If the internet is to be believed, it would seem that if you want to clean your system the best time to start would be around January. At least, that’s when timelines everywhere are filled with articles and advertisements just bursting with tips and tricks to help you detox your body, your hair, your wardrobe and your life.
The popularity of a certain television show that focuses on throwing away things that don’t bring you joy serves to highlight just how passionate we have become about detoxing our life, and that’s not even looking at the billion-dollar industry focused on green juicing and less than joy-inducing diets. Many of these systems claim to be able to help purge toxins, drugs, and general unhappiness from your body, but they do so in a slow and steady fashion. But have you asked how to clean your system from drugs fast? What if you don’t want to wait 12 months to see amazing results?
We live in a society that expects results fast, now, yesterday. Yet, so many articles have been written about the “now generation” as if expecting to be able to achieve goals and desires immediately is a bad thing. We have developed science and technology to the amazing levels where our knowledge of the human body and the world around us is unbelievably immense. We no longer have to wait 6 months for potatoes to be shipped over the ocean, or even a few hours for a telegraph message to reach us. We can get injections that make us look younger immediately, we can get surgery that dramatically changes our appearance in a matter of weeks, why do we need to wait 6 months to detox our bodies?
Your Body As The Key To Detoxification
The human body is an amazing piece of engineering – so complex that we still only understand a fraction of how it works, and are making amazing new discoveries (or rethinking outdated science) every day. But, one thing we have learnt is that given time the human body will generally flush out most toxins that we introduce into it. The three primary parts of the human anatomy that work to detox your body are:
The Liver
Your liver (or indeed the living in any mammal), is a filter system for your blood. The liver breaks down fat cells in your blood, converting this into energy, as well as having a role in maintaining a stable blood sugar level. However, it also works to remove substances like alcohol, medications and recreational drugs from your blood stream. Once the living has filtered these substances from your blood they are then released as waste products to eventually be excreted out of your body as urine, faeces or sweat. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279393/
The Digestive System
How cool is your digestive system? It is able to mush up everything you ingest, take the good stuff, and pass the bad stuff through to your kidneys and colon. Toxins that come into your body via your skin or lungs are absorbed into your bloodstream and then they too are removed from your body via kidneys and colon. Diet can play a huge part in how well your colon works to remove toxins from your system, and there are supplements are reported to help detox faster.
The Kidneys
Although most people have two functioning kidneys, you can live a normal happy life with just one. Around 200 quarts (~190 litres) of blood flow through your kidneys each day, with around 2 quarts (1.9 litres) of waste removed. This waste product is then expelled out of your body as urine. Anything water soluble can (and will) be filtered through your kidneys, including alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy. If you have diabetes or high blood pressure your kidney’s may not function at full capacity.
The Lymphatic System
Your lymphatic system is generally responsible for fighting infections and disease (this is the system that goes on a rampage when you get a cold). Your lymphatic system also helps the absorb fats and fat-soluble substances, including THC which is often stored in fat cells after ingestion.
How to Clean Your System For a Drug Test
So, with the amazing detoxification powers you already possess in your well-engineered body, why are you looking to clean your system? Well although, yes, the human body does a fantastic job at eliminating toxins from your system (otherwise a hangover would last for weeks), sometimes it needs a boost to help it work a little faster. Particularly if you discover on the Monday morning after a particularly adventurous weekend that work is going to be giving you a mandatory drug test on Wednesday.
There are a range of different options that can help boost your natural detox system.
Lymphatic
To improve your lymphatic system you could get a lymph draining massage (and drink lots of water after), do yoga or dry brush to stimulate your skin.
Kidneys
There are several supplements that can help improve your kidney function. You can also increase your water intake, eat more berries (particularly berries high in antioxidants like blueberries), decrease your protein intake and definitely avoid caffeine, chocolate and alcohol for a few days.
Digestive
Again, drink more water (are you seeing a pattern with this one), and increase your fibre consumption. Anytime you start eating more fibre it is vitally important that you increase your fluid intake or risk becoming constipated – which will do nothing positive to help you detox.
Liver
Although drinking water isn’t especially useful for increasing liver function, it obviously helps everything else, so up your intake. Eating more garlic, beets and broccoli are also all high on the list of foods recommended to help you detox your body. Many of the supplements available will also include these in concentrated form, sometimes adding milk thistle which has also been known to help detox the body.
How Much Water Is Too Much?
Although it is recommended that you drink a lot of water to help flush out any toxins or drugs in your system, your kidneys can’t actually process much more than around 27 ounces (0.8 litres) of water in an hour. So, drinking more than this can actually cause a serious condition called hyponatremia. (Click here to learn about water intoxication).
