How to Detox Your Body Without Supplements

Supplements, laxatives and special diets designe to "detox" the body are extremely popular, especially among advocates of alternative medicine. There's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to flush unwanted toxins from your body, but many of these body-cleansing programs are unsafe or unreasonably expensive.

Did you know that you can detox without supplement of any kind? You can skip all the cost and side effects of these products by making healthy lifestyle choices-- using your diet and environment as your first line of defense against toxic build-up.

Here are some steps to take to cleanse your body without supplements.

1. Detox your environment. Minimize your exposure to everyday toxins and pollutants, including cleaning products, aerosols, pesticides and cigarette smoke. Stay away from environments that might make exposure to these pollutants more likely. Green your home, workplace and automobile-- the places where you spend the majority of your time-- to whatever degree you find possible.

2. Detox your diet. Eliminate hydrogenated oils, refined sugar, corn syrup, artificial flavor, artificial sweeteners, high-fat dairy products, meat, shellfish and white grains from your diet. Depending on what your diet is like now, you may need to eliminate these products one step at a time. These foods contribute to heart disease, cancer formation,, learning problems, chronic fatigue and constipation. By taking them out of your diet, you can cleanse your body without supplements.

3. Eat cleansing foods. Increase your intake of cleansing foods that are rich in antioxidants and fiber. These help to detox your colon while shielding your cells from the dangerous effects of free radicals. Choose colorful leafy vegetables such as spinach, collard, mustard, romaine and turnip greens, as well as carrots, squash, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Also seek colorful fruits like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, pomegranate and grape. Seek high-fiber, lean protein sources like beans, lentils and other legumes.

4. Use water to flush away toxins. Increase your fluid intake to at least eight tall glasses each day. Water is a great choice as your primary fluid source, but you can also choose high-antioxidant unsweetened teas like green tea, black tea, white tea, rooibos and dandelion. These offer antioxidants and flavor as well as a great fluid source. They can help to treat constipation, relieve chronic fatigue and prevent urinary tract infections, without the need for supplements.

5, Eat living foods. Probiotics found in kombucha, yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream and kimchee can cleanse your body without supplements by promoting digestive health, immune support and health of your genital and urinary systems. You don't have to take probiotic supplements to get the detoxifying benefits of probiotics.