Have You Made The #1 Detox Mistake Without Knowing?

You read about the latest “Weekend Detox ” featured in a magazine or you see a notice for a “10 Day Detox ” online you wouldn't be the first woman to wonder, "Which one is right for me?" or "How do I know this is healthy?"

There is a plethora of information out there about cleansing and detoxifying your body. In fact, there is so much information that it’s hard to know exactly what plan to follow, what foods to eat, and what supplements to take.

Today I would like to share with you the number 1 mistake when starting a detox.
I want to help you avoid the pitfalls that could end up making you GAIN weight, decrease your energy and leave your body robbed of nutrients.  [caption id="attachment_742" align="alignright" width="240"] My son and I drinking beet juice[/caption]

I've done enough detoxes to know... Not all are created equally

I’m Karen Martel a Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach and expert in the field of cleansing and detoxification. I help people detox and lose weight using a simple, step-by-step solution that focuses on gently but efficiently detoxing the body to help you lose weight, repair the gut, clear the skin and increase your energy.

I remember being in my early twenties when cleanses became the cool thing to do. Every few months I would go to the health food store in search of the next best cleanse Wild Rose, Candida Cleanse, Parasite cleanse – you name it I did it. The truth of the matter was, I used it as a means for quick weight loss. I would practically starve myself for the duration of the cleanse while taking their instructed bowel cleaners to induce diarrhea. Starvation and diarrhea actually worked really well for weight loss but unfortunately I would come off of these cleanses ready to eat my face off and I did just that! I would gorge myself on all the food I wasn’t allowed and within days gain all the weight back. I would always feel like a bag of crap, depressed and angry that I felt no better and all the weight was back.
Enough Was Enough Instead of becoming even more frustrated and desperate, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I took a close look at the products that were available and started investigating why they didn’t work. There are so many people out there spreading information about detoxification and cleansing that it can be confusing to know who to listen to.

I’ve had my battles with health problems and I’ve spent years studying and investigating new detoxification therapies, reviewing ingredients and testing herbs and supplements.  I then decided to create a proper cleanse with no more starvation and no more diarrhea!

A Few Quick Facts About Toxins

It is important that before you try to cleanse yourself of “toxins” that you know exactly how they can affect your body and why “detoxing” is so important.
The world has become a toxic place and that has had a devastating impact on our bodies and health.  From industry to the products you use on a daily basis, toxins have saturated our lives. According to a 2002 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study,at least two-thirds of Americans live in areas where toxic chemicals in the air raise the risk of cancer. Here are some other interesting findings:In 1901, cancer was rare: 1 out of 8,000 people got cancer.  Since the Industrial Revolution, the cancer rate today has risen to 1 in 2. [Source: The American Cancer Society ]
But It Gets Worse  The Consumer Product Safety Commission connects150 chemicals commonly found in our homes to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological disorders. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit organization, analyzed the toxic “body burden” of Americans.  The researchers tested for 525 toxins and found 455 different toxins in their research subjects.  On average, participants’ bodies contained 60 toxins that could be detrimental to the stomach or intestines, 57 that could affect the health of the reproductive system and 52 that could affect the brain and nervous system.
This information is not meant to scare you, only to make you aware of the situation in our world and why cleansing and detoxifying your body – in the right way – is so very important.
With this in mind let’s take a closer look at the three biggest mistakes people make when detoxing and how to avoid them. I will touch on the misinformation that is so prevalent in the detoxing community and give you the right information so you can make more informed decisions and be more aware of some of the most common pitfalls to detoxifying your life.

Mistake #1:Depriving Rather Than Nourishing Your Body While Detoxing

There is a word that has been attached to detox programs for thousands of years and it can be very detrimental: fasting. Fasting and other caloric restriction programs have been used within religions to create a “spiritual awakening” in some cultures for healing and in Hollywood as part of crash diets.  However, the disadvantages and health risks of fasting far outweigh the benefits and can be very dangerous if not done correctly and under close supervision of a medical or nutrition professional.
When you go to the extreme by restricting calories and essential nutrients, your body and health pay the price.  Unfortunately many of the side effects that people think of when they hear the word “detox” come from this type of deprivation.  Headaches, irritability, nausea, low energy, muscle and joint aches and acute emotional distress are all side effects of depriving your body.  You are also putting your immune system at risk without it receiving the proper vitamins and minerals to function properly.  Not to mention, if you are diabetic, you are putting yourself at risk of stroke and heart failure by playing with your blood sugar levels so dangerously.
There are also parts of your body that ONLY run on blood glucose, which needs to be replenished through healthy eating.  Your brain, nervous system and eyes are all fed by blood glucose.  If you restrict or cut out carbohydrates completely, then your thinking can get foggy and your vision can get blurry.
So why do people do this to themselves? First, you are supposedly giving your digestive system a break and second, you are supposedly releasing toxins. While there might be a bit of truth to both of these, you are also setting up your digestive system for further stress.  Plus, any toxins that are released are released too quickly with no real exit strategy, which leads the toxins right back to where they started.
If you are trying to heal your body, you need high quality nutrients saturating your body to support this process. Think about exercise.  After resistance training or a long bike ride, your muscles can become sore.  This is partly due to the fact that they have been damaged, micro-tears in your muscle.  In order to heal that muscle, you need the proper nutrition including the right balance of protein, carbohydrates, etc. to support the healing process.

When you are depriving your body of the essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients that it needs in order to perform the millions of tasks it performs on a daily basis, you are actually hampering its own ability to detoxify and heal!
Your cells and tissues need to be fed, not starved! Without other elements of proper nutrition such as fiber, and other vitamins and nutrients, your digestive system will slow to a crawl and even become further clogged, trapping any toxins that might have otherwise been expelled.
This is the opposite of what you were hoping to do! Digestive health is an absolute key part of detoxing!  It needs to be running in tip-top shape in order to move and eliminate toxins that have been stirred up in your system.

Fiber deprivation can cause your body to stop eliminating toxins.  Your body then tries to unsuccessfully process the toxins again and tries to store them in your body.

Your digestive health and function can be compromised by thewrong types of food.  In fact, you might be eating foods that you mistakenly believed were good for you only to damage your intestinal function even worse.
That is why I can help take the guess work out of detox! Supplements are designed to give you the nutrients you need to support healthy digestive and body functions while at the same time detoxifying and eliminating toxins thehealthy way !
Remember . . . do not deprive your body.  Nourish it for optimal detoxifying affects!