Do you feel like your body needs to be cleaned? You might be thinking of a detox or cleanse to serve the purpose. However, before making your decision, you should know how to differentiate the two. This way, you will be able to choose the right one for your needs.

But what is the difference between the two?

Detox

The liver and kidneys are tasked with eliminating harmful toxins from the body. Detox is meant to help the body with detoxification process by eliminating any harmful additives that you consume in food. The function of these organs can be strengthened by making some dietary changes like adding more fruits and vegetables or vegetable juices.

Cleanse

Its purpose is to clean the digestive tract, especially the colon to remove any undigested food, parasites, and toxins. It is a mild way of removing toxins by the use of a simpler diet for a specific period.

What should you know before starting a detox or a cleanse?.

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1. Holistic Detoxification is a Better Option

Have you heard of holistic detoxification? Well, before starting on it, you should find out more about what it is all about. Holistic detoxification is a complete multi-organ, entire body cleansing, and detoxification program.

It entails minimizing toxin intake, promoting elimination of toxins, and making use of herbs that are meant for detoxification and any other helpful nutraceuticals to increase organ function.

You must ensure that the holistic detoxification process is systematic since body organs tend to inter-depend on one another. Generally, the liver does the detoxification by breaking down both environmental toxins and metabolic wastes. Water-soluble wastes are then sent to the kidneys while the fat-soluble ones go to the intestines for elimination.

This means that you cannot do a liver detox or gallbladder flush before cleansing the kidneys and colon. The reason is that it could lead to the re-absorption of the toxins in the intestines, thus overworking the kidneys.

2. What Detoxes and Cleanses Promise

There are numerous types of detoxes and cleanses. These two have a similar goal- removing toxins from your body. At times, they target specific organs like the liver or colon. Detox leaves you feeling better. With both a detox and cleanse, you are either supposed to limit your food intake or consume pressed juice. Also, keep away from certain foods or drink juice concoctions that are supposed to rid your body of toxins. In cleansing, these toxins are simply known as pollutants or poisons.

Although there are many detoxes and cleanses out there, one such popular and most longstanding cleanses is the master cleanse. This is a juice fast where you are not allowed to eat food and have to substitute lemonade and tea made from maple syrup and cayenne pepper.

The master cleanse has been proven as a great way of helping people lose weight drastically, especially those obsessed with trim bodies. One of the people who has benefited from it includes Jared Leto, a popular American actor, and musician. By following this method, he was able to lose the 62 pounds he had put on acting as Mark David Chapman in the show Chapter 7.

3. Short-term Detox is not Usually Successful

Short-term diets are very popular, yet they are the least successful. Usually, a 24-hour juice fasting, skin cleansing, and colon cleansing are used as a short-term detox plan. Such short-term fixes can deprive you of important nutrients. Whenever you decide to go for juice cleanse, remember you are depriving your body of proteins and fiber, which are very important. Also, going for a colon cleanse for the purpose of removing toxins puts you at risk of infections.

Such short-term detox programs include the cabbage soup detox that Jaime Pressly took seven days to lose the baby weight. It is usually supplemented with skim milk, fruits, and vegetables. What you lose with this detox is water weight, and there is a risk of regaining it all back.

4. The Ideal Time to Cleanse and Detox

Spring and fall are usually considered the ideal seasons. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), spring is the time for renewal, making it the best time to detox your liver. The TCM is of the opinion that the liver’s energy rises during the spring season, enhancing the detoxification process. On the other hand, autumn is considered great for cleansing as it is linked to the colon being the vital elimination organ.

5. The Weight Will Eventually Come Back on

One of the numerous benefits of a proper detox is weight loss. This makes most detox diets very attractive. Sticking to such a diet for a given period will see you lose some pounds. However, as soon as you start reintroducing food you haven’t been eating for some time, you are bound to start piling back the lost pounds.

Do not panic as detoxing helps your body metabolize fat slowly. Thus some weight loss could become permanent. However, if you decide to binge eat fatty foods after a successful detox program, you will end up gaining more weight, and all the detox benefits will get reversed.

Think of a detox as cleaning your home in spring. You wouldn’t like anyone to bring back any dirt to such a house since it took you a lot of time to get everything organized. The same applies to detoxing; you might take a long period to clean your system before you eventually feel great. Eating junk food after a detox doesn’t make sense.

Conclusion

Keeping in mind that you expose yourselves to numerous toxins and poisons, it is only wise to flush them out of our bodies if you wish to live a healthy life. Whether you decide to go for a detox or cleanse, keep the above things in mind. Both are meant to give you overall wellbeing. Knowing which one suits you is very important as some drastic life changes can wreak havoc on your health. Go easy at first, and as your body adjusts, it will become easier to cope. Make a healthy choice today.

Author Bio:

Mike Jones preaches the benefits of cleanses and juicing for health. He understands that there are some risks associated with these practices, but believes that are ways to prevent anything from happening.