What is an Ayurvedic Cleanse?

The foods you eat, along with psychological stress, environmental toxins, and other lifestyle factors, can lead to a buildup of toxins and stressors in your body. This can affect your physical and emotional well-being. Removing toxins through cleansing can help restore balance and improve your health and well-being. While different types of cleansing methods are available, Ayurvedic cleansing allows your body to rest, recuperate and repair itself and may provide a highly effective way to eliminate toxins and improve your overall health. An Ayurvedic cleanse nourishes the body rather than depleting it of vital nutrients.

History of Ayurvedic Medicine

Ayurvedic medicine, dating back to the 2nd Century BC, uses a holistic, nature-based approach to healing and improving health. This approach takes several factors into consideration, including an individual’s pathological history, bodily constitution, lifestyle habits, and environmental conditions, as well as other characteristics.

To understand Ayurveda and its health benefits, it’s important to learn about its five basic elements:

• Vayu (air)
• Teja (fire)
• Jala (water)
• Prithvi (earth)
• Aakash (space) 

From the Ayurvedic perspective, different combinations of these natural elements form humors or doshas, known as kapha, vata, and pitta. These doshas are connected to different bodily functions. Imbalances between doshas and elements are believed to cause health problems. In this type of medicine, having an imbalance of waste products, known as purisha (feces), mutra (urine), and sweda (sweat), can also cause health issues, including problems that affect the digestive system, respiratory system, joints, skin, and other parts of the body. Having an excess amount of ama (toxic byproducts from undigested food) can cause health issues as well.

Going through an Ayurvedic cleanse or detox helps remove toxins and restore balance to doshas, resulting in healing and improved health. Knowing when to go through this gentle cleanse and what to expect can help you prepare for this cleansing process.

How to Know if You Need a Cleanse

The best time to do an Ayurvedic cleanse is when you are experiencing symptoms such as: 

• Body aches or stiffness
• Fatigue
• Migraines
• Weight gain
• Difficulty losing excess weight
• Irritability
• Cravings for unhealthy foods, such as sugar
• Dry skin, acne, rashes, or other skin problems 
• Digestion issues such as bloating and gas

Ayurvedic cleansing can also be done as part of a seasonal transition. In traditional Ayurveda, cleanses are typically done during three seasonal changes in spring, summer/early fall, and late fall/winter. These seasons are associated with different qualities of doshas. Some people prefer to do Ayurvedic cleanses at the beginning of these seasons, while others wait until they experience symptoms.

Keep in mind that individuals have different doshas based on combinations of the elements and other factors. If you’re considering an Ayurvedic cleanse, a certified Ayurveda practitioner can help you figure out what your dosha is. This helps determine the kinds of treatments you’ll go through during your cleanse.

What’s Included in an Ayurvedic Cleanse?

An Ayurvedic cleanse involves different practices or treatments that are done to eliminate a buildup of toxins and boost overall health. This generally involves a bodily detox and dietary modifications. The entire cleansing process can range from just a few days to around 45 days, which depends on the kinds of treatments or practices that are included. A shorter cleanse might be needed if you don’t have a heavy buildup of toxins, while a longer cleanse might be needed if you do have a heavy accumulation of toxins.

Keep in mind that detox and temporary dietary changes aren’t the only components of this cleanse. To keep your dosha balanced, it’s also important to make long-term diet and lifestyle changes. 

Detox

This part of Ayurvedic cleansing, called Purvakarma, causes toxins to move toward your skin surface and your bowels so that they can be eliminated from your body. This can be done in different ways, depending on your particular dosha. In general, this detox might include steaming, an oil massage, or similar practices.

Afterward, you might go through a treatment known as Panchakarma, which is more intense than Purvakarma. This treatment is done in order to boost your energy levels and improve the results of detox. Panchakarma includes different types of karmas or treatments, such as massages, enemas, blood detox, nasal clearance, cleansing with pastes or powders, and purging

During the detox phase, taking herbal supplements might be recommended to help ease symptoms, such as digestive tract symptoms, or to improve your immune system, sleep, and other aspects of your health. Drinking herbal tea as part of detox might also be recommended. 

