What is it?What can I do during this period?
Why does this happen?Further Reading
How severe are the symptoms
etoxification
| What is it? | What can I do during this period?
|
| Why does this happen? | Further Reading
|
| How severe are the symptoms |
Detoxification is the term used for the symptoms - both physical
and mental - that may appear when you alter your lifestyle by
starting something new, such as a new diet or exercising, or discontinuing
a current habit, such as eating chocolate or drinking coffee.
These symptoms include headache, stomachache, cough, diarrhea,
skin eruptions (rash), clogged sinus, and fever, as well as feeling
rundown and irritable. The symptoms may be of short duration and
slight irritation, or could last longer and cause you considerable
discomfort.
Because these symptoms are the same as those that show up in certain
illnesses, changing your diet or lifestyle can result in misunderstanding:
If I am doing something that is supposed to be good for me, why
do I have symptoms? Why do I feel worse, and not better? Understanding
this apparent contradiction is perhaps the first, and most important,
hurdle you must get over when making a dietary or lifestyle change.
If you consider this carefully, however, it is easy to understand.
Think of how you might have experienced this on a short-term basis.
If you do not get regular exercise, and then play some softball
with your kids, the next day you might feel bad - tired with sore
muscles. This is your body reacting to something that it is not
used to doing. You can see the same thing when you stop a regular
activity; if you are a soda drinker and have to stop for a while,
you may notice that you have less energy and may even have a headache.
When you change your diet or lifestyle, the same thing happens;
your body reacts to the change.(top of page)
As we live, toxins accumulate in our body. Some of these are due
to our diet and others due to the environment around us. Of course,
our lifestyle also fits in - if you smoke or use alcohol you are
accumulating even more toxins.
When you make a change in diet or lifestyle, through stopping
a bad habit or eating better, your cells begin eliminating the
toxic substances. Before finding the exit however, the toxins
are released into the blood stream and are carried through the
circulatory system.
This transportation and elimination may result in headache, diarrhea,
or constipation, and often toxins are eliminated through the skin,
resulting in rashes or skin problems (especially if you are prone
to such problems). you may also feel a lack of energy, especially
if you are eliminating meats from your diet. (The protein found
in meat is more stimulating than that found in vegetables.) You
may also find that, with the absence of toxins, you absorb substances
more easily. Thus sugar and caffeine in a soda might really set
you off.
In a nut shell, we could say that the body always goes for quality,
and when the food coming in is of higher quality than the present
tissue, the body will discard the present tissue in wants to make
room for tissue created by the higher quality food.
(top of page)
How severe are the symptoms and how long do they
last?
How long the symptoms last and how severe they are depend on what
your lifestyle had been before making a change, and how quickly
you make a change. If you had a diet heavy in red meats, for example,
and become a vegetarian overnight, you might have severe symptoms
for a time. If your lifestyle changes are gradual, the symptoms
could be less severe.
The duration of the symptoms might not be linear; there is a greater
chance that they will come in cycles. At first you may feel great
and then experience some detoxification symptoms. After the initial
toxins are flooded out, you will feel good again, if not better.
However, the body "goes deeper" and finds more toxins
to eliminate; the symptoms may reappear again, and after more
toxins are eliminated, you will feel better yet. As things progress,
you will find that the period of symptoms is shorter and that
the period of well-being is greater.(top of page)
What can I do during this period?
The hardest thing for people to do is to accept that they are
not sick and realize that the body is cleansing itself. Once you
get beyond this psychological barrier, the rest is easy. The most
important thing to do can be summed up in one word: Rest.
Rest, and let the body do what it needs to. If you have the luxury
of staying home, d so! if not, cut back social engagements and
perhaps even cut back on any exercise you are getting. Give your
body as much energy as possible to do its job. Eat light foods
that are easy to digest - consume fruits and vegetables and drink
plenty of water.(top of page)
Swope, Mary Ruth, Ph.D. Green leaves of Barley
Phoenix, AZ: Swope Enterprises, Inc Pp. 1990
Matsen, John N.D. The Mysterious Causes of Illness
Canfield, OH: Fischer Publishing Co. Pp 1987
Wolfe, Darrell G. The Power to Heal
Toronto: Wolfe Clinic 1991
Malkmus, George God's Way to Ultimate Health
Edison, TN Hallelujah Acres Publishing 1995
Krohn, Jacqueline M.D., Frances Taylor, M.A., and Jinger Prosser,
LMT Natural Detoxification
Point Roberts, WA Hartkey & Marks Publishers, Inc. 1996(top of page)
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