5 Ways To Detox That You Might Not Have Considered

So, you want to DETOX?

Detoxing is all the rage. Toxins drag us down, make us sluggish and tired, and hold us back from thriving. Detoxing is not limited to juice fasts, master cleanses, and complicated supplement kits, however. At its most basic, detoxing simplifies our state so we can work more efficiently. We can consider detoxing our bodies and many areas of our life if we look more broadly at what drags us down and contributes to our feeling less than amazing. Here are a few different ways we can detox to start off the new year with less baggage. 

1. Digital Detox: It’s not really news that these days we are connected to our digital devices like they’re another appendage. We text instead of talk, are constantly multitasking, and expect lightning response times to emails. This degree of connectivity can jumble our nervous systems and make us feel more stressed if we don’t limit it. Try consciously spend less time looking at your phone and checking email. Put your phone down during meals. Make eye contact when you talk to people. Try Screen-Free Sundays. This will help declutter your mental space and will help you feel more calm and present.

2. Do A Food-Based Detox: By eliminating sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and processed foods while focusing on naturally detoxifying foods, you tap into your bodies natural process of detoxification. A pre-cleanse where you slowly cut out sugar, caffeine and alcohol for week can make the process less painful, but the actual detox can be 7 to 10 days. Check out one simple food-based detox plan here complete with a shopping list. As with all things health related, check with your doctor before doing a food-based detox, especially if you take medication. Even simply cutting out sugar makes a huge difference in our health, so consider baby steps if you don’t want to dive all in.

3. Detox Your Home: Does clutter create chaos in your world? Enter tidying maven Marie Kondo. She surged in status after she wrote the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and her methods and results live up to the title. The basic idea is that we should only keep what sparks joy. Go through your whole house category by category, hold everything one by one and ask yourself “Does it spark joy?” If not, get rid of it. For most of us, this won’t happen in a weekend, but most working-people can complete it in a few months. By making space in your life for more of what sparks joy, you live a happier, less cluttered and toxic life.

4. Detox Your Relationships: This one is heavy and can be complicated but there is no doubt that toxic people drag us down. Consider cutting the cord if you have toxic relationships. Sorting through this one with your therapist may be helpful.

5. Detox Your Beauty Routine: Start by tossing all products that are expired in your medicine cabinet, makeup drawer and product stash. If it doesn’t have a date, and you haven’t used it in 6 months, toss it. Next, look at the ingredients on your labels. Get rid of anything with parabens, “fragrance,” sulfates, petroleum, and pthalates. A future post will get into the details of why these are no good, but take it from me, you don’t need these chemicals in your daily routine - they can disrupt hormones and are linked to an increased risk of cancer. Why use toxic products when there are more natural alternatives?

After detoxing, no matter what way we go about it, we feel more energetic, lighter, and enthusiastic about life. Rather than always wanting to add more things to our lives to help us feel better, sometimes it’s more helpful to simplify. Detoxing doesn’t have to be complicated and is one of the best things we can do for our mental and emotional wellbeing!

About Dr Dilks

Dr Mary Claire Dilks is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, owner of Emerging Energy Acupuncture in Providence (RI), and has been named Best Of RI ("Best Inner Healing"). Visit her at www.emergingenergy.net.

Photo Credit: Licensed Photo by Denis_Vermenko/Getty Images