Dietary Changes

Making changes to your diet is the next part of Ayurvedic cleansing. The exact changes to make will depend on your dosha. However, you should generally avoid foods that normally lead to a buildup of toxins, such as caffeine and processed foods. The diet guidelines you’ll follow during your cleanse are designed to improve digestive fire or metabolic fire, which helps improve your health.

While the kinds of foods for each dosha diet vary, the following are some examples:

• Pitta: This diet includes foods that are cold, energizing, or sweet, such as sweet fruits, wheat, non-starchy vegetables, mint, and dairy products. Foods to avoid include acidic, spicy, or hot foods.
• Kapha: This diet includes foods that are acidic and spicy, such as most fruits, all spices, and most vegetables. Foods to avoid include fatty, heavy foods.
• Vata: This diet includes foods that are easily digested and “warm,” such as sweet potato, brown rice, dairy products, and seeds. Foods to avoid include dried, bitter fruits, raw vegetables, and beans.

What to Expect While Cleansing

When you consult with a certified Ayurvedic practitioner for a cleanse, it’s important to follow detailed instructions for both detox and dietary changes. During the dietary phase, you might be instructed to mainly drink water, especially warm water to help your lymphatic system and digestive system. You might also be asked to follow a mono diet, which means eating kitchari, a dish made with mung bean, rice, and spices, for each meal per day for a certain amount of time. Generally, those going through Ayurvedic cleansing are also asked to keep the same meal times each day and eat in a quiet environment that is free from distractions.

Dietary Restrictions

While going through this cleanse, dietary restrictions will be recommended. These restrictions help prevent toxins from building up inside your body again. Foods that typically have toxins include processed meat, alcohol, processed foods, refined carbohydrates, caffeine, sugar, food additives, and artificial sweeteners. Depending on your dosha, you’ll also have other foods to avoid as part of your Ayurvedic diet.

OWL Venice products use principles of Ayurvedic medicine and can help you achieve your cleanse goals. Our high-quality healing broth elixirs and mylkshakes are packed with the nutrients your body needs to feel rejuvenated, nourished, and restored. Our Reset products include herbs and other nutrient-dense ingredients such as slippery elm, Triphala powder, spirulina, turmeric, ginger, and bentonite clay that are designed to increase digestive fire, decrease inflammation, and draw toxins from your body. We have five types of broth elixirs including chicken, beef, bison, turkey and even a vegan broth elixir! All of our broths are grass-fed, organic, locally sourced, and pair perfectly with an Ayurvedic cleanse.

Benefits

Going through an Ayurvedic cleanse can help improve different aspects of your health and well-being, including your digestion, nervous system function, immune system, and skin. This cleansing process can help heal the damage done by the presence of toxins in your body so that you can focus on staying healthy. This type of cleansing involves holistic healing rather than only treating symptoms, which can help you feel healthier on a long-term basis. 

Side Effects and Risks

When you do an Ayurvedic cleanse, it’s important to be aware of potential side effects and risks. Using enemas, laxatives, or other methods for detox can put you at risk of becoming dehydrated. This can become a serious health issue if severe dehydration occurs. That's why it's important to make sure you are drinking water throughout the process.

You might also experience short-term weight loss due to detox methods and dietary changes. For example, avoiding processed foods and eating healthier foods instead might cause you to lose weight and remove inflammation from your body. Maintaining a nutrient dense, anti-inflammatory diet and a healthy lifestyle can help to continue to remove inflammation and help avoid putting the weight back on after your cleanse.

Adopting an Ayurvedic Lifestyle

After you’ve completed Ayurvedic cleansing, it’s important to take steps that limit toxin buildup in your body and help your body eliminate it.

Making healthy changes to your daily life, such as getting enough sleep, managing stress, staying hydrated, eating nutritious foods, and getting exercise, can help you feel your best. While an Ayurvedic cleanse acts as a reset button, maintaining these lifestyle habits is the key to staying healthy. A great way to maintain these healthy lifestyle practices is to have a health coach by your side who can keep you accountable to your health and wellness goals. OWL Venice has certified health coaches ready to help you along your healing journey and maintain a toxin free life! Book a free 15 min consultation today to learn more about how they can help!