Spring Cleaning for Your Body

An estimated 6 trillion pounds of chemicals are released into the environment each year. Some of these inevitably make their way into our bodies in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.

The toxin-removal organ of your body is your liver. It filters your blood—two quarts a minute—and removes bacteria and their byproducts and other toxins, and converts them into nontoxic substances for elimination.

But when the toxic load becomes too great, or as we age, our bodies don’t rid toxins from our bodies as efficiently as they used to. Accumulated toxins can cause fatigue, aches and pains, difficulty concentrating, and more.

Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of stored toxins:

• Drink plenty of water to flush out toxins. I recommend 10 to 12 glasses of pure water every day.
• Clean up your diet by eating wholesome food, lots of antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables, and several servings weekly of cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, as well as oranges and tangerines.
• Take a high-potency multivitamin and mineral supplement. Make sure it contains at least 2,500 mg of vitamin C, which helps your body manufacture and increase its stores of the antioxidant glutathione—the primary “detoxification antioxidant.” It’s also important to get 800 IU of vitamin E, which supports detoxification.
• Sweat it out. Sweating mobilizes and excretes stored toxins, so be sure to get regular, vigorous exercise. Sitting in a sauna for at least 15 minutes several times a week will also do the trick.
• Support your liver. As I mentioned earlier, your liver has a dirty job—it filters your blood. Give your liver a boost with milk thistle, selenium, N-acetyl-cysteine, and alpha lipoic acid (my Milk Thistle Liver Cleanse supplement contains all of these; take as directed). You should also avoid excess alcohol, acetaminophen (Tylenol), and other drugs, which are hard on the liver.

Now it’s your turn: Which of these detoxification strategies do you use?

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