The Best Spring Cleaning Your Body Can Do
April 10, 2023
Imagine your spring cleaning. If when you took your garbage out, you left most of it on the back porch. Only a couple of crumpled napkins and an old ketchup bottle make it all the way to the curb. What would your back porch look like after a few weeks?
Well, think of your colon as your back porch. It’s the exit for your body’s waste. Everything you put into your body goes through a precise sorting system as it passes through to your digestive tract. By the time it gets to your colon, all that’s left is trash.
While a few bits of waste may be able pass through, the rest accumulates, which in turn gets in the way and makes even more stuff accumulate. Before long, your colon is no longer a smooth exit, but clogged and the entire digestive system slows down too.
In This Healthy Insight:
- How to Spring Clean the Body
- What is a Detox or Cleanse?
- Best Supplements for a Detox or Cleanse
- What’s a Probiotic?
- Tips for Keeping Your Insides Clean
How to Spring Clean the Body
To keep your waste-removal system running smoothly, the prescription is simple: Fiber, exercise and hydration.
Fiber adds necessary bulk to your digestive waste and keeps your stool soft. It makes it easier for the muscles around your colon to squeeze and push your waste out. When we eat too much processed food, we miss out on this digestive scrub brush.
Another bonus: fiber makes us feel full, which keeps our stomach from putting out the hormone ghrelin which signals the brain to look for our next meal. Drinking sufficient water keeps things flowing and exercise keeps your muscles moving, including those in your GI tract.
In winter especially, our bodies naturally slow down in response to less daylight. We exercise less, we eat more, binge our favorite shows – essentially, we hibernate. Well, just like the bear after its long hibernation, we need to eliminate our winter buildup with some serious spring cleaning, including your colon.
What is a Detox or Cleanse?
Detox and cleansing are often used synonymously, but there’s a subtle difference. Although they both emphasize clean, healthy foods, a cleanse focuses more on ongoing digestive health while a detox focuses more specifically on elimination of toxins. Detoxification is typically short term and cleansing may last longer with the goal of regularity and digestive health. Both aim to leave you feeling lighter, rejuvenated and more energetic.
Best Supplements for a Detox or Cleanse
- Psyllium husk
- Probiotics
- Slippery elm bark
- Aloe vera
- Senna
- Cascara sagrada
- Beet root
- Fenugreek seed
- Dandelion root
What’s a Probiotic?
Probiotics look like a strange mishmash of scientific names, but the most common ones fall into two types (genus): Lactobacillus, which colonize in the small intestines, and Bifidobacterium, which is found in the large intestines (colon). They’re abbreviated by L. and B. respectively.
Tips for Keeping Your Insides Clean
- Drink enough water
- De-stress
- Get enough sleep
- Eat smaller meals
- Take a probiotic.
- Consume more fiber
- Eat fermented foods with beneficial bacteria
- Eat less sugar
- Exercise regularly
- Brush and floss regularly
- Avoid artificial sweeteners
- Limit alcohol and caffeine
Cleansing your colon is the most important spring cleaning you can do. But, before changing your health routine, check with your doctor first to see what recommendations they may have.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary.
