Cleansing Before Starting a Diet?
Common question - Should I do a cleanse prior to starting a Raw Food or other type of Diet? Is it necessary or just helpful? Here’s an answer I once posted to a raw fooder newbie:
I love this topic…probably because I work in this field! It is true! Even while consuming a fairly healthy or even raw diet, our bodies are being assaulted everyday by toxins and chemicals. (Car exhaust, heavy metals, old pesticides even DDT from formally contaminated soil, off gassing from carpets and plastics, etc. Check out the following website for a great illustration of what is going on in this world, and how we are being poisoned slowly! http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden/)
These “foreign” toxins then enter our bodies and compound the already existing problems we may have: For example, constipation can lead lead to hormone excess, autointoxication, and even auto immune disease. Our liver is trying desperately to detoxify our system, and the standard american diet is lacking in many nutrients needed to help it do its job. So, unlike in the ‘olden’ days, it has so much more than metabolic waste to deal with. (meaning Just the very act of breathing makes toxic carbon dioxide, digestion of protein creates amonia, so our liver has it’s hands full!)
Our ancestors were quite familiar with cleansing and detoxification, this topic is not a new one. Sweat lodges, periodic fasting, saunas, salt scrubs, etc. Cleansing it seems is less a part of our lives in this day and age, and now is when it is all the more important!
Therefore, doing a periodic cleanse we will help our body to relieve itself of the extra burden. Partnering this with a cleansing lifestyle, such as what goes hand in hand with raw, is the best way to go. There are many cleanses on the market, and you can also create your own process. If you do buy a product, I recommend one that addresses your whole system, rather than just the liver and colon. This is because an overburdened liver will store toxins in fatty tissue (such as the breast) or abdomen. A good cleanse will go in like shaking a tree and knock all the bad stuff out, sending it to the colon for elimination. This is also why taking adequate fiber - fiber absorbs toxins assuring elimination, and making sure your bowels are moving several times a day (correlating to the number of large meals you consume.)
Personally, I did the Master Cleanse in my 3rd month raw, and it was really effective. Now, I do this several times a year in conjunction with ReNew Life Formulas’ CleanseSmart advanced cleanse, and I take a Liver Detox product on a daily basis to give my body the tools it needs to cleanse. (I work for them, so this is an honest but blatent advertisment!) Cassy
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