KEEPING THE DETOX SPIRIT ALIVE AFTER THE WEEKEND’S OVER
Learning to respect and care for your body is a major step toward healing. Your body is not just a piece of machinery in which components can be cut out or other components added; rather, every part of your body works together with an intelligence that is both mind-boggling and miraculous.
In a single second your body coordinates billions of simultaneous processes that control every chemical, energetic, electric, and mechanical process to keep you alive. Trillions of cells work at lightning speed to overcome infection, mend broken bones, and heal wounds. Healthy cells replenish dying or dysfunctional cells every second to create a healthier body. Your skin is totally renewed every twenty-eight days. You literally have a new heart every thirty days. Your lungs regenerate every seventy days.
When you eliminate toxins from your cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems you will experience a cleaner and clearer you. Your energy will soar, pain will lessen or disappear, your mind will be clearer, you’ll sleep better, and your movement will be freer. Even your moods will improve. Your skin will clear, and fine wrinkles may recede. Your body will feel lighter, and this lightness will expand outward into your outlook on life. It seems impossible that detoxification can do so many things, but remember what detoxification ultimately is: taking time out from the hectic pace of life to take care of your body, to say “my body is worth treating well.” And this attitude as well as better-functioning, cleaner cells combine to create a stronger, healthier, happier you. It allows you to discover and fulfill the potential that is you.
We are not deficient in pharmaceutical drugs. We do not have deficiencies of aspirin, warfarin, or other chemicals. Our symptoms are signs that our bodies need more attention, more nutrients, fewer toxins, pure water, deeper breathing, and more movement. We are complex physical, emotional, intellectual, energetic, and spiritual beings. Our bodies have developed sophisticated detoxification mechanisms, but in our industrial age they can use a boost to function at optimal levels throughout our life.
Although improvements and even transformations may occur in a single weekend, the reality is that our bodies may need more than that to counterbalance the years of toxins, unhealthy eating habits, and a sedentary lifestyle. You can detox one weekend out of every month or once in a season, or you can detox every weekend if you want. The choice is yours. You can stick with one specific detox until you see your symptoms in the quiz in Chapter 2 reduce, or you can try different ones to give all your organs a boost.
There’s no limit to the amount you can detoxify your body provided you give it the healthy fuel it needs to maintain and achieve health. Of course, there are times in life when you’ll need to take a break from detoxification. These times include pregnancy, breastfeeding, if you’re suffering from an eating disorder, or if you have a serious illness like diabetes. Other than that, you can periodically retake the quiz in Chapter 2 to guide you on the next path of your healing journey to restore your health one weekend at a time.
The sixteenth-century German-Swiss physician and founder of toxicology, Paracelsus, said, “The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician.” Although hundreds of years have passed and we live in a world increasingly separated from nature and our own true nature, these words were never truer. Remove the barriers to health (toxins) and refuel every cell in your body with fresh, wholesome foods, and you will restore great health. Love your body, and it will love you back.
Wishing you great health and happiness,
Michelle Schoffro Cook