Healthy Tips to Detoxify Your Mind and Body
Photo credit: Pinterest
by Vanessa Santiago
When we chose to remodel our home or office space, we also make the choice to get rid of the old, useless items that have accumulated over time. While it may seem dreadful or time-consuming, this cleansing process is absolutely vital to remodeling everything in over lives. If you apply this cleansing process to our bodies, you will understand why detoxification is so important.
Personally speaking, I know there have been countless times that I have made poor choices about what to eat or snack on, which led to weight gain. I’ve spent years ignoring my health or the consequences of these poor choices, telling myself that, “It’s just a cookie,” to justify my indulgence. But I’ve always known this: self-care and self-improvement is important. The same is true about renewing my mind because instead of allowing God’s truths about me to resonate within my heart and mind, I have allowed disappointments, traumas, and the opinions of others’ to affect my self worth. Instead of embracing such beautifully profound truths as, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [healing their pain and comforting their sorrow],” (Psalm 147:3) I would hide from the pain by filling my body with unhealthy foods to comfort or numb my emotions. When we consume something our bodies cannot recognize or use, such as high fructose corn syrup, artificial colorings, or preservatives, these toxins are stored within fat cells, causing further internal harm. The best way to truly rid ourselves of the excess weight is by removing these poisonous chemicals.
Here are two ways to cleanse and detoxify our bodies:
Drink water:
Water is essential to our bodies natural detoxification process. While water itself doesn’t flush out toxins, it aids the internal processes that do. Water assists the intestines in removing waste regularly, it keeps our muscles working, our brains hydrated and our bodies clean. We all know it is vital to our survival and yet can struggle to remember to even drink it on a regular basis. Everywhere we turn there seems to be a flood of bottles of water from which to choose. In fact, it is so promoted at our local grocery stores, that water options today look more like a fine wine collection. Ultimately, you can select any water you want and make it even more powerful by adding some detoxifying elements.
Add fruits, herbs or vegetables:
Adding various fruits, herbs, or vegetables to your water can begin a powerful yet gentle detox. The nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals found in natural foods can aid in the body's detoxification process when it is overloaded with unnatural foods. Here are some to try:
Citrus fruits such as lemon, orange, grapefruit, and lime are the most popular, and for good reasons. They are loaded with vitamin C, which repairs organ and blood vessel tissue, burns fat, and is able to recognize and destroy artificial and harmful chemicals.
Apple cider vinegar is a miracle for weight loss through detox. It is full of enzymes, good bacteria, and acetic acid, which burns up starches in food we digest.
Cucumbers are diuretics, which help remove and prevent water retention.
Ginger aids in digestion, is an anti-inflammatory, and due to its spiciness can cause us to sweat, which is the bodies fastest form of removing higher concentrations of toxins.
Herbs as mint, cilantro, basil, rosemary, and parsley all infuse water with soothing benefits to our digestion system, but also act as magnets attracting harmful heavy metals. Cilantro is excellent at removing aluminum, mercury and even lead from our bodies.
Raw unfiltered honey in small doses helps to improve the flavor but also add a boost of energy and loads of antioxidants, among many other of its benefits.
Essential oils I love using seltzer water and adding ginger and wild orange essential oils with a teaspoon of honey. It’s a homemade ginger ale filled with medicinal benefits. Lemon oil is so powerful, you can put a drop on styrofoam and watch it immediately begin to sizzle and burn right through the toxic material. Combine a drop of lemon oil and peppermint oil to reap incredible benefits. Peppermint oil can enhance other flavors while adding a refreshing and cooling taste to your water. Grapefruit oil, which is one of my favorite scents, aids in digestion and detoxifying fat cells. If you decide to use these powerful detoxifying oils, you must only use certified pure therapeutic grade essential oils, that have been approved for ingestion. Doterra brand is the only essential oil brand I use. You can read more about essential oils here.
The best way to make these fun and interesting waters is to prepare it the night before and let the water absorb the nutrients. Because these detox waters are so powerful at breaking down toxins it is best to avoid using plastic bottles as you will be consuming what you’re trying to remove from your body. Especially if you are using essential oils, you will notice the way the appearance of the plastic begins to look fuzzy and not completely transparent, also it will slightly distort its shape. Stainless steel, or glass bottles are your best bet and are readily available for purchase online or in stores. Take them with you so when you finish the water you can refill them during the day, and continue to benefit from these fragrant and tasty detox waters.
I personally love combining cucumbers, lemons, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a little raw honey. I find within a few days that uncomfortable feeling of being bloated has gone, and notice a significant increase in my energy. I am sure you will find the same results once you begin the process of remodeling your bodies by washing them clean with these incredible detoxifying waters.
