Video: Detoxification Is About Food - Not Pills

No matter what your goals are for detoxing, it's a great way to make your body healthier. This short video gives you a brief overview of our favorite cleanse and detox program - The Total Wellness Cleanse. As he explains in the video, cleansing is about food - not pills! Or at least it should be....

In order to give your body the support it needs to detoxify itself naturally, you need to give it the correct nutrition. The Total Wellness Cleanse is a nutrition program that will teach you how to do just this. No crazy lemon juice diets, weeks where you can only eat soup, or anything like that. This is a program that teaches you how to eat real foods that feed and heal your body, and support all of its detoxification systems. With daily guidance, step-by-step instructions, and delicious recipes and daily menu ideas, this system is the complete package when it comes to natural and gentle detoxification.

Check out the video and you'll see why....



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The Potential Risks and Dangers of Detoxing

If you’ve been considering a detox diet or a detox plan you may have come across some alarming information. Many experts consider detoxing to be extremely dangerous. Detoxing does offer some powerful health benefits. However, it’s not a strategy to take lightly. Detoxing isn’t for everyone and it’s important to know the potential risks and dangers before you start. And above all, be sure you are following a safe and natural detox plan that works with your body to help it detoxify and heal - stay away from extreme diets and weird detoxification supplements if you're not sure what's in them or what they do.

Always choose a safe, gentle cleanse that works with your body, not against it.

Existing Health Conditions

If you have an existing health condition, detoxing may not be right for you. For example, if you’re pregnant, do not detox. If you have diabetes, an immune deficiency, or compromised organs then detoxing should be approached with extreme caution and the guidance of an educated health professional.

If you have kidney disease, liver problems or heart disease, do not detox. If you’re unsure if a detox plan is right for you ask your doctor. It’s always a good idea to get a doctor’s approval before you take any significant steps in this arena.

Detoxing for Weight Loss

Many detox plans are designed specifically for weight loss. They work by essentially starving the body of calories over a period of days. Some even add laxative measures so you’re purging your body of existing material. This can cause dehydration, digestive problems, headaches, dizziness, and extreme fatigue. Yes, you’ll lose weight because you’re not consuming many, if any, calories. However, as soon as you begin eating normally you’ll often gain most if not all of the weight back.

If you’re going to detox for weight loss, choose a safe, healthy long term plan. For example, drink organic juices for breakfast and lunch and eat a solid meal for dinner. Choose organic foods without pesticides and eat a healthy and well balanced meal. You’ll lose weight naturally and gradually while you also detoxify your body. (For an example of this type of plan, see the Total Wellness Cleanse.)

 (Photo credit: sillydog)

Serious Side Effects

Some detox diets come with a handful of unpleasant side effects. They include dizziness, diarrhea, headaches, mood swings and insomnia. These side effects are generally caused by withdrawal.

For example, if you normally consume sugar or sugary substitutes and you suddenly stop, your body is going to miss them. Caffeine, white flour and other food elements can cause similar effects. (This is called a food addiction, and it's so common almost everyone has at least one.)

The good news is that these side effects generally go away a few days into the detox diet, as you break your unhealthy addictions. Most people then feel energetic, clear headed and extremely healthy. However, it is also important to pay close attention to your body. If the side effects are severe or are making your day to day activities difficult then modify the detox diet and approach it more gradually.

It is important to take care when detoxifying. It can be a great first step to improved health. However, it’s not a strategy to take lightly. Follow a proven and trusted detox plan that is gentle and works naturally to detoxify and heal your bodily systems. Pay careful attention to your health and listen to your body!

Leaky Gut Syndrome Explained

This week we've got a guest article by one of our favorite health and fitness experts. Yuri is all about natural health, smart fitness, and reducing your toxic load via whole, natural foods that help your body heal and detox naturally. If you've never heard of leaky gut syndrome, or you don't know what it is, you should definitely read this article. This syndrome can promote allergies and food intolerances, increase toxic load, create inflammation within the body, and put a burden on all your bodily systems - leading to many different diseases and ill health consequences.

