This article is supplied by Rebecca Dore, owner of Lighten Up NQ.
Have you ever wondered why so many people are lacking energy, tired and fatigued; or have hormone imbalances, headaches, sleep difficulties and digestive issues? Or even why depression, autoimmune disorders, cancer and fertility issues are so common? Research is indicating that a large contributor is excessive stress. Emotional and chemical stresses are the worst offenders. Our bodies can become so stressed and polluted that they can no longer function optimally, and — if left unchecked for too long — will result in ill health.
“It is easy to become complacent and assume that just because it’s on a supermarket shelf that it must be ‘safe’”
Even people living a fairly healthy lifestyle are exposed to a large amount of chemicals on a daily basis. While I’m certainly not one for fear mongering, I do believe we need a wake-up call. It is easy to become complacent and assume that just because it’s on a supermarket shelf that it must be ‘safe’. However, I want to walk you through an everyday example of how you might be exposed to toxins even before you leave your own home in the morning:
- Waking up on a mattress coated with flame-retardant — formaldehyde gas and a carcinogenic brominated substance
- Drinking from a plastic water bottle — phthalates that cause cancer and infertility
- Synthetic carpet under foot — your skin absorbs benzene, styrene, and several other cancer-causing chemicals used to treat the carpet
- Toothpaste on your teeth — triclosan (an endocrine disrupter), fluoride and titanium dioxide
- Applying deodorant — aluminium, parabens (a hormone-disrupting preservative), propylene glycol (a lubricant and suspected cancer agent), carcinogenic phthalates to hold fragrance and colour, plus 100 different chemicals disguised under the name ‘fragrance’
- Making a sandwich with salad and deli meats — a seemly healthy choice, but the meat is packed with nitrates and the salad has been sprayed with numerous layers of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides and fed with chemical fertilisers.
You have barely completed the first 15 minutes of your day, and you are already absorbing hundreds of synthetic chemicals. You haven’t even yet walked outside to encounter the harshest toxins in our air, generated by car exhaust and industry. Our bodies are armed with organs of elimination, but without our help they cannot excrete this volume of chemicals fast enough to prevent build up. We just weren’t designed to have to eliminate so many manmade chemicals.
Do we really need to detox?
The word ‘detox’ has been used to sell multiple unnecessary products and concoctions to people, which may go some way to explain why many people approach the concept with suspicion or even contempt. I had a comment on a recent Facebook post saying, “No need to detox, just drink water” and while I appreciate this punter was getting cute with us, there are a number of reasons why we need a bit more help these days:
- The barrage of modern chemicals that our body’s natural elimination mechanisms are ill-equipped to deal with,
- More demand on our bodies than ever before with increased hours of work and stress with little rest; and
- Due to commercial agriculture and long travel time to the shelf, many healthy foods are still low in vital vitamins and minerals and contain herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.
I believe detoxing should be one of your first priorities if you want to achieve optimal health. Detoxing is not about a quick fix — think of it this way you take the trash out every week from your home to prevent it from building up and overflowing from the bin until you have nowhere to put it. If you don’t take the trash out from your body each week, it will turn into a dump! The body can only take a certain amount of trash away, and if you continually have leftovers, it starts to bank up and cause toxicity.
“The word ‘detox’ has been used to sell multiple unnecessary products and concoctions to people, which may go some way to explain why many people approach the concept with suspicion or even contempt”
So, how do you detox?
Stop putting toxins in
The obvious starting point is to stop putting toxins in and on your body, which includes ‘clean eating’. We recommend a high nutrient diet that is at least 70% vegetables and low in foods known to create inflammation in the body. Of course this means cutting out processed foods, additives and preservatives, and alcohol. It’s important to become educated on what is actually in the food you eat. Take responsibility for your health and start learning.
“Detoxing is not about a quick fix — think of it this way you take the trash out every week from your home to prevent it from building up and overflowing from the bin until you have nowhere to put it”
Sweat under infrared heat
Scientific evidence shows that thousands of drugs, food additives, pesticides, and other pollutants remain stored in the body long after exposure. Health blogger and nutritionist Wendy Myers explains that phthalates (found in fragrance and plastics) are the most common pollutant in our bodies. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, over 500 chemicals have been detected in human tissue. This is one of the reasons why I love hot yoga in an infrared studio. Research shows that infrared heat-induced sweat contains around seven-times more toxins and impurities than normal sweat and can help you eliminate these chemicals. Your kidneys and liver get a helping hand and your skin actually starts to restore its own natural ability to eliminate toxins. This is after being rather inactive and congested due to our overactive lifestyles and high exposure to chemicals.
Add nutrients
Your body needs nutrient-dense foods to help it to cope with these additional demands. Plus some nutrients help the body to take toxins and heavy metals out of the body, for example vitamin C. Without these necessary vitamins, detoxification efforts can result in a build-up in the organs of elimination (your liver, kidneys and intestines) and can’t actually get all the way out. Our foods are often old and grown in depleted soils and we can’t afford these empty calories. Juicing can also be a great way to provide your body with extra nutrients and to help detoxify heavy metals — just make sure its 80% vegies, and not too many fruits!
Get involved
Join the 30-Day Detox Challenge at Lighten Up, which starts Thursday, October 1.
The Lighten Up 30-Day Detox is not a crash diet. It is about nourishing every cell of your body, being kind to yourself and creating habits of self-care. It’s about finding your natural and sustainable equilibrium and tuning into and understanding the needs and preferences of your body. Detoxing is not just about losing weight — although that will happen naturally where it needs to — it’s about reducing the backlog of metabolic waste in your body, giving your body the opportunity to heal and improving energy levels and sleep quality.
What’s covered?
With our 30-Day Detox Challenge, you will learn how to reduce metabolic waste and toxins in your body giving it the opportunity to glow with health. Understand how to work with your body’s natural biorhythms and wake up with greater energy, more clarity and craving foods that will nourish every cell of your being. Each week in October, you will have unlimited access to our Detox Hot Yoga classes (as well as all classes on the timetable), which use infrared rays to heat the room.
In addition to unlimited classes, you will also receive a new component of our Detox e-Course each week, as well as have access to the following throughout the month:
- 30-Day Detox Eating Guide
- 1 x 60 minute Thai Yoga Massage
- 3 x Detox Workshops
- Access to all Cleansing Breath Classes in October (up to eight classes)
- One Month Unlimited Yoga, Pilates and Barre at Lighten Up for October
What’s your investment?
Members: $80 (value $164)
Non-Members: $190 (value at $340)
Weekly direct debit payment options available on request.
Keen to join us? Call us on 4772 0046 or send us an email at [email protected] to reserve your spot. For more information, see here.
Please note: The information provided is general in nature and should not substitute any health or medical advice. Please consult a qualified professional to assist with any specific conditions or queries. You know the drill 😉
