"Detox" - Detoxifying Your Body

Earlier this year, I went through my first official "detoxification."

After years and years of consuming way too much sugar, caffeine and fast food, I decided to just cut it out of my diet.

We are taking about at least fifteen years of abuse. My body was addicted to all of this stuff that I was putting into it, just like someone gets addicted to drugs. I knew it was wrong to put all of this stuff into my body, yet I kept doing it because I had become addicted to the sugar and caffeine, amongst other things.

All of these things are hard on the body, and especially hard on its metabolism. Putting excessive amounts of caffeine, sugar, fried foods, butter, etc. into your body is just not good for you because it makes your body work a lot harder, and you will never be truly healthy. You won't sleep as well, you will store more fat, and you won't have nearly as much energy.

So what happens when you suddenly cut these things out of your diet? Your body basically goes into "shock" in the period known as the "detox."

My particular "Detox" lasted about five days. I felt sick. I felt lethargic and sleepy. I slept for something like 12 hours each night, and could have easily slept more. I had crippling headaches. I was cranky and irritable. I wanted nothing else than to just go back to my old habits.

If you drastically change your diet (let's say that you are becoming a vegetarian or going off of dairy products), then the body will "detox" in a different way. Animal and dairy products don't digest properly and can sit in your body for ages, not properly digesting. If you suddenly become a vegetarian and avoid dairy products as well, you will notice that you will likely feel sick for a period of days and that you will have all sorts of things coming out of your body. This is all part of the cleansing or "detox" process.

In my case, my body was hooked on three things: caffeine, sugar and fast foods. I figured that I was consuming about 275 grams of sugar and 270 mg of caffeine per day, and way too much fat from fast foods. The combination of extremely high levels of sugar in my diet and high levels of carbohydrates was a deadly combination that had me gaining weight extremely quickly, especially as I got older. This had to change, and fast, or else I would likely develop diabetes or heart disease.

The bad news is that you'll feel like crap when you are "Detoxing." The good news is that after the detox period is over, you'll feel absolutely fantastic and your body will thank you every day. You will be in much better moods, you'll sleep better and you will have limitless amounts of energy.

Most people when they are embarking on a major change in their diet don't make it through the first couple of days. They say to themselves "I can't deal with feeling like this every day." All you have to do is get through that "detox" stage and your body will change and adapt, and you will no longer crave the things that you once consumed on a daily basis. I used to crave sugary drinks on a daily basis (more than daily) and now I don't crave them at all.

"Detoxing" is great for your body and you will thank yourself once you get through this stage. Your body just isn't meant to consume large quantities of alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fried food products on a daily basis, and once you get your body off of their addictive substances, you will feel SO much better.

Filed under: Health + Fitness | General Knowledge

5 COMMENTS - What Say You?

Comment by Karl on December 31, 2008 @ 6:19 pm

I got concerned about putting on weight so fast 1.5 stone in less than 6 weeks.

I work in a call center so sweets and sugary drinks are part and parcel of daily life.

Having read this posting I now know that I can detox and that it wont be a few weeks of unhappy feeling but rather a few days,

Thanks for the advise

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Comment by Jewl on August 29, 2009 @ 4:40 pm

I really like what you said, it is all true so fare I am reading a book called slim for life and it teach you how to eat, it is not a diet, but it is a life style change. Every thing you eat is all natural, and this is only day one of my detox, so wish me luck. No matter how hard this is going to be I will not cheat. I am going to do this for myself and my family. Thank you for all of your advice.

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Comment by Dave on August 29, 2009 @ 8:52 pm

Good luck Jewl!

The first few days will be horrible, and then you will start to feel dramatically better.

You will have more energy, you'll feel happier, you'll sleep better, you'll be less irritable.. at least that's what happened for me.

As tough as it may seem on Day 1, 2 and 3, it will get much easier after that. Just hang in there.

Dave

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Comment by Zaneta on September 30, 2009 @ 9:35 pm

I am on the third day of my detox diet (my husband and I are both doing it)Although I am thin I just wanted to change my eating habbits as I get moddy and tired all of the time. I was addicted to sweets and would have only one or two coffee's a day. I have had the runs for the past two days and have had stomach cramps, I am going to to Dr's soon.

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Comment by Andrew on October 24, 2009 @ 7:53 pm

Earlier this year (April), I decided to completely cut out sugar/caffeine and the detox was terrible. Finally at the end of it, I went to sleep and had the best sleep ever and then woke up feeling so great and full of energy... better than ever.

Then around August I bounced back and started eating total crap again (sodas, ice cream... too easy to blame college for this since my friends and I often go out late at night to grab food). Now I'm trying to get off it again and this detox is brutal. I've had the most killer headache all day and I'm trying to get through it. Tried taking a nap to sleep it off but that doesn't help too much... the pain is still really bad. I'm burning up which I know is another sign of detox so I ended up plugging a fan in in October.

Hopefully I can make it through another day or two and this should be over. Trying to find ways to pass the time so I ended up googling "caffeine sugar detox" and found this. Sometimes it's so hard to stick to this especially when all my friends are drinking soda, coffee, and more.

It's crazy how addictive refined sugar is. It's probably the most addictive substance on earth. Lab rats choose it over cocaine... that's nuts. There's a really good book called Sugar Blues on this subject and anyone who reads this should check it out.

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