Ultimate Guide to Holistic Detox:

Transform Your Body and Home with Detox for Renewed Health – Part Two

Are you ready for Part 2 to continue learning how to use detox to transform your body and home? This is an investment to your future health…read on!

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I am not a doctor and this information should not be considered medical advice. This post is for informational purposes and is my own personal experience. If you need medical help, seek this from your own medical professional.

Healthy Food Swaps & Detox Food Plans

If we are honest with ourselves and take a good look at the food and drinks we are consuming, we would realize the tremendous effects our diets have on our health. Sometimes we make excuses (myself included) and actually try to justify why we are eating processed, terribly unhealthy foods. Our mind says we “deserve” to eat whatever we want, but ultimately we are only hurting ourselves in the end. Is it worth having poor health just because something temporarily tastes good? There’s an old saying that goes, “Nothing tastes better than healthy feels.”

I had to realize that food can affect me like a drug and I began asking myself: Am I sick enough yet to be ready to make better, healthier choices? I get so upset when talking to people who are obviously sick or unhappy with their health, but aren’t willing to choose differently. Yet they are willing to take any and every pill their doctor pushes their way. This is a health trap….these pills may give a temporary fix, but almost always come with side effects. And…you’re still dealing with the original problem on top of it! Why not look at the cause of the problem, not the symptom(s), and then find a solution? Personally, I was finally sick and tired of being sick and tired and was ready to make the necessary changes to get my health back.

Transitioning To a Detox Diet

With that said, let’s discuss a little more about “swapping out” not-so-healthy foods for much better options. As mentioned above, a simple yet powerfully positive shift we can make is swapping out the highly inflammatory cooking oils we use for much healthier ones. Instead of using vegetable oil, canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil or cottonseed oil, much better options would be: coconut oil, avocado oil and extra virgin olive oil. (Ideally, a single-sourced extra virgin olive oil made in one (1) country is best as opposed to a blend from several different countries).

Another great swap involves sugar. Have you ever noticed how much sugar is hiding in our foods? Just about everything prepackaged in a bag, box, can or bottle has sugar in it. Processed sweets and sugary drinks are obvious ones, but what about ketchup, bacon or marinara sauce? On top of that you have your white rice, pastas and breads which convert directly to sugar in the body during digestion. And did you know that beer and wine have sugar in them? I have great success swapping out all white sugar with stevia, monk sugar, dates or coconut sugar. You can learn more techniques for your favorite recipes and they can still taste delicious! Read more here.

Another very “hidden” ingredient that is actually worse on the glycemic index level than glucose is…MALTODEXTRIN. Check out this very informative video from Dr. Eric Berg on this sneaky ingredient. Maltodextrin is hiding in many prepackaged foods, mixes and dressings.

Flour is also a great area you can make a healthy swap. Try gluten-free flour blends versus the highly processed and GMO-sprayed white flours and I can guarantee you’ll see a difference in how you feel. I love this blend or this one.

Healthy Food Swaps To Support Detoxification

As you start to swap out bad ingredients for healthier ones, your body will begin to detox the unhealthy foods from your system. Our body is a magnificent, healing creation. I find that a food “journal” is a great place to start and helps to provide accountability. This will help you see where to start making helpful changes. And writing your daily foods down brings awareness and makes it more difficult to provide excuses for poor choices.

A great place to start to detoxify from poor eating habits is to get on a healthy version of the keto plan. Once you start to see the positive results and begin to feel better, it easily motivates you to keep going. This is a life-changing choice and you will soon see and feel the positive results. Don’t look at it as a “diet” or a quick fix. Your health is precious and it is depending on your choices!

Detox Smoothies & Juices

Here’s another one of my toxin-removing go-to’s…detox smoothies and juice recipes. These are fun to make and can be a super low-calorie way to jumpstart your body in the right direction. Great detoxifying ingredients are leafy greens, like organic kale, organic spinach and celery which is another fantastic addition that adds potassium, fiber and also calcium. Whole food ingredients that are terrific detoxifiers include beets, cucumbers, fresh cilantro, parsley, apples, berries, bananas, avocados and pineapple. Try to get your produce organic when at all possible as ones that are not organic are almost always sprayed with pesticides which are very harmful to us.

I also love adding tart cherry juice and aloe vera juice to my daily routine. And here is a terrific, clean electrolyte. Stay away from unidentifiable ingredients and especially avoid “natural flavors”. If you want to learn more about natural flavors, watch here.

Another popular, healthy drink combination is apple cider vinegar, cinnamon, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and honey or stevia, to taste. Drinking this elixir at least 20 minutes before a meal will produce the best detox result.

Essential Oils For Body Detox

Essential oils can be a great, simple addition to your detox routine as well. All you need is 1-2 drops in a (vegetable) capsule. Again, make sure you are using pure, therapeutic, food-grade essential oils. Great oils for liver detox are lemon, rosemary, ginger, grapefruit to name just a few. Oils you can use for kidney detoxification are juniper, lemon, peppermint and grapefruit. Frankincense will intensify the effect of any oil you use it with. (Just inhaling frankincense can increase the oxygen level to the brain and body). So using essential oils helps detoxify us, keeps our energy up, boosts our immune systems and assists our bodies in running more smoothly.

