Let’s Brush Up to Detox

What methods are you incorporating as you pursue wellness? I would assume that you have changed your eating habits, increased your movement and exercise, and perhaps changed toiletries and household cleaning products in order to reduce chemical exposure.

How ’bout brushing? Not just your hair and your teeth, but also your body.

A group of us have begun the Spring Reviving Cleanse … and it’s not too late for you to join in. Not only do I provide you with recipes to help you cleanse from the inside, but also several approaches to work from the outside. One of these is called dry brushing.

Many people are talking about detoxes and cleanse programs, but what many programs don’t tell you is that in order for your body to flush all those toxins out, you must have clear detox pathways.

I told you in my last post about how important it was to support your liver in all the many tasks it does every day, one of which is filtering toxins. But once they are filtered, how are they passed out of the body? You may be surprised to learn that your skin is a primary player.

Your skin is actually your largest organ. It’s your first line of defense against environmental toxins, and a major way that your body excretes toxins. In fact, your skin is responsible for nearly a quarter of your body’s detox processes in any given day!

So it’s important to take good care of your skin, carefully choose what you are putting on your body, and help those detox processes along when you can. One method that I have begun incorporating is dry brushing.

Dry brushing isn’t very common in America, but it’s very popular in Europe, Scandinavian, and Russian countries and has been used for centuries in spas there. It’s not tricky … using a brush with a long handle and natural bristles, you gently brush your skin.

The process is simple, but the benefits are far from simple! Dry brushing:

• Stimulates your lymphatic system
• Removes dead skin cells
• Improves your circulation
• Improves your immune system
• Reduces cellulite
• Tightens your skin to prevent signs of aging
• Tones your muscles
• Invigorates your body and wakes you up!

You can find a good dry brush at most natural food stores, Vitamin Shoppe or Amazon. Select one with a long handle (so you can reach your back) and natural bristles, because synthetic ones are too sharp and hard on the skin.

Start with your limbs, brushing toward your heart. Brush your stomach in a clockwise motion to work with your natural digestive flow, and brush down your back. I love to do this right before I jump in the shower – or, better yet, the sauna!

Try it! Dry brushing could become your new morning pick-me-up.