Detoxification Explained — A Comprehensive Guide

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For ages, we have been using several tactics to keep ourselves healthy and well, be it a professor, a student, a housewife, or any other being. Why do we do so? It is apparent that living a healthy life prevents us from chronic diseases; however, the fundamental cause is to help us maintain a good self-image. We always go by the catchphrase “You Are What You Eat” but how rigorously do we follow this precept? 

Even when we know that there are foods that are not good for our health, we find it difficult to control our cravings for them and often end up being an unhealthy gourmand. Do you know some foods produce toxins in your body? Toxins tend to attack the body, which can result in adverse health effects as well. 

However, the situation is not always problematic. We can steer clear of countless health problems if we successfully manage to reduce the exposure of these impurities in our body on time. In this article, we will learn about detoxification and how it will benefit our body.

Table of Content

• What Is Detoxification?
• How Long Does It Take to Detox Your Body?
• How Do You Know Your Body Is Detoxing?
• Different Types of Detoxification Process
• Detoxification to Cleanse Blood and Liver
• Detox From Addictions
• Alcohol Detoxification
• Drug Detoxification
• What Are the Benefits of Detoxing?
• Regular Detoxification
• Medical Detoxification

What Is Detoxification?

It is a process in which you clean your body to the core and help it to get rid of toxins by following a particular detoxification process, allowing your health to improve and mind to rejuvenate. In a nutshell, detoxification means cleansing the blood and removing impurities from it. There is a range of methods to eliminate toxins from the blood, also known as blood detoxification. 

According to medical experts, blood detoxification is one of the most intensive levels of addiction care. It is believed that this scientific approach of self-cleansing has been followed by people for ages which helps in restoring physical and emotional energy and makes one look much healthier.

Can You Detox at Home?

Find the answer to the question “can you detox at home” and see many myths related to detoxification get debunked in our blog.

How Long Does It Take to Detox Your Body?

By fair means, there is no concrete answer to this because every detox program is lined up keeping the convolution and severity of the condition in mind. Moreover, how long a body takes to detox also depends on what kind of detox method one is espousing. 

Whether an individual just wants to pull off the detox cleanse only to purify the body and flush out toxins from blood or they are zeroing in on certain types of detox programmes such as alcohol or drug detox for any substance. Although, in the overall estimation, the detox process can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

How Do You Know Your Body Is Detoxing?

There are trails of questions on the subject of detoxification on the internet, one of the most asked is this- Can detoxification harm my body? While the crux of the matter remains the same, I discovered one more interesting question touring the internet – Does cleansing make you super healthy and overwhelmingly positive? 

It is known that detoxification obviously does not harm your body. Flushing out toxins is not harmful by any means, but it is not proven if detoxification makes you super healthy or overly positive. Nevertheless, according to those who have been through such a severe phase, detoxes aren’t dangerous at all, but they sometimes can make you uneasy for a while. 

It is because, during the detox process, you go hard on your body. You are withdrawing substances, and you are doing many things which your body has never experienced before and therefore, it is possible that you may endure some vitamin deficiencies.

Different Types of Detoxification Process

From diet detoxes to blood cleansing detoxes, there are several programs and techniques that ensure to help you cleanse and detoxify your body, though, the end goal of all the detoxification programs is to eliminate toxins or any serious threatening substances from your body. Not all detoxification techniques tend to work for every individual. 

Also, it is crucial to know the reason you are undergoing a detoxification treatment and the outcomes of the same. Cleaning your body either from impure toxins or any kind of addiction is not a cakewalk. 

It can be an uncomfortable process for many because the body often exhibits a plethora of symptoms. So it is always preferred to perform these processes under the guidance of a medical expert and not at home alone. Being monitored by a physician also ensures compliance with the detoxification and treatment program.

There are plenty of detoxification programs that can help you with your predicaments, however, to not make it complicated and elucidate the matter in a more concise way, here we have divided the detoxification processes into two types. 

Detoxification to Cleanse Blood and Liver

It is the most common detox technique which is capable of making your blood free from all the internal impurities which are generally known as toxins. Before understanding the know-how of this technique, it is essential to know how our body forms toxins? There could be numerous ways and reasons. It may be because you are the regular junk food eater or you are on medication, for instance. Thankfully, there is a way to make your body heal and become healthier than before. A few of the methods which cleanse our body are given below –

• Detox diet – As the name suggests, it is an eating habit you form fusioned with customised diet plans with the only purpose of removing excess toxins from your body. This procedure brings numerous benefits, such as improved blood circulation, boosted immunity, etc. A detox diet is generally a blend of vegetables and fruits which are rich in antioxidants and vitamins and minerals.
• Detox teas – There are natural cleansing herbal teas that help your kidneys and whole body to filter impurities, helping the body naturally pass harmful toxins. These detox teas are blended with pure herbs with agents such as turmeric, ginger, orange peel, and liquorice root that are effective and considered natural detoxifying agents.
• Detox water – Everyone is going gaga over this miraculous drink that claims to detox your body. No, it is not a myth! Detox water actually cleanses your body. It is basically water infused with some fresh fruits (or its flavour), vegetables, or sometimes with aromatic herbs. It is one of the simplest methods to detox your body. One can prepare detox water at home. It is an on-the-go drink for many fitness enthusiasts as well.

