Detoxification has become the buzz word in the alternative health industry in recent years, but is it just a fad or is there actually something to it? Detoxification practices have been documented dating back thousands of years and have spanned many different cultures including Ayurvedic medicine, the Native American tradition, European tradition (Roman cleansing baths and Finnish saunas) and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Since people have utilized the value of cleansing for so long, and because we live in an infinitely more toxic world than they ever dreamed of, perhaps detoxification is not just the latest craze, but is actually something we should focus on doing every day.

Toxins abound. They’re everywhere. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. In fact statistics on the toxic chemicals we ingest, inhale and otherwise put into our bodies is staggering. Scientists have studied the most remote places on earth and found man-made chemicals literally everywhere. There is no getting away from them, but there are ways we can deal with them. The topic of toxicity alone could fill these newsletters for an entire year, and beyond and in fact may be the root of many chronic illnesses, including autoimmune diseases and cancer. It’s yet to be proven, as our toxic burden has increased over the past few generations, so has the frequency of chronic disease.

Performing a well-designed twice-a-year detoxification program is a wise thing to do, but what do we do the rest of the year? That’s what this short article is all about. There are many simple yet powerful things we can do on a daily basis to improve our body’s ability to detoxify itself so the daily assault we are exposed to do not cause as much damage as it is capable of. This list is by no means exclusive, but rather it is a starting point.

Diet

Eat organic, whole food as much as possible. The more processed the food – in other words the more packaged it is and the longer the shelf life it has – the more chances it has of being toxic. The plastic it’s stored in, the additives used to preserve it, and the endless chemicals used on it from it’s inception in the ground until it reaches your kitchen table all contribute to our toxic burden. Organic, fresh, unprocessed whole food is a far less toxic choice. Also, eat a small amount of protein at each meal. Not only will this help balance blood sugar and repair tissues, amino acids are critical for detoxification by your liver (see the Liver article and the Featured Product).

Cleaning Products

Have you ever noticed the ingredient list on a bottle of your favorite household cleaner? No. Because it’s not there. Cleaning companies are not required to list their ingredients and virtually no body knows what’s really in there, not even the government. There are some great books on alternative cleaners available and generally speaking, cleaning products found at the local health food store will be far less toxic than the standard store-bought variety.

Bowel Movements

Very few things keep us as toxic than not moving our bowels regularly. A good test to see if you are moving your bowels often enough is to do a Transit Time Test. Eat approximately 1 cup of beets and note the time you ate them. Then watch the toilet the next few times you have a bowel movement. If you don’t see evidence that you consumed beets before 16 hours, you are not moving your bowels often enough.

Skin Brushing

Most people don’t do anything while they are waiting for their shower to warm up in the morning, which makes it a perfect time to skin brush! Buy a relatively stiff bristled brush (skin brushes are available at most health food stores) and while your shower is warming up, briskly brush your skin in the direction of your heart. For example, start with your feet and ankles, and work your way up your leg using short, brisk strokes. Do the same with your arms, starting with your hands and wrists and finish with your abdomen, chest and back. Doing so will help slough off dead skin cells and help increase your lymphatic circulation, which is partly responsible for removing toxic debris from your body. This is a quick activity that should only take a couple of minutes but has many benefits.

Hydrotherapy

A stimulating and nourishing way to start your day is with a contrast shower, which will increase both blood and lymphatic circulation, as well as stimulate your body’s immune system. Towards the end of your shower, turn the water so it is comfortably hot and that you can tolerate it for a few minutes. Then right before you are ready to get out of the shower, turn it to as cold as you can stand it for approximately 30 seconds. The colder the better. If you enjoyed this little exercise, turn the water to hot again for approximately 2 minutes, and finish again with 30 seconds of cold water. Avoid the temptation to turn it back up again – always finish with cold.

Exercise

The simple act of moving the body, circulating the blood and sweating out toxins may be the single-most beneficial thing you can do for your body each and every day. In addition to the countless physical benefits, it can be a good time to clear some of your mental toxins as well. The type of exercise doesn’t matter. Consider it movement instead – walking, yoga, weights, tennis, dancing, swimming, tai chi . . . anything that gets your body moving. However the more you sweat, the more you’ll detoxify.

Drink Water

Pure, clean water can help flush out our system of toxins and keep important process functioning optimally. The general rule of thumb is to drink ½ your bodyweight in ounces of water a day. For example, if you weigh 150lbs, you’d drink 75oz of clean water a day.

