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One of the most common cleansing diets is a detox diet. This is a diet that will release the toxins in the body that have been stored in the fat cells and will allow the body to excrete them and cleanse your body.

Why use a cleansing diet? This is used to eliminate toxins and other contaminants from the body. The main purposes of doing this is to:

Improve health
Feel more energetic
Improve immunity
Improve your mental condition
Aid in digestion
Help with weight loss

There are various ways to do this.

You can do a complete fast. This would entail not eating or drinking at all.

Just drink water. This would be not eating or drinking anything but water.

Just drink water and juice-the same as above accept you would be adding juice.

Eat certain foods-some diets will consist of just vegetables and fruits others will be just liquids. There are many variations on this.

Use herbs: Herbal cleansing has been used since ancient times. Certain herbs are used as cleansing medicines to release and excrete toxins from the body.

Reduce calories: Some cleansing diets are used to reduce calories and aid in weight loss.

The most common diet is one composed mainly of fruits and vegetables. Preferably these should be raw, unmodified and unprocessed. More water is recommended and complete absence of alchahol.

However cleansing diets are not without side effects. If done rapidly the toxins can be released into the bloodstream more quickly than the body can get rid of them. This condition is known as Herxheimer reaction.

This can result in:

' Headaches

' Muscle pain

' Weakness

' Insomnia

' Irritability

Herxheimer reaction: this is the name given to the body's condition when detoxification is occurring too rapidly and the body is not being given enough time to excrete the toxins. Some detox diets will produce this effect. This often leads to people abandoning their cleansing diets thinking that the diet is making them more sick. In actual fact if they continue with their diet the symptoms diminish and they will feel healthier.

Here are some ways that people have tried to lessen the symptoms of Herxheimer reaction:

' Drinking as much pure water as they can-this in effect will help the body flush out any toxins.

' Taking more exercise-this will improve circulation and help the body work more efficiently. This could help the body work more efficiently and excrete the toxins faster.

' Getting more sunlight

' Detox baths

' Excessive sweating-with saunas, baths and use of herbs

' Avoiding refined processed foods and toxic environmental chemicals

' Aromatherapy oils are used to help aches and pains brought on by rapid detoxification

Cleansing diets have been used from ancient times and can often help you to improve your health and make you feel better. Some people do these diets on a regular basis others more seldom. However you want to do these diets you should exercise care and possibly consult your doctor before commencing on one as sometimes side effects can be severe. If you have any underlying disease especially metabolic ones such as diabetes then it is very necessary to consult your Doctor before trying any type of cleansing diets.