There has been an awful lot in the news lately regarding detoxing the body and cleansing the colon. Combine this with all the "Let's go green!" and "We should eat natural foods" type talk an we have what this article is all about. Now before we continue, I think it's necessary to explain something - I'm not a health care expert. If you're interested in detox diets or one of the many cleansing programs out there, you should definitely do your homework. There is a ton of different website out there that offer solid information on detoxing and dieting. A word of warning though. There is a lot of poorly written and just plain bad information out there. If you are at all unsure about how to proceed with a certain diet - consult your doctor.

Before we get into this, it's important to know what exactly we are trying to get rid of through the cleansing process. All these different diets that you hear so much about are basically about the same thing - ridding the body of toxins and poisons. These toxins come from a variety of sources including food, water and air. All the trans-fats and pesticides that we consume everyday take their toll on the digestive tract and colon. The water and air that we bring into our bodies is also often tainted. The detoxification process is all about cleaning out the pipes and starting fresh!

Now, there are a bunch of programs that claim to offer this service through the use of synthetic vitamins and other chemicals. I never really understood this though. Isn't the point of detoxifying to get rid of the chemicals? How on earth are we going to do that by putting more chemicals into our body?

I think that natural body detoxification is the way to go. Here's a fairly straightforward two step process that can help you achieve this. First we're going to break you down, then we'll build you back up! You'll be better and stronger than you are right now!

Natural Detox - Step 1 - Cleansing

Alright... Now the first thing we have to do is clean out the crap that's in our system. In order to do this, it's necessary that eliminate a few things from our diet and add a few others. If you can stick with this for a week, you'll feel more refreshed, less tired, and maybe even a few pounds lighter. Keep in mind that detoxing just to lose weight isn't really a good idea. You should be striving for a better, more complete life.

Anyway, the list of things that you need to give up isn't that long. Unfortunately it has a few things on it that people really tend to miss. The big one here is caffeine. I know it's tough to function without coffee but you will get used to it after only a couple of days. Try replacing your daily cup of joe with green tea. It's caffeine free and also has the benefit of being an antioxidant. Another thing you should give up is red meat. Instead of steaks and pork chops, you should be eating lean meats like fish and turkey. The next point is pretty obvious but I'll put into for the sake of completeness. No alcohol or cigarettes during your natural detox. These two things represent a ton of different poisons and should definitely be avoided.
Another part of the cleansing process, other than cutting out bad foods, is to add some good stuff to your body. Drink a lot of water - about 8 cups a day. At first, you'll be peeing like every 20 minutes but your body will get used to this new habit. Eventually, you'll be able to hold it in. You may also want to look into taking some fish oil vitamins. These are great for helping with the digestion process.

Natural Detox - Step 2 - Revitalizing

Now, while you're breaking down and cleaning out your colon and digestive tract, we also want to be building it back up again. I like to call this the revitalization step. It could also be considered nourishing though...

To build up our system with natural goodness, we're going to need three different types of foods - Carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Any diet that encourages you to limit these types of food is garbage. You need these things in your body to be healthy! That said, it's important that we get the right kinds of carbs, proteins and fats.

Healthy Carbohydrates

Despite what Doctor Atkins says, carbs play a crucial role in the body. In order to detox the body properly, you need have these in your regular diet. That said, there are a few foods that you should avoid if you're looking to undergo a cleanse diet. Stay away from white breads, white pastas and white sugar. The good types of carbohydrates can be found in fruits, vegetable and whole grain breads.

Healthy Proteins

We touch on this in the first section, but you should definitely stay away from red meats. Cheese is another protein that's not so good for you. In order to get this type of food into your system, eat chicken, fish and soy. You'll get what you need and avoid what you don't!

Healthy Fats

The word "fat" isn't usually associated with health and diet, but they are a necessary part of a natural body detox. As with the carbs and proteins, though, there are good fats and bad fats. A lot has been written about the latter so here's what you can eat. You can incorporate good fats into your body by cooking with extra virgin olive oil as opposed to butter or another oil. You may also want to try avocados. These little green fruits are frequently eaten by vegetarians who need to find an alternate source for their fats. Omega 3 is another great fat. You can get this vitamin naturally by eating flaxseed, almond and walnuts