Here’s a shocker . . . you live in a polluted world. There is both a wide range of toxins but also a depth of toxicity that differs based on your choices. Eat organic and you avoid consuming Round Up herbicide, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics. Choose better soaps and cosmetics and you avoid lead, butylparabens, phthalates, and formaldehyde. Avoid silver dental fillings and you don’t end up with toxic mercury in your body. Lifestyle choices matter heavily when it comes to detoxification.
External toxins in our food and environment aren’t the only elements we need to detoxify. There are internal and external toxins. Internal toxins are the waste products we manufacture as we metabolize our food to make energy. Our body has an elaborate system for removing these internal toxins but it relies on us to give it the tools it needs to engage these systems. We need minerals, vitamins, fiber, antioxidants, carotenoids, flavonoids and amino acids to make the system run efficiently.
Your risk for cancer is strongly tied to how well you perform these detoxification processes. A woman who eats a good amount of fried foods, especially if fried in a fast food restaurant, is taking in hydrogenated oils that dramatically increase her hormonal toxins that promote breast cancer. Cancer is also given an easier path for growth if your pesky immune system isn’t in the way. Heavy metals like mercury, lead, arsenic, aluminum and tin are readily available for consumption in this world if we aren’t careful and will adversely impact the strength of your immune system thus making it easier for cancer cells to advance.
We will explore the different phases of detoxification and what is needed for each phase to work optimally. This is one arena where natural products truly shine. This makes sense as the act of detoxification is itself a very natural function. Phase 1 of detoxification is taking stored toxins that we hold in our tissue and cells bound to fats and converts it into an aqueous phase that is soluble in the blood. We are literally taking bound toxins and releasing them or enhancing their ability to roam free but this is so Phase 2 can bind them up and export them out of the body. This is where glutathione, our bodies primary antioxidant and key protector of good health makes its presence known. The challenge can be that if we consume high levels of other toxins such as plastic, pesticide, herbicide and food chemicals we may deplete our glutathione stores. One of the worst things to ingest is high fructose corn syrup as this fructose load requires a great deal of glutathiones’ attention. Fructose is not a very useful fuel and creates a great deal of oxidative stress that can damage the cell internally. Glutathione is needed in order to protect the cell from this oxidative load.
You will see all sorts of “Detox” packages sold on the internet but explore these with great caution as most are gimmicks with no long-term benefit. A “2 week cleanse” is without any meaningful definition. There is no singular definition of what a “Detox” is and so some of these packages are little more than fiber and things to make you poop. Ideally, we are detoxifying 365 days per year. We will help you explore meaningful habits and lifestyle features to enhance natural lifetime detoxification. We will specifically explore how to measure heavy metals and safely remove them if present. Detox is a matter of garbage in and garbage out so step one is to limit the garbage going in as we work naturally enhance your body’s ability to kick it out.
