Q&A with Dr Jana Mostert

Should I detox? Is it necessary?

Detox would be unnec­es­sary if we lived in a per­fect world where we breathed unpol­lut­ed air, ate food free of pes­ti­cides, con­sumed no alco­hol, cof­fee, tea, sug­ar or junk food.  In the real word we con­sume pol­lu­tants and pes­ti­cides that our bod­ies need to process in some way, while deal­ing with poi­so­nous sub­stances like alco­hol, caf­feine and sug­ar.  The process­es and path­ways of nor­mal detox­i­fi­ca­tion get over­bur­dened after a while and the nutri­ents need­ed to aid detox­i­fi­ca­tion get deplet­ed, leav­ing our bod­ies unable to cope.

When do I need to detox?
A detox is a good idea after times of fes­tiv­i­ties, e.g. Christ­mas or hol­i­days, or after win­ters filled with stews and stodgy foods, or you could do a detox once or twice year­ly to keep your body func­tion­ing at peak level.

What should I avoid dur­ing a detox?
Dur­ing a detox you should avoid all the things that are dif­fi­cult for your body to process.  This includes all stim­u­lants like alco­hol, caf­feine and sug­ar.  Also try to stop tak­ing unnec­es­sary med­ica­tion like painkillers.  Con­tin­ue to take all essen­tial med­ica­tion pre­scribed by your doc­tor e.g. for blood pres­sure, heart, depres­sion etc.  Avoid all pes­ti­cides and pol­lu­tants where pos­si­ble e.g. buy organ­ic fruit and veg­eta­bles, and stay off processed food and condi­ments.  Try to avoid stress­ful sit­u­a­tions and get some rest.

What should I eat and drink on a detox?
You should have a lot of every­thing that is healthy and fresh.  Try to drink at least 3 litres of pure water, and have a big vari­ety of fresh fruit and veg­eta­bles.  Fish is a pro­tein that is easy to digest and con­tains lots of min­er­als.   Poached or grilled fish is best to avoid car­cino­gens pro­duced by fry­ing.  Have lots of fresh herbs and flavour your food with lemon juice and good qual­i­ty olive oil.  Focus on the needs of your body and eat enough to not be hun­gry, but also don’t overeat.

What hap­pens dur­ing a detox?
The 3 main organs of detox­i­fi­ca­tion are your liv­er, colon, kid­neys and lym­phat­ic sys­tem.  The liv­er receives blood filled with nutri­ents from your diges­tive sys­tem.  It deac­ti­vates harm­ful sub­stances and excretes them by pro­duc­ing bile, which is then secret­ed into your colon, which gets rid of these sub­stances through your stool.  The kid­neys remove waste prod­ucts from your blood and secrete them through urine. Your lym­phat­ic sys­tem helps by col­lect­ing flu­id around your cells, and fil­ter­ing this through your lymph glands to remove bac­te­ria and oth­er unwant­ed prod­ucts before deposit­ing the flu­id back into your blood stream.

How would I know if any of the detox organs are struggling?
If the liv­er is strug­gling you will feel lethar­gic, yet you will be wide wake around 2 or 3 am.  You might feel a lit­tle nau­seous and or creamy/ fat­ty meals might make you feel sick. Even a lit­tle alco­hol can make you feel intox­i­cat­ed, or give you a headache the next morn­ing.  You might feel headachy at oth­er times too, and feel irri­ta­ble and you tongue might be coat­ed.  If this seems all too famil­iar you are not alone – liv­er over­load symp­toms are expe­ri­enced by most peo­ple at some time in their lives.  If your skin or eyes turn yel­low or if you have severe/ per­sis­tent nau­sea and vom­it­ing con­sult your physi­cian as this might indi­cate more severe liv­er conditions.
Kid­neys that are not cop­ing might cause swollen ankles, fin­gers or eye­lids.  Joints can also become painful or stiff if not enough uric acid is removed from the blood.
A slug­gish lym­phat­ic sys­tem can also cause swelling of the ankles, asso­ci­at­ed with headaches and tiredness.

What detox is recommended?
I’ve been rec­om­mend­ing the 3 DAY DETOX for the last 10 years, togeth­er with a home­o­path­ic injec­tion to sup­port your liv­er, kid­neys and lym­phat­ic sys­tem.  Late­ly I have also start­ed to include a sol­u­ble fibre sup­ple­ment to help the colon get rid of tox­ins.  I nor­mal­ly give the injec­tion the day before the detox is start­ed, but it can also be giv­en on the first day of the detox.
The 3 DAY DETOX is not dif­fi­cult, and doesn’t need for you to fast or be hun­gry.  You basi­cal­ly eat cer­tain healthy foods, while avoid­ing foods (cof­fee, alco­hol, sug­ar), and adding oth­er basic habits that help your body elim­i­nate toxins.
Hav­ing said that, you can also detox at home.  Stay off all processed food, have lots of fresh veg­gies and fruit, and drink lots of water for a few days – your body will thank you.  Remem­ber that you shouldn’t detox if you are preg­nant or breast­feed­ing, or if your health doesn’t per­mit it.  Ask your doc­tor whether you could do a detox if you are unsure.
A great sup­ple­ment for every­day detox is Detox 365.  This is rec­om­mend­ed if you live a chal­leng­ing life and pre­fer to keep in peak condition.