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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Digestive System Cleansing

Your digestive system breaks down, metabolizes and absorbs nutrients from the foods you eat and eliminates waste from the body. If this system is overworked or otherwise prevented from working efficiently, you may feel sluggish, become sick often and experience more mood swings. You can do a cleanse to help flush out toxins and support the digestive organs in working efficiently.

Understand Your Digestive Tract

    When you eat something, it travels down to your stomach to start the process of being broken down so the nutrients can be used by your body. The liver and gall bladder secrete hormones that break down the food and either make it available for immediate use for energy or store it for use later. Waste products travel down the intestines, where any remaining nutrients are absorbed.

    If you eat a lot of processed foods or even high amounts of fat and protein, your digestive system can be overtaxed -- particularly your liver, which has to create more hormones to break things down. Also, high amounts of toxins may not be easily released, therefore causing your body to store the toxins in fats cells. Flushing these out can improve your overall well-being.

Flushing the System

    You can do a cleanse or detox in many different ways. A fasting detox such as the Lemonade Diet eliminates solid food for a period of three to 10 days. Your liver won't need to work as hard to break down proteins or fats. The reduction in calories will also call upon body reserves, releasing the toxins from fat cells and flushing them out with high amounts of water. This is also good for the kidneys and the colon.

    A less-extreme cleanse involves eating organic or raw foods to reduce the stress on the digestive organs. Cooked meats and vegetables are more difficult to digest in most instances that fresh and raw. You can use the same period of time for a cleanse and drink the same 2 liters of water a day. This may not flush things out as effectively, but will certainly help you prevent mood swings from hunger pangs.

    There are other methods, such as herbal teas and daily supplements, that encourage healthy liver and colon function and eliminate some of the toxins you consume.

Risks of Detox Cleansing

    When you are doing a cleanse, particularly one in which you modify your diet, you should understand that you will most likely feel worse before you feel better. As toxins are released from your body, you may become fatigued and even feel sick. Continue drinking enough water to flush the toxins out. Additionally, you may become more agitated if you are not eating and feel heavy hunger pangs.Try to do a detox cleanse over a long weekend when you don't have heavy responsibilities. Talk to your doctor prior to starting a detox cleanse. If you experience lightheadedness or dizzy spells, seek medical attention immediately, as this may represent a serious electrolyte imbalance.

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