Let's bust the myth that our bodies don't need support when it comes to detoxing. We do detox daily, but not to the best of our ability. We live in a toxic world where an estimated 144k manmade toxic chemicals are in existence. Yes, you heard that right! When we ingest these toxins, they become poisonous within our bodies and negatively impact the function of our livers. This overwhelms our liver and forces it to store these toxins in our adipose tissue (our fat cells) which causes them to become swollen with water, resulting in total body inflammation. To make matters worse, toxins are mostly invisible to the naked eye, which can cause skeptics to take the "easy" way out and not give any thought to supporting the body's natural detoxification processes by doing the work, such as a functional medicine detox.
To join my 21 day detox masterclass, send me an Instagram message!
For more information on functional medicine detoxes, listen to my podcast episode with Dr. Stephen Cabral here.
Also, Soothe has a lot of herbs that support detoxification which is why I recommend to take it daily!
Why detox?
Simply put, if our liver isn't clean and healthy, or functioning properly, we won't be healthy. It is our body's filter, cleaning out our blood every 6 minutes. The liver is the epicenter of the body's health, performing over 500 vital functions. It’s in charge of packaging and excreting estrogen metabolites. Genetics matter, yes, but only to a certain point. The root issue is how unhealthy we have become as a society. Most individuals, women and women who have been on hormonal contraceptive specifically, are depleted of essential nutrients that our liver needs for phases 1 and 2 of liver detoxification. A true functional medicine detox will give you body what Is needs to do what it innately knows how to do!
Our liver is in charge of many vital jobs, including breaking down fat and sugar. So if you are having trouble shedding the extra pounds (talking about anything more than YOUR unique and healthy body weight) we must make sure that the liver and gut are functioning optimally.
Think of a sink, full of dirty water. If you poor fresh water into the sink, it will overflow. Our bodies are similar in the way that when our toxic burden is high, we are unable to reap the benefits from high quality foods and functional supplements.
Cell-damaging environmental toxins cause oxidative stress which leads to poor liver detoxification which ultimately results in increased reactive toxins within our body. No Bueno! Functional medicine detoxes destroy cancer cells, pathogens, and clears out toxins.
Our daily life puts a lot of stress on our livers such as:
- Alcohol
- Excessive workload
- Smoking
- Prescription and OTC medicine (hormonal contraceptive)
- Infection/illness
- Stress
- Processed foods
- Environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides)
- Coffee/energy drinks
- Poor nutrition
- Allergies/food
- Poor soil quality is deficient in key detox minerals
There are two phases of liver detoxification:
- Phase 1 turns toxins into fat soluble particles.
- Phase 2 requires amino acids and some phase 1 nutrients to turn the fat soluble particles into water soluble.
- Minerals: zinc, selenium, magnesium
- Vitamins: B12 and 6, C, E, Folate, CoQ10
Water soluble waste products eliminate via:
- Bile/stool, kidneys/urine, skin/sweat, mucus
4 ways to Remove Toxins:
- Gallbladder - bile - bowels
- Kidneys - urine
- Sweat - skin
- Lungs - breath
Toxin Vocab:
- Endotoxins - End products of metabolism, bacterial endotoxins.
- Exotoxins - Medications, OTC, recreational drugs, chemicals, food additivities, pollutants, microbial, contaminants.
My favorite VEGAN liver detox foods:
- Beet
- Beet greens
- Turmeric (juice or powder)
- Sweet potato
- Carrots
- Dandelion (tea, dried herb)
- Garlic
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Brussels sprouts
- Ginger
- Lemon
- Parsley (dried, fresh)
- Cilantro
*This is not medical advice. PLEASE consult with and work with a medical practitioner, like myself, to properly undergo a functional medicine detox.