Detoxification 101
There is so much talk out there about detoxification and so many detox products out there making extraordinary claims that I thought it might be a good idea to help make sense of it all.
Lets start with the basics. Detoxification is a natural process of removing wastes & toxins that your body is undertaking all of the time - every second of everyday as a matter of fact. The human body, in general, is very good at removing toxins. Your kidneys filter your all of your blood in less than an hour! The toxins that your body is removing include the waste by-products from your metabolic process (energy production, respiration, etc.) as well as all of the toxins that we ingest when we breath, when we eat/drink and when our skin absorbs things. Our bodies rely on 5 major organ systems to get the toxins out of our bodies - skin, lungs, kidneys, liver and large intestine.
Our bodies are remarkably efficient at removing toxins from our systems, but there is a limit. If your system gets overloaded with toxins or if the toxins are very complex and hard to expel you body will try to store them where they will do as little damage as possible - typically in fat- until they can be processed and expelled. As the storage areas in your body become increasingly full more and more toxins begin to circulate in your body. Circulating toxins cause damage. The amount of toxin build-up that your body is caring around is called a toxic burden.
If your body is accumulating toxins faster than it is expelling them it is becoming burdened. Anything with a burden will not perform at its best. Anything with an overwhelming burden will begin to break. When your body breaks it shows up as the signs and symptoms we associate with dis-ease, e.g. headaches, skin conditions, sleep disturbances, digestive disorders, etc.
I hope that the link between the toxins we ingest (environmental toxins) and our toxic burden is clear: if you are exposed to toxins via food, air, water or skin contact they enter your body and adding to your toxic burden. So, Step 1 in detoxification is to reduce your exposure to toxins - that is easier than it sounds. For most of us the majority of toxins that we are exposed to on a regular basis are as a result of the products we bring into our own homes. There are information and links below to resources that can help you reduce your exposure.
As I mentioned above we naturally produce toxins, which means that the other source of toxins in your body is your body. Logically the healthier our lifestyle the fewer toxins we produce. This extends past the obvious lifestyle factors of diet, alcohol & drugs, and exercise to the somewhat less obvious factors of sleep, stress, anger, anxiety, etc. When you are 'stressed' your body produces a complex set of stress hormones like adrenaline that in the long run are toxic to you. The more often you are stressed the more toxins you are creating. The same applies to all negative emotions/states of mind. Unfortunately as our bodies become more overwhelmed our 'stress' increases and our toxin production can increase as well essentially creating a negative feed back loop. Luckily a good detoxification protocol and supportive therapies, like homeopathy, can help.
The goal of any good detoxification protocol should be to decrease the flow of toxins coming into and from your your body so that your body can 'catch up' and reduce your overall toxic burden. Essentially you are trying to take a toxic break.
For more information please see the Information and Resources section below, check out the Detoxification FAQs page or contact me directly.
Lets start with the basics. Detoxification is a natural process of removing wastes & toxins that your body is undertaking all of the time - every second of everyday as a matter of fact. The human body, in general, is very good at removing toxins. Your kidneys filter your all of your blood in less than an hour! The toxins that your body is removing include the waste by-products from your metabolic process (energy production, respiration, etc.) as well as all of the toxins that we ingest when we breath, when we eat/drink and when our skin absorbs things. Our bodies rely on 5 major organ systems to get the toxins out of our bodies - skin, lungs, kidneys, liver and large intestine.
Our bodies are remarkably efficient at removing toxins from our systems, but there is a limit. If your system gets overloaded with toxins or if the toxins are very complex and hard to expel you body will try to store them where they will do as little damage as possible - typically in fat- until they can be processed and expelled. As the storage areas in your body become increasingly full more and more toxins begin to circulate in your body. Circulating toxins cause damage. The amount of toxin build-up that your body is caring around is called a toxic burden.
If your body is accumulating toxins faster than it is expelling them it is becoming burdened. Anything with a burden will not perform at its best. Anything with an overwhelming burden will begin to break. When your body breaks it shows up as the signs and symptoms we associate with dis-ease, e.g. headaches, skin conditions, sleep disturbances, digestive disorders, etc.
I hope that the link between the toxins we ingest (environmental toxins) and our toxic burden is clear: if you are exposed to toxins via food, air, water or skin contact they enter your body and adding to your toxic burden. So, Step 1 in detoxification is to reduce your exposure to toxins - that is easier than it sounds. For most of us the majority of toxins that we are exposed to on a regular basis are as a result of the products we bring into our own homes. There are information and links below to resources that can help you reduce your exposure.
As I mentioned above we naturally produce toxins, which means that the other source of toxins in your body is your body. Logically the healthier our lifestyle the fewer toxins we produce. This extends past the obvious lifestyle factors of diet, alcohol & drugs, and exercise to the somewhat less obvious factors of sleep, stress, anger, anxiety, etc. When you are 'stressed' your body produces a complex set of stress hormones like adrenaline that in the long run are toxic to you. The more often you are stressed the more toxins you are creating. The same applies to all negative emotions/states of mind. Unfortunately as our bodies become more overwhelmed our 'stress' increases and our toxin production can increase as well essentially creating a negative feed back loop. Luckily a good detoxification protocol and supportive therapies, like homeopathy, can help.
The goal of any good detoxification protocol should be to decrease the flow of toxins coming into and from your your body so that your body can 'catch up' and reduce your overall toxic burden. Essentially you are trying to take a toxic break.
For more information please see the Information and Resources section below, check out the Detoxification FAQs page or contact me directly.
Information & Resources
The dirt on toxic chemicals in household cleaning products.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/the-dirt-on-toxic-chemicals-in-household-cleaning-products/
EWG’s Skin Depp: Cosmetic Database
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
Top 10 ways to detoxify your life
http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/top-10-ways-detoxify-your-life
Pre-Polluted: A report on toxic substances in the umbilical cord blood of Canadian newborns
http://environmentaldefence.ca/prepolluted
Ecoholic –A great source for everyday green alternatives
http://www.ecoholic.ca
Toxic Nation
http://environmentaldefence.ca/issues/toxic-nation/toxics-in-you
The dirt on toxic chemicals in household cleaning products.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/the-dirt-on-toxic-chemicals-in-household-cleaning-products/
EWG’s Skin Depp: Cosmetic Database
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
Top 10 ways to detoxify your life
http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/top-10-ways-detoxify-your-life
Pre-Polluted: A report on toxic substances in the umbilical cord blood of Canadian newborns
http://environmentaldefence.ca/prepolluted
Ecoholic –A great source for everyday green alternatives
http://www.ecoholic.ca
Toxic Nation
http://environmentaldefence.ca/issues/toxic-nation/toxics-in-you