6 Ways to Detox Your Body That Actually Work

Detoxing is a powerful buzzword lately, an umbrella term for everything from diets, juice cleanses, and other quick fixes that claim to eliminate toxins, improve your overall health, and speed up weight loss. However, a lot of these proposed programs for detoxes aren’t necessarily based in medical science, and it can be tough to figure out whether detoxing is something you actually need to do, and if it is—how to do it.

Luckily, your body already has natural detoxification processes that work diligently to eliminate what it doesn’t need and keep your organs healthy and functioning normally. Typical detox programs that rely on supplements (a $122 billion industry) don’t usually do anything that your body can’t already do on its own. However, the healthier you are, the better your body disposes of what it doesn’t need. These are the six things you can do to optimize your body’s natural detoxification process.

Benefits of Detoxing

We recently wrote about how your diet affects your skin and came to the conclusion that what you eat has a major impact on your skin’s clarity. There’s a reason for that; what you put into your body dictates everything from your mood to how early you start losing your hair. Typically, people detox out of guilt from a late-night pizza binge or dissatisfaction with how they look. The truth is, no detox, especially the ones that rely on supplements or elaborate juicing recipes, is going to deliver instant gratification. Instead, try to approach the idea of detoxing your body with a long view toward achieving and maintaining your optimum health and wellbeing. Consistently healthy habits will have a dramatic impact on your mood, longevity, and appearance. In that way, the following “detox” program can reduce your chances of disease, help you lose weight, and make for an overall happier, healthier you.

6 Ways to Detox Your Body Naturally

Limit Alcohol and Other Toxins

It’s common sense—if you want to eliminate toxins from your body, stop taking them in. Alcohol in particular has a detrimental effect on your sleep and takes a huge toll on your liver, which breaks the alcohol down into acetaldehyde, a chemical known to cause cancer. If that wasn’t bad enough, it also slows down your metabolism, so if you’ve been struggling with cellulite, put down the wine. It should go without saying that smoking is a big no-no as well—but then again, it always has been. If you want to learn more about how smoking impacts your skin, you’ll want to read this. 

Drink More Water

If there’s a shortcut to ridding your body of unwanted toxins, H2O is it. Not only does water promote detoxification, it also regulates your body temperature, aids digestion, assists in cell renewal, and keeps your tissues strong and healthy. Your daily intake depends on a lot of different factors, but current wisdom recommends just under four liters per day for men, and almost three liters per day for women. Bonus tip: start the day off right by drinking a big glass first thing in the morning, immediately after waking up. 

Get Enough Sleep 

If you’re feeling sluggish, weighed down, anxious, hungry, or in need of a detox, what you might need more than anything is a good night’s rest. Experts suggest getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night, and it’s not just so you can wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Our body’s natural detoxification processes do their best work while we’re catching our nightly zzz’s, filtering out harmful waste byproducts, including the stress hormones that cause weight gain. Lack of sleep over the long-term has been linked to obesity, anxiety, and makes you more prone to diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Reason enough to fluff up that pillow.

Follow A Healthy Diet

If you’re considering a detox because you feel bloated, heavy, or just don’t like what you see in the mirror lately, then adjusting your diet should be your top priority. You can experience all the benefits of a cleanse without resorting to expensive juices or supplements, by following a few simple rules like sticking to whole foods and cutting the rest. Avoid dairy products, fried food, processed food, and especially sugar. Sub in healthy fruits and veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats like avocados and nuts. Upping your intake of prebiotics, found in tomatoes, artichokes, bananas, asparagus, onions, garlic, and oats, boosts the healthy gut flora that flushes out waste and toxins. For added benefits, go all-in on antioxidants. Berries, fruits, nuts, cocoa, spices, and green tea have some of the highest amounts of antioxidants, which help your body fight everything from premature aging to weight gain. And don’t deprive yourself. While fasting may have some benefits, the jury is still out on what they are—but one thing we know for sure is that prolonged deprivation can disrupt your metabolism’s natural functioning for good.

Sweat It Out

The benefits of exercise have been lauded far and wide, so we won’t go into all of them here. When it comes to detoxing your body, physical activity is a must. Even thirty minutes a day has long-term health benefits and jumpstarts your metabolism so excess calories and waste products are processed faster. If you can work up a sweat, even better, since sweating is one of the body’s surefire ways of removing toxins. Not only is exercise a great way to detox the body generally, it’s also essential for targeting those stubborn areas of fat like the abdomen and thighs, and for getting rid of cellulite.

Toss The Chemicals

Exposure to pollutants is virtually unavoidable in modern life, but there is one place where you can reduce them, and that’s at home. Trading in cleaning products, beauty products, and other materials for ones that use natural ingredients not only limits your exposure, it’s good for the planet as well. It’s a win-win!

Ways to Maximize Your Results 

There’s no shame in taking advantage of modern medical aesthetics technology to optimize the efforts you put into your detox. Aesthetics treatments are ideal if you want to see a slimmer, sleeker you in the mirror because let’s be honest, some of those lumps are bumps are hard to address through diet and exercise alone. Fat treatments use a process called lipolysis to gently heat and dissolve hard-to-budge fat cells that tend to accumulate across the abdomen and flanks. You’ll feel a cooling sensation where the applicators are placed, followed by warmth as it maintains a therapeutic temperature to trigger lipolysis. This solution is non-surgical and suitable for all skin types, not to mention a comfortable experience, with no downtime. Best of all, many people see visible results after just one session, with sessions lasting about 30 minutes, making them the perfect option for people who want to achieve their body goals. 

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