Detox diets are a very popular way that people use in order to get rid of the harmful toxins that we ingest every day. These diets encourage you to eat natural foods and also encourage you to ingest lots of water and veggies which is all stuff you know is good for you. You hear about celebrities going on detox diets all of the time, and people who go into drug or alcohol rehabs are said to be detoxing as well, so you may wonder if it would be safe and ok for you to do as well.

This is not really the casse. Like many other fad diets, detox diets can have harmful side effects, especially for teens. First of all, toxins can come from food or water, from chemicals used to grow or prepare food, and even from the air that we breathe as I mentioned above. Our bodies bring in toxins and then process those toxins through organs like the liver and kidneys and eliminate them in the form of sweat, urine, and feces.

Although detox diet theories have not actually been proven scientifically, the people who support detox diets believe that toxins don't always leave our bodies properly when we use the bathroom. Instead, they say that these toxins hang around in our digestive, lymph, and gastrointestinal systems and even in our skin and hair.

These toxins can cause all kinds of problems, like tiredness, headaches, and nausea.
So the basic idea behind the detox diets is to temporarily give up certain kinds of foods that are thought to contain these toxins in the first place. The idea is to purify and purge the body of all the harmful stuff.

Although detox diets vary by a great deal, most of them involve some version of a fast: which is, giving up food for a couple of days and then gradually reintroducing certain foods into the diet. Many of these diets also encourage you to undergo a complete colonic irrigation, otherwise known as giving yourself enemas to clean out your colon. Of course, there are still others that recommend that you take herbal supplements to help speed the cleansing process.

There are tons of detox diets out there to choose from. Typically they involve 1 or 2 days on a completely liquid diet and another 4 or 5 days slowly adding brown rice, fruit, and steamed vegetables to the diet. After a week of eating only these foods, you gradually reintroduce other foods with the exception of red meat, wheat, sugar, eggs, and all prepackaged or junk foods.

Lots of claims are made about what a detox diet can do for you like preventing and curing disease to giving people more energy to making them more focused and clearheaded. Of course, eating a diet that is lower in fat and higher in fiber can help many people feel more healthy, but certain aspects of these detox diets claim that this is because of the elimination of toxins. This actually does help to clean out your system, but there are some things that you should beware of first.

Basically, to begin, detox diets are intended for short-term purposes only and should not be taken for a long period of time. You should not use a detox diet if you are trying to lose weight.

Because normal teenagers need lots of nutritional foods in their diet, like enough calories and protein to support rapid growth and development, diets that involve fasting and severe restriction of food are not a good idea for them. For teens who are highly athletic, fasting does not provide you with enough fuel to support these activities. It is for these reasons; detox diets can be especially risky for teenagers.
It is not recommended that people with diabetes, low blood sugar, or eating disorders go on detox diets either.

You should also know that this type of diet can be addictive. That's because there's a certain feeling that comes from going without food or having an enema which can feel like a high that some other people get from nicotine or alcohol. This can become a dangerous addiction that leads to major health problems in the long run.

Also, many of the supplements that are used during detox diets are actually laxatives, which are designed to make people go to the bathroom more often. Laxative supplements are never a good idea because they can cause dehydration, mineral imbalances, and problems with the digestive system.

Finally, people who fast for days on end may drop pounds, but most of it will be water and some of it may be muscle which your body needs. Fasting for longer periods can also slow down your metabolism, making it harder to keep the weight off or to lose weight later.

We're not telling you that eating lots of veggies and fiber and drinking lots of water is a bad idea, but even good things can be overdone. For proper health you need to have a balanced nutritional level that you can only by eating such foods as protein from lean meats, eggs, beans, or peas and calcium from low-fat or fat-free milk or yogurt.

You definitely shouldn't start a detox diet or stop eating from any major food group without talking to your doctor or a registered dietitian first. The human body is designed to purify itself. Your liver and kidneys will do the job they're supposed to do if you eat a healthy diet that includes fiber, fruits, veggies, and plenty of water.

