The Toxic Burden

Humans have been exposed to toxins for thousands of years, they aren’t a new thing. However, the toxic load has greatly increased over time. Modern day life has brought in pollution, pesticides, heavy metals, exogenous hormones found in medications, personal care products, plastics, food and water contamination, and much more. Our detoxification system in the body is incredibly robust and removes many of the toxins we run into every day, which is great since they are impossible to avoid. Much of the toxic load comes from our environment and is difficult to avoid, think pollution. But majority of toxin exposure comes from food/water and personal care products, and these are areas where avoidance is attainable.

The liver is the primary organ of detoxification, but other systems in the body also participate and detoxification is a body-wide 24 hour process. There are 2 phases of detoxification in the liver and the 3rd phase is the excretion of these toxins. We aren’t going to go into the details of these phases, but just know that it is an incredibly complex and amazing process that keeps all of us alive and kickin’ every day. Without it, we would not last very long. 

Each phase requires its own list of nutrients, cofactors, and compounds to perform its best. Here are some examples to put it all in perspective:

Phase 1 nutrients: – Se and Zn, Milk Thistle, Thiols (Sulfur), CoQ10, Carotenoids, Vitamin C and E, Glutathione, B2, B6, B9, B12.

Phase 2 nutrients: Sulfur, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, pantothenic acid, glycine, taurine, glutamine, folate, B12, choline, methionine, SAMe, B12.

Phase 3 is excretion through sweat, urine, feces, and breathing. Majority of metabolized toxins are removed via the GI so gut health is a crucial part of keeping this system up and running properly; chronic constipation = huge addition to the toxic burden. A prime example of toxic overload is  estrogen dominance. Estrogens are metabolized via the liver and excreted via the GI, so when this system isn’t “regular” estrogens are reabsorbed into the system and not properly removed. Even though estrogen is an important hormone, too much of it can cause a lot of issues, especially in women. Some of these issues include PMS, weight gain, brain fog, bloating, endometriosis, anxiety, fatigue, abnormal menstrual cycles, and many more. Hence why it is so important to help regulate and support the detox system! 

Drinking enough water will also be a major help in supporting detoxification. The kidneys flush out a lot of metabolized toxins, and excrete them through urine, so drinking water will help our wonderful filtration system. Aim for at least half your body weight in oz of water, and  if you’re active this amount should increase.

Avoiding toxins that can bog down this system will be one of the most beneficial ways to support it. 

Common exogenous toxins we can avoid are: 

Pesticides - eat organic as much as possible, if budget is an issue then refer to the current dirty dozen and clean fifteen. 

Water - purchase a water filter, tap water in certain municipalities can contain toxins and heavy metals like lead and even arsenic. 

Household cleaning products - I recommend looking into clean and non toxic cleaning products. If you want to join the Fall into Health Reset/Detox I’m hosting I include companies I’ve vetted out for best natural cleaning products.

Personal care items - use deodorant without aluminum, ditch the Bath and Body Works BS. Find clean and safe shampoo and body washes. Conventional beauty products are full of chemicals and hormone disrupters. Remember what I said about estrogen dominance above? These products contain xenoestrogens, they mimic estrogen and add to the burden of the liver trying to metabolize it.

We can’t change the modernized world we live in today, but we sure as hell can do everything we can to keep our natural detoxification system strong and healthy. All this above is only the beginning, there’s so much more we can talk about if you think your body needs some extra help.

Join us for the Fall into Health Reset/Detox!