How to Cleanse Your System

When you experience sluggishness, skin problems, aches, pains and irregularity, your body is telling you it needs a good scrub-down. Cleansing your system does not have to be a one-time crash program that forces you to subsist on hot lemon water for days at a time. It can be a gradual process that involves changes in your diet and bit of pampering.

Water, Water and More Water

• Water is crucial to your health and the cleansing process. It comprises about three-quarters of the human body mass and is a major component in every cell. According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, a researcher and advocate of the natural healing power of water, the process of water cleansing or detox is consuming enough water to achieve the following important functions in our body:
  • Diluting toxins and waste products for their drainage from our body
  • Regulating and maintain our body temperature
  • Maintaining healthy joints by lubricating them with water-based solutions
  • Transporting nutrients, hormones, and chemical substances throughout our tissues and body
  • Helping to clear excessive fats from our bloodstreams
  • Providing our brains with necessary fluids for protection (76 percent of our brain is water)
  • Covering our spinal cord with fluid to protect it from strong impacts

  Water aids not only in internal cleansing but also external cleansing as. When the skin is properly hydrated, it looks plump and radiant. Proper water consumption can also improve the appearance of muscles by making them look fuller. Water helps flush out toxins and keeps you cool through perspiration. Lack of water can lead to dehydration, which can zap your energy and make you tired.

Out with the Bad, in with the Good

• Cut out some of the junk that you have been eating. Eliminate alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, refined sugars and saturated fats. Don't panic. This is not forever, although you might want to consider weeding them out of your life over time. These substances slow the digestion, which causes fecal matter to back up in your bowels and over time become toxic. To get and keep your bodily functions moving, add fiber to your diet. Foods like brown rice, fresh fruits and vegetables help in the smooth excretion process. Less buildup equals fewer toxins, and fewer toxins equals regularity, lower cholesterol and weight loss. For a list of high-fiber foods check out the Mayo Clinic article listed in Resources.

Move

• Exercise is another way to cleanse your system. Sweating releases toxins through the body's largest organ, the skin. Exercise causes you to breathe deeper and faster, cycling oxygen throughout the body, and it increases blood circulation, bringing nutrients to all the organs and muscles. A stagnant body encourages toxic buildup. Weight loss is another advantage of cleansing the system through exercise. Reducing the amount of fatty tissue in the body reduces the amount of storage space for toxins.

  Exercise also cleanses your mental system by reducing stress, which is toxic to your emotional state. Adults ages 18 to 65 should get 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity five days a week, according to the American Heart Association. Aerobic exercise like bicycling, jogging and dancing all get your body moving and help in the cleansing process. Yoga is also thought to be beneficial because the variety of poses help massage the internal organs.

  Exercise accelerates the cleansing process and improves your appearance in the long run.