When taken once every 6 months or longer, the detox diet is not harmful and will cleanse your body of the toxins that you want to be rid of. Just make sure that you are not over doing it or prolonging the diet for longer than you need to.

Herbal Body Wraps

The Herbal body wrap produces both therapeutic and cosmetic benefits by cleansing the body of toxins and reducing inches off of your body.  Body wraps are great for anyone who wants to improve their body’s tone and tighten the look and texture of their skin, including people with loose skin from weight loss or pregnancy. Also those people that suffer through joint pain and inflammation will benefit from the therapeutic effects of body wraps.

A simple home made body wrap can be made with a mixture of a clay and some natural sea salt.  To create the simple wrap you can add more complex ingredients such as herbs and up to 2 tablespoons of an essential oil. Below is a real recipe of a body wrap that is popular among spas.

Sample of the essential oils that are needed
Lavender,
sage,
lemon,
sandlewood,
lemongrass,
rosemary,
grapefruit,
olive oil

Sample of the herbs needed
Alfalfa leaf powder,
ground basil,
chamomile flower powder,
rose petal powder,
rosehip powder

Clay Body Wrap Recipe
1 cup bentonite or green clay
1/4 cup sea salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups water

You will have to start by boiling water and add sea salt until it is completely dissolved.  Add the rest of the remaining ingredients and stir. Adjust the water if necessary to make sure that you can form a wet paste.

Rub the mixture over your entire body and cover yourself with thin towels or a clean white sheet. Most salons will recommend that you use specific wrapping sheets because the compaction helps to squeeze the tissues together for greater results.  
Lay in the tub for a minimum of 45 min. to one hour and that is it.

Body wrap session
When you decide to have a body wrap session, there are a few things that you should do to make sure that the experience is a great one. Below are some tips to ensure that have the best experience possible.

·    Body wraps are very messy so try and remember to keep the experience in the bath tub. 

·    It can also be very boring laying in the tub and staring at the ceiling for 45 minutes so if you want to make the experience more interesting, you can listen to your favorite music on a walkman or bring in a portable television.
 
·    Take a warm shower before applying the wrap to open the pores.

·    Drink lots of water both before and after your wrap to help flush out all of the toxins better.
 
·    You can cover yourself with an inexpensive foil thermal blanket to help you to keep warm.

·    Try to avoid caffeine, sugar, fried fatty foods, soda drinks and alcohol for the next 48 hours.

Epsom salts baths
Another simple way to draw many of the daily harmful toxins out of the body is to take a hot epsom salt bath.  Hot water draws toxins out of the body and brings it to the skin’s surface, and while the water cools it pulls toxins from the skin.  When magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) is absorbed through the skin in a bath, it helps to draw toxins from the body, keep down any swelling you have and relax muscles. 

Epsom salts get their name from the mineral rich waters of Epsom, England. For some reason I felt like I had to tell you that. Below os the actual Epsom salt bath recipe.
 
Epsom Salt Detox Bath Recipe
1 cup epsom salts

handful of sea salt

2 tablespoons of bath oil

You have to pour all of the ingredients into the tub while the tub is filling up.

PLEASE NOTE: Do not take hot baths if you have high blood pressure, heart, diabetic or kidney troubles.  
Epsom Salt Scrub Recipe
you can simply massage a handful of epsom salts, mixed with 1 tablespoon of bath oil or olive oil, over wet skin to cleanse, exfoliate and soften the rough spots.  Jut make sure that you rinse extremely well.

Herbal Detox pills

Whole foods also contain other substances that are important for good health and a healthy detox program. Fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, contain naturally occurring food substances called phytochemicals, which might just help protect you against cancer, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure that you ingest into
your system everyday as mentioned in the first section.

