We live in a world of toxins! Some we take into our body on purpose, and some we take in often without even knowing it. What do we mean by toxins? The word toxin was originally used to refer to chemicals made by plants or animals that were harmful or malicious. Bee-stings, Tetanus toxin, and Diphtheria toxin are examples of that kind of poison. More recently, the word toxin has come to mean anything harmful to our system.
Detoxification is the process by which your body breaks down and gets rid of toxins and cleanses your body. There are two general reasons why people want to cleanse their systems of toxins. One is for personal health reasons, and the other is that they have a drug test coming up. In the former case, there is usually no rush to detox a system, but in the case of a drug test, there may only be 24-hour notice.
In this article, we will discuss the most effective ways to cleanse your body of toxins within a day, at least, time limit.
WHAT KIND OF TOXINS ARE THERE?
There are four types of toxic entities; chemical, biological, physical, and radiation. Chemical and physical toxicants include inorganic substances such as lead, mercury, hydrofluoric acid, and chlorine gas. Biological toxins include organic compounds such as methyl alcohol, most medications, and toxins like botulinum or "botox" from bacteria. Radiation toxins come from things like diagnostic X-rays.
Your liver contains a system of enzymes that breaks down toxins and converts them into inactive substances.
In the modern world, we are less likely to come into contact with chemicals made by plants or animals and more likely to come into contact with toxins from our environment or that we intentionally take in for a variety of reasons.
Environmental toxins include things like chemicals from burning hydrocarbons such as automobile exhaust or coal-fired electrical plants or second-hand tobacco smoke as examples. We take those toxins into our systems, usually without realizing it.
With other toxins like Cannabis products and drugs such as cocaine, heroin, other opiates, PCP, and methamphetamines, we knowingly take them into our bodies. Other prescription medications may end up being toxic by causing more harm than good. Blood thinners can help prevent strokes or heart attacks, but they can also cause excessive, sometimes fatal bleeding. These are examples of an unintended toxic effect of prescription medication.
Our foods, mainly processed foods, possess toxic properties. Such foods are highly processed vegetable and seed oils, BPA, a chemical found in the plastic containers of many food products, trans-fats, refined sugar, and heavy metals like mercury in fish, to name just a few.
WHY CLEANSE YOUR BODY?
There are two significant reasons that people want to detoxify and cleanse their systems within a 24-hour time limit. One is for general health reasons, mainly to deal with addictions such as alcohol or drugs. On the other hand, some people just want to adopt a healthier lifestyle and eliminate as many toxins from their bodies as possible. In that case, there is generally plenty of time and no rush about the cleansing or detoxing process and certainly little or no reason to attempt a genuinely impossible 24-hour cleanse.
The second primary reason that people want to detoxify and cleanse their systems is that they have to pass a drug test. Drug testing is now widespread. Getting a new job or keeping an old one without being tested for drugs is almost impossible. In many cases, employers require testing. In other cases, you may be required to pass a drug test by law, if, for example, you work in an industry regulated by the Department of Transportation. Different legal situations like child custody hearings, probation monitoring, and traffic accidents, for instance, often require drug testing.
THE 24-HOUR CLEANSE!
OK, here is the news: there isn't any such thing as a 24-hour cleanse!! You read that right! To understand why it is impossible to cleanse your body in 24-hours, you need to understand your body's detox mechanisms and their limits.
Your body works with a variety of detox mechanisms. The main one is your liver, supported by your kidneys, gastrointestinal system, lungs, and skin. These systems work on a regular steady basis to process toxins, and there is little that you can do to change that. Most toxins are metabolized in your body to non-toxic compounds in your liver. Your liver contains enzymes that break down the toxins and convert them into inactive substances. Then the inactive metabolites are excreted from your body in your urine, feces, sweat, and breath.
In order to understand what a "24-hour detox" is all about, you need to come to grips with the problem and its solutions. The problem is that you have been using toxins like Cannabis, opiates, cocaine, methamphetamines, PCP, Alcohol, etc.
