The Annual Spring Detox Workshop

Introduction

R. Keith Bell, created the first Spring Detox Workshop in 2000 after receiving numerous request from his patients. They noticed that Keith and his co-workers were doing a detox program and they noticed how good Keith and his team felt and looked.  Patients were impressed by the results and wanted to experience the health benefits of the detox for themselves. Now, after more than 15 years, this annual workshop has become a healthy Richmond tradition. And we are particularly grateful to our "Detox Champs" who not only participate each year, but contribute their vast knowledge and experience to the group.  Each year is a new experience as the program is continually enhanced and improved. 

Why Detox

Most of us enjoy comforts our ancestors could never have imagined and technology puts the world at our fingertips. But living in the 21st century can also be toxic.

Modern man has created and uses an astonishing number of chemicals on daily basis. In the US alone, there are approximately 80,000 different chemicals registered for use, with more than 3,000 chemical additives found in the foods we eat.  According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Environmental Protection Agency, hundreds of these toxic chemicals are present in the average American’s body.

But environmental toxins aren’t our only concern. On the internal level, our body produces toxins through its normal, everyday functions. Biochemical, cellular, and bodily activities generate free radicals.  When these are not eliminated, they can cause irritation or inflammation of the cells and tissues, blocking normal functions.  Internally, fats (especially oxidized fats and cholesterol), free radicals, and other irritating molecules act as toxins.  Functionally, poor digestion, colon sluggishness and dysfunction, reduced liver function, and poor elimination through the kidneys, respiratory tract, and skin all add to increased toxicity. Microbes, including intestinal bacteria, foreign bacteria, yeasts, and parasites, produce metabolic waste products that we must handle.  Our emotions and stress generate increased biochemical toxicity. 

A normal functioning body was designed to manage certain levels of toxins effectively. But excess exposure/intake of toxins coupled with our internal toxic production can stress our natural detoxification systems. Detox, or detoxification (sometimes called purification or cleanse) can help support these natural systems. This detox program is designed to ease the toxic burden on our body and support thenatural detoxification processes so it can safely remove toxins accumulated in our blood and tissues that, over time, begin to inhibit organ functions and stagnate our energy (Qi) eventually leading to inflammation, pain and disease. 

Holistic Approach

According to Holistic Theory the parts of any whole cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole. Holistic Health requires a system of medicine that emphasizes treatments designed for the whole person. It rejects the notion that ever increasing specialization is best because it understands that a person is ultimately something more than the sum of their parts.  In systems of Holistic Medicine, creating health and vitality is the goal. A practitioner of Holistic Medicine must evaluate the patient's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health as well as their environmental/relationship health. Only when all of these pieces are connected can a plan for holistic health be created.

Unfortunately, our cultural preoccupation with the individual often means that little or no attention is given to the environmental/relationship aspect of Holistic Health. And as our daily lives and routines become increasingly removed from natural cycles we tend to think of nature as something separate from ourselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are part of nature and we are intricately connected to everything and everyone. Even now, as spring blossoms around us we can see the branches of trees transformed with spectacular new life as the energy of the trees ascend from deep within the roots of the earth.  But do we notice our own energy ascending from deep within us sparking our vitality and creativity?

Food as Medicine

This detox program is food-based, meaning food is our tool, our medicine. How we use that tool and understand it makes this a holistic approach to detoxification.  Careful detoxification, using seasonally appropriate foods, allows us to rid our bodies of toxins collected from our diets, biological processes and environment while also restoring the proper flow of energy, providing essential nutrients and bringing us into balance with our environment.

Plus, food tastes good, it's fun and we all eat. Over the next four weeks we’ll enjoy the fruits of the season while thoroughly nourishing ourselves. According to Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medical systems, our bodies focus much of their energy on maintaining the liver, gallbladder, and small intestines during the spring and summer. So, we’ll enjoy light and leafy vegetables and fruits that assist your body in purifying these organs and improving their function. We’ll eat foods with naturally bitter and sour flavors, since these naturally assist the organs we’re focused on. We’ll experience a wondrous variety of flavors, colors, energetic properties in foods that provide high quality protein, complex carbohydrates and essential fats. Most importantly we’ll discover foods, flavors, feelings and friends we never could have imagined