Sunday, April 03, 2005

Why is it good to detox?

It's a good idea to detox your body occasionally to give it a break.

By channeling the body's energies away from dealing with meals and snacks that are difficult to digest and metabolize, and which play havoc with blood sugar, you can free up energy for regeneration and cleansing.

A detox diet increases your intake of foods and drinks that serve our bodies well as building blocks. A detox plan provides protective antioxidants and simultaneously cuts out those habits that rob you of nutrients and optimal health.

You probably rarely think about your liver, and it rarely complains, unlike an aching muscle, fluttering heart or a groaning gut. But it is busy producing heat, balancing cholesterol, processing proteins, making bile (which helps fat digestion), activating hormones and storing vitamins.

It is also responsible for detoxifying most of the chemicals we come into contact with, such as natural food toxins, alcohol, cigarette smoke, and household chemicals.

The liver can more or less function even with quite a lot of damage, but when working overtime it just doesn't do all its various jobs quite as well.

Symptoms of poor function include tiredness, dark circles under eyes, poor digestion and dull skin.