Christina Scott-Moncrieff - Complete Detox Workbook: 2-day, 9-day and 30-day makeovers to cleanse and revitalize your life

Detox is for everyone. Everyone, that is, who longs to have an abundance of physical energy, to be mentally calm and in control and to have the freedom of choice that comes from feeling really well.

D etox is about improving your quality of life, not just for now, but also for the future; not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. Every year statistics show that people are living longer. With detox it is possible to improve the quality of these extra years.

Why do we feel less than 100 per cent so often? Why do we seem to be short of energy and notice so many niggling aches and pains or tolerate symptoms that are more intrusive? Feeling out of control or tired all the time may not be symptoms that appear in many medical textbooks, but they are heard with increasing frequency in the consulting rooms of every doctor and healthcare professional.

The answer lies in toxins. This word is used to describe the chemicals in the body that have not been made harmless, or detoxed. Some of these chemicals are the result of our living in an increasingly polluted world, and some are caused by poor diets that do not supply the body with the nutrients it needs to perform the usual detox functions effectively. These toxins can affect our ability to think properly; they can produce physical symptoms such as exhaustion or headaches; and create emotional turmoil such as anger and frustration, or feelings of misery and hopelessness.

You do not have to put up with all this. Detox gives you the opportunity to take a grip on your health and the way you feel, and everyone who decides to make the effort can benefit at least a little but often to a surprisingly great extent. What is more, you can choose between making a major effort and seeing rapid improvements or introducing changes gradually to fit a busy life. If this gradual approach is all that is possible, the resulting improvement may occur so slowly that it is barely noticeable, but progress can be charted by noting the scores achieved when answering the symptoms . It is often helpful to repeat this exercise every few months.

Following a detox programme reduces the amount of toxins entering your body and helps your body to deal with them better by improving nutrition and enhancing the removal of unwanted waste. This book provides a choice between programmes that allow you to work as usual and more intensive programmes that require a short retreat from the world. It also guides you towards the lo-tox lifestyle that will help you to go on feeling fit and energetic. If you have any medical condition or symptoms that you have not discussed with your doctor, you should obtain advice before starting a programme.

Every day most of us encounter natural chemicals that can cause damage or irritation to the body. By detoxing you can help your system to deal with these toxins and maintain your health and well-being.

T he world is not a friendly place. Every day we encounter unfriendly chemicals and other toxic substances that can cause damage or irritation to our bodies unless they are changed by being detoxified into safer substances. Every cell in the body contributes to this detox process, which is essentially the disposal of waste.

Rubbish left in the street or an overflowing sewer can become health hazards. In the same way, when our detox systems cannot cope, for whatever reason, a backlog of unwanted waste builds up in our bodies, which, at the very least, leaves us feeling below par but can cause illness.

As part of the evolutionary process, our bodies have learned to defend themselves from naturally occurring toxins by changing them into safer substances and getting rid of them as soon as possible. They are discharged in stools, mucus and bile; in urine, sweat and tears; and even in our hair and nails.

Natural toxins can be produced within the body when, for example, it is fighting infection, dealing with the biochemical after-effects of stress or simply performing routine repair and maintenance. The word biochemistry means the chemistry of life. In order to maintain life and health, our bodies continually monitor internal biochemical processes and deal with any harmful chemicals that arise.

Natural toxins also occur in the environment. For example, many plants produce toxic substances to protect themselves against predators. Although we have learned to avoid the highly poisonous plants that would overwhelm our systems, many of the everyday plants that we eat contain substances that can kill small pests such as caterpillars. Provided our detox systems are working properly, we are able to detoxify these substances with ease.

One common reason why our bodies become overwhelmed with toxins is that our diets are often poor, lacking many vital nutrients. You may find this surprising when you look around a supermarket that contains several thousand different food stuffs, but it is true.

In the West we have sacrificed food quality for convenience, and many packaged foods have had vital nutrients removed. This may be done intentionally to prolong shelf life or for other reasons, including public demand. For example, most people eat white bread and rolls, even though 90 per cent of the magnesium, a mineral essential to effective detoxing, has been milled out of it. Nor can we blame the food industry entirely for losses from prolonged storage times: when shops do sell really fresh fruit and vegetables, vital vitamins can be lost when we shop only once a week and keep our food for several days in the fridge.

Detoxing and a good diet can help your body to cope with the build up of harmful toxins in the body caused by air pollution, pesticides and fungicides.

As a result of these changes, some vital nutrients have been lost, resulting in our detox systems becoming less effective at detoxing all the unfriendly chemicals entering our bodies. This is a little like employing refuse collectors to go around the town emptying the dustbins, but equipping them with handcarts instead of automatically loading lorries. Even if they were able to cope, their efforts would hardly be very efficient.

WHEN THE DETOX SYSTEMS CANT COPE

Unchanged, or only partially changed, toxins are left to roam through the body, causing damage and a decline in the feeling of wellness that we usually take for granted. Symptoms can vary widely from person to person, but the most common problem is constant tiredness.