It can be unnerving to try to take care of your health these days. The world is more than little bit strange when it comes down to it and it seems like there’s always some new health threat lurking around the corner. Our nerves aren’t helped by the media leaping on every potential source of “health disaster” and making us all afraid of a food simply because of a single, flawed study. All those nerves are part of what makes it admirable to do your best to stay in good health. Unfortunately, this constant exposure to health news can end up leaving us wondering how to sort the good advice from the bad. A lot of the current trends tend to focus on purifying or “detoxing” various organs of your body. The kidneys are a particularly popular option that people like to say are full of toxins and they offer a way to purify them for you. We’re going to take a closer look at these ideas and see what we find.

The Sweet Nutrients of Purity
Most of these claims tend to look a lot alike when you start following them. The general pitch is that modern life is unclean on various levels. City air, processed foods, and other factors are all credited with contributing to an era of ill health the likes of which no one has ever known. Sometimes they appeal to grandparents or others of greater age that seem to always be healthy until they encountered modernity in some respect. The word “toxins” is generally thrown around without any real specificity. It is there to sound threatening. People then start hearing about how to solve the problem with a special nutrient combination or drink or diet that somehow will make them miraculously well. Much as with most things that sound too good to be true, this one is too. It is especially true when it comes to people saying you need to cleanse/purify/detox particular organs…especially the liver and kidneys.

Nature’s Purifying Agenda
These claims of needing to purify the body are so laughable because your body already does that constantly. Your liver and kidneys work together to keep your body clean and healthy. In general, you need to be being particularly harsh on them before they need any particular help. Things like regular binge drinking or particular forms of neglect or ill diet can cause issues, but all of these have very clear and obvious signs. They’re fine otherwise. They are your body’s filtration system and help purge everything you don’t want in your blood. The idea of needing to purify them makes no sense if you understand how the human body works. As a result, claims that something can purify them don’t really stand up under their own power. That isn’t to say that you can’t do things to help them do their job a little bit better and keep them healthy though.

Helping Your Body Along
It really doesn’t take much to encourage good health in your kidneys and liver. Drink water when you thirsty and don’t binge drink or put any similar strain on them regularly. Beyond that, you really just need to ensure that you’re eating a good diet and getting plenty of exercise. A good diet is balanced in the sense that it favors a broad selection of foods with plenty of nutrients. This tends to mean that you want a diet focused on colorful fruits and vegetables with plenty of dark, leafy greens to help make up the bulk of the diet. Meat of any sort, especially red meat, should largely be an accent to the diet that helps round out the flavors rather than the centerpiece. You’ll also want to make sure as much of this is fresh or frozen as possible to make sure you’re preparing your own food. Eating this way will help ensure you get the nutrients that you need without worrying as much about any extras riding along within your food.

A healthy diet is all your body will usually need to ensure that it functions properly. You don’t need to purify the organs responsible for cleansing your body constantly. They already do that themselves! The health trends claiming they can purify or de-tox your organs aren’t showing any signs of stopping despite running counter to how the human body works. All you can do is be informed so that you recognize them and don’t get taken in by bad health advice.