Maybe you had a long and indulgent weekend. Perhaps one of your friends recently lost weight and attributes the weight loss to some mysterious detox or cleanse. What do these words mean and how should you go about picking one? This can be a hard decision with all the different fitness or health food advertisements being forced on you from all corners of social media, TV, or radio. Before you choose some random product, it’s important to know the difference between “detox” and “cleanse.”
Detox Versus Cleanse
Both of these words circulate the health world, but a lot of people interchange them. They are different, even though both claim to flush toxins from your body. For the majority of the 20th century, detoxing typically referred to treating substance abuse and cleansing referred to cleaning house or getting rid of parasites. While they are different, both words involve removing harmful substances or toxins from the body.
The Purpose of Detoxing
When you detox, the goal is to get toxins like cigarette residue, heavy metals, chemicals, or environmental toxins out the body via waste elimination. Secondly, it’s important to improve the body’s detoxification pathways, specifically the liver and the kidneys. Those organs are always detoxing, so a “detox” is a way to make sure those organs are functioning without problems. A detox also involves a dietary change.
The Purpose of Cleansing
The primary purpose of a cleanse is to remove undigested food, toxins, old fecal matter, and parasites from the digestive tract and colon. When you are cleansing, you typically have to avoid consuming dairy products, eggs, gluten, soy, refined sugars, meats, processed foods, and alcohol. The goal is to focus on foods that aid the cleansing process, yet supply the body with tons of nutrients as well.
Note: Cleansing does not mean you have to starve yourself.
According to medical experts, detoxification is the body’s process of turning toxins into waste. Cleansing helps to enhance the body’s detoxification system by eliminating toxic waste from the digestive tract. In a way, you could say that the two terms work hand in hand.
Signs That Indicate You Need To Cleanse
- Frequent Headaches
- Joint Pain
- Water Retention
- High Blood Pressure
- Constipation
- Anxiety or Depression
- Fatigue
When it comes to cleansing the body, we stand by our 20-day Full Body Cleanse, which helps to cleanse the major eliminative channels in the body. It also helps to cleanse the body’s major organs and systems, which can aid its natural detoxification processes. We recommend this cleanse, as opposed to a juice cleanse, because you get to eat solid foods. A liquid only diet can sometimes cause digestive complications due to the lack of fiber. Even though the foods you eat on the Full Body Cleanse are raw, they provide you with all the vitamins, protein, fiber, and nutrients you need for a healthy lifestyle.
The best time to cleanse is either in the spring, fall, or in the beginning of the year. Start your cleanse now to rejuvenate the body and reclaim your health.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
