The cool evenings are warming up and sun is shining during the day. This time of year - early Spring brings a lot of excitement and stirring within the mind, body, and soul. As the Winter ends, we feel our own bodies begin to perk up toward the sun just like the little purple crocuses and scilla sprouting their way through the dead leaves. In our own bodies, the Vitamin D begins to build naturally, reviving our DNA and bringing us back to a higher vitality.
Springtime brings up a lot of dis-ease in the body such as changing bowels, inflammatory allergies, or systemic system flare ups and seasonal allergies. In Chinese medicine we find that Spring is when the Liver begins to flush out excess toxins. The beautiful thing about Spring is that since it is not too hot and not too cold and the body is already beginning to flush… it is the perfect time to cleanse!
Cleansing Basics
There are some significant misconceptions about cleansing that can sometimes throw people into what we call a “healing crisis”. Often people get excited to cleanse and go too hard, too fast without adhering to the natural flow of the body. This can often make people fatigued, have extreme headaches or light-headedness. Sometimes it can even make the body weaken and more susceptible to viruses. If you follow these tips below, you can help to best support your body as you cleanse!
Before you begin to cleanse, you should focus on filling the body with all the healthy building blocks it needs. A healthy alkaline diet, hydration, friendly bacteria, and very importantly vitamins and minerals.
A simple trick to alkalize your body is to have 1 tbs fermented ACV in the morning in a glass of room temperature water on awaking. It also supports your liver & gallbladder to flush out toxins.
Once you begin to cleanse, all the toxins leaving the body will be leaving “holes” or spaces where you want to be sure get replaced with beneficial ingredients rather than more toxins. Some supplement suggestion might be anything from Ionic minerals, Fulvic Acid & Humic Acid, Liposomal Vit C and more…
As the toxins are leaving the body, they must go somewhere. Our bodies have 5 ways to eliminate waste. We cleanse through the bowels, urine, skin, breath, and through liver & menstruation (for women). These channels of elimination MUST be functioning properly in order to cleanse the system. Regular bowel movements of 2-3 times a day, a healthy respiratory system, breathable skin, and a balanced hydration and urine output are all incredibly important for cleansing. If you feel that any of these channels are not functioning well then begin with dietary and herbal support. Consider a gentle detox of the skin or the bowels to get things moving.
To support your bowel, you can use anything from slippery elm or soft fibre blends, diatomaceous earth or zeolite clay. If you suffer from any inflammatory bowel diseases, consult with your practitioner first before commencing any drastic cleanse. If you don’t fix your gut before breaking down your toxins in the body, you may end up reabsorbing the toxins via your inflamed leaky gut. Reduce inflammatory ingredients such as processed wheat and dairy to give your gut a Spring reset.
To support urine elimination pathways, it is essential to support your kidney function. Keep hydrated by drinking plenty of fresh spring water, vegetable broths or freshly squeezed green juices. Use herbal blends such as dandelion leaf & cleavers and quit drinking alcohol or coffee.
To support skin elimination is to use gentle techniques such as lymphatic drainage massage, infra-red sauna or skin body brushing at home. Light outdoor exercise can also improve your lymphatic system elimination. Herbal teas such as Nettle, Burdock or Red clover supports healthy skin glow and silica, zinc, C and collagen supplements help with skin repair. Avoid using any chemical or aluminum-based deodorants or creams on your skin and allow it to breathe.
Deep breathing relaxes our system which increases blood flow, releases toxins, and opens lung tissue to get rid of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a waste product that your body makes when it uses food for energy.
Here is just a one sample of deep cleansing breath: Breathe in deeply through your nose and take in as much air as you comfortably can. Then release it, and really focus on emptying your lungs (many people hold air in their lungs after an exhale, so emptying your lungs on a deep exhale can help you to get more fresh oxygen into them.) You want to make sure you exhale for just as long, if not longer than you inhale to make sure you're fully expelling carbon dioxide from your body. Breathing patterns that tend to work well for people are: Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8. Spend as much time in nature as possible.
The liver is an important organ in the human digestive system and is situated in the upper, right-hand part of the abdomen. It is the largest gland in the human body and holds approximately 13% of the body’s total blood supply. It has several key functions that include removal of damaged red blood cells and toxins such as alcohol and nicotine. It converts excess proteins and amino acids into urea for excretion by the kidneys and metabolizes excess hormones such as estrogen, which can support healthy menstruation in females.
You can support your liver via a healthy chemical free diet consisting of dark green leafy vegetable and crucifer type vegetable such as broccoli. Drinking plenty of green or beetroot juices and broths containing turmeric, fermented ACV, lemon and ginger.
If you’ve read this far, we know that you’re committed in doing what it takes to heal from the inside out. So, if you are going to cleanse, then commit and see it through from beginning to end! Support your body with the right building blocks for health and then actively encourage the body to cleanse. Using herbal allies such as Dandelion root and Turmeric, Milk Thistle for liver and Black Walnut you can help to push toxins & parasites right out of the body.
There are a lot of nuances to cleansing that are best decided on an individual basis. Some supplements we suggest may be Fusion liver detox or kidney tonic as well as Wheat grass or chlorella powders to support heavy metal detox or oil pulling concentrates to draw toxins via opening channels in your mouth.
If you suffer from seasonal allergies, support your body with liposomal or good quality vitamin C which is natural antihistamine aswell as Quercetin supplements. Some over the counter supplement choice sample can be Fusion Allergy relief or Quercetin advanced combination.
Special thanks to one of our Naturopaths Jana @thesecret_kitchen for this article.
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