Many of them are also good sources of the antioxidants that you need which slow down your body’s oxidation, which is a natural process that can leads to cell and tissue damage. If you depend on supplements rather than eating actual foods, you miss the potential benefits of these substances. That is why you must exercise caution when choosing pills as a your detox formula.

Many people don't get all of the nutrients they need from their diet alone because they either can't or don't eat enough foods or they simply don’t eat the right combination of healthy foods. For some people, the use of multivitamins and mineral supplements as a detox program can provide vitamins and minerals that their diets often don't. Pregnant women and seniors have different nutritional needs and may also benefit from using a supplement with their diet.

Choosing and using herbal supplements
Supplements can be a great addition to your regular diet, but they aren't meant to be taken as food substitutes. They can't replace the hundreds of nutrients found in whole foods. But if you do decide to take a vitamin or mineral supplement, you really need to consider these factors first when starting a detox program with supplements and pills:
·    Check the labels before you buy them because you need to read all of the labels carefully before taking any pills. Product labels can tell you what the active ingredient or ingredients are, which nutrients are included in the supplement, the amount that should be taken, and the amount of nutrients that each serving offers. The label also gives you the right directions for safe use and tips for storage. Follow them all.

·    You really should avoid any supplements that provide you with mega doses of anything too. In general, you should choose a multivitamin such as, Centrum, One A Day, or others that will provide you with about 100 Percent Daily Value of all the vitamins and minerals combined instead of one that supplies. The only exception to this rule is when you use calcium. Most of the calcium-containing supplements don't provide you with 100%DV.

·    Check for the “USP” on the label as well. Doing this will help you to know for a fact that the supplement offers you strength, purity, disintegration and dissolution.

·    You will have to be very nervous about the products that use certain gimmicks and tricks to get you to buy them. Synthetic vitamins are usually the same as natural ones however with one major difference which is the cost.

·    Be sure to check the expiration dates. Supplements can lose their potency over time just like everything else. If a supplement doesn't have an expiration date, it would be stupid to buy it. On the other hand if your supplements have expired, throw it away.

·    Store all of them properly. Vitamins should be stored in a dry, cool place. You will want to avoid hot, humid storage locations, such as the bathroom. You will want to be especially careful with any supplements containing iron because an Iron overdose can lead to poisoning deaths among children.
 
·    Before you start taking anything other than a standard multivitamin-mineral supplement of 100%DV or less, you should check with your doctor first because you may not be able to take certain supplements. High doses of some vitamins or minerals may cause health problems in some people as well. For example, high doses of vitamin B-3 (niacin) can end up in or make liver problems a whole lot worse, and too much vitamin A over a long period of time may cause liver problems or weaken bones in women.

·    Some supplements may interfere with your other medications as well. For instance, vitamin E isn't recommended if you're taking blood-thinning medications because it can make controlling your blood thinning more difficult.

As you can see, when it comes to using vitamin supplements for your health, you have to exercise some common sense and restraint. Most people assume that they do not have to worry about vitamin supplements because after all, they are “natural”, however; even vitamins can pose a health risk if taken to extremes. Below you will find some of the popular pills that are used as part of a detox program.

Full Body Detox by DHERBS
Health & Personal Care
$130.00
 
 Herbal Detox Plan by Xandria Williams
$13.95 - $11.86 
  
Dr. Christopher's Herbal Cleansing Kit - Herbal Supplements - Includes 4 Bottles of Lower Bowel Formula - 4 Bottles of Liver & Gall Bladder Formula - 2 Bottles of Kidney Formula - 2 Bottles of Bloodstream Formula - Herbal Detoxification by Dr. Christopher's Formulas
$89.95
 
Colon Extra Cleanse - All-natural by Vedant Gifts
Health & Personal Care
$29.99 - $19.99
 
Sesamin Rx- Supranatural Rx Sesamin Fat Burner, 120c by Sesamin Rx
Health & Personal Care
$69.99 $26.99
 
 
 "Detoxification" with Pills and Fasting
Frances M. Berg, M.S.

