Can Detoxing Make You Sick?
It’s important to understand that when you detox, your body is working very hard to eliminate toxins. You may actually feel quite sick before you start to feel better. Instead of increasing your body’s detox efforts, avoid over-the-counter pain relievers and try to manage your symptoms naturally.
Detox pills and diets can use a variety of substances to “purge” the body of toxins. The laxatives, supplements, and even the “helpful” bacteria used in some of these products can cause severe gastrointestinal issues. Some people on detox diets and cleanses can have problems with diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.
To understand why an extreme detox can make people feel so sick, you first have to understand how detox really works. This is an oversimplified explanation, but the fundamentals are correct: Your liver filters toxins out of your blood, including pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, ammonia and chemicals.
“If you feel sick on a detox protocol, there’s a reason. You are essentially getting poisoned with your own released toxins.” Symptoms tend to mimic the flu: fatigue, nausea, headaches, dizziness, bloating, digestive issues, chills, elevated heart rate, brain fog, and increased joint and muscle pain.
To understand why an extreme detox can make people feel so sick, you first have to understand how detox really works. This is an oversimplified explanation, but the fundamentals are correct: Your liver filters toxins out of your blood, including pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, ammonia, and chemicals.
Sleep problems. For the first few days of a detox, you may experience a disruption to your sleep patterns. Insomnia is not uncommon, but you may also struggle with feeling tired and desperate for a nap. To minimize the risk of insomnia, power down your electronic devices an hour before bedtime.
Unfortunately, detox symptoms are part of the process. They are completely normal and I’ll tell you why in a second Whether you decided to cleanse with a detox diet, a mono diet, a smoothie detox, a traditional juice cleanse or strict water fast, keep in mind that the benefits you will get from this detox will be extraordinary!
While the described symptoms may occur during a healthy detox, always err on the side of caution and seek medical attention if you experience any severe or persisting symptoms. What Toxins May You be Detoxing From?
What are the symptoms of detox?
You may suddenly start feeling under the weather in the process of your detox. Aches and pains, cough, runny nose, congestion, nausea, vomiting, and maybe even a fever have made a home in your supposedly detoxified body.
A cleanse means you won’t be getting the number of calories you’re used to. Your body will respond to this change in diet the same way a bear does: hibernation. If you eat less, especially less fat and sugars, your body will slow you down and conserve whatever energy it is getting, resulting in you feeling tired and lethargic.
Lower caloric energy causes fatigue and dehydration as your body seeks to conserve energy and water, and the lack of addictive substances like caffeine and sugar causes withdrawal symptoms. While these symptoms are natural reactions from your body, there are several steps you can take to understand and avoid the discomfort and sickness …
Your moods will fluctuate while your brain adjusts to the new levels of stimulation. Also, if your stomach is not getting its usual calorie intake, it will cause all sorts of not-fun moods in your brain.
Not only will your body crave the foods and chemicals you’re no longer giving it, like caffeine and sugar, but it will start craving some potentially weirder items, or just foods you’ve never eaten before.
To combat cravings, have a plan of attack in advance. When you are looking for that morning cup of joe, replace it with a glass of juice or protein shake to give you a jolt to your morning. Sneak an apple onto your work desk and snack on that instead of going to the office vending machine.
It’s not fun to talk about, but your detox could be causing constipation or diarrhea in the most extreme cases. This is because your body isn’t getting the fiber or food intake it’s used to, and your intestinal tract is panicking.
How to get rid of toxins in your body?
1. Collecting all the heavy metals, toxins and poisons from your body’s cells, tissues and organs. 2. Concentrating them in your liver {and bile}. 3. Dumping them back into your small intestine all at once where they can now cause acute toxicity and poisoning.
A diet of processed foods and contaminated supplements will increase your toxic burden, but a diet of fresh whole foods will naturally and automatically eliminate toxins. Engaging in regular exercise that causes you to sweat will greatly magnify your body’s detox capabilities, by the way.
But if you aren’t eating any fiber — for example, you’re on a “juice fast” or a “juice cleanse” – then you have a potentially huge problem: You have no fibers to trap the toxins your liver is dumping into your small intestines! So those toxins get reabsorbed right back through your intestinal walls and into your blood.