Read on to find out more about leaky gut syndrome, and how you can avoid this dangerous condition.

Leaky Gut Syndrome Explained

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN & Amy Coates, RHN, BSc.

What is Leaky Gut Syndrome?

The gastrointestinal tract, also called the digestive tract, alimentary canal, or gut, is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining waste. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leaky gut syndrome is the technical name for increased intestinal permeability. As its name signifies, this condition is characterizes by a gut (intestinal tract) that allows far too many substances into the bloodstream.

Normally, the intestinal walls form a semi-permeable barrier, only allowing properly digesting nutrients into the bloodstream, while preventing the uptake of toxins and undigested food particles. Such nutrients are able to pass into the blood through pores located in the intestinal wall.

Under ideal circumstances, these pores are small enough to prevent undigested food particles and other large toxins from escaping the intestinal tract and causing damage in the bloodstream.

However, in the case of leaky gut syndrome, these pores widen, which allows anything and everything to pass through the (now very permeable) intestinal walls and into the blood.

This is a big problem and is one of the biggest factors behind food allergies and auto-immune diseases.

Why is Having a Leaky Gut Dangerous?

Our intestinal tract is obviously semi-permeable for a reason. If is meant to keep out certain substances then there's a reason for needing to do so.

One of the problems with leaky gut is that it allows undigested food particles into the blood. When this happens, the immune system builds up antibodies against the protein in that food and mounts a full-out immune response. The immune system is simply doing its job. If it identifies a "foreign" substance in the bloodstream, then it will take the necessary action to neutralize it.

Unfortunately, since the body has now developed an antibody army against this food, with time as you ingest this food your body will become "hypersensitive" to it. This is how food allergies develop. And the more this occurs with the foods you eat, the more hypersensitive your immune system becomes.

As a result, you become much more susceptible to environmental allergens since your body's immune system is now in overdrive and "paranoid" about everything little thing it is exposed to.

The time-course of an immune response begins with the initial pathogen encounter, and leads to the formation and maintenance of active immunological memory. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With time, a hypersensitive immune system can start reacting in a myriad of unpredictable ways. In many cases, it will actually begin to attack the body itself, creating an auto-immune disease such as alopecia, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, Graves' disease, endometriosis, and many more.

A substantial proportion of the population suffers from immune diseases, which are often chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening. There are more than eighty illnesses caused by autoimmunity and about 75 percent of those affected are women. It has been estimated that autoimmune diseases are among the ten leading causes of death among women in all age groups up to 65 years.

However, go to your doctor, allergist, or immunologist and they will NEVER even mention the possibility of leaky gut syndrome.

According to "brilliant experts" at USA Today...

"Scientists believe multiple factors such as environmental toxins, heredity, viruses, and certain drugs may play a role in causing an autoimmune disease. Stress, poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, abuse of alcohol and use of tobacco can also weaken the immune system and may play some role as well."

That's great thanks. And they can say that about pretty much every single disease as well. The fact remains that many of these "causes" are also at the root of leaky gut syndrome.

What Causes Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Well, as was briefly mentioned above, the substances and choices that stress your body and digestive system will have a profound effect on the health of your colon and intestinal tract. Refined sugars, processed foods, alcohol, medications, and stress will negatively impact the colon.

All of these can worsen the balance between good and bad flora in your colon. If the bad are way out of control, then fungi, for instance, can latch onto the intestinal walls and create irritation, inflammation, and eventually widening of the pores.

If food sits in your colon for too long, it too will irritate the intestinal walls and predispose them to becoming more permeable. That is one of the reasons why passing regular bowel movements is so important.

Natural Leaky Gut Remedies

First, you need to cleanse your body of the foods and substances that irritate your digestive and intestinal tract. Second, you need to spend time healing your gut with nutrients such as L-glutamine, essential fatty acids, and vitamin C. Then you need to provide your intestinal tract with a balance of healthy bacteria through probiotics and enzymes, so that it can protect itself against future invaders and irritation.

