This post is about how toxins effect the body, interfere with hormones, ruin fasts, make you tired, give you brain fog and what you can do to detox safely
Detoxification is a natural process inherent to the human body. It is a complicated biochemical process involving many reactions, a healthy liver, gut, kidneys and a means for the toxins to get out, which is by pooing, weeing or sweating them out. I haves implified it and given suggestions.
Fat stores toxins and anything which liberates fat will release toxins eg fasting, exercising, being ill or losing weight by adopting a lifestyle that works for you. Its just how biology works
Over time, our bodies accumulate a variety of toxins from our environment, cosmetics, plastic, food sources (eg methyl mercury from fish), inorganic mercury from tooth fillings. Inflammation inhibits detox and more toxins create inflammation.
SOME EXAMPLES OF TOXIN OVERLOAD SYMPTOMS
Mercury – Fatigue (slows down energy production), anxiety (ramps up fight or flight system via glutamate), thyroid issues.
Lead – Fatigue, mood disorders, headaches, high blood pressure
Plastics/pthaltes/fire retardants- Hormone disruption (thyroid) and estrogen mimetics (irritability, weight gain, brain fog, inflammation, some cancers)
Bacterial endotoxin (LPS) – From leaky gut, infected root canal. These are bits of broken up bacterial makes body think you have a full infection. Systemic inflammation, brain fog
Efficient detoxification depends on a series of seamless reactions that bind toxins to shuttle molecules and “escort” them out through a series of doors. The glutathione system is the most important of the detoxification systems and includes glutathione and the enzymes that work with it. The detoxification process proceeds in three parts or “phases”, Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III.
BRIEF BIOCHEMISTRY / ANATOMY OF HOW TO DETOX
1. The toxin needs to be pulled out of the cell (alpha lipoic acid helps) or released from fat (do something that burns fat)
2. Glutathione or other molecules bind the toxin and ‘tag it for removal. It gets put into bile. This means the liver needs to be healthy. Fatty liver, leaky liver, stressed liver or glutathione deficient liver will struggle
3. Enough bile needs to be made and this is dumped in the small intestine. There are specific ingredients needed to make the bile ‘flow’ like choline and cholesterol
4. If the gut is inflamed or cant get the bile + toxins out they get reabsorbed and stay in body
5. Using binders such as activated charcoal, xeolites, activated citrus pectin, clay and certain gums will bind to the toxins and then they get pooed out
6. The kidney is quite delicate so should only be allowed a little bit of the toxin load and not all toxins can come out in the wee and sweat.
This is relevant to everybody and it doesn’t mean you can’t use cosmetics, eat fish etc you just need to make sure the detox system is working properly at all phases.
It takes months to get the heavy metals out for example lead likes to go in bones so makes osteoporosis worse as it is liberated as the bones break down and also dumps lead in the blood stream.
Mercury inhibits pretty much all enzymes so goes all over the body.
Detoxing is important to consider BEFORE planning a baby
The hormone disruptors from plastics/household chemical hide in fat so when people fast, do a keto diet, go on a fitness kick etc the toxins come rushing out and either mess up the weight loss or give people fasting flu or keto flu, so they give up.
If you want to learn more about detoxification please get in touch