The heavy metals cadmium and mercury cause severe kidney damage, by the way.}. If you are eating a holistic, whole-food diet at the same time your liver is dumping toxins into your GI tract, then food fibers will tend to capture those toxins and trap them, ultimately transporting them out of your body through bowel movements.
In other words: * If you are juicing, don’t take aggressive detox supplements at the same time. * If you are taking detox supplements, make sure you are eating whole foods with plenty of natural fiber.
Bottom line: Detox should never be a crisis. I have become increasingly convinced that extreme detox supplements may actually be causing more harm than good. Diarrhea is not healing, and the explanation that you need to suffer through a “healing crisis” just doesn’t hold water.
Except for the fact that everybody feels better after diarrhea stops. Feeling better after making yourself sick is not exactly my definition of getting healthier. As part of a daily diet, of course, juicing can be incredibly healing.
How to eliminate toxic substances from body?
A diet of processed foods and contaminated supplements will increase your toxic burden, but a diet of fresh whole foods will naturally and automatically eliminate toxins. Engaging in regular exercise that causes you to sweat will greatly magnify your body’s detox capabilities, by the way.
A healthy, whole foods diet that’s rich in fresh fruits, vegetables and plenty of clean water is, all by itself, a “daily detox. ”. Truth be told, your daily diet is either helping you eliminate toxins or accumulate toxins depending on what you eat.
The heavy metals cadmium and mercury cause severe kidney damage, by the way.) If you are eating a holistic, whole-food diet at the same time your liver is dumping toxins into your GI tract, then food fibers will tend to capture those toxins and trap them, ultimately transporting them out of your body through bowel movements.
Your body is already programmed to detox itself automatically (which is why you have a liver and kidneys), so if you embrace a healthful lifestyle, your body will automatically detox itself with every breath, every heartbeat and every bowel movement. …
Fiber-less juice fasting while taking detox supplements may be a really bad idea . What makes all this worse is the fact that many detox protocols demand that you drink only fiber-less juice such as wheat grass juice, celery juice, carrot juice, etc. at the same time you are taking aggressive detox supplements.
Diarrhea is not healing, and the explanation that you need to suffer through a “healing crisis” just doesn’t hold water. In truth, every glass of clean water you drink is a “detox” elixir. Every stalk of celery you chew and swallow is a detox food. Every glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice you drink is a detox beverage.
Every glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice you drink is a detox beverage. Every algae superfood you eat is a “detox” superfood. Every exercise that produces sweat is a detox exercise, and every hike into nature where you are surrounded by trees is a detox hike.
How to detoxify your body?
Saunas and sweat lodges have been used as ways to detoxify the body. Some people believe that sweat is one of the best ways to get rid of body impurities. Others have used other more extreme methods to purify their bodies. Enemas, fasting, and even bloodletting have all been viewed as ways to rid the body of toxins.
It is important for the body to be able to rid itself of toxins, but the likelihood of a detox pill or diet doing that is very low. The truth is that the human body already has very effective ways to deal with detoxing itself. Your liver and kidneys are designed to filter out harmful substances in your body.
A lot of detox diets have people eliminate certain foods that are believed to cause the buildup of toxins. Plenty of people cut meat and dairy out of their diets with no problem, but that’s usually paired with changing their diets to make up for the lack of nutrients.
Others may be focused on chemicals and hormones we get from the dairy and meat we eat each day. Many people believe that toxins are responsible for a variety of ailments in their lives. Toxins have been blamed for nearly everything from headaches and fatigue to obesity and other chronic health conditions.
Your liver and kidneys are designed to filter out harmful substances in your body. To some extent, even your skin and lungs can do work to protect the body from harmful toxins. If your organs are functioning normally and your body is healthy, you don’t need to do anything else to help your body detoxify itself.
Dangerous Detox Side Effects. At best, detox products and diets won’t largely affect people’s wellbeing and could give them some minor positive benefits. At worst, detox products can do some serious harm to the body. One of the problems around the detox craze is that methods are largely unregulated and untested.
The laxatives, supplements, and even the “helpful” bacteria used in some of these products can cause severe gastrointestinal issues.