So if you suffer from allergies, have an autoimmune disorder, have digestive difficulties, or want to improve your overall health then you need to take action immediately. The longer you wait, the worse your condition will get.

The first step is a full-scale natural cleanse which will reduce the toxins and inflammation in your digestive system. The Total Wellness Cleanse™ is a gentle and natural detoxification process that will help heal your gut and cleanse your body of its toxins. To learn more about how the Total Wellness Cleanse can help you just click the link below.

About the Author:
Yuri Elkaim is a renowned fitness, nutrition, and weight loss expert. He is a registered holistic nutritionist and the co-creator of the Total Wellness Cleanse - a 30-day food-based cleansing program that has helped thousands of people lose weight, cleanse their bodies of toxic overload, and restore incredible health. For information on the Total Wellness Cleanse visit www.TotalWellnessCleanse.com.

References:
Noel R. Rose and Ian R. MacKay, “The Autoimmune Diseases” fourth edition
http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/487/main.html#CausesandRiskFactorsofAutoimmuneDiseasesandDisorders

Video: Introduction To The Total Wellness Cleanse & Detox Program

This quick video gives you a good overview of the Total Wellness Cleanse - my favorite detox program. I like it because it's gentle and natural and supports your body in doing what it does naturally to regain and maintain optimal health. Unlike popping a bunch of weird pills, or going on some extreme diet of vinegar or lemon juice, which is very unnatural and stressful on the body, the Total Wellness Cleanse provides a program for eliminating sugar cravings, and feeding the body with whole, healthy, natural foods that give your immune system and detoxification organs a boost of healthful nutrients.

The video describes the parts of the process, and what the main goals are for the 30-day cleanse. Check it out, and if you are interested in learning more, click the link below the video for more info.

Happy and Healthy New Year to you!

Total Wellness Cleanse and Detox Program.mp4
Total Wellness Cleanse is a 30-day diet developed by a team of registered holistic nutritionists - Yuri Elkaim, Amy Coates, and Adam Elkaim. This is a time-proven detox and cleanse diet plan that will get rid of toxins and other wastes clogging your ...


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Video - Introduction to the Total Wellness Cleanse

This quick video gives a 3-minute overview of what is, in my opinion, one of the best detox cleanse programs out there. It works with real, whole, natural foods to enhance and support your body's natural detoxification processes. This is more effective and puts a lot less stress on your bodily systems than a lot of the juice cleanse or supplement "detoxes" out there, and it's also easier to maintain and help eliminate cravings along the way.

Watch the short video below, and click the link below the video if you are interested in learning more.

Detox Diet: Total Wellness Cleanse
Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN & Amy Coates, RHN, BSc. Cleansing your body does not require fancy pills or s...
 

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Tips For How To Start A Detox Cleansing Program

This week, we've got some helpful articles for you on cleansing and detoxing your body safely and effectively, bringing you back to your optimal health and weight, and getting all your systems functioning properly and efficiently. We're starting off with a guest article from one of our favorite health & fitness experts. Enjoy!

How To Start A Cleansing Program
By Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN & Amy Coates, RHN, BSc.

Fresh vegetables are important components of a healthy diet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A colon cleansing program is the best way to jump start any weight loss routine. This process allows the body to be cleansed of waste that is being stored in the digestive tract. By removing this waste your body is able to better absorb nutrients from the new healthy foods you will be eating. Colon cleansing is also beneficial to people who are regularly fatigued or experience consistent acne problems. The waste that is trapped in our tissues causes bacteria to build up in our skin cells, which leads to acne. The general bogged down feeling comes from the processes in our body being slowed down due to the lack of vital nutrients being absorbed. There are some easy steps to follow before starting any cleaning program.

For someone who can handle jumping right into a new diet plan the first step is a 24 hour fast. By drinking only water and 100% fruit juices for 24 hours you condition your body to begin the journey of detoxification. After the 24 hours you should begin by following a colon cleaning meal plan.

Most people will need to wean themselves off of the current bad addictions they have before starting a colon cleansing program. 

