Lifestyle Factors
Our everyday choices may be one of the biggest roadblocks when it comes to living a detoxification lifestyle. Many may not recognize that habits such as a sedentary lifestyle or poor sleep quality may actually be hindering the body's ability to detoxify.
Diet, of course, is a big one and we have already explored that factor, so now let's dive in and look a little deeper at how of lifestyle can be playing a role in a toxic-load.
Action Steps
Prioritize sleep: Sleep is a critical component of detox. Adequate sleep allows your brain to reorganize, recharge, and eliminate toxins that accumulate throughout the day. It allows your organs and muscles to take a break, so they can rest and address repair.
Fun note: your liver does most of its heavy lifting while you're sleeping.
Bring in movement: Exercise increases the metabolic rate enhancing elimination of waste through breathing, sweating and increased circulation. Movement improves bowel and kidney elimination. Increases lymphatic flow and drainage.
Fun note: Toxins can be excreted from the body through sweat without taxing the liver and kidneys. Exercise & sauna increase sweating. Extra hydration is needed.
Be mindful of your stress: Chronic stress can keep the body in fight or flight, thus shunting the rest and digest arm of the nervous system.
This can slow genes responsible for enzymes that detoxify the body.
Nourishing Tip: Epsom Salt baths are an easy and cheap tool to add. The benefits are numerous - relax=lower cortisol, sweat=detox, sulfate=liver magnesium=relax/sleep.
Liver & Gallbladder
The body has a number of effective and overlapping pathways to eliminate toxic substances. The body eliminates toxins through the liver, digestive tract, kidneys, lungs, skin, blood vessels, lymph system and I always add in the gallbladder.
While all the pathways are important, one of the primary elimination systems is the liver and its helper - the gallbladder.
The Liver
The liver is responsible for detoxing toxins from the outside world such as: alcohol, drugs, pesticides in food, household cleaning products, and air/water pollution. The liver also detoxes chemicals found within the body; stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, histamine, and estrogen need to be detoxified to clear them from the system.
Action Steps:
Eat organic & grass fed foods.
Avoid alcohol and drugs.
Include: beets, dark leafy bitter greens and cruciferous vegetables.
Eat plenty of foods high in: b-vitamins, vitamin A, zinc & magnesium.
Add targeted nutrients such as: milk thistle, ginger & phosphatidylcholine.
Be sure to always drink enough clean filtered water to help flush the body.
The Gallbladder
Our liver manufactures bile, the gallbladder stores bile and then releases into the small intestines upon ingestion of fatty substances. Bile binds to fat-soluble toxins to carry them out of the body through our stools. Five percent of bile is excreted through the stools, removing toxins from the body. This is a major mechanism for moving fat-soluble toxins out of the body and key to the detoxification process. Additionally, bile has an anti-microbial effect that helps to kill off unwanted pathogens.
Action Steps:
Hydration is key to keeping bile fluid and flowing.
Improving stomach acid helps to stimulate the secretion of bile into the small intestines - adding in lemon water or apple cider vinegar can support this process.
Additionally layering in bitter herbs can help support the gallbladder and thin the bile.
Include foods such as: beets, artichoke, arugula, ginger and dandelion greens
Nourishing Tip: Castor oil can help move the bowels, recycle more glutathione in the liver, and promote neurotransmitter production for a better mood. It involves using a warm castor oil compression your skin, commonly over your liver.
Ditch & Switch
If you have followed me for a while, then you know the first place I always start is with Ditch & Switch. But you may not know why that is an important starting point. Let me explain further.
Think of your detox system like a kitchen sink: The faucet, the basin and the drain. The faucet is all the incoming toxicants that we are exposed to on a daily basis.
The drain is the removal of the toxins from the system and the basin is the body.
If you keep the faucet running and the drain happens to be clogged, then your basin can fill to the top and no longer hold anymore water and begins to spill over. The spilling over are the symptoms (rashes, allergies, headaches, hormonal imbalances, weight gain ect...).
The key is to turn off or lower the amount of water coming in - Thus the DITCH part. Ditching helps lower the water in the basin, so you can then work to unclog the drain (detox).
Action Steps:
The first place to start is to lower the toxicant load from your everyday items. This can sound overwhelming, and it can be at times. We have created an easy to follow 3-week guide to help you lower some of the biggest offenders. We have taken it to the next level and even helped make suggestions on healthier options in our Nourish Shop.
Nourishing Tip: Knowing your body's toxic load can help motivate the change. We have put together an easy at-home Environmental Toxic Functional Testing package to help make knowing your levels easier. (See bio for details)
𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝗕𝗶𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀:
𝗡𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽: Toxic Free Products (cooking, body & air)
𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁: Enviro-Toxic Burden Package
𝗘𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗶𝗹𝘀: Plant Therapy - freeshipping through link
Have a Nourishing Day!
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