If you remember, Spring is the season of the Liver (see CF's blog post). Cleaning out the old and preparing for the new seems natural this time of year. Almost certainly you make cleaning up and clearing out your home a ritual for spring. Why not start a similar ritual for your body and challenge yourself to a liver cleanse? A Liver cleanse is a great way to hit the ‘reset button’ to both improve your health, and shed a few winter pounds all in just a couple weeks time. Cleansing is important because we are relentlessly exposed to toxic chemicals in our environment, pesticides and plastics in our food, and contaminates in our water. So is a Liver Cleanse a good idea for you? These are some of the top reasons I recommend doing one:
1. You’re a female who has signs of a hormonal imbalance such as: irregular periods, fibroids, endometriosis, PCOS, PMS, uncomfortable symptoms of menopause, and some forms of acne and eczema. Many toxic chemicals in plastics, beauty products, household cleaning products, furniture, food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals are known endocrine disruptors. That is, they throw off the delicate balance of female hormones by mimicking them and clogging up their receptor sites. This will deregulate the normal feedback system your body has to regulate its hormonal output, and create chaos the system. While it’s important to limit your exposure to endocrine disruptors (check your product safety with the Skin Deep app), total avoidance is nearly impossible. Therefore, giving your liver some love, and aiding its ability to detox can make a big difference in achieving healthy hormonal balance.
2. If you are trying to conceive or if you’re planning on conceiving in the next year. See above! Aiding your body’s natural detox process during your menses, or doing a 14 or 21 day cleanse, can be a game changer for unexplained fertility issues. Furthermore, detoxing BEFORE you conceive may be beneficial for your future child. Our toxicity is expressed in our breast milk. Breast milk has routinely been found to contain pollutants such as heavy metals, flame-retardants, pesticides and more. Even more shocking, a study done by the EWG showed over 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood.
3. You’re convinced you cannot live without that cup of coffee in the morning/your 3 o’clock chocolate chip cookie/your evening glass of wine with dinner, or fill in the blank____________________________________. I promise you if I can do it so can you! Doing a 21 day liver cleanse really resets your daily habits, and makes you fully aware of what it is you’re consuming on a daily basis. Most of the time when it’s all over you’ll incorporate some of your new awesome habits because your skin will be glowing, your pants will fit better, and you’ll discover new healthy recipes you love.
Double Happiness Health has detox kits and resources ready for you. If you need help getting started, or if you want to find out how to limit your exposure to environmental toxins, see any of our practitioners. We can help!