Detox Baths

When we are sick or anytime our body is trying to rid itself of toxins, a detox bath is tremendously helpful.  If you have digestive track issues of any kind, your liver is generally not functioning at its best, which means that your body is not able to rid itself of both the normal toxins that are produced in the day and any extra toxins that may be produced from illness or cleansing or adding in probiotics.  Detox baths help the process of detoxifiying our bodies.

On the GAPS diet, we are constatly killing off bad bacteria and yeast.  As those things die they produce toxins that our bodies have to get rid of, and our livers are already backed up from years of constipation and poor eating.   Therefore, when we start producing extra toxins, our livers can't handle getting rid of them fast enough and we can start feeling very badly.  At its worst, it can actually feel like we have the flu.  At its least, we feel achy or bloated or gassy or even just really emotional.  Time to hop into a big hot bath!  The 5 kinds of baths that our family uses are:

• Epsom Salts
• Sea Salts
• Baking Soda
• Raw Apples Cider Vinegar
• Ginger

Epsom Salts-Put between 1/2 -2 cups of salts in your bath and soak for 20 minutes.  Your body absorbs the salts which help the body's detoxification process to work more effectively. It is also a way to get magnesium which most people with digestive track issues are deficient in.   If you are really deficient in magnesium, this bath can make you feel jittery because you are getting a big dose of magnesium. So start on the low side of the dosage if you want to leave the tub feeling relaxed. . 

Sea Salts -Put enough sea salt in your bath to make the water taste saltier than blood.  Start with 1 cup and work up until you think it tastes salty enough.  The salt water will draw toxins out of your body into the water.  Soak for 15-20 minutes.  I usually feel pretty wiped out after the sea salt, so I do it before bed or when I can rest for 20 minutes.

Baking Soda - Put between 1-2 cups of soda into the water and soak for for 20 minutes.  The baking soda will alkelize your body which is very important for overall health.

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar - Put 1 cup of ACV into the tub water.  ACV is great for the ph of your skin and I am sure it does other things.  I don't know the specifics on it but it should be easy to look up on the web.  The ACV is a great bath to do when you need to wake up and be revitalized. 

Ginger-Take a 4-5 inch section of fresh ginger root and wash it and cut it up.  Put it in a pan with 3 cups of water and simmer it for 15 to 20 minutes.  Pour it all into your hot bath and soak for 20 minutes.  This will heat your body up and help you to eliminate toxins.  Its great to do when you feel a virus coming on.  I like to sip a cup of ginger tea while I sit in my hot ginger bath.  It will really warm you up and make you sweat.  It also makes me very sleepy.

You can also do any of these baths as a foot soak if you are short on time. 
There are so many other things that can be added or done with herbs and essential oils, but these are the basics. 
If you have a child that is hyperactive, try the epsom salts or sea salt and see if it helps them to settle.  Sometimes the hyperactivity is a toxin build-up issue.