By Takiya Smith
With so many topics of health and wellness, there is so much offered on the web, in print and in stores to give insight on how to obtain and maintain a healthy, balanced body.  Diet and exercise create a great foundation for a successful lifestyle, but like the general population, most of our day to day schedules only offer fast food as a staple in our diets.  A rushed, hurry-up and-get-there walk from the house to the car is the only exercise offered as we head in to work and drop down behind our desks.  Fad diets are no fun and usually result in senseless starvation, and trends leave just as quickly as they came.  So why not take a look at changing your health forever instead of altering it just for the moment?  One great way to do so is regularly detoxing your body.
The purpose of a body detox is to rid the body of all traces of impurities and toxins in your bloodstream and lymph nodes.  Such impurities can consist of harmful sugars, salt, caffeine, bacteria and minerals that only do the body harm over prolonged time.  Most all detox plans are basic, easy and utilize simple products already in your kitchen cabinets or stocked on your grocers shelves.  My favorite detox, the Master Cleanse, also known as the Lemonade Diet, consists of drinking a minimum of 6-8 glasses of eight ounces of water per day.  Added to each glass of water are two tablespoons of each of the following: 100% pure lemon juice, grade B maple syrup and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  Purified or distiller water is best and should be drank lukewarm, not cold.  If obtainable, organic products are best, but not a must.  Fresh squeezed lemons are great as well, but again, not a must as long as the juice is 100% pure and not from concentrate. The purpose of the maple syrup is solely to provide the body with the nutrients needed to sustain itself during the detoxification process. Grade B maple syrup, darker and richer in color,  has less refined sugars than Grade A and allows the body to burn it off quickly.
It is highly recommended that the detox be done consecutively for a minimum of 3 days, however, can be done for up to 21 days.  The only catch to this well-kept jewel of a secret is that the detox must be done in conjunction with a fast and a salt water flush to cleanse the intestines as well.  Though three or more days of no food may have you contemplating throwing out this article at the very moment, it’s not necessarily impossible. The cleanse can be altered to include light foods and a minimum number of days per individual, however, a noted and almost immediate “side effect” of the fast and detox is the rapid, but healthy, weight loss.
Before any changes in diet, exercise or health related issues, please always consult your physician first for what is suitable for you. Visit my blog at www.blb-boutiques.com for questions or more info on fasting and detoxing.