Are you in need of a total body detox, a liver detox or perhaps just a healthy detox diet to give you a much needed “pick me up”?

It’s hard to tell when our bodies start to get overloaded with toxins, as the effect these pollutants have on us is a very gradual process, so you never actually wake up one morning feeling like you need to detox – the impact on our health goes pretty much un-noticed until you can’t remember the last time you felt full of energy and ready to take on the world.

Well, if you constantly feel tired and sluggish, or just lack the energy you used to have (or wished you had) you may want to check if a healthy detox could be just what you need.

Tongue diagnosis

Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) will always check your tongue when making a diagnosis, because it is a good indicator of general health. A healthy tongue should be pale red with a thin white film, and smooth and moist. Is yours like this, or do you recognize any of the following?

• A thick yellow coating means your bowels aren’t working efficiently.
• A thick white coating on the tongue means there is too much mucus in the system and not enough beneficial bacteria in the gut.
• A crack down the middle of the tongue means a weak stomach. If you have this, you are probably prone to bloating.
• Watch out for cracks, teeth marks and red patches on the tongue. Depending on location, they indicate that an organ is under-functioning.

The right side of the tongue shows the performance of the gall bladder, the left side is the liver, the middle is the stomach and spleen, while the back of the tongue mirrors the kidneys, intestine, bladder and womb.

Keeping a food diary, in which you list what you have eaten and how you felt afterwards, can help you to self-diagnose any allergies and intolerances.

There are a comprehensive range of effects of toxins on your body, so if you’re concerned that you are suffering with some form of toxic overload that’s affecting your physical and mental functioning, try this test – answer the following questions and add up the number of yes’s.

Examine yourself

• Have you taken more than two or three doses of antibiotics in your life?
• Do you often feel sleepy after eating a meal?
• Do you ever get cravings for specific foods?
• Are you gassy? Do you burp, fart or get bloated after eating fatty foods?
• Do you often get a bitter taste in your mouth?
• Do you have bad breath or smelly body odour? (Ask a close friend!)
• Do you suffer from joint stiffness or muscle weakness?
• Do you often feel fatigued for no reason?
• Do you frequently wake between -lam and 3am and are not sure why?
• Do you have trouble sleeping?
• Do you find it hard to concentrate?
• Are you worried about your memory?
• Do you think you get drunk more easily than your friends?
• Are you depressed for no obvious reason?
• Do you get more colds than your contemporaries?
• Do you often get a stuffy, blocked-up nose?

For Women

• Have you been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant?
• Do you suffer from PMS or pronounced menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes?

For Men

• Do you have problems getting and maintaining an erection?
• Has your partner had trouble conceiving a baby?

Self assessment

If you have answered ‘yes’ to even one of these questions, then the chances are that you have a toxic burden which is affecting your health.

Basically, even people who live on remote islands cannot avoid pollutants altogether, although some are more reactive than others. There is controversy in the medical profession about the notion of ‘detoxification’, as some of the extreme methods can do more harm than good, but you may want to take a look at how to detox and try a weekend or even 7 day healthy detox program that could help you start to shift some of your toxins and make you feel much, much better.