For as long as I can remember I’ve always been lucky with my health. I don’t get ill, and don’t recall even having any kind of cold of virus - at least nothing that struck for longer than a few hours. So it was completely out of the blue when I began feeling constantly tired and lethargic, and I was even finding it hard to get up in the morning. Over the course of about 12 months I’d seen my doctor many times and had all the tests he threw at me, but each one showed that there was nothing medically wrong with me.

I was visiting a chiropractor one day for an old “war wound”, and she suggested I needed to detox my body, and generally learning about how to detox the body and understand the impact of toxins on my health. It sounded like a good idea, so I decided to learn all about it, and why so many alternative and complementary health practitioners recommend healthy detox diets and in particular the 7 day detox diet so avidly.

Another thing she suggested to me was to try a foot detox. I have a foot spa two or three times a week now, if I have the time, but as a suitable alternative, the detox foot patches can be just as good - although your don’t get the relaxing foot massage at the same time

Here’s what I learnt to detox your body.

Make sure you drink plenty of water

Making sure you take in plenty of fluids is very important while you are following a detox diet as it will prevent the build up of toxins and man made chemicals in your body. Drinking plenty of water also has other health benefits like promoting regular bowel movements, stops water retention (believe it or not), and hydrates your skin which improves your skin tone. Your goal should be to drink about 8 glasses (or 2 liters) of water each day, and a good bit more in hot weather or on your exercise days.

As a rule of thumb, for every hour that your exercise each day, drink an extra 2 glasses of water. Filtered or bottled water is best as tap water contain chlorine and other toxins. Ideally drink water that is at room temperature. Herbal teas are a great alternative in helping your reach your daily quote - loose leaf is better than tea bags as it hasn’t been processed as much. Dandelion root, yarrow, roibosch and green tea in particular are great choices as their essential oils help the detox process. Roibosch and green tea has other health benefits too as it is a rich source of natural antioxidants.

Do You Need To Go Organic

When detoxing, there’s no need to go completely organic, unless you can afford it, but if you can manage one or two organic foods that would be great.

Don’t panic if you can’t find organic foods in your area. Just eating plenty of fresh fruits and veg is more important, whether they are organic or not, rather than not get enough of them. However, there are some good reasons for going organic on a healthy detox diet.

Artificial fertilizers and pesticides are banned from production of organic foods, and therefore they are much healthier being free from toxins and man made chemicals. Organic farming is a hotly debated and controversial topic because there is growing evidence that the cumulative impact of these pesticides overtime may cause health problems in the future.

Organic foods undergo minimal processing. The end result being that organic foods are free from artificial additives and hydrogenated fats. And you may notice that organic foods also taste better and have much deeper flavors.