The trick to detoxing is to get rid of toxins faster than take them in.

Step one is to find out what is making you sick.  Find the source and stop it from making you feel worse. You may have internal infections, external exposures or both.

Then do any detoxing you can fit into your lifestyle.

Drinking Plenty of Fluids

With any detox method, make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids.  Water is good, coconut water is better.  Water with added minerals is what I use .  I use Trace Minerals Research Low Sodium ConcenTrace® – I just add a few drops to my water to make sure I am replenishing the minerals that I am sweating out.

Water with lemon is supposed to help detox. Just remember that lemon from a jar has additives and may have traces of mold from citrus acid.  It is better to use fresh, organic lemons and squeeze them into your water.

When we first started drinking lots of lemon water, we noticed the enamel on our teeth was getting grey… so now we drink our lemon water through a straw.  The acidity of the water can harm the enamel of your teeth.

One more thing about lemon water, it is an acid, but it makes your body more alkaline.  Lemon (and lime) promote the release of sodium bicarbonate from the pancreas to support enzyme activity. As well as this, lemon is converted to potassium citrate in the intestine which is also alkaline.

Infrared Sauna

In my opinion, second only to staying hydrated, sweating out the toxins is the best detox method available and an infrared sauna is best.  If you have a good diet, balanced nutrition, the right supplements and regular exercise — and then you add in the infrared sauna, this is the quickest way to get healthier.

Infrared radiation (IR) is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of radio waves. This radiating energy penetrates the body and heats it directly and more efficiently through a process called conversion. Instead of heating rocks and sitting around them to work up a sweat, the infrared sauna penetrates the body up to 1.5 inches.

Make sure you can sweat!

If you are extremely ill, start slow and make sure you are able to sweat! When my son was at his sickest he could be in the infrared sauna and never sweat a drop.  This only made him sicker because he was not releasing toxins, he was only stirring them up.  Detoxing in a sauna requires the ability to sweat!

The first infrared sauna I bought was the portable tent sauna. I only paid $250 for it… I looked the same portable sauna on amazon and you can get it for $280 today.

You sweat in the tent sauna, but you can’t really relax in the lawn chair they provide. You stick your head out the top of this tent thing and it’s  not that enjoyable.

I also was worried about is the contamination. If I am sweating out toxins and these toxins are dripping onto the fabric off the tent, are those toxins airborne and active again when I heat the sauna up? I have heard that cleaning the sauna with hydrogen peroxide should clean that up… but I always wondered if that was enough.

Then, when we left our house because of toxic mold, I was told that anything porous needed to be tossed. I threw out 4 tons of stuff.  I haven’t tossed the sauna yet. It is in storage. But, I am not sure if I will be using it again.

I think my next sauna will be a real wooden

sauna.

I have heard good things about Heavenly Heat because they are all natural and do not off gas. This is important if you have multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS). These run between $2,900 and $5,800.

Since I am not that sensitive, I may just go with a less expensive one person sauna I found at amazon for $1,024, as of today. Of course, this will have to wait until I move out of this motel room and into a real home… so maybe by then I will be able to get the 3 person infrared sauna for a little bit more money ($1,850)!

Bathing

If you enjoy taking baths, this is can be a one of the detox methods in your routine. Relax while you detox. Light some candles and add some lavender for a truly spa like experience.

Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) have been known to help raise the levels of magnesium and sulfate in the  blood adding them to your bath water!  Add 2-3 cups of Epsom salt to a warm bath and sit and soak. 

Some people add hydrogen peroxide to bath water along with the epsom salt and some do plain H2O2.  I would not use the kind you buy from a store because there are extra chemicals in there that could harm you.  I get food grade hydrogen peroxide from pureh2o2forhealth.com

The strangest detox bath I have ever heard of is one where you add regular, store bought ammonia to your bath.  This bath is supposed to draw out mold and mycotoxins and help detox you if you have been exposed to toxic mold.  I have tried it and felt better afterward.  Ammonia does dry out your skin.  I suggest using coconut oil after your bath.  Coconut oil is an anti-fungal and also a great, natural moisturizer.

Castor Oil Compress

Soak an organic flannel (wool or cotton) cloth in castor oil, place it on the skin, cover it with plastic and then put a hot water bottle or a heating pad on top of it and relax.  Let the compress pull the toxins out of your liver (right side, front) or your kidneys (middle of the lower back).

These have been very helpful to me in times of great organ distress! I get pains in my liver and my kidneys and I use a castor oil compress and the pain subsides. I suggest trying it. Just know that it is messy!

For more on castor oil compresses:

http://curezone.com/cures/castoroil.html

The Clean Program

When I first left my moldy house, I was extremely ill. I needed the best detox diet ever! I read this book called “Clean” by Dr Alejandro Junger.  It explained why we get so toxic.  Why some foods add to our toxicity and what to do to detox effectively.

The program is supposed to a 21 day detox.  At the end of my 21 days, I felt I needed more… so I went an additional 14 days with the Clean program.

It is a combination of juicing, eating right and fasting for at least 12 hours at night.  Simple and effective.

There is a lot more info on this detox method on the Clean website or you can buy the book.

Please, add your your best detox methods in the comments!