Physical fitness talks about an over-all focus on the body – the heart, the lungs, the muscles, and the other organs of the body. Your body’s fitness is dependent on your physical limitations and capacities as well as your lifestyle – the food you eat and your daily habits.

Here’s a backgrounder on the different components of physical fitness. There’s endurance, the body’s ability to sustain oxygen and nutrients to tissues over a sustained period of time. Strength, on the other hand, is the ability of the muscle to exert force for a period of time. Flexibility is the ability to move joints and use muscles in a wide range of activities and movements. Swimming, running and jogging are some of the activities that can build endurance while pushups and weight lifting are good for building muscle strength.

Your workout should include activities that should develop these components. Remember to have a warm-up before starting your work-out. A warm-up conditions and prepares the muscles for the more rigorous activities of your work-out plan. At the same time, it should end with a cool down, a moment wherein the muscles are given time to relax after a heavy work-out session. Remember not to overdo your exercise. A daily walk may sound good, but a daily session of pushups may do more harm than good to your muscles. Space your physical activities such that the body is used to a variety of physical activities, ranging from the simple to the more complex, from cardiovascular exercises to strength exercises. Two to three work-out sessions for a week is a good way to start. As you progress in your activities, you can now increase the frequency or duration of your exercises.

Take note of your diet. If you’re exercising because you want to lose weight at the same time build up your fitness, then the less calorie intake you have the better. Cycling can burn 240-410 calories while jogging can burn 740-920 calories. In general, avoid salty food and sweets. Avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. Lessen your intake of saturated fat and take lots of water.

Of course, keeping fit and staying fit means listening to your body. Allow your body to adjust with each change in routine and exercises. If you’re experiencing cramps, dizziness or prolonged weakness, stop your work-out and consult a doctor. And most of all, never be discouraged. Take note, achieving the body you want is not an overnight miracle.

A physically fit body does not only spell abs to die for and a flab-free stomach. It also means lesser chances of acquiring lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes and heart disease. It also spells a more active and alert mind, improved ability to cope with stress, and more reserved energy for your daily activities. And let’s not forget a more confident YOU!

Even though you are ‘healthy’ this does not mean that you don’t need to detox. Sure our body does this on a continual basis, our kidneys and livers are constantly working by cleaning out all the pollutants (smoke, caffeine, chemical-based products etc) in our body. Detox strengthen our organs back to optimal function.

Basically, this is done through fasting, therefore resting the organs and stimulating the liver by pushing away the toxins from the body. Nourishing the body with healthy nutrients is also done to maintain optimum health. It has been practiced for centuries around the world by different cultures.

Although a lot of people want whole body detoxification, some wants to have a detox on a particular organ only, such as the kidney, liver or colon. During kidney cleansing, herbal supplements and juices are used to dissolve and wash out kidney stones; particular foods are consumed in liver cleansing causing the gall bladder and liver to remove fatty deposits and toxins out of the body. Colon cleansing on the other hand, gently flushes the colon with water providing a pathway for the release of toxins.

There are also techniques used in whole body cleansing such as:

Fasting. Water or juice fasting is applied for a period of time to lessen toxic loads in the body causing the body to heal itself and nourish inside out.

Parasite cleaning. Right amount of pills or tinctures made out of bitter herbs are consumed to build an unreceptive environment for the parasites inside the body.

Contrast Shower. The contrast among hot and cold water enhances circulation, helps in detoxifying thus having a stronger immune system. This also helps by bringing oxygen, nutrients and immune cells towards damaged and stressed tissue and flushes metabolic waste and other toxins.

Sauna, yoga, exercise, raw food dieting and dry skin brushing also enhance the body’s natural cleansing process.

Other Detoxifying aids

There are a number of safe products that helps in the cleansing process such as cleansing supplement packages (with easy-to-follow instructions), detox foot patches, commercially prepared detox teas, Epsom salts, high-class multivitamins for daily intake and antioxidants like Q10 and E that can be found at health food stores.

Before and after side effects:

As the procedures differ, so do the benefits.

During the detox, you’ll most likely feel the side effects that take place during the first few days such as headaches, feeling weak, sore muscles, cranky moods and unable to sleep soundly.

There are also a number of positive side effects days after the cleansing process. You will feel energetic, mental clarity improved, skin is clearer, improved sleep, and have a positive attitude in life for a fresh start.

Detoxification is safe and beneficial for our health. It is suggested that each one should at least have a short detoxification program yearly. However, children, nursing mothers, and patients with cancer, chronic degenerative illness and tuberculosis should consult their physician first for approval and supervision or find someone who is familiar with detox.

If you decide to award your body with holiday, find a nutritional therapist who is familiar with detox.

Here’s how:
You can call your friends who are into health foods and alternative medicines, ask them for a person who they can refer. Another way is to search in the yellow pages under nutrition or by looking for ads in health publication in your locality. Get the name of someone you found whose name appears in more than one place and check for his profile, like from which school he/she attended the training and if it’s an accredited one. Also ask how long he’s been in practice.