4 Traditional Medicinal Drinks That Help In Detoxing

We are well aware of the fact that when excess toxins build up in our bodies, we grow more prone to falling sick. We are always subjected to conditions that make it natural for the toxins to accumulate in our bodies. These include the food we eat, the water we drink and shower with, the cosmetics we use, the pollution we are subjected to on a daily basis, and so on. That is why you need to cleanse and detox your body every once in a while. Failing to do so can lead to inflammation in the body, severely impacting the immune system, making you susceptible to infections and diseases.

There are many ways in which you can detoxify your body. You can go in for an all-out green detox consisting only of green leafy vegetables, and salads or detox drinks, which include herbal teas, vegetable juices, and the like. Some may also go in for an ‘only-fruits’ diet to flush their systems of all the excess toxins. However, there’s enough research out there to support the role that medicinal herbs play in supporting the organs of detoxification. Herbs can either be taken in the form of teas or tinctures. At the same time, most people prefer using herbal extracts for more therapeutic dosages.  Let us look at 4 of these medicinal drinks that have been used traditionally to help the body in its detoxification process.

What Are Detox Drinks?

All our organs- liver, kidneys, colon, skin, lungs, and the lymphatic system, to name a few, need to work together to relieve the body of the trapped toxins and help it work properly. Detox drinks are healthy drinks that aid the body in its natural detoxification, aiding in weight loss and boosting the overall health and metabolism in the process. These drinks usually contain ingredients like medicinal herbs, spices, vegetables, certain fruits, or a combination of all that aid the internal organs in the body’s detoxification process.

Traditional Medicinal Drinks That Help In Detoxing

Much before detox drinks became a trend, our grandmothers churned out some of the best medicinal concoctions in the kitchen using simple home ingredients. They believed in the medicinal properties inherent in all Indian spices and herbs and their potential to heal almost everything - right from a sore throat to an upset stomach. Over the years, we too have tried our hands at creating some healthy and nutrient-dense detox drinks to help promote the natural detoxification system in the body and create overall balance. Let’s look at some of these options below:

Turmeric Ginger Lemon Honey Tea

What do you get when you combine some of the best medicinal ingredients to make a beverage? The best detox drink ever. Turmeric is known for its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties and so you know when that spice is present in your drink, it will improve your health without a doubt. In fact, all the ingredients used to make this herbal tea provide antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and free radical-fighting properties, which may help reduce inflammation, bolster your immune system, reduce body pain, detox the liver, and reduce gut-related problems. Have this drink first thing in the morning after waking up every day, and it will help cleanse your body, purify the blood, and keep you protected from all kinds of seasonal infections. This is undoubtedly the best detox drink you can treat your body with on a daily basis.

Green detox juice

Most people love to go in for a 3-day or 5-day juice cleanse every once in a while as it is a perfect way to detox, as per, a bestseller titled, The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing. In the book, the author recommends this juice cleanse as it “helps lose weight, overcome fatigue, reduce your risk of many serious diseases, and relieve scores of common ailments”. The green juice is one of the best detox juices you can lay your hands on. You can try out different combinations of green leafy vegetables to make this juice. However, we recommend you to use celery stalks, spinach, romaine leaves, cucumber, and kale to make this one. You can add ½ a seedless apple to the mix to enhance its flavour and give it a naturally sweet flavour. You can give this juice an additional kick of antioxidants by adding a little bit of ginger, an unseeded chili, or some lemon extract.

If you are too lazy to prepare yourself a glass of green juice from scratch, you can try Wellbeing Nutrition’s Daily Greens, a pack of multivitamins sourced from 39 farm-fresh greens, veggies, fruits and antioxidant-rich superfoods. All you have to do is drop an effervescent tablet in a glass of water, watch it fizz and drink it all up.

Ayurvedic kadha

Kadha or 'karha' is an Ayurvedic drink prepared by combining different herbs and spices that are essentially boiled in water to extract their benefits. We have all taken a kadha at some point in our lives. This miraculous drink is a strong brew containing the goodness of all its natural ingredients and is often used as a natural remedy for all kinds of infections, right from sore throat, cold, to stomach flu, among other things. Many may argue that given a kadha is loaded with antioxidants it is also a great detox for your body. For the kadha to work effectively as a detox drink, you can add certain spices like ginger, turmeric, and black pepper, as they are effective antioxidants that help keep your body clean and healthy from within.

You can also try out Wellbeing Nutrition’s Grandma’s Kadha, a tube of 15 effervescent tablets. Each tablet comprises spices like coriander, mulethi, kulinjan, echinacea, tulsi, black pepper, amla, adulsa, dry ginger, turmeric, bharangi, shankapushpi, and kalmegh. All you need to do is add one tablet of Grandma’s Kadha in a cup of piping hot water and enjoy the detox drink!

Basic Detox Water- mint, fennel & cumin seeds, coriander powder and ginger

This is the most common form of detox drink that people go for! It is also very simple to prepare. Combine a teaspoon of fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander powder and freshly chopped ginger in a litre of water and allow it to boil for 3-4 minutes. Thereafter filter the water and store it in a bottle. You can drink this concoction throughout the day. This detox drink helps to flush off the toxins from the colon and digestive tracts and also helps improve digestion.

 Final Takeaway

As we have already mentioned, the body needs to detoxify from time to time to flush off the buildup of toxins. Detox drinks are effective in improving digestion. If your digestive system is working fine and if your digestion is good, your metabolism will improve, which will help you lose weight easily and effectively. Maintaining a healthy body weight is a prerequisite to having a healthy body and mind. So try out these aforementioned detox drinks, every once in a while, to help restore balance in your body, strengthen your immune system, flush off toxins, fasten metabolism, improve digestion, and clear your skin, among other things.

References:

• “Detoxes” and “Cleanses”: What You Need To Know, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. (https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/detoxes-and-cleanses-what-you-need-to-know)
• Taja Žitek, Barbara Dariš, Matjaž Finšgar, Željko Knez, Dragana Bjelić, Maša Knez Hrnčič. (2020) The Effect of Polyphenolics in Extracts from Natural Materials on Metabolic Activity of Metastatic Melanoma WM-266-4 Cells. Applied Sciences 10:10, pages 3499. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942912.2019.1666138)
• Detoxification capacity and protective effects of medicinal plants (part 2): plant based review, Ali Esmail Al-Snafi, July 2016IOSR Journal of Pharmacy (IOSRPHR) 06(07):63-84, DOI:10.9790/3013-067036384. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306019603_Detoxification_capacity_and_protective_effects_of_medicinal_plants_part_2_plant_based_review)
• The Juiceman's Power of Juicing: Delicious Juice Recipes for Energy, Health, Weight Loss, and Relief from Scores of Common Ailments, Jay Kordich, HarperCollins, 27-Mar-2007. (https://books.google.co.in/books?id=2q_9zPM_7jMC&dq)
• Milda E. Embuscado, Spices and herbs: Natural sources of antioxidants – a mini review, Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 18, Part B, 2015, Pages 811-819, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2015.03.005. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464615001127)
• Klein AV, Kiat H. Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2015 Dec;28(6):675-86. doi: 10.1111/jhn.12286. Epub 2014 Dec 18. PMID: 25522674. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25522674/)