Lung Cleansing

We might not think about cleansing the lungs, but they too need to get rid of as much toxic waste that builds up there as well. You probably know what the next thing is that I'm going to say. If you are a smoker, you deserve to stop and help your lungs to cleanse. If you live or work with a smoker who smokes around you, you deserve to get away. Second hand smoke is as bad as smoking. The free radical damage from just one cigarette is astronomical.

Whether you are a smoker or not, there are ways to help cleanse the lungs. If you live in the city, this is more difficult, because cities are rife with air polution and other toxic chemicals. Finding the cleanest air that you can in your environment and taking several deeps breaths will help you remove polutants from the lungs. This will not take a great deal of time, but you need to take a few minutes and really concentrate on breathing deep and exhaling just as deeply. If you can get into an environment where there is less or no polution that is even better.

Liver Cleansing

The other major filtering organ is the liver. The liver's sole job is to remove wastes and toxins from the blood. Cleansing the liver should be done to remove the excess wastes and toxins that build up there, but it should be done with supervision. You should have guidance as you go through this process.

There are some things that you can do to help the liver detoxify. First and foremost is eating a diet that is rich with fruits and vegetables - raw is better than cooked. Secondly, you should be aware of the types of fats you're putting into your system. I know I have spoken about this before, but one of the things that really gums up the liver is hydrogenated fats/oils. Get rid of the margarine. Use the olive oil and vegetable spreads that do not contain hydrogenated fats/oils. This means any hydrogenated fats/oils, even the partially hydrogenated ones.

Since I do recommend that you have guidance with this process, contact me via the blog if you are interested in detoxifying your liver.

Cleansing the Kidney

Since the kidneys are the other way in which you get rid of wastes and toxins, it makes sense that you would want to cleanse them at the same time that you're cleansing the bowel. Cleansing the kidneys is pretty easy.

Since the kidneys are a filtering unit, the best way to help clean them out is to drink lots of water. I've already spoken about water in the September of 08, and in the dieting tips #6. I do in fact mean water here and not coffee, tea, sodas, juices or other liquids.

Our bodies are 50% water, so the minimum amount of water you should be drinking each day is to take your weight, divide by 2 and that's how many ounces of water you should be drinking. Here's an example: if you weight 160 pounds, divide by 2 you get 80 - 80 ounces of water is the minimum you should be drinking.

Now if you want to cleanse the kidneys, you will need to drink more than the minimum amount of water. Also keep in mind if you are doing heavy physical activity or exercise, you will need even more water to not only replace what you are losing with activity/exercise but to cleanse the kidney. If you don't replace what you're losing, the kidneys are challenged with more toxins to filter out with less volume. Think of the kidney's as a sifter. The more water through the sifter, the easier it is to filter out the particles. If the particles become too big, they clog up the tiny filtering units in the kidney.

What to Cleanse and How

There are multiple areas of the body that you will want to cleanse. I'm going to write about 5 areas over the next 5 days.

The first area and a good place to start is the colon. If you eat foods that contain toxins (most of what we eat today does contain toxins), you will definitely want to start here. Now think about the fact that if the food you are eating is not moving very fast through the intestine, your body will have lots of time to absorb those toxins. The goal then is to speed things up such that you are having at least one bowel movement per day. If you are someone who only has a bowel movement every 2-3 days, your body is absorbing lots of toxins in the colon.

So how do you cleanse the colon? I'm not talking about enemas here. The first and best way for you to begin to cleanse the colon is by eating at least 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Organics are best because they have less chemicals used in growing and processing them. Learn to love your fruits and vegetables and your body will love you back by being healthy.

Whole grains also help in moving wastes through the intestine, so be sure to include them with your fruits and vegetables.

You can also utilize some supplements if need be, but I highly recommend you go with the natural way which is fruits, vegetables and whole grains. That being said, some of the supplements you can use to help cleanse the colon are psyllium husks or seeds and flax seeds. If you are wondering about an herbal product, respond to the blog and I will give you more information about the safe usage.

Benefit #4 of Cleansing

Toxins are things like free radicals. Free radicals can cause damage in the DNA structure of our cells which results in permanent damage. While we might not even be aware of the damage to the cell structure, over time this is one of the leading causes of aging. So detoxing or cleansing can help you get rid of free radicals as well as help your immune system repair those DNA structures that it can repair.

In addition, toxins cause the cells of the body to be stressed. The more stressed the cells, the faster the aging process. So removing toxins from the body can assist you in slowing that agin process.

Cleansing can help you get rid of free radicals and other toxins that stress the body, thereby allowing you live a longer healthier life.

Benefit #3 of Cleansing

Restoring all of the systems within the body so that they can function in harmony together as they were meant to is a huge benefit of cleansing. When certain organs or organ systems within our body become toxic, it is hard for them to function in coordination with the other organs and systems within the body.

An example of what happens when our bodies become toxic is the more processed foods that we eat, the more chemicals and other toxins - like hydrogenated oils - that we consume, the harder it is for our liver to detoxify and rid the body of toxins. What happens, it begins to deposit the toxins in fat stores, we gain weight, - as we gain weight, our endocrine system especially the pancreas begins to become over taxed with the demand for insulin and the toxins develop an resistance to insulin attaching on the receptor site so that glucose can move into the cell out of the blood stream. We end up with diabetes, and potentially all of the complications of diabetes. Our bodies become sick.

Cleansing can help you remove the toxins from organs such as the liver so that you can live a healthier life. While cleansing helps, I have to say, the other thing you should be doing is watching what it is that you put into your body.

Benefit #2 of Cleansing

The burden of toxins on the body come out in physical complaints such as stiffness or pain in joints, allergies, headaches, depression, fatigue, and digestive problems to name a few. The more we overload the system with toxins, the more problems that will arise.

Cleansing can help you decrease the load of toxins and make you feel much better in the process. The first time that I did a cleanse, I was having some pretty severe foot and ankle stiffness and pain. After a 2 day cleanse, the stiffness and pain was almost completely gone. I became an instant believer in cleansing. Subsequently I have found other benefits, but this really speaks to this particular benefit.

Most illnesses occur because of toxic overload on the system. These toxins are in the foods that we eat, the air we breathe and the water that we drink and bathe in.