In recent years there has been a considerable shift, as Americans are focusing more on being healthy, losing weight and slowing the signs of aging. While there are a large number of different approaches to consider, one popular technique that many celebrities have been talking about is the detox.
Detoxification refers to the process of eliminating toxins from your body. While there are many products out there that you can purchase that claim to trigger this process, experts assure us that the body will naturally rid us of toxins if it is working in its optimal state. In fact, many of these products are nothing more than modern ‘snake oil’ making claims that they have no way to prove. Some products will even have the opposite effect, threatening our overall health and well-being.
The most effective and safest ‘detox methods’ aren’t actually focused on actually detoxifying your body at all. Instead, they focus on helping your body to operate at its optimal level, empowering it to then carry out this process itself. This is the biggest secret that the ‘natural health’ industry and many celebrities don’t want you to know – you don’t need to buy all the expensive pills, shakes, and teas. You simply need to focus on improving your overall health!
This isn’t to say that there aren’t benefits from ‘detoxifying the body’. To the contrary, complementary and alternative medicine practitioners will use the process of detoxification to help manage and treat a number of different health conditions. The key, however, is in weeding through the myths surrounding detox diets to discover the hidden secrets.
Here are 11 surprising yet simple detox secrets that celebrities aren’t telling you:
#1 – Digital Detox
If you’re considering the best ways to improve your health and promote detoxification, our society’s dependence on smartphones, tablets and other devices likely didn’t even cross your mind. However, many experts warn that we are so focused on checking our phones that we fail to be mindful during meals. How is this hurting us? If you aren’t present at the moment, you aren’t paying attention to what you eat, how you eat or what’s going on around you. This is one reason why so many spas or holistic retreats ban these devices. Try turning off the electronics for a while, at least during meal time.
#2 – Chewing Your Food
It may sound crazy but promoting detoxification may start with details as small as ensuring that you are properly chewing your food when you eat. How does this help? Chewing doesn’t just grind up your food, although that’s an obvious part of the process, you also produce saliva which contains digestive enzymes that help to break down your food. One enzyme, amylase, also works to help your body absorb the necessary nutrients from your food while also promoting proper digesting, which, ultimately, encourages your body to dispose of toxins in your ‘waste’.
#3 – Holistic Treatment Centers
We turn to experts to help us with many aspects of our health and well-being, so why not apply the same theory here? There are many great holistic treatment centers and retreats around the globe that can help you to get into the right mindset, calm the mind and the body and promote overall well-being. In doing so, you are helping your body to operate at its best state. Many celebrities have discovered this secret, carving time into their busy schedules for a short getaway, even if it’s just for a couple of hours.
#4 – Hit the Sauna
Heat has been said to help promote detoxification due to the impact that it has on the way that the body operates. When spending time in sweat baths, saunas, and hot tubs, your heart rate will increase, increasing the rate at which the blood is moving throughout the body, moving toxins through our system and on to the organs responsible for filtering them out. At the same time, the steam works to clear the sinuses and promote better respiratory health, which contributes to our overall health, allowing the body to operate in an optimal state.
#5 – Drink Mineral-Spiked Water
There are naturally occurring minerals that have been found to help remove toxins from our systems, however, modern diets don’t always provide these in the way that our ancestors experience. This includes trace minerals like magnesium and potassium. While I’m not suggesting that you drink salt water, mixing just a small amount of natural salts into your water (not enough to taste) will provide you with these minerals. They work by preventing water retention, reducing bloating and boosting metabolism. The best part? They will also improve your health in other ways, such as promoting better heart health, so it’s a win/win.
#6 – Exercise
It should come as no surprise that exercise helps to promote better overall health, as this is a well-known and documented fact. However, you may not have stopped to consider all the ways that physical activity can help to detoxify the body including (depending on the exercise in question) improving the function of the circulatory system and improving blood flow. It doesn’t have to be intense exercise either, even just getting up and taking a walk around the block each evening can start to work in a beneficial way.
#7 – Deep Breathing
We live in an incredibly high-stress society, kicking the body into a state of ‘fight or flight’ on a regular basis. This is exactly the opposite of what we need to be doing if we are trying to encourage our bodies to operate in their optimal state. By adding meditation or breathing exercises into your daily routine, you can calm the body, promote better circulation and oxygenation of the blood and, ultimately, ensure that your body is in the best working state to promote and encourage the detoxification process.
#8 – Discover Your Dosha
A concept that is rooted in Ayurveda, a system of medicine that dates back thousands of years, doshas are mind/body types that are derived from the 5 elements that make up the universe and everything in it (ourselves included). Health, in Ayurveda, is based on balance – therefore understanding what is required to find balance in your own life will empower you to make better individual choices. For example, practitioners believe there are specific diets that will encourage better health for each dosha. Discover your dosha, empowering yourself to put this practice to work in your own life.
#9 – What Are You Eating?
This may sound like common sense, but it’s worth mentioning. Take a step back and look at your diet as a whole. Are you eating chemical-filled processed foods, introducing toxins into your body on a regular basis, or are you eating fresh fruits and vegetables that are packed with vitamins and nutrients that the body requires, and free from unnecessary preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, and more? You can’t expect your body to detox if you are adding more toxins to your body each and every day.
#10 – A Warm Cuppa
When you read that phrase, did your mind immediately jump to coffee? If so, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to improve your body’s detoxification process first thing in the morning. Turmeric has been found to promote liver health. The liver works to remove toxins from the body, therefore, the better it is working, the better the body can detoxify itself. Rather than making a cup of coffee in the morning, why not brew yourself a cup of turmeric tea?
#11 – Massage
Massages have been credited with improving detoxification on a number of different levels according to complementary and alternative medicine practitioners. For example, when you get a massage, it encourages better blood flow throughout the body. Your circulatory system plays an important role in the detoxification process, helping to carry toxins from many areas of the body to the kidneys, where they are then filtered out and eliminated in your urine.
Image via Daily Express