7 Benefits of Detoxing Your Body using Functional Medicine
There are many benefits of detoxing your body in order to live a more vibrant, energized life, however, most people don't actually know how to detox safely.
When I was in college and living in California, I started to feel the effects of toxin overload, yet I didn't know it at the time. My skin was speaking to me, I started to feel exhausted all the time, and I just no longer felt like my old energetic self. Even though the term 'detox' is thrown around, not everyone should be doing one. This article will help you identify what detox is when you should be doing a detox, how to detox safely, and some of the benefits of clearing your body of toxicity.
What is detoxing your body?
You'll see detox diets on the market, many of which are unhealthy and not properly detoxing the body. Safe detox programs should be short-term and have many health benefits. The main goal is an opportunity to maximize increasing toxic secretion. It can help reduce systemic inflammation in the body, as well as reduce symptoms of a chronic disease you might already be diagnosed with.
Through the process of detoxing your body, you can remove things like heavy metals, and xenoestrogens, as well as many other harmful chemicals that may be trapped in your body or adipose tissue.
What Could Cause Your Body to be Toxic?
There are a number of things that you could be taking into your body that could be causing you toxicity. By simply removing some of these things, like going gluten-free, you could start to safely help your body detox. Below you'll find short list of things to think about as you look at what might be affecting you.
Mold - Found in your home or in certain foods, like peanuts and coffee
Fragrance - Found in perfumes and candles
Sugar
Vodka
Red #40 - Found in processed food products
Aspartame
Glyphosate - Found in non-organic foods
Heavy Metals, like Mercury (Hg) and Lead (Pb)
Fluoride (NaF), in toothpaste
Gluten
Snoring
Loneliness
How To Detox Your Body Safely
In order to safely Detox, you need to have good restful sleep for recovery, balanced minerals, and nutrients, optimal blood sugar management and cellular metabolism, healthy cell membranes, avoid non-essential medications, a diverse healthy microbiome, healthy bile flow, and open excretion pathways.
The 4 Phases of Detoxification
We have 4 phases of detoxification to ensure that you eliminate toxins for good. In order to safely detox your body, all of these 4 pathways must be open. All systems must go in order to properly rid your body and truly detox.
Phase 0
This is where being able to get substances into cells matters and where you need to move toxins into your tissues.
Phase 1
In phase one, the toxins begin to be transported starting their road trip through the body. Various drugs and foods can affect this phase as well as phase 2 detox.
Phase 2
This is the water-soluble phase. Animo acids are essential to phase in the detoxification process.
Phase 3
This is where toxins are bound and exit the body. It is important that we have great regular bowel movements, otherwise, toxins can recirculate in the body.
7 Benefits of Detoxing Your Body
There are countless benefits that come with removing toxins from your body that you can feel and often see as well.
1 - Restored and Increased Energy
When you unburden your body, you have the chance to regain your old energetic self.
2 - Detoxing Can Help Rebalance Hormones
Not only can commercially conventionally farmed foods that contain things like glyphosate affect the body (shop healthy whole foods in our Grocery Guide), but personal care products can too.
Xenoestrogen effects from chemicals in skincare even in the smallest amounts can have tremendous negative effects on your hormones. One of the main reasons is that when these penetrate your skin, they make it straight into the bloodstream. Shopping for organic, whole foods and eating the rainbow will give you essential nutrients and minerals you need for balanced hormones.
Cleaning up your skincare products can help lower the toxic burden on the body which in turn can give your hormones a chance to rebalance.
3 - Detoxing the body can Promote Weight Loss
If your goal is weight loss, you always want to consider weight loss as a detox. This is because when we lose weight the toxins that were once stored in our fat cells start to leave the adipose tissue. In order for these toxins to leave the body, we need to make sure that all 4 phases of detoxification that we spoke about above are open to allow for detox to happen.
4 - A Strong Immune System
A good immune system is one that is working behind the scenes day-to-day, constantly surveying and checking for any problems. Having too many toxins in your body can bog down your immune system, but when cleared, your body can respond faster to any threats.
5- Stonger Nails, Healthier Hair, and Clearer Skin
When you unburden your body as you clear toxins you will start to see many external benefits to the body too. As you become less toxic, your body will be able to absorb more nutrients and minerals you may have been deficient in resulting in stronger nails, hair growth, and brighter, clearer skin. Adding fruit and vegetable foods, specifically cruciferous veggies which help with detoxing excess estrogen, can help you heal.
6 - Rid Bad Breath + Body Odor
If you have constant bad breath or body odor, these are signs your body could be toxic. Detoxing can help clear these odors often caused by bacteria imbalance in the body.
7 - Mental Clarity
Ridding your body of toxins in the digestive system often results in mental clarity. Better mental clarity can help you not only focus on work, but also to be a better partner, parent, or sibling too.
Detox Your Life
Detoxing is more than a cleanse, and there are so many benefits when done safely. If you'd like to detox your body, and your life, we can help coach you through the process. Sign up for a Health Discovery Session to get your health back.