Even though alcohol is legal and Cannabis is becoming legal in more and more states, you can still lose your job or suffer legal consequences if you fail to pass a drug test.
The solution that is offered by virtually all "detox" products on the market that propose one-day or 24-hour detoxes is that they operate on the principle of dilution and then masking the dilution!! Yes, that is the truth of it, believe it or not. Let us be clear: there is no such thing as detoxing and cleansing your body in 24-hours.
YOU HAVE A DRUG TEST COMING UP-WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Your employer has just told you that you will have a day at least to pass a drug test! Wow, panic! What to do?? If you use Cannabis products, illegal drugs, or even alcohol, and your test returns positive, you will lose your job. You have 24-hours to "get clean!" Is that possible within a day, at least? The answer depends very strongly upon how frequently you use toxins and in what concentration. It also depends on what kind of test you must take. The information in this article should help you decide the best way for you to detox.
THE URINE TEST FOR DRUGS
Employers' most commonly used test is the "dip-stick" urine test. Where Cannabis is concerned, this test measures the level of THC-COOH in your urine specimen. Well, it doesn't directly measure the level of THC-COOH; instead, it is a so-called immunoassay test. More specifically, it is the EMIT or enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique test. That test depends on the interaction of THC-COOH with its specific antibody.
Fat cells store THC-COOH, which can persist in your body and your urine for days, weeks, or even months after your last use of Cannabis. The cutoff level for passing the urine test for Cannabis is 50 ng/ml or nanograms per milliliter of urine. That means that you don't have to have zero THC-COOH in your urine specimen, so that is, at least, some good news to help you pass a drug test with a day, at least, notice!
OTHER DRUG TESTS
Other types of drug tests include blood, saliva, sweat, and hair. Unlike urine tests, these tests primarily measure the actual THC itself rather than THC-COOH. Blood and saliva tests have much shorter windows of detection, which vary from 12-24 hours up to seven days, depending on the frequency and concentration of Cannabis products used. Hair tests have very long windows of detection, up to 90 days after the last use of Cannabis. These kinds of tests are not used very often. 24-hour methods to dilute a urine sample to help pass a urine test will not affect these other kinds of tests.
DRUG TESTING AND TOXIN USE
The most crucial factor that determines the outcome of drug testing procedures is the amount and frequency of toxin exposure. For Cannabis, if you use it by smoking a "joint" once a week, you can probably pass a drug test with a day at least notice by simple steps. If you smoke joints several times a week or even every day, then passing a drug test with 24-hours-notice is almost impossible no matter what you do.
In addition to how frequently you use Cannabis products is the question of the THC concentration of your products. In prior years the level of THC in most marijuana products rarely exceeded about 5%. Today concentrations of 20-30% or even more are found due to newer cultivation methods. Using Cannabis products with higher levels of THC makes passing a urinary drug test with only 24-hours-notice even more difficult.
On top of that, the FDA does not regulate the concentration of THC in marijuana products. Therefore, it is difficult or impossible to be sure of the level of THC in any product that you might take into your body. Several studies have found that the concentration of THC stated on the labels of Cannabis products is often incorrect.
SELF-TESTING FOR TOXINS
No matter how often you use toxins, you should purchase a home drug test kit and test your urine as soon as you know that you have a test looming. It is a good idea to keep test kits on-hand at home all of the time so that you will be able to test your urine as soon as you know that you are going to be tested. Test kits are readily available online here at TestClear, but if you have some on-hand, you will not have to scramble to try to find a test kit at the last moment.
Testing your urine as soon as you know that you are going to be tested and then again after you attempt a 24-hour cleanse is essential. There is no reason to undergo an important test that can determine your job or legal status if you know that you cannot pass it.
