By the term natural detox most people understand that there's a collection of practices that are supposed to help us cleanse our bodies of toxins without relying too much on health food products. Detoxing in this context will help the skin, lungs, kidneys, liver and digestive system do their work of ridding the body of poisons.

There are many methods available that claim to help us detox the body. The most direct way is to identify the toxins that you are putting into your body and stop putting them there. Nicotine, alcohol and caffeine are the most widespread toxins but there are other substances that we actively or passively introduce into our bodies.

The stopping of smoking, coffee drinking or imbibing alcohol can be done all at once but to most people that is too ambitious. The addictive elements contained in these substances will leave the body within a day or two of our stopping the smoking or drinking but force of habit and reminders in our social lives will make it almost impossible to give up our vices all at once.

Part of giving up taking toxic substances into our bodies entails examining the food we eat. If we cut out junk food we can work out a balanced diet containing only fruit and vegetables or sensible amounts of meat and dairy products. You can make the change simply by changing what is on your shopping list or by undergoing a detox diet for a few days.

You could choose to eat raw foods exclusively. During your detox diet you will be buying or making your own sugar-free juices from carrots, spinach, celery, broccoli and other fresh ingredients. Water is also an important part of a detox diet. About a gallon a day seems to be a common recommendation but I can't find how this quantity came to be advised.

One group of products that should be included in a natural detox routine are anti oxidants. There are teas you can buy in health food stores that are supposed to encourage detoxification. There's no science behind this idea, just folk wisdom, but the taste and the ritual appeal to some people. If cleansing teas appeal to you green tea is highly recommended for its antioxidants as are alfalfa, cascara, horsetail, irish moss, slippery elm, witch hazel and yucca root.

A word of warning about antioxidants. There is some scientific evidence that overly enthusiastic use of antioxidant supplements could lessen the benefits of exercise.

One of the more pleasant and relaxing methods of detoxing your body naturally is through sweating. If you sweat you lose some toxins through the skin. That's the theory anyway, even though science has never found any evidence that a large amount of toxic substance is released through sweat. But sitting in a steam bath sure feels good.

Another way of inducing sweat is exercise. This has the added advantage of keeping you occupied so that your thoughts don't turn towards idle pursuits involving junk food, nicotine, coffee or booze. Exercise also carries other benefits for your health so it would be useful to spend some time and attention of maintaining and exercise regime.