Who should do a natural detox cleanse and why?

Our world is full of toxins. What with VOCs and formaldehyde (off-gassing from many average household furnishings), second-hand cigarette smoke, paint and carpet fumes, vehicle and industrial pollution, carcinogenic woodsmoke, dioxins and heavy metal traces in the water, household cleaning chemicals and personal skincare products with nanotech particles and other questionable ingredients, breakdown products of alcohol and other drugs, caffeine and other compounds in energy drinks, artificial sweeteners, colors and other food additives, we’re practically living in a toxic soup, day in and day out!  Indoors pollution is possibly as bad as outdoors pollution – potentially even worse.  Who hasn’t heard this news and felt the urge to leave for the woods with your kids and dog?  (But pet hair can be an allergen too… oh no!)

Detoxification is possible.  There are very real methods that we can employ to manage this toxic onslaught.    It’s called natural detox cleansing, or natural detoxification cleansing or detox dieting.  (Many similar terms may be used to describe the same process, but the idea is the same: use natural foods and natural supplements to help your body rid itself of the build-up of toxins.)

The difference between natural detox cleansing and “doing a natural detox cleanse”.  “Doing a natural detox cleanser” generally refers to a specific time period where the person deliberately drinks and/or eats things which are known to aid the effective ridding of toxins by the body.  It is possible to detoxify your life over a longer period of time; for instance, by making the move to all-organic foods, cutting out additives and junk foods, and by cleaning up your living environment and changing personal products to non-harmful alternatives; but “doing a natural detox cleanse”, for the purposes of this blog, means to undergo an intensive short-term program to rid yourself of toxins within a relatively short period of time.  “Natural detox cleansing” as a generalisation can mean short-term detoxing, or it can be (more likely) referring to general cleansing of the body’saccumulated toxins through diet, exercise and other methods.

Natural detox cleansing can result in many desirable results. The results are not only helpful in terms of overall health, but can also manifest as easier and faster weight loss, better mood, better concentration and mental focus, better libido, less junk food cravings, and more energy.

Detoxing your body before trying to conceive a baby is also likely to make it easier to conceive, and lower your risk of miscarriage. If you are planning on having a baby, a detox diet can be helpful for both the woman and the man.  However, a natural detox cleanse is best done at least six months before the couple begins trying to conceive.  This is so that the body is well and truly over its toxic dump before conception of the baby.

There are some people who should NOT do a natural detox cleanse. Pregnant women should definitely not do a detox. This is because during pregnancy, the woman’s body is taking nutrients from her food and her own body itself to grow and nurture the baby inside.  Trying to detox the body can cause problems – the baby may not get enough nutrients during the detox – the mother, whose body is working extra hard to grow the baby, may not get enough nutrients – and worst of all, the toxins thatare dumped from the body during a detox may end up in the baby, rather than in the body’s waste products!  This is obviously not good, so please do not attempt to detox while pregnant.  The best time for a mother to do a natural detox cleanse is well before she conceives her baby, or after she stops breastfeeding – which leads us to…

Nursing or breastfeeding women must not do a natural detox cleanse or any form of detoxifying. During a detox, the toxins move from the body’s stores (usually fat stores) and out of the body.  Generally, these toxins will move out through the skin, sweat and waste products.  However, a breastfeeding woman’s body is likely to dump the toxins into the breastmilk instead.  A breastfeeding mother should never do a detox diet.  *Note: Breastmilk, no matter what your lifestyle and diet consists of, is still FAR superior to any non-human baby milk substitute.

So who else should avoid a natural detox cleanse? Children should not go on a natural detox cleanse, unless under the supervision of a trained and qualified health provider and for a specific reason (for instance, some children with autism have benefited from a natural detox cleanse, but this should only be done under the supervision of your chosen health care provider).

If in doubt, anyone suffering from anemia, eating disorders, diabetes, kidney disease, thyroid disease, an autoimmune disease or cancer, should consult their health care provider before attempting a natural detox cleanse.  Natural detox cleansing may or may not help people with these issues, but it is best if they seek help from a qualified health care provider so that they can be aided with their detox choices and monitored in their progress.  Also, natural detox cleansing is not supposed to be an alcohol or drug detoxification program; once again, people requiring this sort of help should seek a health care provider for relevant information.