Turn off the TV

Television is filled with toxins. The best thing to do is just shut it off. Read a book, write someone a letter, journal, draw. But be careful what you read – we might just be better off sitting in silence. It’s been said that one issue of the NY Times exposes us to more information than one person living in the 17th century had in their entire lifetime.

Laugh, Play and Have Fun

Nothing helps us clear the mental and emotional clutter better than loving ourselves and loving life. Laugh, dance, play, giggle, give someone a hug and see the small miracles happening around you every day. Toxins don’t stand a chance against an attitude of love.

Spiritual Detoxification

And last but not least, working with the spiritual aspect of ourselves can take lifetimes. But it always starts with our thoughts, words and actions, which is something we have access to on a daily basis. These things we can change. If we pay attention to our thoughts, we can improve our words. If we pay attention to our words, we can improve our actions. And when we change our actions, we can improve the world.

Don’t wait until your yearly detoxification program to help rid your body of toxins. Do something every day and your body will love you for it.

The liver is one of the major organs of detoxification and has quite the job to do today.  In fact in China a common greeting is said to be translated into “Good morning, how is your liver today?” 

There are over 500 known functions of the liver, and scientists are continually discovering new ones all the time.  Of these, some of the more important ones are:

• Transforming the food we eat into energy-supporting nutrients
• Constructing thousands of metabolic enzymes for a variety of functions
• Breaking down hormones
• Converting vitamins and minerals into easily utilizable forms by the body
• Making bile, cholesterol, hormones, immune system components
• Storing blood and glycogen (blood sugar for later use)
• Regulating blood sugar

The liver detoxifies toxins in two phases.  During Phase I, the liver takes environmental toxins and converts them in to an intermediate molecule that is actually more harmful than the first!  However it does this is so it can be properly packaged for Phase II of liver detoxification, where it goes through another molecular process, which allows it to easily be expelled from the body.People who have high Phase I activity but low Phase II activity are called “pathological detoxifiers” and can easily become fatigued or toxically overloaded when exposed to environmental toxins.  This group of people will also likely experience a “healing crisis” during a detox program.  This is because the intermediate molecules created by Phase I begin to build up and create a log-jam waiting to get processed by Phase II to be expelled from the body.  While they are waiting around they can make us feel miserable and can actually do damage to our body.  The easiest way to “fix” this problem is to try to speed up Phase II detoxification so that it can keep up with Phase I.  How do you do this?  Make sure you consume protein at each meal.  Protein is made up of amino acids, which are the molecules used to run Phase II detoxification in the liver.  If Phase II detoxification is running slow, you might have to provide it with more of the fuel to run this process.  However if someone is not digesting protein well or is not eating the right types, supplementing with the proper amino acids is also an option.

Below is a list of foods that affect Phase I and Phase II detoxification in the liver.  Both Phases are important, but must be in balance for optimal health.

(From Dr. Linda Cabot, "The Liver Doctor")
Eat foods to increase nutrients beneficial to liver function.These are:

• Vitamin K - green leafy vegetables and alfalfa sprouts.
• Arginine - this helps the liver to detoxify ammonia, which is a toxic waste product of protein metabolism. Arginine is found in legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), carob, oats, walnuts, wheatgerm and seeds.
• Antioxidants - found in fresh raw juices such as carrot, celery, beetroot, dandelion, apple, pear and green drinks like wheatgrass and barley-grass juice, and fresh fruits, particularly citrus and kiwi fruit.
• Selenium - sources of the antioxidant selenium are Brazil nuts, brewer's yeast, designer yeast powders (very good source), kelp, brown rice, molasses, seafood, wheatgerm, whole-grains, garlic and onions.
• Methionine - is essential for detoxification. Is found in legumes, eggs, fish, garlic, onions, seeds and meat.
• Essential fatty acids - Seafood, cod liver oil, and fish oil. Seafood may be fresh, canned or frozen such as sardines, salmon, mackerel, tuna, trout, mullet, blue mussels, calamari, tailor, herring, blue eye cod, gemfish. Fresh avocado, fresh raw nuts and seeds, legumes (beans, peas, lentils), whole grains, wheatgerm, green vegetables such as spinach, green peas and green beans, eggplant, cold pressed fresh vegetable and seed oils, freshly ground seeds, especially flaxseeds (linseed), evening primrose oil, black-currant seed oil, star flower oil. Essential fatty acids are required for healthy membranes in every cell of the body and plentiful amounts are required for healthy liver function. This is why strict low fat diets are not beneficial for general health, weight control or liver function.
• Natural sulphur compounds - are found in eggs (preferably free range), garlic, onions, leeks, shallots and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.