Springtime always makes me think of a “spring clean” in which you spend time cleaning out spaces that have accumulated dust and junk over the past year. It is a time to remodel, clear out, and re-organize. Can you imagine how much your body would love that kind of attention? How, you say, could that be done? Put away your brooms and sponges and let me guide you through the reasoning, benefits, and methods of a detoxification cleanse.

Detoxification is a process of purging the excessive toxins that we hold in our bodies. All of us accumulate toxins in our bodies that should not be there. Just living your daily life causes a build-up of substances which impair the functioning of your entire body. The simple tasks of eating, breathing, and drinking water are enough to overload in your body - especially because the food we eat is not organic, the air we breathe is polluted, and the water we drink is contaminated. When you add in the alcohol, coffee, cigarettes and junk food you really have a case for cleansing! Your body works hard to save what is useful and discard what is considered waste. However, this is a constant task and our digestive and elimination systems often become overburdened. There is simply too much work to do to properly get rid of all of our waste. This excessive accumulation of waste impairs cellular and metabolic processes, clogs up our elimination systems, and results in overall toxicity. This excess toxicity can lead to many common diseases.

For example, headaches, stomach aches, poor energy, poor sleep, constipation, heartburn, and joint and muscle pain are all symptoms of toxicity. In fact, most of these seemingly minor symptoms are the first sign of toxic overload. When all we do is take medicine to suppress these symptoms, we are simply adding to our toxic load and ignoring the signals that we need to give our body a break. When ignored for long enough, the load becomes too much to bear and we end up with chronic diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and even cancer.

Cleansing gives your body the opportunity to clear out this toxic load. It enhances digestion and absorption and strengthens the body’s ability to eliminate toxins. From a Naturopathic perspective, we can find the root cause of almost all disease from an impairment of the digestive system. For example, chronic inflammation of the digestive tract can cause arthritis and headaches, poor absorption leads to malnourishment which can cause diseases such as Osteoporosis, and an imbalance of flora in the Gastro-intestinal tract (a problem for anyone who has ever been on antibiotics) can lead to yeast overgrowth and chronic infections. When you take the time to cleanse, you are giving your body precious time to rest, repair and re-balance this delicate and important system.

There are many different ways to cleanse. Many people fast for several days and drink only pure water (this is not recommended without medical supervision), others do juice fasts in which only fresh fruit and vegetable juices are consumed. I tend to make it easy for my patients by allowing them to eat a very healthy, simple diet while consuming a “medicated food”, a protein shake with vitamins, minerals, and herbs that help the body to detoxify and eliminate. This allows people to go on working and exercising, which most of us need to do, rather than taking time out of our busy lives to fast.

Most people are intimidated by the idea of cleansing, but if you are looking for an easy, effective way to improve your health, this technique is definitely something you should try. You are likely to feel better than you have in years and, in the process, you can learn how to eat a proper, health-promoting diet to decrease your toxic load in the year to come.

Dr. Eliza Klearman is a Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist practicing in Eagle. For more information call 970-328-5678 or email Liza@DrKlearman.com.