I have decided to include an article that was written by Frances M. Berg so that you can best decide how to better undertand what I have been saying about the process. That article is below.

It's an irrational concept, yet an intriguing idea, that modern life so fills us with poisons from polluted air and food additives that we need to be periodically "cleaned out" ("detoxified"). Never mind that natural chemicals in our foods are thousands of times more potent than additives, or that most Americans are healthier, live longer, and can choose from the most healthful food supply ever available.

The elaborate, manipulative hoax of "detoxification" is gaining ground. Many people sincerely believe that their intestines, colon, and blood stream are subject to "clogging" by undigested foods and poisons. Food faddists seem to have a special fascination with bowels, colons, and body wastes.)

The supposed need to detox is promoted through extensive writings, advertisements and door-to-door pitches. This usually involves fasting several times a year for a few days while taking laxatives or diuretics to "clean out the system."

Some entrepreneurs claim that detoxing is a great way to jump-start a diet by losing 5 or 10 pounds before you even begin the diet itself. And if their scheme is not about weight loss, "rejuvenation" is typically recommended afterward. People who are persuaded that these activities will restore vigorous youth can wind up hooked on an herbal regimen that costs several hundred dollars a month. The questionable products include:

·    In the "Inches Away plan," the client eats no solid food for three days, drinks only water with lemon juice and honey added, and takes three kinds of herbal capsules. This is claimed to cleanse the digestive tract of accumulated waste and putrefied bacteria, clean out the major organs and blood, and give mental clarity because it stops the mind's bombardment by chemicals and food additives. After three days of detox, the client takes four kinds of diet pills in combination, up to 30 a day, and visits the diet center for weekly body wraps and daily simulated action on 10 passive exercise tables.

·    In the Sambu Internal Cleansing Program, "Dr. Dunner of Switzerland" advises detoxing by drinking a special tea with pills that combine elderberries and birch-juniper.

·    The Herbal Cleansing and Detox Program from the Indiana Botanic Gardens of Hammond, Ind., includes a tea and tablets containing ginger, prickly ash, yellow dock, cascara sagrada, psyllium and uva ursi. "With your body free of harmful toxins, you will feel younger, better, healthier and happier!" Claimed benefits are increased energy, better digestion, normal weight maintenance, clearer complexion, good circulation, mental alertness, balanced function of vital cleansing organs, and stronger defense system. (Cost for a supply of tea and tablets is $29.90.)

·    The Health Center for Better Living of Naples, Fla., promotes Colon Helper and an amusing theory: "It has been proven by medical authorities that nearly half of all sickness starts in the colon . . . when the colon is kept clean, disease in the body is very rare." After this the dieter might choose their Trim Fast pills, Herbal Food Combination Weight Loss Formula #59, Dieter's Delight Herbal Tea, or Good-Bye Cellulite.

·    Detoxification Relief is marketed by Home Health of Virginia Beach, Va. It helps you stop harmful effects from "overindulgence," or from tobacco, alcohol and pollution.

·    Dr. Clayton's Natural Program for Weight Control combines three kinds of pills, two for cleansing and one for weight loss. Blood Cleanser is claimed to "detoxify the blood and tissues," and the Herba-Clenz is for "cleansing and healing the bowel."

The detoxification theory can enable con artists to gain great power over their customers by diagnosing and curing "potentially fatal" (but nonexistent) illnesses. "They have to invent the idea of toxins," says Peter Fodor, president of the Lipoplasty Society of North America, "because that gives them something to pretend they can fix."

It can be terrifying to believe that one's body is being poisoned by toxins from within. But if this were true, the human race would not have survived, says Vincent F. Cordaro, M.D., an FDA medical officer. "A person who retained wastes and toxins would be very ill and could die if not treated. The whole concept is irrational and unscientific."