If you are a light user of Cannabis products and haven't smoked or used an edible in the several days before your test, a home test may be negative without any cleansing efforts on your part. However, a 24-hour cleanse could easily convert that test to negative if you test positive. If you are a medium or heavy user, then a cleanse within a day at least may or may not convert the test from positive to negative, but at least with a home drug test, you will know before you take the test.
THE "24-HOUR CLEANSE"
Before we consider how you might effectively clean your body within a day, we need to study the drug testing techniques in a little more detail. Very often, urine specimens taken for drug testing must pass a series of "acceptability" tests to be considered appropriate to do the actual drug testing. These acceptability tests may include specific gravity, pH, Creatinine, and criteria for adulterants. If the specific gravity of the specimen is too low or too high, it is considered too dilute to test. The pH of the sample must be between 4.0 and 10.0 to be acceptable. Creatinine is a component of normal urine, and if the level in the specimen is too low, the sample will be considered unacceptable to test.
Various forms of adulterants have been added to urine specimens to invalidate testing. These include nitrates, glutaraldehyde, iodine, papain, Pyridium, and Zinc. Modern test methods can detect most if not all, adulterants. If you add adulterants to your test and they are discovered, you will definitely fail it. Such a failure could have legal consequences too, so adding adulterants to urine specimens or taking things like Zinc to invalidate tests is not a good idea.
THE TRUE 24-HOUR CLEANSE
You have two options to try to detox your body in 24-hours. One approach is the do-it-yourself option. The other is to use a commercially available "detox" product. You will have to decide which is the best way for you.
The do-it-yourself option
Let's explore the do-it-yourself option first. We can call it the "true natural" alternative. Before you start any formal detox program, be it 24-hour or longer, the very first step is to STOP using toxins immediately. As soon as you know that you have a drug test coming up, do not smoke that planned joint, do not use that scheduled dose of other drugs or toxins, and do not drink that proposed glass of wine. For light or moderate users of Cannabis, staying clean for 24-hours can be the difference between passing your test and not passing your test.
The do-it-yourself method that we will discuss is the most natural, straightforward, and most logical approach. Other methods suggest eating healthy raw vegetable diets, 24-hour water-only fasts, lemon-water fasts, and various types of "natural" detox regimens. Good online sites emphasize that these methods have no scientific proof.
Other online sites suggest 24-hour methods that are sheer fantasy and in no way will allow you to pass a drug test. Some online sites recommend practices that are more likely to make you fail a drug test than to pass one. One of these recommendations is to exercise your body vigorously and sweat during your 24-hour detox session. Heavy exercise breaks down fat cells to release THC-COOH, which is then excreted by your kidneys into your urine, thus RAISING rather than lowering the concentration!!
You can read conflicting views of people about the feasibility and methods for a 24-hour detox on sites such as Quora.
The central part of the do-it-yourself method consists of increasing your fluid intake. One way is to drink water, but a better approach is with readily available and inexpensive electrolyte solutions like Pedialyte. These will maintain a normal pH and specific gravity to your urine specimen and avoid excessive dilution that can occur if you drink water instead of electrolyte fluids. Studies show that if you drink water or electrolyte solutions to dilute your urine, you can lower the concentration of drugs/toxins below allowable limits.
On the other hand, increasing your fluid intake DOES NOT "flush" toxins from your system as so many online sites tout! Excess fluid dilutes your urine so that the concentration of toxins is below the allowable limit for several hours only.
The final part of this method is B vitamins. You can purchase these at any pharmacy. B vitamins give a typical yellow color to dilute urine, and a color examination is part of the test to determine if a urine specimen is too dilute.
The commercial detox solution
This method uses any one of several commercially available products to detox your system. Most of these are in the form of a detox drink. The key ingredients of these products include B vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, various herbal elements, Creatine, and fiber. You will recognize some of these from the do-it-yourself method, but some are not in that method. It is questionable if these additional additives are necessary or more useful than the do-it-yourself approach.
