The Truth About Detoxing

Detoxification is the natural way your body eliminates toxins and harmful substances through various pathways. Yet detoxification has become not only a buzzword but something many people do on a regular basis, without fully understanding. Today’s blog is going to dig deep into detoxification, but also talk about the key piece most miss; drainage pathways. Let’s get into the ins and outs of detoxing and drainage so the next time you decide to do a detox, you will have the best outcome. 

Detoxing

Detoxing was originally designed to help the body eliminate substances like drugs or alcohol. While this method is still effective, we have now evolved detoxing to include heavy metals, environmental toxins, microplastics, mold, processed foods, and more, to support the body in an effort to heal and assist organ function. Detox, while effective, has a stigma because most people detox incorrectly. Another misconception is that intermittent fasting is a detox. In reality, detoxing is to eliminate harmful substances from the body, not restricting food.

Is Intermittent Fasting the same as Detoxing?

No. Intermittent fasting, which has gained popularity over the past several years, is done by not eating for 24-72 hours and only consuming water. The most incredible benefit to intermittent fasting is autophagy, which is the body’s natural recycling process that reduces inflammation, removes cellular waste, and improves metabolic health. Autophagy is activated after 20 hours of fasting. While autophagy can be mistaken as detoxification, the process is completely different. Autophagy is how the body reduces inflammation and waste to heal, while detoxification is removing toxins and harmful substances from the body.

Why Do Detoxes Fail?

Detoxes are great when done right, however, many suffer from negative effects when doing a detox, which gives it a bad rap. The reason why many people have adverse reactions to detoxification is because they are doing them incorrectly. People often jump into detoxing by taking supplements, restricting food, or overstimulating detox organs without preparing the body first. Most people miss the fact that in order to successfully detox, you must open up your drainage pathways first. Otherwise, toxins circulate through your body and build up, causing negative side effects because your body has no way of removing the excess toxins. 

What is a Drainage Pathway?

Drainage pathways are ways your body naturally removes toxins and waste from cells and organs into the pathways of removal. These systems include colon, kidneys, lymphatic system, liver, skin, brain, and lungs. In order for a detox to be successful, these pathways must be open so your body can remove the excess toxins that you are working to get rid of. If any of these systems don’t work properly, the entire body can become thrown off and this is where those small signals begin to show up.

Drainage Pathways

Drainage pathways begin at the cellular level because environmental toxins, microplastics, mold, and other harmful substances can block the cell’s signaling and it trickles down to every organ of the body. Think of your body’s drainage pathways as a funnel; the cells are at the very top, moving to the organs and tissues, then the lymphatic system, then the liver and bile ducts, which also includes the kidneys, lungs, and skin. It ends with the colon. 

Let’s break each of these down to help you understand the role of drainage better:

Cells

The cells are at the very top of the drainage funnel. Cells absorb nutrients and eliminate waste. Yet, they accumulate toxins and harmful substances that can affect the mitochondria (which we talked about a few weeks ago). If the detoxification pathway of the cell is blocked, the mitochondria can’t function and the cells become toxic, which then leads to the rest of the body’s dysfunction.

Organs and Tissue

The brain is a key component of detoxification in this area of drainage. Our brain contains a detox system called the Glymphatic System. CellCore explains this system as, “The glymphatic system is a recently discovered macroscopic waste clearance system that also facilitates brain-wide distribution of several compounds such as glucose, lipids, and amino acids. Researchers have also found that this system functions mainly during sleep. This then helps enable the elimination of potential neurotoxic waste from the body.”

The best way to improve your organs and tissue is through adequate sleep. This can sound counterintuitive, especially if you’re suffering from perimenopause or menopause, however, improving mitochondria function will also improve sleep and help your drainage pathways open and effectively detox.

Lymphatic System

The lymphatic system isn’t talked about enough. This system is a network of vessels that remove waste, toxins, and harmful substances from all organs of the body. This system tends to get sluggish because there is no pump to keep lymph circulating, however, this system is crucial for immune function and why many of us get sick often. You can stimulate your lymphatic system by exercising (including light walking), dry brushing, massage, or saunas. 

Liver & Bile Ducts (including Kidneys, Lungs, and Skin)

The liver is not talked about enough, but it is a crucial organ for detoxification. The liver’s job is to filter toxins from the blood and body and process them for elimination either via the kidneys or colon. During digestion, bile is released and is mixed with stool and eliminated in the colon. Still, bile ducts can easily become blocked, resulting in toxic overload and can lead to chronic illness. If this becomes blocked, you often see this in the skin.

Colon

Not going to the bathroom daily means your drainage pathways are blocked. According to CellCore, “If the colon is backed up, everything upstream from it can become backed up as well.” Constipation means you’re not storing toxins in your body, resulting in hormonal imbalances. Estrogen must be eliminated from the waste daily otherwise, we see symptoms of perimenopause or menopause when in actuality it can block drainage pathways. This exact problem of not going to the bathroom multiple times a day during a detox can cause negative side effects. 

