Let’s start with the big question—why would you want to cleanse? Or to be more fashionable we can call it a detox.
Really, the short answer is—why wouldn’t you.
Orthodox medicine says that your liver, kidneys, lungs, skin etc cope on a daily basis with the onslaught of toxins we are faced with, and there is no need for any special effort – and yet freely admit that thousands of people die or are seriously ill from air pollution alone! its a bit of a mixed message really.
Especially when blood tests show that ALL of us are carrying hundreds of chemical residues in our blood from our exposure to the 140,000 plus chemicals on the market today. And that’s without mentioning the accumulation of heavy metals that get secreted in cell tissue (including brain) from mercury amalgams in teeth, pesticides on foods, air pollution, cigarette smoke etc.
Consider the facts: we are daily exposed to a cocktail of chemicals in the form of preservatives, food additives, pesticides, toiletries, household cleansers and drugs—legal and illegal— as well as heavy metals, pollution and our diets which produce a lot of acidic waste within the body.
Our systems have to daily cope with being bombarded by all this and find ways to clear it all out of the body – and if levels are too high to be easily coped with the body has to find a way to minimize the damage these toxins will cause by storing them in fatty tissue, joints etc. Because, make no mistake, these toxins pose a threat to your health – the clue is there, in the word TOXIN!!!
Toxins directly poison your body, damage your brain and joints, your liver, your central nervous system, weaken your immune system and create the kind of toxic swamp in your body that is the ideal breeding ground for viruses, bacteria and worse.
Yes, we have organs of elimination that Nature has tasked with day-to-day cleansing, but these were never designed for the onslaught that now faces us daily. We are not only slowly poisoning Mother Earth, we are poisoning ourselves. First and foremost, this is madness, what do we think we are doing? Secondly, you HAVE to do something about it, or join the ranks of the many who are suffering from ever increasing levels of chronic disease.
This means starting with yourself -and whilst we’re on the subject, its not just you that needs a good clean, but the environment you live in. It is estimated that over 80% of our exposure to toxins takes place in the home. Whilst your home is full of chemicals in your toiletries, household products, sprayed and treated food and garden chemicals, not to mention the off-gassing from paints, solvents, soft furnishings etc, what chance do YOU stand?
A good detox involves more than just periodically doing a cleanse – it is a process of clearing out of your environment all those things that are part of the problem. It means sourcing and buying all natural toiletries and make-up (easy nowadays!), buying organic food wherever possible, growing your own maybe- organically of course! – using environmentally safe household cleaners and weeding the old fashioned way – by hand! (Or make your own non-toxic weedkiller!).
it is also ideally an on-going process, not just one you do once or twice a year. Healthy eating, avoiding junk and processed food, making regular juices, using alkaline drink powders, having saunas, getting to bed early occasionally, limiting exposure to EMFs and microwaves from computers, phones, tvs etc (how about having weekends technology free!) – cleansing takes many forms. I’m not going to take you through exactly what to do for a cleanse in this blog – there are plenty of fact sheets and programmes on my website that cover that – but rather urge you to think about all the many ways you are exposed to toxins on a daily basis, and the little ways you could gradually introduce into your life that could change that.
Approach the problem in a problem-solving frame of mind, rather than considering it a joyless chore, and you will easily bed in new habits that will benefit you, your long term health, your family and…..Mother Earth!
Cleansing is transformational. Just think what we could achieve if every one of us did this!