Let's take vitamins, for example. As we noted in the do-it-yourself method, B vitamins color diluted urine a standard yellow color to pass the acceptability test for a urine specimen. The addition of other vitamins in many detox products seems unnecessary and plays no role in either detoxification of your system or in masking diluted urine.
Minerals and electrolytes in commercially available detox products are essential to assuring that diluted urine satisfies the requirements for pH and specific gravity. However, as mentioned for the do-it-yourself method, you can buy balanced electrolyte solutions at any pharmacy.
How about herbal elements? Many detox drinks advertise a "proprietary blend" of herbs, and some sources quote questionable studies to prove the role of various herbal substances in detoxification. Milk thistle, turmeric, and dandelion are often promoted in a detox drink as having natural detox properties. Clinical trials to determine this are lacking. Green tea increases the production of antioxidant enzymes by your body. It potentially converts toxic chemicals to harmless versions, but green tea has never been shown in clinical studies to reduce the incidence of any form of toxins.
On the negative side, some herbs in a detox drink can cause allergic reactions in sensitive people, and they can also cause interference with the effects of prescription medications in your body. These interactions can be severe enough to endanger an individual's health. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a subsidiary of the National Institutes of Health, suggests that "well-designed clinical studies evaluating herbal supplement-drug interactions are limited and sometimes inconclusive."
Finally, herbal supplements of all kinds, including those in commercial detox products, are not regulated by the FDA. Therefore, neither the amounts of herbal substances nor their purity can be verified.
Creatine is another substance found in many commercial detox products. Creatine is a naturally occurring compound. It is metabolized in your body to Creatinine, which is then excreted by your kidneys into your urine. Creatinine is a component of normal urine and might be tested for in some situations to verify the acceptability of your urine specimen for drug testing. Orally ingested Creatine takes at least 24-48 hours to be metabolized to Creatinine and excreted in your urine. It is unlikely to be helpful in an attempted 24-hour cleanse of your system, although it certainly is useful for more extended cleansing periods to mask diluted urine.
If you did wish to include it in a do-it-yourself 24-hour cleanse, you could buy Creatine Monophosphate at most health-food stores.
Finally, dietary fiber and insoluble fiber like psyllium, are often included in commercially available detox products. Dietary and insoluble fiber both help to divert THC-COOH, the inactive metabolite of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, from your urine to your feces. In this way, fiber helps to reduce the concentrations of THC-COOH in your urine specimen below the acceptable limit of 50 ng/ml.
COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE 24-HOUR DETOX PRODUCTS
One of the attractions of commercially available detox products is that they contain all of the components necessary for 24-hour detox in one convenient package, usually a liquid solution. These products vary significantly in price even though most of them contain the same or very similar components. We shall discuss a few of them in more detail.
Let's now discuss a few commercial products to detox your system in 24 hours. If you have only 24-hours-notice of your test, there will not be enough time to order online even from suppliers who offer 24-hour delivery. As a result, it may be a good idea to keep some of these products on hand, in case you do get a 24-hour drug test notice.
Products such as Toxin Rid, Mega Clean Cleansing Drink, XXtra Clean Cleansing Drink, and Ready Clean Cleansing Drink all have received favorable detailed online reviews for 24-hour detox of your system.
Detox products also can come in the form of detox pills, and in some cases, such as Toxin Rid, the product is a combination of detox pills and a liquid drink. In addition to Toxin Rid pills, Herbal Pre-Cleanse Formula pills were recommended by one site.
CLEANSE YOUR BODY IN 24-HOURS-CONCLUSIONS
Now you should better understand several effective ways to cleanse your body in 24-hours. You can achieve it naturally and safely using a do-it-yourself home method. On the other hand, you might choose to use one of the lower-priced, commercially available products because they contain all of the components for helping you pass a urine drug test in one convenient package. If you are a heavy user of toxic substances, it may be impossible to effectively cleanse your body in 24-hours, no matter what approach you decide to use. You now have enough information to determine which is the best way for you. Good Luck!