In this episode, you will learn the science behind Detoxing and how to detox safely.  You will also learn the signs you may need to detox and how to ensure that you are doing more good for your body.

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

7 Day Spark

Eating with Intention

Wellness Tribe

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Fall 2018 Nourishing Detox

Don't Drink Your Essential Oils Information

Sluggish Liver Episode 050

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What is a Detox and is it different than a cleanse?

Detox and cleanse are generally used interchangeably. Basically, a detox is a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances. Now clearly it’s not possible in this day and age to abstain from toxins, or really even fully rid your body of toxins, it is possible to give your body a BOOST and help it get rid of toxins all on its own.

Cleansing is often used interchangeably in this instance and neither is right or wrong. Both are all the rage right now, so you have surely heard of them before. Some people say that a cleanse eliminates junk and strengthens your body’s detoxification process and a detox is super restrictive...but NO not accurate, they are the same thing, the restrictiveness is completely up to the prescriber.

Another thing I get is “but Audrey, you said your body detoxes itself!” and so very very true! It does! However, when you spend a bit of time focusing on increasing the nourishing and nutrient-rich foods you are consuming, then you can help the liver and kidneys (both major detox organs) to do their jobs better and feel a noticeable difference in skin, sleep, energy levels, mental clarity, and yes even though it's not the goal, even weight.

I am frequently seeing, now more than ever, clients with sluggish livers and borderline kidney troubles too. And unfortunately I also see lots of detoxes/cleanses on the market that claims to help these issues and they are overly restrictive, unsafe, OR leave out key components that can cause the toxins to dive deeper and even slow down the metabolism, instead of help the body to flush them out faster and more effectively.

How does the body detox? What’s really happening in there?

Let’s get into some of the science here, and don’t worry I am going to try to make it less science-y than the last explanation but still get you the details that you need to know.

Over long periods of time, months, and years, small daily doses of multiple contaminants have

cumulative detrimental effects on pathways that our bodies rid themselves of toxins. Eventually, these toxins fully impair these naturally detoxifying pathways and cause disease.

I like to use a bucket analogy to explain this a little better. Think of your body as a bucket. Over time, your bucket gets filled with things like toxins and contaminants (more on where we get those in a second). Our liver, kidneys, and the rest of our body tries to keep up with what is being put into this bucket each day. If our total toxic load (body burden) becomes too much and our liver, kidneys, and body can’t keep up, then our bucket overflows and the toxins spill out of our bucket and overwhelm our body. Then we see disease processes begin.

Where do toxins come from?

Is everywhere a concise enough answer for ya? Because that’s the most accurate one.

Toxins come from food, air, water. They are called exogenous because they are from OUTSIDE of the body, the can be naturally occurring or synthetic. A few examples, well more than a few examples are: Heavy metals, UV radiation, products of combustion (smog, etc.), oxidation (free radicals),