Detoxing with Teeccino
Detox programs can present a big challenge for many people due to the requirement to refrain from drinking coffee, alcohol and sugar. Ok, some number of days without alcohol isn’t that big a deal for most people, but ask a coffee drinker to give up their morning cup and boom! Resistance sets in. And try telling a person with a sweet tooth to avoid sugar and sweets for two weeks!
Teeccino’s Dandelion Herbal Coffees and Teas can help a coffee drinker get over that hurdle. Along with replacing the taste and body of a cup of coffee, dandelion and chicory roots have detoxifying properties that complement any cleanse program. A cup of Teeccino with a little non-caloric sweetener can replace a dessert too and help you lose weight! It is best to be careful though to prepare ahead of time to make your detox program more effective and more pleasant.
Giving your adrenals a rest
Adrenal glands, part of our endocrine system, power our energy all day long by excreting the right hormones at the right time. Cortisol wakes us up in the morning while melatonin puts us to sleep at night. DHEA is produced as the master hormone that is used to create our sex hormones, keep our bones and muscles strong, and help to reduce depression. But if you’re a habitual caffeine imbiber, your body’s rhythm of hormone production is going to be compromised.First, your cortisol level can be too high due to caffeine stimulating its production with every cup of coffee or energy beverage you drink. Second, high cortisol levels create stress and can have a cascading harmful effect on many parts of your body. Finally, if you’re powering your day with caffeinated drinks, adrenal fatigue can set in. Now you can’t feel energized no matter how much caffeine you consume.
The point of a detox program is to take a break from patterns that might not be optimal for our health. It’s like pushing the reset button. Your appetite corrects itself by getting used to eating less. Your organs get a chance to do some housekeeping because they’re not overwhelmed with the daily barrage of everything we consume. While you’re on reset, it’s the moment to wean yourself off of caffeine and give your adrenals a well-deserved rest.
Weaning off of caffeine with herbal coffee
The key to enjoying your detox program without caffeine is to start one to two weeks before you intend to begin your detox. If you typically get caffeine withdrawal symptoms like recurring headaches, fatigue and depression, give yourself even more time. Begin by combining a ratio of ¼ of any Teeccino dandelion blend with ¾ of your usual ground coffee. Over the days ahead, start to gradually reduce the amount of coffee while increasing Teeccino. By the end of a week or two, you should be drinking 100% Teeccino.Some people take longer to adjust to being caffeine free. If you’re one of them and you still want a bit of the caffeine stimulus to start your day, you may be able to adapt to just ¼ to ½ the amount of coffee you originally drank.
If you’re an “energy” drink consumer, try drinking iced Teeccino. It’ll fill you up and give you an energy boost that comes from the potassium in the herbs. Or cut your energy drinks with mineral water or another sparkling beverage that is caffeine free. Watch out, however, for sugar in any bottled beverage because your detox program will require limiting your sugar intake as much as possible.
Detox properties of dandelion and chicory roots
Even though you’re eating less during a detox program, you still want to nourish and aid your body’s natural detoxification systems. Brewed dandelion and chicory roots will help stimulate your organs to release toxins via their bitter taste and diuretic properties. Dandelion root is particularly known for its diuretic effect on the kidneys which can reduce bloat caused by water retention. What’s more, dandelion root contains polysaccharides that help protect the liver from toxins which are abundant in our environment or in the agricultural chemicals on the food we eat.Both dandelion root and chicory root contain minerals that aid the detoxification process. Their deep tap roots draw up minerals from the earth and concentrate them for your benefit. Both roots are high in potassium, an electrolyte mineral that is essential for heart health and healthy blood pressure.
Minerals are essential to the optimal functioning of our bodies including the balancing of acidity and alkalinity. Potassium is an alkaline mineral which, along with calcium and magnesium, is used to correct metabolic acidity. Your detox program will emphasize consuming food and beverages rich in minerals. By drinking an herbal beverage rich in bioavailable potassium like Teeccino Dandelion Blends, you’ll be supporting your body’s mineral requirements.
Prebiotic Inulin in dandelion and chicory roots
Probiotics are microorganisms that live in your intestines and without them, you can’t be healthy and absorb your food’s nutrients. Prebiotics are the part of the food you eat that feeds those microorganisms. Prebiotics are non-caloric soluble fibers that you can’t digest but that microbiota thrive on and use to produce essential compounds like vitamins and short chain fatty acids to keep your body in optimal health.Chicory root contains the highest amount of the prebiotic inulin than any other food, and dandelion root has a very high amount of inulin too. Nature has distributed inulin into many common foods like wheat, garlic, and artichokes in order to make sure your probiotics thrive. In a cup of Teeccino, the inulin extracts naturally from the dandelion and chicory roots during brewing, so when you drink a cup of Teeccino, you’re getting soluble fiber that feeds your digestive flora and keeps a diverse population of microbiota alive.
Dandelion and chicory roots also have a reputation for helping stabilize blood sugar. This function is due to their inulin content, which has been proven to help regulate blood sugar.
Although you can take probiotic supplements, only 10% of the microbiota that live in our intestines are available by supplementation. The other 90% are anaerobic and can’t survive in a supplement. This makes it even more essential to be feeding your whole microbiome, the community of microbiota in your gut, with prebiotics.
Some restricted diets end up starving the microbiota of their necessary prebiotics. When that happens, the microbiota eat the lining of your intestines which can lead to leaky gut syndrome and inflammatory bowel conditions. You’ll notice more and more supplements with prebiotics in them as nutritionists recognize the importance of regularly consuming food that nourishes the entire population of probiotics!