I once met a friend for tea and between bites of her muffin (??) she explained to me that her eczema on her face was just a detox reaction. I bit my tongue but naturally was a little sceptical…

Another time I had picked up some kind of nasty bug while on vacation and a friend came over to see me and let me know that my body was just detoxing… Um thanks… no, diarrhea is not always detox.  Sometimes I get upset and I feel that comments like these give those of us who are interested in helping the body’s detoxification processes just look dumb :/

We do hear this when we are actually on a cleanse, no cupcakes, an actual cleanse. And it is definitely true. I’ve made “cleanse” mistakes and maybe you have too: Going way too hard core way too quickly with diet and lifestyle changes and getting hit with headaches or other icky feelings for a few days.  This is not a sign that you’re kicking ass.  It is a sign that you may be releasing stored substances at a faster rate than your liver can handle.  Or that there is a backup between phase one and two detoxification, an imbalance there.  When we experience these “detox” symptoms they are actually tox symptoms showing that harmful metabolites in our bodies are doing harm rather than being excreted safely.  Take care of yourself, support your detoxification and excretion pathways and go slow enough that your body can handle what you’re throwing at it.

With that being said, what I can calling tox and some call detox reactions still need to be differentiated from more serious problems.  Here are three easy ways to know if you are experiencing detox or if you are experiencing something more:

#3 way to know if your detox reaction is actually a detox reaction: You are moving in the direction of more and more clean/great/healing food and lifestyle choices. For example this could happen when starting a new fitness program, incorporating more greens, meditating, using infrared saunas, removing processed foods from the diet or anything that is going toward the clean and away from the processed food worlds.

This could also happen if you were at a plateau for a while and then something happened like christmas or someone’s birthday party and you ended up with foods in your system that you are no longer used to. In that case the body will be extra motivated to get rid of the offending foods and this is detox, this is our bodies working exactly as they should. Maybe my friend with the cupcakes WAS detoxing? You get the idea! 🙂

#2 way to know if your detox reaction is actually a detox reaction: You experience the negative “reaction” for a short time. Less than three days. If, for example, you make a dietary change too quickly and then feel nauseous for five days there may be more going on than detoxification. Maybe the liver needs more support and cannot handle the job of detox the way that it should. Maybe the digestive system is having trouble getting rid of something or maybe the new food that has been suggested to you is simply not working for you!  You can intervene in holistic ways that help to support the body to do what it’s trying to do, get rid of what is hurting it.

#1 way to know if you detox reaction is actually a detox reaction: You feel BETTER after it is over! Even better than before. So after a short time of feeling not-so-great you suddenly feel better than before. The birds are singing the sun is shining and you are loving life in a new way. You probably just experienced a short detox hoorah.

Since at the root cause level many chronic conditions are triggered by something in the body that shouldn’t be there in the first place detoxification is a good idea. I encourage you to lightly cleanse your body and move in the direction of clean food choices but never at the detriment to your long term well being or to the level that it hurts you from doing too much too fast.

Have you experienced the Herxheimer or detox reaction before? What triggered it? I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below.