The word detox gets used everywhere in the wellbeing world. Detox teas, detox juices, detox diets, detox yoga, detox massages. I’ve been interested in nutrition, Ayurveda, yoga and wellbeing for many years, and I’ve certainly used the word myself. But the more I’ve learnt about the body, the more I think it’s important to understand what detoxification actually means — because our bodies already have some extraordinary systems doing this work for us every single day.
One of those is the lymphatic system, and I think it’s something everybody should know a little about.
The lymphatic system is an incredible network of vessels, lymph nodes and organs that runs throughout the body. It works alongside our circulatory and immune systems. One of its jobs is to collect excess fluid from our tissues and return it to the bloodstream. It also plays an important role in immune function and in transporting certain fats from the digestive system.
You may have noticed lymph nodes in your neck becoming swollen when you’ve had an infection. We have groups of lymph nodes in places including the neck, armpits and groin, and they’re part of the body’s immune surveillance system.
What fascinates me is that the lymphatic system doesn’t have one large central pump equivalent to the heart. Movement of lymph is supported by things including muscle contractions, breathing, movement of the body and contractions within the lymphatic vessels themselves.
And this gives us another very good reason to move.
Walking is wonderful. Yoga is wonderful. Strength training is wonderful. Cycling, swimming and dancing all get the body moving. Even if you’ve been sitting for a long time, getting up, stretching your legs and walking around changes what’s happening physically in your body.
Our bodies were designed for movement.
Breathing is interesting too. The diaphragm moves as we breathe and creates pressure changes through the chest and abdomen that contribute to the movement of lymph and venous blood. It’s another reason I love bringing breathing into yoga and wellbeing — although we don’t need to claim that a particular breathing exercise magically “flushes toxins” from the body.
So where does detoxing come into all of this?
Your body is detoxifying all the time.
Your liver processes and transforms many substances so that they can be used or eliminated. Your kidneys continuously filter the blood and remove waste products into the urine. Your lungs remove carbon dioxide. Your digestive system processes food and eliminates waste. Your skin provides an incredibly important protective barrier and also produces sweat, although sweating isn’t the body’s primary detoxification system.
So when I talk about supporting detoxification, I don’t mean that we need to somehow scrub our insides clean.
I mean supporting the body’s normal processes.
That can actually be wonderfully simple.
Drink enough fluid.
Eat plenty of nourishing, fibre-rich foods.
Eat a wide variety of plants.
Move your body.
Look after your gut.
Get enough sleep.
Limit things that place unnecessary demands on the body, such as excessive alcohol.
Get outside.
Breathe.
Recover.
These things might not sound as exciting as a seven-day miracle detox, but they’re much closer to how our bodies actually work.
My background in Nutritional Healing and Ayurveda has also made me very interested in seasonal eating and periods when we naturally want to simplify our food. I still love that idea. After a period of eating lots of rich food, for example, I might genuinely crave vegetables, soups, salads, fruit, water and simpler meals.
I might call that a reset.
But I don’t need to believe that the soup is literally extracting toxins from my body to appreciate how much better I can feel when I’m nourishing myself well.
Fibre is particularly interesting because it supports normal bowel function and feeds many of the microorganisms living in our gut. That’s one reason I’m so passionate about eating a wide variety of plant foods — vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, herbs and whole grains.
And then there’s movement.
I think one of the loveliest ways to support both our physical and mental wellbeing is simply walking.
Walking gets the leg muscles contracting, supports circulation, gets joints moving and gives us cardiovascular activity. If we walk outside, we also get daylight, fresh air and time away from screens.
Yoga adds something different. Twisting, reaching, bending, stretching and breathing move the body through a variety of positions. I sometimes hear yoga poses described as “wringing toxins out of the organs”, but anatomically that’s far too simplistic. We don’t squeeze toxins out of the liver by doing a spinal twist.
But yoga doesn’t need that explanation to be beneficial.
We’re moving.
We’re breathing.
We’re developing strength and mobility.
We’re giving ourselves time to slow down.
And we’re paying attention to our bodies.
Massage and gentle self-massage can also feel wonderful and may temporarily influence fluid movement and relaxation. Manual lymphatic drainage is a specific therapeutic technique and can be particularly important for certain people with lymphoedema, but that’s different from the general “lymphatic detox” treatments we often see advertised. Anyone with diagnosed lymphoedema or significant unexplained swelling should seek appropriate medical advice rather than trying to treat it themselves.
I think the most useful way to think about detoxification is not as something dramatic that we do to ourselves for seven days in January.
It’s something our bodies are already doing 24 hours a day.
Our job is to give them a supportive environment.
Move.
Hydrate.
Eat nourishing food.
Include plenty of plants and fibre.
Sleep.
Breathe.
Rest.
Reduce excessive alcohol.
Spend some time outside.
And perhaps stop expecting our bodies to cope beautifully with everything we throw at them while giving them very little of what they actually need.
I find the lymphatic system particularly fascinating because it reminds us that the human body isn’t made up of separate little departments. Movement affects circulation. Breathing affects pressure within the body. Food interacts with digestion and metabolism. Sleep affects how we feel and function. Exercise influences almost every system in some way.
Everything is connected.
That’s very much how I approach wellbeing.
I don’t believe health comes from one miracle food, one supplement, one yoga posture or one detox programme.
It comes from the little things we do repeatedly.
Moving our bodies.
Nourishing ourselves.
Resting.
Breathing.
Sleeping.
And understanding the extraordinary body we’re asking to carry us through our lives.
So perhaps rather than asking, “How can I detox my body?”, a better question is:
“How can I support the systems my body already has?”
For me, that’s a much healthier — and much more sustainable — approach to detoxing.
Selena
Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher & Wellbeing Coach
In Flow Wellbeing Studio, Cheltenham
