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At Home, Spring 2007

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There's a new trend at health spas across the country, and Allyse Eggleston is taking notice.

Eggleston, owner of Life Essentials in Steamboat Springs, says that although male and female clients continue to get facials and massages, they're increasingly seeking detoxification treatments to counter any negative effects from their environments - such as carbon monoxide from car fumes, fertilizer, insecticides or pesticides and heavy metals in foods and medications.

Such detoxification treatments include ion cleansing, steam wraps with essential oils, and the use of bottled oxygen.

During winter, it is common for people to crave heavy foods such as pasta, pizza and meats.

A full-body oxygen treatment lasts one hour at Life Essentials and helps pull out excess toxins that build up inside the body during the winter from heavy foods.

The use of oxygen helps oxidize toxins for elimination through the skin, lungs, kidneys and colon. It is essential to drink water during and after detoxification.

"Anytime you are pulling toxins out, it's concentrated," Eggleston said. "It's overloading the system because you are pulling toxins into the bloodstream. It's the same with massage."

Detoxification is about regaining external and internal health - and maintaining it, Eggleston said.

"You want to pull out, but you want to replenish," she said, adding that the replenish aspect of detoxification is stimulating the immune system as a way to cleanse the body, particularly the liver and colon.

Ion cleansing also is a detoxification method that is relatively simple because there is no exertion from the body while removing the toxins. Positively and negatively charged ions are generated into a warm footbath. The ions magnetically attract and attach to various toxic particles, which exit the body through the feet.