It is important to eat well when following a herbal detox diet, and avoid foods that challenge the system, but this is not the whole story. There are lots of other techniques that can support and intensify your detox efforts, helping you to shed more toxins and cleanse your whole system from top to toe. This article contains a run-down of the many treatments that you can try for yourself, in your own home, using easy-to-find herbal detox products.

Some of the treatments that are described here should be regarded as an essential part of your detox strategy, whereas others are an optional complement to it. You can either choose the treatments that address your specific symptoms, or just the ones that appeal to you.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

You should not need to take supplements if you are eating a varied diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables of different colors, and lots of pulses, grains, nuts and seeds, but in practice it can be quite tricky covering all your basics – and most non organic foods can be very low on nutrition. So a high quality supplement may not be a bad idea.

Multivitamins

Most detox diets recommend that you take a good multivitamin and mineral supplement that contains at least 100 per cent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins A to E, plus the minerals calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium

Choose a well-known brand but read the label to watch out for any hidden ingredients, such as peanut oil, milk, gelatine, gluten, yeast or artificial flavorings and colors. Effervescent supplements are best avoided because they can rot your teeth.

Essential fatty acids

The other supplement that you are strongly recommended to take on a detox program is an essential fatty acid blend with omega-3 (linolenic acid) and omega-6 (linoleic acid). Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are found naturally in nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables, whole grains and oily fish but it is estimated that eight out of ten people do not get enough from their diet. EFAs are essential for the production of prostaglandins that balance metabolic reactions, and imbalances can cause a range of symptoms such as skin rashes, frequent thirst, dry hair and skin, low sex drive and a lowered immunity to infections. Take 500-1000mg of evening primrose oil, 1-4 g of a fish oil supplement or a dessert spoon of flaxseed oil. Udo’s oil, which is available from health food shops and complementary chemists, is a good mix.

There are many other herbal detox supplements that you can use to help cleanse your body, but this should be enough to get you started, and I’ll cover other herbals in a future article.