Body cleansing
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Body cleansing or detoxification underpins many alternative medical treatments. Most of these treatments claim to rid the body of accumulated harmful substances, and their protagonists maintain that a cleansed, detoxified body is able to heal itself of a variety of common ailments. Therefore, body cleansing is expected to lead to improved health.
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[edit] Benefits
Body cleansing proponents claim numerous health benefits, including the cure of various common ailments such as acne, allergies, colitis and Crohn's disease.
[edit] Scope
Various modalities of body cleansing are used, employing physical treatments (e.g. colon hydrotherapy), dietary restrictions (e.g. avoiding specific foods) or dietary supplements.
Some modalities also use certain herbs and supplements made out of flowers and roots, to futher speed up the process of cleansing. Popular remedies prescribed in Naturopathy and Homoeopathy are also used in such herbs assisted cleansing.
[edit] Single organs
While many aim to detoxify the whole body, some aim to detoxify particular organs, such as the colon, kidney or liver. In colon cleansing, fiber and other herbal supplements are consumed in an attempt to clean the colon. In kidney cleansing, juices, supplements and herbs are used to dissolve kidney stones and "flush" the kidneys. In liver cleansing, specific foods are consumed to cause the liver and gall bladder to flush toxins and fatty deposits from the body.
[edit] Whole-body
In addition to cleansing of specific organs, some techniques of body cleansing focus on the entire body. For example, parasite cleansing involves consuming bitter herbs in the form of tinctures and pills in sufficient quantities to create an inhospitable environment in the body for parasites. Fasting involves the withholding of food over the period of a few days in order to reduce the load on the body associated with digesting food and processing waste, and thereby allowing the body to heal itself naturally. Oxygen therapy involves targeting oxidation reactions to neutralize toxins and bacteria. Hyperthermia involves increasing the body's temperature, in order to accelerate the body's healing process and increase immune system activity.