Detox for Home

While our “built in” detox processes do an amazing job at removing harmful toxins, the unfortunate fact is we are being hit from all sides…from our diets and the environment. We are exposed to toxins in our everyday life and our homes are another culprit for a heavy, additional toxic loads to our bodies. The soaps and disinfectants we use, beauty products, pillows, bed, bedding and even the medications that we believe are helping us, can all be toxic to our bodies

When you make product choices for you and our family, pay special attention to what ingredients they are made from. For example, a commonly used one is Lysol disinfectant. Some of the ingredients in this product are very toxic. The environmental working group (EWG) grades Lysol disinfectant spray as a grade F because its ingredients raise concern for harm to development and reproductive toxicity (hormones). It also carries concern for respiratory harm and environmental toxicity.

Detox for Home Products

Want a much safer option? You can make a terrific cleaning/disinfecting solution by simply adding water to your favorite citrus essential oils. Be sure to store your new cleaning solutions in glass as therapeutic-grade oils are very powerful and can leach toxins from plastic containers which will end up in your solution. Metal is not ideal either since the oils can “pull” metals as well. I’ve been using a wonderful, versatile blend of essential oils in my cleaning arsenal for years that you can find here.

Did you know that companies are not required to disclose what is in the synthetic fragrances they use? Therefore they can hide hundreds, even thousands of other harmful chemicals in a product and call them fragrances or perfumes. Unfortunately, these are also toxic to our hormone levels. Using essential oils to replace these toxic options gives you plant-based, natural alternatives.

Therefore, you want to avoid fragrances and perfumes at all costs. Instead of all of the highly-fragranced, toxic products that are so readily available, once again…make your own! We use this castile soap for our body wash and add our favorite essential oils. I’ve even switched my makeup to a natural option from the company, 100% Pure.

How about our bedding materials? Think they are all safe? Think again. When choosing bedding/mattresses, we need to be concerned the materials they are made from are not “off-gassing” which can cause a disruption our hormones. A responsible company to consider is Birch Living.

Toxic Ingredients in Medications

Over-the-counter (o-t-c) medications are another source where toxins are entering our bodies. The ingredients and many artificial colorings are questionable and, for the most part, o-t-c medications suppress the immune system to only give temporary relief to the problem we’re struggling with. Instead, why not look at the true source of the problem and not the symptoms?

Immune suppression does not solve the problem, but rather provides a very temporary bandage. This compromising of our immune systems puts us at a disadvantage and therefore causes us to become sick more easily. Let’s instead put energy into keeping our immune systems strong so we don’t fall into the trap of constantly struggling with the “symptom fix”. Moral of the story here: Address the underlying cause.

Reducing Toxins in Your Home

Starting to detox your home can be quite an undertaking so just take it one step at a time. Decide which area is your first priority and start there. Below, I have listed some areas that I have had fun with swapping out for the best detoxing results. Each area that you conquer will make a positive difference, I promise.

• Cleaning products – hand soap, surface disinfectant, hand sanitizer
• Laundry products – detergent (unscented), wool dryer balls (instead of softener/dryer sheets)
• Dishwashing products – non-toxic, unscented detergent
• Makeup – all-natural, clean ingredients
• Toothpaste/floss – non-fluoride, non-teflon products
• Water – NO PLASTIC BOTTLES (you are consuming micro-plastics) –we love our reverse osmosis water system.

Grab your FREE homemade cleaning blend here.

I can literally go on and on about the many changes we can make to detox the home and am constantly learning new techniques. We have been programmed to use the same toxic chemicals for too long. Remove these products from your home and begin to see the positive change and how much better you will feel.

When you are intentional and take the excess toxic load off your body, it allows it to function so much more efficiently. It can then assist you in fighting disease and sickness more easily because it is stronger and not so bogged down.

Gut Health & Detox

Are you aware that our gut health is one of the foundations for our overall good health? If our gut is unhealthy, then many other body systems become out of balance. Some great gut helps are aloe vera juice, slippery elm bark, homemade bone broth, fermented foods, kefir and plain yogurt…to name a few. Discovering if you have leaky gut can help you start on a journey to healing as well.

Parasite cleanses can also be very beneficial. Trust me, if you are breathing, eating and living on this planet, you have parasites. Some good, some not so good. My saying is, “Better out than in!”

Some great detoxifying herbs/foods for parasites are:

• diatomaceous earth
• milk thistle
• dandelion
• neem
• black walnut
• stinging nettle
• cilantro
• parsley
• pumpkin seeds
• turmeric
• ginger

Detoxifying Sleep Habits

The importance of sleep and the role it plays in detox is priceless. Adequate sleep is one of the most important choices you can make to detox and heal the body. Read more here.

Someone may ask – Why should we detox? They might say that the body does all the detoxing it needs on its own. My question is, do you think that is enough? Are most people healthy? If you look around, how many people are struggling with different aspects of their health such as fatigue, poor sleep, unhealthy weight, inability to get around healthily and taking every and any medication that is thrown at them? It’s been proven time and time again that detoxing techniques only further improve the body’s future health.

Detox is not a one-size-fits-all. You can start slowly, but just start! You can make your own detox routine very individualized to suit your needs. It doesn’t have to be a set timeframe, like a 1-day or 3-day “cleanse”.

I personally feel that it is a lifetime journey, especially if you consider you have this body for a lifetime! 🙂

Blessings,

Becky