It is my hope with the MAHA movement in all the higher up places we need them, that blogs like this one will no longer be needed. We live in a time where our bodies are assaulted by toxins internally and externally all day and night. Our foods are laced with toxins while growing, ultra processed foods are filled with toxins, our water is filled with toxins, the air we breathe is filled with toxins.
All of those toxins, our bodies cannot handle all at once, all day, every day. Add to that, the ultra-processed foods really mess with digestion and all that encompasses and the digestive system is one of your detox organs. So, if we assault our bodies daily with toxins, we will become sick. Our detox organs are not meant to work this hard all the time. If you try to force a detox when these detoxification organs are not functioning properly, it will be EXTREMELY painful, slow going and simply not worth it.
Pay attention to the quality of the food you are buying, do your cooking at home vs eating out, so that you control the ingredients.
It is absolutely vital that you address proper digestion and elimination BEFORE beginning a detoxification protocol.
The basic idea of detox is to remove toxins from your body. The digestive system is responsible for more than just the physical and chemical breakdown of foods. If you are not digesting well, even an absolutely perfect diet can clog the bodies detoxification pathways.
Elimination pathways are found in:
The digestive system, also scans food for invaders, detoxifies poorly digested fermented toxins, filters foods for intestinal bacteria and then eliminates toxins and other unusable substances from the body. If anything is off here, these jobs are not being done adequately and are actually creating more toxic issues.
The cardiovascular system, think blood, shuttling around toxins or delivering oxygen and critical nutrients.
The lymph system, think interstitial fluids that flow through lymph nodes where bacteria, viruses and organic materials are filtered out. The lymph act as pre-filter for the liver, to prevent overload and clogging
The intestines, liver and gallbladder, think blocking foreign molecules and chemicals from entering the body as far as intestines. Any imbalance in intestinal flora can cause injury to the intestinal walls and allow undigested food and other toxins to leak into the bloodstream.
The liver is responsible for cleaning and purifying the blood that nourishes our bodies. This includes the breakdown/neutralization and disposal of pharmaceutical drugs, as well as other toxins.
The gallbladder then receives these neutralized toxins in bile and they are eventually excreted from the body on feces.
The urinary system, our kidneys are responsible for filtering blood to remove cellular wastes, like water and bile pigments. The toxins that have been properly bound and are ready for elimination will exit the body through either feces or urine.
The respiratory system, our lungs eliminate a variety of waste products, including carbon monoxide.
The skin, our sweat glands act as assort of “second kidney” and are one of the bodies many routes of removing toxins.
But if the body has blockages in any of these elimination pathways, you can’t properly eliminate those toxins!
Amino acids play a huge roll in detoxification pathways in the liver. For example, Methionine is necessary to run the sulfation pathway.
Poor fat digestion can clog up the lymph, which then clogs up the liver. Bile is built of healthy fats, it is the bile that transports toxins out of the body, and we want that free flowing and in adequate amounts!
Toxins can deplete minerals like magnesium, and those minerals are needed to make enzymes. Some important detox enzymes are cytochrome P450 and NADPH, they assist in Phase I detoxification. Minerals also keep heavy metals form collecting in the tissues. Molybdenum and Manganese are two minerals that activate metabolic and detox enzymes.
Hydration is extremely important! Being well hydrated allows you to keep flushing toxins out of your body through your bowels or your urine. Being hydrated also allows you to perspire, keep your lung tissues moist and keep your blood fluid so that toxins can be delivered to the lymph and liver to handle.
By addressing digestion (and all that encompasses) and all of the elimination pathways for about 3 months, you allow your body to be physically ABLE to cope with getting rid of toxins. If digestion and elimination are not working properly, there is no way for the toxins to be properly eliminated.
All you need for a healthy detoxification meal is a healthy meat protein, vegetables in multiple colors and a healthy fat. REAL foods, no processed foods or condiments filled with garbage ingredients.
I thought I would share a meal I made this past week that includes all of that!
I put salt and pepper on a NY Strip, my husband grilled it on a charcoal grill.
I washed two Russet potatoes, rolled in Avocado oil and salted them, and placed bare on the oven rack for an hour at 350 degrees to bake.
I broke the woody ends off asparagus from our garden, placed in a frying pan with bacon fat and sprinkled with granulated garlic, sauteed and covered on very low heat (turning to get all sides cooked) and sprinkled some shaved parmesan to melt on top.
I boiled 8 frozen uncooked wild caught shrimp until they turned pink and rinsed with cold water, peeled and set to the side.
The salad is (all organic) mixed baby greens, baby arugula, red, yellow and orange peppers, scallions, carrots, cucumbers, half an avocado and sprinkled with Go Raw brand sprouted pumpkin and sunflower seeds Italian herb salad toppers. I realized at the last minute, there was only enough of the homemade balsamic dressing I had made, for one person, so my husband had that, I had Drench it Clean brand Citrus Honey Vinaigrette. (Highly recommend!)
While my husband cut the steak, I melted 3 tablespoons of butter with 2 cloves of chopped fresh organic garlic, placed the shrimp in to warm them up. Then plated the food, 4 asparagus topped with steak slices, topped that with 4 shrimp, drizzled the extra butter and garlic over and put dollops of homemade chimichurri on top. (October 2023 blog has the Chimichurri recipe). I cut the baked potatoes in half, added some chopped chives from our garden, and chopped a slice of bacon that was leftover in the fridge, and butter, lots of butter! (My husband had sour cream as well, but I find that too much dairy makes my RA flair, so I stuck with just butter).
In case you are wondering, I could not finish my meal, I had most of the potato and half the salad for lunch the next day with a small hamburger for meat protein!
Feed them the least amount of toxins you can!
You DESERVE to live a life you love
with endless energy!
I help those with thyroid disease to repair
damage to gut, blood sugar balance,
adrenals and hormones,
so that they too, can have endless energy
and truly love and live life again.
Schedule a FREE discovery call below to see if Nutritional Therapy is right for you!
https://farmorpharma.com/nutritonal-therapy-services