More than 90% of the world's population lives in a place where air quality exceeds guidelines set by the World Health Organization.

Air pollution is only one of the hundreds of toxins we're exposed to on a daily basis. Others come from the water we drink, the food we eat, and the products that we use to keep ourselves and our homes clean.

So, how do we keep our bodies healthy in the context of all that exposure? For hundreds of years, the answer has been natural detoxing.

If you're new to the world of the full body cleanse, there's a lot to know. From what toxins are and how they affect your body to how to get rid of them, read on for the answer to "what is detoxing" and more.


What Is Detoxing?

Spanning cultural systems from Ayurveda to Chinese medicine, detoxing has been around for thousands of years. While the reasons for detox and the targeted areas may vary, the basic principles remain the same across all systems and practices. Detoxing is about cleansing the body of toxins and replenishing it with nutrients in order to restore its ability to function optimally and protect you from disease or ill-health.

person consuming toxins from

What Are Toxins?

Toxins are found everywhere in our environment and in the products we purchase. It ranges from pollutants to heavy metals and synthetic chemicals to processed foods. All of these enter our bodies and have negative impacts on our health and well being.

Our air is polluted with emissions from cars, factories, and sprayed chemicals. Not only are we breathing this polluted air in, but many of those chemicals make their way into our water supply.

More chemicals enter our bodies via the household and personal products we use. The things we use to clean our homes contain toxic chemicals, as do personal care products from shampoo and soap to makeup and perfumes.

On top of all of that, most of our diets are full of processed foods and sugars. Our produce is laden with herbicides and pesticides, which we wind up ingesting.


When Do You Need a Full Body Cleanse?

Our bodies are designed to deal with the toxins we're exposed to every day. Our kidneys, digestive system, skin, lungs, and especially our livers, work to eliminate toxins and support our general health.

While our bodies are capable of protecting us all on their own, you can enhance its functioning with natural detoxing. Because, although organs do eliminate toxins from our bodies, they can only do their best work if they're functioning optimally.

It's not always easy to tell whether your organs are at their healthiest. Some of the symptoms you may need a full body cleanse include:

Even without the presence of symptoms, it's recommended that you use natural detoxing at least once per year. However, children, patients of chronic degenerative diseases, and nursing mothers should avoid detoxing without consulting with their general practitioner first.

delicious detox waters

Ways to Detox Naturally

There are as many ways to detox as there are potential toxins to detox from. You might use diuretic, vitamins, minerals, detox tea, laxatives, and other external products to help rid your body of built-up toxins. Besides using external items with detoxing properties, there are also active ways to drive toxins from your body, such as exercise and addressing bad sleeping habits.

Below are some of the most effective ways for natural detoxing.

Limit Exposure to Toxins

A simple way to decrease the number of toxins in your body is to limit your exposure to them. Moving away from detoxing your body and into detoxing your lifestyle, this involves minimizing your use of household and personal care products full of synthetic chemicals. With more information available about the harmful effects of these products, alternatives are accessible and abundant.

Diet & Exercise

There aren't many things in life that diet and exercise can't make better. Detoxing your body from toxins is one of them.

When it comes to diet, processed foods and foods with high sugar content can impact your body's ability to detox. This is because these foods are linked to obesity and other chronic diseases that harm your organs. These organs, especially the liver and kidneys, are essential to that natural ability to detox.

Replace highly processed and high-sugar foods with lots of fiber, fresh fruits, and vegetables. While all-natural foods will fuel your organs with the nutrients it needs to work properly, foods like beets, radish, cabbage, broccoli, seaweed, and artichokes are particularly great for natural detoxing.

Pair that nutrient-rich diet with a bit of exercise, and your body will love you for it. Among all of its benefits for your mind and body, exercise reduces inflammation. Inflammation can cause your body's systems to weaken, which means they're less capable of protecting you from diseases.

Sleep

Sleep is the foundation of a healthy and happy body. While you sleep. your body and your brain recharge. At the same time, your organs work a little harder to eliminate what's built-up in your body over the course of the day.

When you don't get the sleep that your body and brain need, they don't have the time they need to recharge and detoxify. Over a long period without proper sleep, those toxins accumulate and have adverse effects on your health and well being.

This is why sleep is linked to everything from increased stress and anxiety to diseases such as diabetes and obesity. So, although the amount of sleep you need is highly individual, most adults require between seven and nine hours every night. Make sure you're getting at least that to allow your organs and your body to function at their peak.

Alcohol

Approximately 90% of the alcohol you drink is processed and metabolized in your liver. Meaning, when your liver is working overtime to metabolize the alcohol in your system, it has less energy for performing the vital cleansing and detoxing functions it's made for.

And if the amount of alcohol you consume is at an abusive level, the potential consequences are more than just an inability to detox. While low-to-moderate alcohol consumption can benefit your heart, excessive drinking can lead to fat building upon the liver as well as inflammation and scarring.

With this fat buildup, inflammation, and scarring, your liver is unable to properly filter waste product from your body. Limiting your alcohol consumption or abstaining entirely is therefore beneficial to your liver.

When limiting alcohol consumption, it may be helpful to follow guidelines that have already been set. For example, moderate alcohol use is defined as one drink per day for a woman and two drinks per day for a man. One drink is equal to one 355 ml beer, one 5 oz glass of wine, or 1.5 oz od distilled spirit.

Water

Most of us could use drinking more water, regardless of whether we are trying to detox. Water detoxifies the body of the carbon dioxide produced as our cells breakdown and repair themselves.

If these waste products are allowed to build up, they can cause harm in your blood. Instead, waster carries them out of the body in the form of urination, sweat, and respiration. But, water also regulates our body temperature, helps us digest our foods and absorb nutrients, as well as lubricates our joints.

Detox Tea

There are plenty of detox kits on the market that can kick start your full body cleanse. These kits come with the guidelines and items you need to cleanse.

Among the best of the natural detoxing kits available, this Detox Starter Pack is one of the best. The 30-day program focuses on restoring your gut health through teas.

All you have to do is drink your Teami Skinny every morning and Teami Colon every other night. Also included are a detox accountability e-book to keep you on track and a host of our recipes.


More On Natural Detoxing

Natural detoxing methods include everything from limiting your alcohol consumption to staying hydrated. But to really boost your natural detoxing and rid your body of toxins, detox kits are a great kick start. Programs such as our Detox Starter Kit include detox teas for maximizing gut health as well as all the extras you need to be successful in your full body cleanse.

For more information about detoxing and what we have to offer, please visit our blog.