Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, here for your non gym needs. Today we’re going to be talking about detoxing. This is going to be the first part in a three part series, so be on the lookout for part two coming soon. And if you have any questions about today’s blog, then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
Today the word of the day is detox, because it’s going around everywhere, right? From what type of diet you’re going to be eating to get back on track, to what you shouldn’t have eaten over the holidays, and more, leads you back to the word detox. What is it? Do you really need it? How do you do it? What’s going on?
I thought I’d take today to just go through some basics on it. What is a detox? Well, that’s where we use either food or supplements to allow our bodies to remove certain toxins, inflammation, excess water weight, just basically all the extra stuff that’s in there that we didn’t really mean to put in there in the first place. It’s helping to flush all of that out.
Now, does detoxing mean weight loss? Well, it can for some people, but for some people it doesn’t. Some people may lose a ton of inches doing a detox, and no weight, or very little weight. That’s a good possibility, as well.
The thing is that people carry around, on average, between 10 to 15 pounds of inflammation on any given day. Imagine this: you go and you cut your finger. It starts to swell, and grow, and it becomes larger, right? It doesn’t necessarily weigh that much more, but it becomes larger.
All of these processes are going on within the body, and so it’s the same thing that happens within your gut. It typically starts in the intestines, whenever we’re talking about food-based things, and can spread throughout the entire body. Remember that about 60% of your immune system is located in your gut. If you’re doing things that aren’t quite on par with what your body needs, it’s not going to be real happy. It’s going to start to swell. Detox is that. It flushes out all sorts of crud from your body that you shouldn’t have in there in the first place, or that got trapped in there, that just can’t get out.
Do you need one? And if so, why? Well, sometimes you know that you’ve eaten really poorly over the last few weeks, and this is a great time of year to think about that. Other times, it may be that maybe you’re just … Maybe you went to the doctor and you found out that you’re not absorbing certain nutrients as well as you should be. Other times, it’s really high levels of fatigue, or not sleeping well, or you’re just low-energy during the day. Things like that. There’s a million different reasons why.
But should you do it? Well, if you’re doing one that would be similar to the one that I would recommend, then I’m going to say it’s fine to do it. If you’re doing one of these crazy supplement-based ones where you’re not eating food, you’re drinking liquids for days on end, and it’s mostly fiber shakes, and those kinds of things, it’s probably not all that necessary. I really don’t believe in doing detoxes that way.
I have two that I prefer, because I believe that they’re medically sound, and I’ve seen people go through them very healthfully and come out healthfully on the other side. Whereas some of these others, unless you’re being led through this by a physician, you probably shouldn’t go into those deep detoxes on your own, because you really can do some damage with some of those products.
The two types that I recommend are an allergen-based detox where you take out the allergenic foods from our diets, that you may or may not be sensitive or allergic to, and go without those for a few days.
You’re talking about your dairy, your wheat, your corn, your soy. All of the major allergens. And by a few days, I actually mean a few weeks. You’re looking at at least four weeks, usually, to notice a big difference, and then you’re adding foods slowing back in. Again, the point of detox is not weight loss. You’re trying to find out more about your body. You’re trying to understand what it is that your body likes, and needs, and what it doesn’t like and doesn’t need.
By going through that process, and adding things slowly back in, you can start to feel the consequences, I guess, of the foods that you might be sensitive to. I’ve been through it myself, and you can be surprised by what will affect you and how.
So I’m going to end part one here. I hope that you all got something good out of today’s blog, and I hope that you will come back for part 2! Next time i am going to be getting more in depth about my own experiences in how I found out more about my body and its reactions to those foods, and more about detoxing itself. Hopefully you are already getting a better picture of what detoxing actually is and how to do it safely. Keep reading through this series to learn more!
If you can’t wait for part 2 and want to get to know more about us then give us a call! At Custom Fitness, we customize a plan for you. We sit down with you and find out what your needs are and then build a health and fitness plan around that. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are your non gym solution in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.