How Blocked Drainage Pathways Show up in the Skin

When we see skin conditions pop up, like acne, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, etc. We instantly throw products at it, and when that doesn’t work, we look to a dermatologist for prescriptions and topicals that sometimes work but oftentimes fail. We don’t realize that our skin is communicating with us and showing us that something isn’t right inside. If we take a pause and pay attention to what our skin is trying to tell us, we can understand that blocked drainage pathways mean there’s no other way for the body to rid toxins. The next line is our skin. And once there is no other outlet, skin conditions pop up. And this is why topical treatments don’t always solve the problem. 

The skin shows us patterns, like the cheeks or flare ups after eating certain foods or a stressful event. This isn’t just the skin being angry, this is the body whispering to us that something inside needs attention. Unfortunately, we are taught to attack the skin, rather than listen to what the skin is telling us. And being an esthetician for over 20 years, this is what led me to functional medicine. I always knew there was a better way to heal the skin. The good news is, you can get to the root cause of your skin problems and working with a functional medicine practitioner to do testing, diet, lifestyle, and supplement improvements is the best way to get you on track to feeling and looking better.

Why Drainage Must Come First

I mentioned that drainage is like a funnel starting with the cells down to the colon. When the body is functioning optimally, detoxification naturally occurs. When drainage pathways become blocked, toxins store and can worsen symptoms. We notice signs from the body in the form of fatigue, headaches, joint pain, skin conditions, sleep disturbances. Yet these very signs are ones we tend to ignore and keep pushing through. Our bodies are intelligent and have the ability to communicate a problem before it gets worse. Warning signs like these are the key to focusing on drainage. The best part is, it can be done via simple things like improving diet, small lifestyle changes, and most importantly supplementation to support your mitochondria so drainage starts at the cellular level.

Eliminating Toxins

In today’s world, we are bombarded with toxins such as pesticides, mold, endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, environmental toxins, and more. They are found in our food, air, and water so avoiding them is difficult. But there are ways to work to improve your exposure and support your body so you can work to eliminate toxins and help your body heal quickly. 

Some easy ways to eliminate toxins:

• Reduce the amount of plastic bottles you consume
• Switch to cleaner cleaning products and laundry detergent (yep even “clean” or “fragrance free” is loaded with chemicals)
• Only drink filtered water
• Store your food in glass containers
• Avoid candles or in-home fragrance plug ins or sprays

These are some simple ways to eliminate toxic exposure in your home. One thing I’ve done over the past year is switch to baking soda & vinegar as my laundry detergent. I even use baking soda, vinegar, and dish soap to clean and it has helped me feel better.  

Are your Drainage Pathways Open?

In Functional Medicine, drainage is a core foundation of healing. If you’re experiencing any random or unexplained symptom, it might be tied to your blocked drainage pathways causing toxins to circulate throughout your body. 

Some things to look for:

• Constipation, diarrhea, or a combination of these
• Bloating after meals
• Frequent headaches
• Joint pain
• Brain fog
• Low energy
• Skin flareups

These small signals are your body whispering to you and this is the best time to pay attention. If left untreated, your body will eventually worsen and start screaming at you to pay attention. This is when symptoms show. If you can assess your body now, recognize you need some assistance, and work to heal you can prevent future illness from showing up.

How to Open Drainage Pathways

This is a fun and easy one. There are many ways to easily open drainage pathways. We recommend diet, lifestyle, and supplementation to help you. All three combined maximize your results and allow you to detox with ease. 

Diet

• Eliminate processed or pre-packaged foods
• Avoid gluten or grains (these contain mold and pesticides)
• Eliminate sugar
• Avoid seed oils
• Swap grains for vegetables
• Add in more protein, such as red meat
• Incorporate fat into every meal, such as butter, avocado oil, or olive oil

Lifestyle

• Drink a glass of room temperature lemon water upon waking
• Add electrolytes in daily to increase salt and allows your body to detox
• Dry brushing to increase lymphatic drainage
• Saunas 
• Light walking daily
• Sunlight: getting outside for 20 minutes a day naturally increases vitamin D and resets your circadian rhythm

Supplementation

We have a great supplementation kit that works to increase drainage pathways. It is a great way to kick start your healing journey and support your body so it can heal.

Our JumpStart Kit contains products to support mitochondrial health, open drainage pathways, and help eliminate toxins so your body can restore balance and your gut microbiome.

Starting here alongside a healthy diet and lifestyle changes will improve your outcome and help you detox with ease.

Ready to Get Started?

We would love the opportunity to work with you on your healing journey. We now offer functional medicine programs that allow us to work together for several months that include functional testing and customized nutrition, lifestyle, and supplementation plans that support you every week and month of our time together.

If you would like more information, please visit our website to get started today.