If you are like most and have a difficult time with losing weight and gaining muscle, or you have fatigue, stress, and lack of motivation, you are not alone.
I believe many of us live our lives with a false sense of health. As someone who lives with a chronic illness, I can tell you that you can be “healthy” until you’re not.
So prevention should be a motivating factor for all of us, as conventional healthcare is not aimed at keeping us healthy. Rather, it’s for treating or managing sickness.
So if you’re in need of sick care, this is bad news because deductibles are skyrocketing and care is getting progressively more expensive.
Truth is that none of us are extremely healthy. Just this past week I’ve been hit with news of stage 4 cancer and breast cancer in my close circle.
Unless inconvenienced by lack of health, most of us don’t get the warning fast enough to think about prevention.
So this week, I want to discuss the importance of detoxification for overall prevention and reversal of disease.
Detox 101
Detox by definition is the process of removing toxic substances or qualities from our bodies. Our bodies have a physiological method by which to eliminate waste. We’ve heard of the cliche saying, “we are what we eat.”
But I believe we are what we think, feel, eat, breathe, touch, and what we can’t eliminate.
We all know that there is a biochemical process of eliminating toxins and food out of our bodies, but most of us don’t understand the physiology of detoxification.
The truth is that every one of us has accumulated toxins over time, because toxins are in just about everything! They are in the air we breathe, the foods we eat, and the water we drink. They’re also in the medications that we take, the thoughts that we think and the emotions that we feel.
What’s more is that the end products of metabolism are toxic and our bodies need an efficient way to get these toxins out of us.
So in essence, detox is the process of transforming and removing potential pathogens and toxins out of our bodies.
How Does Detox Work?
What most people don’t really understand is that detoxification requires so much energy and nutrients to not only properly detox, but also reduce the damage that occurs as a result of this metabolic activity.
Our detox organs are our liver, kidneys, lungs, intestines, and skin.
The ability to detox depends on the type of toxins and the uniqueness of the individual. Individual factors that affect detox include age, sex, body composition, pre-existing conditions, genetic disposition, medications, occupation, stress level, personality, and enzyme availability.
Biotransformation is the process that involves taking a highly reactive molecule that can be toxic to the body, neutralizing it, and properly eliminating it. As a host, we need to make sure that we are primed to eat, digest, absorb, and eliminate properly.
Food is information that our bodies process and it’s important to consider our thoughts and emotions when eating because this determines the choices we make.
When we eat food, how well do we digest when we are stressed, angry, or sad vs when we’re happy and joyful? Do you chew your food and pay attention to what and how you are eating? Or do you eat while multitasking and doing other things?
All of this affects your ability to detox properly.
Sources of toxins may be:
- Food bourne
- Natural environment
- Pharmaceutical
- Xenobiotic
- Microbial metabolites
- Metabolic end products
Toxins may include:
- Heavy metals
- Oxygen radicals
- Ammonia
Physiology of Detox
Our bodies need to protect our own cells in the process of detoxification. This means harmful substances need to be neutralized to be safely eliminated.
Detox Mechanisms
Detoxification occurs in the body through complex biochemical reactions and processes. These reactions and processes include exposure, absorption, transport, storage, metabolism, and elimination.
Biochemical Elements of Detox
Detox occurs through the biotransformation of non-polar (lipophilic) toxins into polar (hydrophilic) non-toxic metabolites.
What this means is toxins love fat (lipophilic). They must be neutralized and transformed into a hydrophilic, or water dissolved, substance so they can be eliminated from the body.
Then these neutralized metabolites are processed through the liver and kidneys and eliminated through urine and feces.
The detox of toxins occurs in two phases.
Phases of Detox
Phase I
During this phase of detox, the body pulls toxins out of cells, tissues, or organs. When this happens, it creates a highly toxic intermediary that is chemically reactive, also known as reactive oxygen species.
You may have a genetic polymorphism, or mutation, that alters your ability to detoxify certain compounds.
More research is being done on this topic, as clinically we are seeing “slow metabolizers” due to their inability to detoxify properly.
Phase II
During this phase, the reactive, toxic compounds are neutralized and made ready for elimination. Such metabolites are excreted through feces and urine.
In order to safely carry out the detox processes, it is imperative to have ample amounts of nutrients that are needed to carry out such chemical conversions.
Regulation of Detoxification
Enzymes that require nutrients are many times influenced by a number of factors, which include genetics, diet, environmental toxins, medications, and nutritional status.
Balance between Phase I and Phase II is critical for a safe detox. If Phase I happens more than Phase II, the result will be an increase in oxidative stress due to intermediate metabolites that cannot be neutralized in a safe manner.
For example, if there’s too much toxic fume in your home without proper circulation, then your home will be at risk for combustion.
Substances that increase Phase I detox include:
- Drugs: nicotine, alcohol, steroids, meds
- Foods: cabbage, broccoli, high protein diet
- Environmental toxins: exhaust fumes, paint fumes, dioxin, pesticides, charbroiled meats
- Nutrients
What prevents detox:
- Negative thought patterns
- Poor diet
- Sedentary life
- Stress
- Dysbiosis
- Medications
The list is long. Also, aging prevents detox and no one is immune to aging.
So I encourage everyone to begin to think about ways to prevent and reverse disease and improve their health.
Optimal health is a non negotiable in our world today and we all need to take responsibility for our own health.
How? By paying attention to our mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, and nutritional health.
What Can You Do to Support Detox in Your Body
Positive thinking requires mental health coaching to an extent.
In our Alkaline Transformation program, we provide powerful tools to help get you into the right frame of mind which will give you the proper perspective to shift your mental paradigm and change your behavior long term.
To find out more about Alkaline Transformation or to sign up, click HERE.
The goal for many of us is joy, freedom, and health and our Alkaline Transformation program can help you achieve just that.
Additionally, to ensure safe detox, you must give your body the proper nutrients it needs.
Nutrients that support Phase I detox:
- Thiamine
- Riboflavin
- Niacin
- Folic Acid
- Vitamin C
- Flavonoids
- Phospholipids
- Indoles
- Pyridoxine
- Cobalamin
- Iron
- Zinc
- Selenium
- Magnesium
Nutrients that neutralize intermediate metabolites:
- Antioxidants
- Flavonoids
- CoQ10
Nutrients that support Phase II detox
- Flavonoids
- Indole 3 carbinol
- Carnosic acid
- Isoflavones
- Ellagic acid
- Garlic
Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Habits, Change Your Health
I’ve been treating patients for over two decades and I’ve learned that providing the prescription may temporarily change their health, but long term changes are only possible when we collectively change the patient’s mental paradigm.
We have an epidemic of substandard health. Everyone walks around not feeling their best, but their health is defined by lack of disease.
We want to shift your paradigm and help you to understand that health should enable you to live with mental clarity, focus, joy, happiness, and freedom.
If you are struggling with various health issues that’s causing inflammation in your body, along with weight gain, headaches, gut issues, fatigue, etc., it’s time to change the course of your health and detoxify.
Our Alkaline Detox Protocol aims to change habits, educate, empower, inspire, and change you from the inside out.
So click HERE to find out more.
Thank you so much for reading my blog.
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See you next time.