Ways to help your body detox

We've all heard how important it is to do a body cleanse or detox every now and then.

Why is this necessary? And how do we do this?

Here are some tips to help along with a few food suggestions to make things a bit easier.

The good news is that your body knows how to detoxify. In fact, your body is detoxifying for you as you read these words.

Sometimes, however, we need to create the conditions for the body to optimize the process.

In order to effectively do its detoxification job, the liver requires a lot of nutrition in the form of vitamins, minerals, amino acids (from protein) and antioxidants.

Here are 5 Power Fruits you can include in your diet to help detox:

Berries: strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrant and blueberry are rich sources of vitamin C and fiber. Consuming berries helps produce butyrate, which is a fatty acid that helps in weight loss and makes the body lean.

Apple: Apart from being rich in vitamins, fiber and minerals, apples are also rich in phytochemical and pectin. Pectin flushes out food additives and metals in our body.

Lemon: Lemon is an effective source for cleansing, and also helps with gastric problems. They are most effective in detoxification when taken with warm water.

Pineapple: Pineapple is bromelain rich fruit which help in breaking down of proteins and its digestion. It also helps in reducing inflammation which further helps relieve arthritis and helps in speedy recovery from injuries.

Papaya: Papaya is known for its richness in vitamin C (224%) and other nutrients like vitamin A, magnesium and potassium, which makes it a great antioxidant. Papain, an enzyme found in papaya, helps in the breakdown of protein and in digestion

What else can you do to help detox your body of toxins?

Magnesium Sulphate helps with the break down of additives and toxins in the body. By taking a 20min daily bath will help your body absorb the magnesium sulphate. Sulphate is what our bodies use to break down artificial additives and toxins that are consumed from foods we eat. Increasing our Sulphate levels triggers a detox and rids the body of artificial additives, reduces the toxic buildup and as such reduces hyper-activity, migraines and general stress and insomnia.

Maintaining good hydration supports the kidneys in being able to flush out toxins. We all have different needs for how much water we need based on our body size, how much we sweat, how much caffeine we consume, what climate we live in and our electrolyte status. Be sure to drink enough water so that your urine is clear and you aren’t going long stretches (except overnight) without urinating.