English: Diet Coke Products (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first steps are to slowly cut out sweets, processed foods and alcohol. Replace sweet foods with fruit. The natural sugars in fruit help curb sweet cravings and they are low in calories and full of vitamins and antioxidant properties. Processed foods can be replaced with freshly made foods. If you are a coffee and soda drinker, begin to replace coffee with non-caffeinated herbal teas and coffees. These will help your body restore its natural energy supply back to a healthy level. Soda should be cut out completely. Even diet sodas contain harmful toxic ingredients. One of the main ingredients in diet soda turns into formaldehyde when it mixes with stomach acid! Removing soda completely is one of the best ways to help detoxify your body - it's one of the most unhealthy things you can consume. If you can not handle jumping into a new diet plan then this option is best for you. By weaning your body off of the old foods and onto the new ones, you slowly condition your body to crave healthier foods without shocking it with sudden diet changes. 

Any colon cleansing program can be aided with colon cleaning juices or supplements that are widely available these days. While participating in a wellness cleansing program it is also important to drink lots of water and stay away from any artificial or heavily preserved foods.

To help enhance the results of the plan you need to enhance your digestion. You can do this by taking a good probiotic, eating at regular times throughout the day and by chewing food slowly. It takes approximately fifteen minutes for a body to realize it is full. By eating slow you will be less likely to over eat and will not fill your stomach to the point that it takes a long time digesting. After eating, enjoy a twenty to thirty minute walk. This will also help enhance the digestion process.

Click Here to Learn More About Yuri's Gentle Cleansing Detox Program....

Tips To Get Started With Detoxification

Detoxing can be a real challenge. However, it can also be extremely rewarding. Detoxing can help you achieve several health and lifestyle goals. In order to achieve those goals it’s important to start your detox plan off right.

Cover of Detox (Natural Care Handbook)Tip #1 Set a detox goal. Why do you want to detox? Do you want to cleanse your system? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to stop your addiction to sugar and/or processed foods? Choose your goal first, your reason or purpose for detoxing. If you don’t have a goal it’ll not only be difficult to choose a detox plan, it’ll be difficult to stick to it.

#2 Choose the right plan. Now that you have a goal for detoxing, choose a plan that supports that goal. Consider your lifestyle. Also consider the time you have to detox and take the potential side effects into consideration.

For example, most detox plans will have some side effects. You may feel tired or irritable. You may also experience headaches and have some digestive issues. This is your body purging the toxins. You may also experience some withdrawal symptoms if you have a diet that is high in sugar and caffeine. If you plan accordingly, you can experience these side effects during low stress times – like the weekend.

Choosing the right plan also requires you to be honest and realistic. Juicing or eating only vegetables may be more realistic than a program that has you drink only detox tea for three days.

#3 Prepare yourself. The potential side effects have already been mentioned. Managing these side effects can be challenging. However, if you prepare for them this short period will be easier.

You might rent movies or grab a couple of books and plan to simply rest during the challenging part of your detox. You’ll also want to make sure you have all the supplies you need. For example, if you’re juicing then you’ll need juice recipes, a juicer or blender, and tons of produce. (See our previous article on juice detoxing here.)

#4 Consider other methods of detoxing. Epsom salt baths, saunas, and even massage can help you detox your body’s tissues. They can also be relaxing and help you transition through the challenging part of your detox plan.

Health (Photo credit: 401K)#5 Reward yourself. Celebrate success. In addition to taking great care of yourself during the detox, plan to reward yourself once you’ve completed it. Now, that probably doesn’t mean binging on junk food! However, you might do something nice for yourself. Take a new fitness class. Take a day and spend it doing something you love.

Once you’ve completed your detox program set another goal to continue improving your health. For example, if you detoxed to purge the junk food habit, you might choose a new fitness program to begin. You might also take a healthy cooking class or begin eating healthier. Your health is important. Detoxing is a great way to move forward toward good health. Choose the right program for you. Be smart and safe when you detox and treat your body well.  

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