Our focus here is on Men’s health. We are highlighting the importance of healthier living for men and how it can improve their quality of life as well as their families’.

Many of us currently live fast-paced lives. This includes fast meals that mostly contain loads of sugar, salt and/or fat and are not always rich in nutrients. With this fast-track living also comes deadlines, increased workloads, sedentary lifestyles, lack of sleep, unhealthy pick-me-up snacking, smoking and stimulating drinks, including alcohol, coffee and energy drinks.

This type of living, including bad food choices, can lead to annoying symptoms such as achy joints or muscles, brain fog, fatigue, headaches, allergies or bloating – with embarrassing abnormal flatulence. It can also lead to more serious problems such as auto-immune diseases, migraines, asthma, adult acne, irritable bowel syndrome, reflux, arthritis, gout or various other chronic diseases.

We know that we need to eat healthy and live healthy to combat many of these symptoms. An easy get-you-going strategy can be to implement a good detoxing regimen in your lifestyle.

Detoxing is a natural process that involves removing toxins from the body cells, muscles and tissue towards the heart and then out of the body, largely through the skin, gut, lungs and urine.

There are 6 organs involved in detoxing the body:

• Liver
• Kidneys
• Lungs
• Lymph
• Skin
• Gut

By supporting these detox organs, you can help your body to naturally detox which will in turn help with the following:

• Make you feel better, more awake, joyful and full of energy. Toxins in the body can slow us down and limit general bodily functions. When we remove these damaging toxins, our bodies are able to work as they should without having to deal with blockages and harmful toxins.
• Help you to lose weight by assisting in appropriately signalling your satiety hormones. It also helps to manage insulin resistance and inflammation and eliminates unwanted toxins that get stuck in your fat cells. Detoxing allows the body to rid itself of the build-up of unnatural and potentially harmful toxins. They can clog up our systems and slow down our natural processes, such as digestion, blood circulation and important enzymes.
• Assist in decreasing unwanted food cravings, because detoxing allows you to eliminate sugar, flour and unhealthy hyper-processed, hyper-palatable food-like substances. These types of foods trigger food addictions if they are consumed on a regular basis.
• Eliminate food sensitivities, as an unhealthy highly processed diet is mostly not gut-friendly.
• Have a better intimate life, because as your body detoxes, you reset your hormones and eliminate toxins which together play a massive role in vitality.
• Have healthier skin, as detoxing can help to flush out the build-up of toxins that can lead to dull, lifeless or spotty skin.
• Detoxing involves a process that helps to physically drain impurities through the lymphatic system, stimulating circulation around the skin’s surface and promoting healthy skin tone and clarity.
• Boosting your immune function, because as your body detoxes, your organs no longer have to work hard to deal with the impact of toxins on the body. Rather these detoxing organs are able to fulfil their functions more easily. One of these functions is to protect the body from illness and disease.

There are some misconceptions about the word ‘Detox’ as many believe you need to drink some disgusting, expensive concoction, run to the toilet the whole day, have constant hunger and deprive yourself.

This is not a sustainable or safe way to support detoxing your organs.  When you start living and eating to benefit your detoxing hormones, you can activate them to permanently function effectively. You will be able to benefit hugely as all systems will be working as they should and all toxins can be eliminated successfully.

In order to ensure we keep these organs going, we need to start by implementing some sustainable dietary and lifestyle strategies.

We share 3 Keys of the Male Detox Strategy you can easily implement in your daily living.

Please note, if you do have any chronic diseases, do consult your healthcare provider, before attempting any of these keys.

Key 1 – The Diet Factor

Include the following:

• Daily fruit and vegetables – 5 to 10 portions per day of which 2/3 are vegetables and 1/3 is fruit. This will provide protective antioxidants and fibre
• Daily clean filtered water 8 – 10 cups per day depending on activity, age, gender and weather

Limit or avoid the following:

• Sugar, refined carbs and added sugar contained in certain foods and drinks
• Caffeine and energy drinks
• Highly unhealthy processed foods like baked goods and processed meats – the latter also contain gluten

Key 2 – The Lifestyle Factor

Include the following:

• Regular moderate physical activity. The World Health Organisation recommends 150 – 240 min per week of moderate intense activity. However, it does not help to be active just once per day for 30 – 45 minutes if you have a sitting work environment. You need to actively move your body at least every hour of your waking day. Therefore set an alarm on your watch which goes off every hour so you can stand up and walk around for a minute or two and get back to the task at hand

• Regular lymphatic drainage therapy such as MLD – Manual Lymphatic Drainage massage or Presso-therapy will aid in stimulating the lymph https://www.thegoddessfactor.co.za/presso-therapy-lymphatic-drainage/ This treatment uses pressure on different parts of the body to assist with natural lymphatic drainage, boosting skin & muscle tone, circulation and the reduction of water retention

• A healthy sleep routine of 7 – 9 hours restful sleep
• Breathing exercises or meditations as these assist in relaxation and detoxification

Limit or avoid the following:

• Smoking

Over-consumption of alcohol

Key 3 – The Environmental Factor

Include the following:

• Water purification system
• House/office plants such as peace lilies to help clean the air

Limit or avoid the following:

• BPA plastic – this is a type of plastic that when heated up – including sunlight or heating food – can melt into the food or drink and then make its way into our bodies

Summary

These are just a few of the strategies you can follow. To effectively detox, you do not need to use any special potions, as your body is equipped with the correct organs to successfully detox and help keep you healthy. You simply need to support them by starting with The 3 Male Detox Keys.

Remember! Habits take 6 – 9 months to change! Don’t try and change everything at once and reach out to your healthcare providers to assist where needed.

For a more individualised detoxing strategy, contact your nearest dietician and/or health care provider.

Blog by:

Tanya Alberts, RD(SA)

Director of Transform Your Health Network

For a Complimentary Consultation or Appointment please contact us at
info@thegoddessfactor.co.za   WhatsApp us @ 063 292 8968