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What is a detox?

A detox is something that you use to cleanse your internal systems.  Technically our bodies are detoxifying all the time.  However, many of us are taking in more chemicals than we can expel.  Thus, there are special programs to help with an overloaded system.  These cleanses help remove our dependencies on things such as caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol, and other addictive foods/drinks.  Some programs cater to different needs like weight loss, balancing gut flora, or helping with hormonal imbalances.  I see the Solutions 4 as a baseline cleanse making it a good starting point for food testing for those that think that they might have food allergies or sensitivities.

 

What you will be taking and why each one is important.

Fiber: this helps clean out your intestines.  It will also help with the possibility of becoming constipated.  Constipation is common when we don’t eat food because eating is what triggers peristalsis (intestinal motion).

Body Purifier: used to purify the bloodstream and cleanse the lymphatic system.  Many of the components in this formula have been used to treat eczema, such as red clover blossom, burdock root, and sarsaparilla root.

Intestinal Cleanser: this is a special formula that includes ginger root, fennel seed, oregon grape root, and more.  This formula increases gut movement and decreasing bowel inflammation and pain.

Lemon, distilled water, maple syrup mix: lemon juice is used because of its low sugar content and astringent properties.  Distilled water is used because it shouldn’t have any of the chemicals that are added to normal tap water.  Maple syrup is used because it is a natural sweetener that is unlikely to cause an unhealthy insulin response.

 

Prep days

You get two prep days before starting your cleanse.  During these days you eliminate meat, dairy, refined sugar, and flour.  You are also supposed to wean yourself off of addictive substances like alcohol, chocolate, and caffeine.  Drink a lot of water during this time.  My problem with only having two days of prep was that it wasn’t quite long enough to wean myself off of coffee.  I would recommend that anyone who wants to do this, give yourself another couple of days of prep for the addictive substance category if there is one you ingest daily.  I stopped drinking coffee cold turkey like I usually do when I do a cleanse but apparently it has been too long since my last cleanse and the caffeine headache that showed up on day two was magnificently bad!

 

What to expect during the cleanse.

This is only a three day cleanse so it is perfect for those people that live fairly cleanly and are just looking for a quarterly detox program to provide them a way to purge their system of the small chemical build up we all get even when we do try to live cleanly.  This is not for those looking to lose weight.  You will lose weight but it isn’t fat, muscle, or water that you are losing; it is fecal matter.  We all have a large reserve of fecal matter hanging out in our bowels at any given time.  So while your scale may tell you that you are losing weight, it isn’t likely that it will stay that way once you are done with the cleanse.

 

Day one of the cleanse is by far the worst.  If you can get past the first day, you are golden.  The second day might require going to bed early but you won’t be hungry like you were on day one.  Day three you won’t be hungry (or at least I wasn’t).  One thing you can do to help yourself out is to avoid other people during meal time.  The worst thing on a cleanse is the smell of food.  Make sure that you are drinking water, it will help with the hunger.  It is easy to over look the water because you are drinking the lemon concoction.  It is also good to set the cleanse up so you are doing the hard part on the weekend.  I recommend doing a Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  Make sure you allow for extra sleep during this time.  Also, if you do it over your days off, it is easier to control your interaction with other people eating around you.

 

Coming off the cleanse

If you are doing the detox as an allergy test, make sure that you are reintroducing food wisely and giving yourself a day or two with each new food before you introduce the next one.  If you do react to a food, take it out of your diet and give yourself another day without introducing anything new.  You can be on this cleanse for up to 10 days which is plenty of time to introduce enough safe foods to do the rest of the reintroduction for a full diet.  I usually recommend people start with brown rice and then add hypoallergenic vegetables like carrots, spinach, sweet potato, and kale (not night shades).

Those of you that aren’t using this as a food allergy test should also be careful with the re-introduction of foods.  Eat the same sort of things that you had during your prep period and have small portions.  If you introduce everything all at once your stomach and intestines will not be happy with you.