unfortunately at any time they can be reabsorbed into the cells during this process.
With the sweat, you have skin all over your body, including over places where fat is. Thus there is much less transporting needed. Further you CAN remove fat soluble toxins through sweat.
Exercising to induce a sweat is okay. One, depending on how you train, and where, you might not even sweat. But even if you do, this isn’t the best for detoxing. Think about it, if you’re running or swinging a kettlebell until you’re pouring sweat your body isn’t in detox mood, but is focused on keeping its energy going and circulating blood.
Contrast this to a time when you’re relaxed and sweating, like in a sauna. The native Americans regularly did sweat lodges in the past. Even then they focused on regular detoxing and we live in a much more toxic environment today. When you relax and sweat your body can release much more straight out your skin.
This alone can be a useful health practice to engage in when you can.
But that’s not all. This nutrient I’ve been talking about the past few days happens to cause lypolysis. If you’re not familiar with that term it means it causes the breakdown of fats. Thus when that happens they can release the toxins that are contained within.
Taking it, then sweating, as well as a few other steps have been shown to be a powerful detox strategy. Not only is it much cheaper than those $100+ detox kits popular in health food stores, but it works phenomenally well in using what may be the best channel for detoxing your body. (Actually all the detox channels are used in this process).
I discuss this full protocol and all the details you need to do it in the new issue of the Strength Health Mind Power Inner Circle.
Remember that this is just one of four protocols covered here centered around this one nutrient.
Comments
This helps a lot, especially for me because I’ve been doing everything I can to detoxify but all the stuff I tried just don’t work so I might be missing something. There is just one thing I want to know, does the detox intake differ for men and women?
That’s a good question. While there are certainly going to be some differences I think overall the same methods will apply. I’d say the main difference would be for women, with their monthly cycle, timing of any detox would be better to do at a certain point.