Detox 101: Foundations of a Successful Cleanse

We live in an increasingly toxic world. In the US alone, there are more than 10,000 health-robbing chemical compounds produced in large quantities for industrial use: Flame retardants, pesticides and hydrocarbons; mercury, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals, and many others. The CDC and EPA have found significant amounts of these toxins in food supplies, water, air and soil samples, and even in the umbilical cords of newborns.  

Still, it’s often hard to grasp the magnitude of this widespread toxin exposure—until you experience the impacts on your health. From neurological function to digestive wellness, cellular performance and much more, scientific evidence shows how the accumulation of environmental toxins in the body affects our most critical organs and systems.  

You don’t want to wait for these impacts to show up on your next health exam—and you don’t have to. Clinical research shows there are safe and effective strategies that can keep toxins out of your body, while actively promoting optimal cell, tissue and organ function.  

Your body has built-in protections against toxins. The blood/brain barrier, which separates toxins from your delicate neurology, is a good example. Your natural detoxification systems, including the liver, kidneys, skin, lungs, and digestive tract work hard to metabolize toxins and waste products, and safely eliminate them. 

However, your body’s natural detox mechanism did not evolve to handle the kind of toxic load we face today.  

If you want to achieve optimal wellness and healthy aging, you need to provide targeted support for your body’s natural detox systems.  

The more you can incorporate these research-based solutions into your regular health routine, the less toxic your body will be—which means greater health and vitality, and optimal aging on the cellular level.  

Foundational detox strategies include: 

• Anti-inflammatory detox diet 
• Targeted detox formulas that gently remove toxins, prevent their accumulation, and enhance detox functions 
• Digestive and microbiome support 
• Exercises and practices to help release toxins 
• Additional detox treatments  

With any detox program, you want to move at a gentle pace. It can take years for toxins to build up, so we can’t expect to remove them with a quick fix. But that’s exactly what some inferior detox programs promise—along with a rash of potential side effects that can come from detoxing too quicky, causing what some mistakenly refer to as a ‘healing crisis’. It’s the idea that detox symptoms like gas, bloating, headaches, pain and fatigue are good signs that your detox program is working well.  

Unfortunately, they’re not good signs at all. Side effects like these mean your body is releasing toxins too quickly, and your detox organs can’t metabolize them fast enough—so they circulate to other parts of your body and trigger inflammatory reactions.  

The secret to detox success, and avoiding these symptoms, is cleansing the blood and circulatory system first with diet, exercise and targeted binding detox formulas like PectaClear Toxic Metal Cleanse, and GlyphoDetox Pesticide Detox Formula.  

From there, you can add more intensive support for your body’s detox organs and systems, with targeted formulas such as ecoDetox. Additional practices can support the overall process, giving you a gentle yet highly effective cleanse experience.  

Let’s take a look…  

A nourishing, anti-inflammatory diet is the foundation for a successful detox program. Here are some essential tips:  

• Eat fresh, organic, unprocessed (whole) foods, with an emphasis on green vegetables. Vegetables may be juiced, eaten raw, steamed or sautéed in liquid.  
• Limit animal protein as much as possible, particularly dairy, and choose organic and hormone-free meats and products.   
• Choose alkalizing foods since they can help counteract the tendency to become more acidic during cold weather, and promote oxygenation and detoxification. Greens and cruciferous vegetables, root vegetables, avocado, lemons and seaweeds are all examples of alkalizing foods.  
• Soak and sprout grains and legumes before cooking. This process increases their nutritional content, reduces digestive upset and supports greater detoxification.   
• Consume plenty of pure water and herbal teas, along with low sodium vegetable soups or broths.  
• Add fiber (such as flax or chia seeds, psyllium, rice bran, etc.) to your diet to support regular elimination that flushes toxins out of the digestive tract.  
• Avoid foods that place oxidative stress on the body and cause inflammation, such as alcohol, sugars, processed foods, cooked oils, caffeinated beverages and non-organic foods.  

Binders are the foundations of successful detox. These natural fiber ingredients work to trap and absorb toxins, allowing them to be safely eliminated.  

For heavy metal and environmental toxin removal, PectaClear offers clinically proven binding support to kick off your cleanse.  PectaClear blends PectaSol modified citrus pectin with sodium alginates, to safely remove toxic metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic, as well as radioactive elements, from the digestive tract and the circulatory system. Importantly, PectaClear also helps to prevent toxin reabsorption—a common problem with many cleanses.* 

For pesticide and agricultural toxin removal, GlyphoDetox offers additional binding support. GlyphoDetox is a targeted detox formula designed to bind and eliminate pesticides and agricultural toxins including glyphosate, as well as fluoride and others. GlyphoDetox also helps to prevent these toxins from being absorbed into sensitive organs and tissues, like the thyroid.*  

Once you have incorporated natural binders to trap and eliminate circulating toxins, we recommended adding more intensive detox support, with ecoDetox. This comprehensive botanical-nutrient formula promotes optimal liver detox processes, while supporting your other detox organs including the kidneys, skin and lungs. ecoDetox helps to enhance the body’s natural detox mechanisms, including methylation, and promotes powerful antioxidant activity to help neutralize free radicals generated by toxic body burden.*  

Another critical part of any detox approach is to ensure that your digestive system has the support it needs. Replenishing and nourishing beneficial bacteria in the GI tract with pre- and probiotics is also essential during and after detox, to restore balance and rebuild gut health.  

ecoProbiotic is a first-in-class, certified organic pre+ probiotic elixir, with 8 live probiotic strains, prebiotic nutrients, and 19 organic digestive botanicals. This unparalleled formula delivers full-spectrum digestive and microbiome support for superior gut health, immunity and other benefits that come with thriving microbiome.* 

It’s critical to keep things moving during a cleanse. Toxins in the process of being eliminated can get stuck in transit and create further areas of stagnation. Try to engage in mild to moderate exercise (even just 15 minutes of walking) every day of your cleanse.  

In addition, specific treatments that promote the movement of energy throughout the body can be very helpful in deepening and enhancing the process. Acupuncture, lymphatic massage, micro-current therapy, homeopathic treatments, infrared saunas, dry skin brushing, yoga, Qi Gong and breathing exercises are some recommended modalities to support natural detoxification processes. 

It might seem obvious, but sleep is just as cleansing for the brain as it is for the body. Scientists found (relatively recently) that when you sleep, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid increases in the brain, washing away any harmful waste from dead cells, or the proteins between cells that build up during the day.

Exposure to health-robbing toxins is an everyday problem that requires daily strategies—starting with safe, proven-effective detox solutions. The goal is to keep pervasive pollutants from accumulating in your body and wreaking havoc on your health.  

With these gentle, yet highly effective strategies, you can not only reduce your toxic body burden, but you also support optimal health, vitality and healthy aging—all the way down to the cellular level.