6 System Detoxification Program

Your body utilizes many avenues for detoxification and elimination.  The following guidelines are recommended for maintaining optimal detoxification processes prior to and after a systemic cleansing program.  The 6 main systems in your body that are involved with eliminating metabolic waste by-products from your body are the skin, lungs, liver, bowels, kidney and lymph.  If you are about to start a systemic cleansing program, do the following program approximately 1 week prior to the start of the cleanse.  As maintenance after a systemic cleanse, try to continue these recommendations for each organ of elimination.

SKIN

1.      Dry brush the entire body (except the face) before bathing, gently but thoroughly, three times a week.  Use a natural soft bristle brush or a dry loofah sponge.  Use short strokes directed toward the heart.

2.      Take warm to hot epsom salt baths, using one to two pounds of epsom salts plus one cup sea salt, once to twice weekly.  Drink plenty of water during and after the baths.  Follow bath with a cold shower rinse.

3.      Use vegetable oil soaps and moisturizers rather than animal fat products, which tend to clog skin pores.

4.      Choose herbal deodorants, if needed, instead of antiperspirants, which inhibit sweating, a very natural and important avenue of body detoxification.

5.      Dry heat or Moist heat sauna: Do for 10 minutes at most, 1-3 times a week to promote perspiration, follow with a cool shower rinse.

LUNGS

1.      Practice deep relaxed breathing twice daily (before rising in the morning and falling asleep in the evening are often convenient times).  Technique: while lying on the back, place one hand over the chest and the other on the lower abdomen: inhale deeply; first feel the lower lungs fill with air as the lower hand rises, then the upper lungs fill as the upper hand rises; exhale deeply; feel the upper then lower lungs empty of air.  Repeat for 20 breath cycles of inhale and exhale.

2.      Do aerobic exercise (according to an individual’s fitness level.)   This may be walking, running, biking, swimming, or aerobic dance, for example.  Sessions should last 20 to 45 minutes and be done three to five times weekly.  This will help promote sweating and deep breathing.                           

LIVER

1.      Limit substances that especially burden the liver such as: alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, preservatives, and dyes.  Also take into account environmental toxins such as care exhaust, chemical fumes, dry-cleaning fumes, work-related toxic substances.

2.      Emphasize beets, artichokes, carrots and onions in your diet. 

3.      Juice beets and carrots together and drink one cup daily with some lemon.

4.      Castor oil packs over liver 1-3 times per week.

BOWEL

1.      Eat raw or lightly cooked vegetables, salads, and fruit daily to decrease the transit time of food wastes through the gut.

2.      Include high fiber natural grains, in the daily diet, such as rice, oats, barley, millet, and quinoa, which help soften stool and increases absorption of toxins into stool.

3.      Note that aerobic exercise also helps to positively regulate bowel function.

4.      Limit dietary intake of highly processed foods, which tend to constipate and increase the body’s toxic load.

KIDNEYS

1.      Drink at least six to eight glasses of water daily preferably filtered or bottled.

LYMPHATICS

1.      Perform a regular stretching program to release muscle imbalances and constrictions, which, in turn, increases the blood and lymphatic circulation.  See Strengthening by Bob Anderson, “Basic Body Stretch” by Michelle J. Pouliot, or Yoga and Tai Chi for stretching program ideas.

2.      Receive regular massage therapy, once weekly is ideal, to increase blood and lymphatic circulation.

3.      Finish a hot shower with a one-minute cool or cold water rinse, which causes a superficial circulatory flush and stimulates the central nervous system.

STRESS REDUCTION

1.      Throughout the day if experiencing stress, stop and sit quietly, take three deep breaths as described earlier, allow the shoulders to drop, and imagine tension flowing down and out of the body through the soles of the feet.

2.      Take 15 minutes to one hour daily, to be quiet and allow the mind to be still.  Different mediation methods provide ideas about how to do this.  For ideas, see: Creative Visualization by Shakti Gwain,  Guilt is the Teacher, Love is the Lesson, by Joan Borezsenko, and What We May Be by Pierro Ferruci.