Detox From Addictions

Before getting to know what is detox from addictions and moreover how to detox from addictions, we should first gain some insight into what addictions are and how severe they can be. If we go by the definition, it says, addiction is a complex condition, ordinarily specified as a brain illness evinced by when your brain becomes habitual to a compulsive substance despite knowing the hazardous repercussions of it. Also, read – Why do people start drinking and doing drugs.

Many people have a misconception that addictions are only chronic in case of substance abuse, but addiction towards compulsive behaviours can be as harmful as alcohol addiction or drug addictions. Gaming addiction, food addiction, sex addictions, etc. are a few of the examples of behavioural addictions. 

Learn more: Types of Addiction

Here we will discuss different types of substance addictions and their detoxification process.

Alcohol Detoxification

Many people think that going cold turkey would be the best solution for alcohol addiction, but unfortunately, it may not be so. In fact, quitting drinking cold turkey could be dangerous for your body, and this is the reason many medical professionals do not recommend this way to get rid of addiction. 

If you or your friend have been a heavy drinker all your life, the alcoholism treatment could be an arduous task for you, but with determination and positive enthusiasm you can succeed. When the detoxification process begins, your body may show some withdrawal symptoms, and this is why it is advised to perform the detoxification procedure under the care of a medical expert. 

Drug Detoxification

Like alcohol, many youths and our whole society too is influenced by drugs. While performing any detoxification program, one thing that matters the most is the severity of addiction and most importantly for how long the drug was undertaken which further helps mental health professionals to run the drug withdrawal and detox program accordingly. 

Drug detoxification is a process of eliminating the drug substances from the body which is safe and completely secure. Drug detoxification processes may vary from person to person as the same treatment might not work for everyone. With that said, the medical supervisor first analyses the mental and physical health of a patient and then decides the medication program.

What Are the Benefits of Detoxing?

Detoxification isn’t just about removing toxic materials from your body or weaning you off from a particular addiction and substance use. It rejuvenates your entire body and makes your internal system function properly. 

Of course, there are cases where a person, who has been addicted to a particular substance, drug, or alcohol, for instance, shows symptoms of withdrawal during detoxification procedure which can be mild to intense depending upon the tolerance level. 

While regular detoxification does not require close monitoring and supportive care, a medical detox program is propped up with a careful medical intervention that helps patients with a certain level of withdrawal risks. 

They say that the journey is more beautiful than the destination, but sometimes it is the destination that is considered more beautiful and rehab is that destination. Given below are the benefits of regular and medical detox.

Regular Detoxification 

• Weight loss and management – The most common reason people take on the detoxification program is to lose  weight and manage their weight in an ideal way. There are different diets, juices, and herbs that help you achieve your objective and make you fitter than ever. 
• Revitalise internal organs – As the core purpose of the detoxification program is to remove toxin materials from your body, it anyhow purifies your organs and makes them function properly. That means even if you are not aiming to clean your internal organ, it eventually serves that purpose and as a result, you get revitalised livers, kidneys, and your other body organs working in a healthy order.
• Strengthen the immune system – Studies have shown that regular detoxification, along with a healthy lifestyle leads to an improved immune system. Majority of toxins present in our body could be the major reason for our frequent poor health which usually happens because of low metabolism. By eliminating toxins, we can keep our body’s defensive process active.
• Balance hormones – Do you know detoxification also helps in balancing hormones in your body? This detoxification program is commonly known as hormone reset detox. Like any other detox program, this one too is followed by a rigorous routine and customised diet. So those who are suffering from hormonal imbalance, it is time to add this miraculous program in your routine and notice the changes yourself.

Medical Detoxification

Manage Physical and Emotional Symptoms of Withdrawal

If we have to define the term withdrawal, it can be summed up as the state-of-affairs a body goes through when consumption of the drugs, alcohol or any other substance is reduced or completely stopped. Medical detoxification helps an addict to provide physical and emotional balance by reducing the withdrawal symptoms.

• Promote nutritional support and physical exercise – The inpatient detox programme provides a healing environment to the patients where they are protected from stress factors and other emotional outbursts. Moreover, the medical detox procedure for substance withdrawal is performed in a controlled ecosystem that moderately gets the body back to normal functioning and promotes physical well-being that leads in a healthy life and early recovery as well.
• Helps in psychological and behavioural counselling – There are a number of therapies used by medical specialists during addiction treatment. Psychological and behavioural counselling is one of them. The intensity of care required during withdrawal medicaments varies from person to person. Counselling and therapy for addiction prevents individuals from causing relapse and helps them handle withdrawal
• Instant medical supervision – A path that leads you towards the light is a road to many achievements. If you are an addict and seeking medical attention to treat yourself from drug or alcohol addiction, it is always preferred to carry out a medically supervised withdrawal. That means, your detoxification program will be monitored and overseen by a medical personnel.

Conclusion

According to the nutritionists and medical supervisors, detoxification is always a pragmatic approach to take if you are considering your body to be healthy and free from all the diseases. The detox program works wonders to wean someone off the addictions.

Are you binge drinking alcohol or been an addict to substance use? Detox is exactly a program outlined for you, although, you just need to take care of a few considerations mentioned in this article such as not practising alone at home and carry out detox programs only under medical supervision.

Sources

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-detox-your-body

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/detoxes-and-cleanses-what-you-need-to-know

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64119/