Incorporating Activated Charcoal to Detox and Boost Hydration

I truly believe you are what you eat and your health is reflected by your appearance. A diet of complete crap is going to result in you feeling sluggish, bloated, and eventually that dreaded cellulite and skin dullness. And if you're unlucky in certain genetic areas like me, eating junk foods high in processed ingredients, fats, and grease will result in painful cysts and nasty breakouts all over. For me, my appearance is closely tied to my diet - unfortunately. Which means fried chicken and fries on Friday equals to a nasty zit on my nose on Monday. Cringe. I know of friends who have it way worse who react badly to dairy. Dairy products are notoriously bad for your skin for some people, but for me, it kind of just makes me hairy. TMI, sorry.

While I do try my best to keep a healthy diet, I am far from perfect. My closest friends know about my weird eating habits: a month before Fashion Week, I go on my Watermelon Diet which consists of watermelon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This pretty much means I go through one 17lbs watermelon every 2 days. Watermelon is amazing for hydration and the pink color of the flesh comes from lycopene and carotenoids. Lycopene is one of the most powerful antioxidants in food. Watermelon is also a great source of B vitamins which as we all know are play a role in skin health and repairing collagen damage.

Unfortunately after a month of eating super healthy and lean, I will fall back to my guilty pleasure of indulging in fast food, macaroons, and binging at the movie theaters not actually watching the movies, but for their infamous popcorn that I will never be able to replicate at home. Seriously.... how does movie theater popcorn taste so good? I don't fall off the bandwagon often, but in those few occasions that I do go eat something naughty and over the holidays of course, I do immediately notice the few days after. Usually full of regret for indulging, but life's no fun if you don't indulge once in a while right? So to fix this and get my diet back on track, I turn to water. Hydration is key and the one thing every "detox gimmick" have in common is that they all involve over-hydrating. Over-hydrating will usually flush out all that excess crap in a few days, but to kickstart the process, I turn to charcoal. 

I got the idea when I saw one of my friends backstage drinking Dirty Lemon. It was such a cool concept and she swears by it, so of course I had to give it a try. But being a subscription service... for lemonade got to be a bit outrageous for me so I decided to make it myself. The concept of it was simple: they use activated charcoal mixed with lemonade. Activated charcoal is a powerful natural treatment used to trap toxins and chemicals in the body, allowing them to be flushed out so the body doesn't reabsorb them. We have used them for ages and hospitals use it for effective treatment of poisoning and drug overdoses in emergency centers around the world. Activated charcoal works by trapping toxins in its tiny pores - elements bind themselves to the surface of the charcoal. The lemonade flavor is used to enhance the flavor of the drink - water mixed with charcoal tastes pretty nasty. Aside from adding flavor lemons and lemonade are a great source of vitamin C which we all need to glow. The acidity in lemons also aid in digestion and encourages the production of bile so that we can get rid of that food coma bloat.

So with that concept in mind, I set out to make my own version of Dirty Lemon at home in lieu of shelling out $65 for 6 bottles. I ordered high quality Coconut Activated Charcoal Powder by TerraSoul from Coconut Shells off of Amazon - you do want food-grade charcoal. They have activated charcoals from a variety of sources, but after some research, I found that you want the safe food grade and coconut shells is one of the best sources. This powder is extremely fine - like the slightest puff of air will cause the powder to start flying everywhere so opening the bag caused quite the mess! One teaspoon of charcoal has the surface area of 10,000 sqft - so a little bit packs quite a lot of power in terms of trapping and absorbing toxins to its surface. The directions call a ratio of 1tsp to 16-20oz of water. It is really important to over-hydrate and not skimp out on the liquids here because the charcoal is super absorbent and can cause dehydration if you are not properly hydrated. 

For those of you that can chug straight water, feel free to mix the charcoal directly with water. Shake well! I tried, and while it is tasteless, there was definitely a little grittiness that I could feel on my teeth and tongue that wasn't very pleasant. So I prefer mine with lemonade - whether it's store bought or you make it. I tried mixing it with VitaminWater when I was feeling exceptionally lazy, and it tasted fine as well. For to really flush out those toxins, you want some fresh squeezed lemons for your lemonade so you can benefit from the high acidity. If you have teeth sensitivity, a good substitute for this is grapefruit juice. Also plenty of citrus and vitamin C's, and mildly acidity compared to lemons.

It's good to do something like this for 3-4 consecutive days after a very rich indulgent meal to feel and see results. Probably the most drastic and noticeable result is less bloating and a flatter tummy. Skin clarity and a healthy glow follows, and that is also partially a result of consuming more than usual the amount of fluids you normally would in a day. While this is most effective after a heavy meal, doing this cleanse once a month helps to maintain overall digestive health, and promote a healthier more radiant you. I hope you try it out!