6 Ways to Support Detoxification Naturally

Detoxification is something that our bodies are constantly doing every day. It’s not necessarily a fancy supplement program you buy or a three day juice cleanse – although these things can help us detox, there are many things we can do each day to help support our body’s natural detoxification process!

1. Eat your fruits and veggies!

Our mothers have been telling us to do this from day one, right? But why is it so important? I don’t know about you, but if I know the why behind something, it’s easier for me to make those choices every day. Our bodies actually see processed food as a toxin. Sounds crazy but think about it, have you ever eaten deep fried Chinese food or fast food for 3 days in a row? Not speaking from experience or anything… 😉 but yeah I pretty much feel terrible after that. It’s important to eat real whole foods, but fruits and veggies are especially important for detoxification. Fruits and veggies have glutathione which is so important in Phase 2 detoxification in the liver where it binds to toxins so they can be eliminated. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that protects our cells from the dangerous toxins we come in contact with. Also, the fiber in fruits and veggies keeps things moving so that the toxins that have been broken down by the liver and sent out through bile can be eliminated! If this doesn’t happen, constipation can cause these toxins to actually get reabsorbed through the intestinal wall and get back into our bloodstream. This causes the liver to have to filter through them all over again.

Lemons have D-limonene in their peel which induces Phase 1 and 2 detoxification to neutralize carcinogens. It also helps prevent depletion of glutathione! So adding a slice of lemon to your water can help your body detox!

2. Eat good quality fats!

Cells are the basic unit of what makes up our entire bodies. Our bodies are essentially organs made up of a bunch of tiny cells. So, if our cells aren’t functioning properly we will experience a lot of negative symptoms that show up in different ways, but it all begins on a cellular level.

Our energy comes from proper cellular metabolism

The blood brings the cells the nutrients it needs to survive, and the blood along with the lymph also take waste away from the cell. The cell membrane talks to other cells and allows things to enter and exit appropriately. Imagine if you couldn’t take your garbage out for weeks and it just piled up and stunk up the entire house?! That’s the same way it is for cells. So how do we help these little guys out? Eating saturated fats like egg yolks, butter, and coconut oil can help build healthy cell membranes since the membrane is a phospholipid bilayer (a double layer of fat!). This way our cells can do a mini detox themselves and let good nutrients in and put the waste out!

3. Choose products wisely

Lately there has been a lot of hype about “more natural” products. Everything from laundry detergent, make-up, and cleaning supplies have hit the market lately. At first I thought this was just a crunchy marketing scheme. But a lot of the products that we use everyday contain a lot of chemicals that get absorbed into our skin and go into our bloodstream or products that we breath in that go into our lungs and then make their way into our bloodstream. Our livers have to process all of these toxins and chemicals, which can put a big burden on it when it has a lot of other jobs to do (over 500 actually!). I know it can seem like a huge thing, not to mention super expensive to switch out every product you use in your home, but using products that have less chemicals can benefit your health and give your liver a boost!

Instead of spending an entire paycheck overhauling every product you use, I would suggest replacing products as they run out or starting with the ones that are on your skin all day or that you breathe in all the time. Things like body lotion and laundry detergent sit on our skin all day, so those might be some of the first ones you choose to switch out. Or if you use a lot of cleaning products every day, that might be a good place to start! There are a ton of products out there that are a less toxic or you can always make your own at home or use vinegar and baking soda – I know it’s not the same as that fresh smell of bleach that makes you feel like you really got a good deep clean though, but your liver will thank you! You can find these products pretty much everywhere now, Seventh Generation is a better brand to look for in cleaning products. Also, Beauty Counter is a great option for things like make up and skin care products since they test for heavy metals and many other harmful ingredients.

4. Work up a sweat!

Our bodies can eliminate toxins by excreting them through our bowels, urine, or sweat. This is why exercise is so important because it can help us sweat out toxins. Also, by working our muscles during exercise, it helps move our lymphatic fluid, which serves as a pre-filter of the blood for our liver. Our lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump like the circulatory system has the heart to pump blood around. Since it also flows upward against gravity, movement and exercise can really help its flow, which makes it easier for the body to eliminate waste products. Especially exercises like jump rope or jumping on a trampoline can help stimulate lymphatic circulation and help you work up a sweat – two birds with one stone!

5. Dry Brushing

If you haven’t heard of this, it’s pretty much what it sounds like! Just take a dry brush and brush over your entire body, starting from your arms and always working towards your heart. Then start from the bottom of your feet and again work up towards your heart. Just like with exercise, dry brushing helps increase blood and lymphatic circulation which helps us to get rid of toxins. This method also can help control cellulite which is a good enough reason in my book!

6. Focus on the Good!

In the Bible there are many verses in which God commands us to “be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) and “to fear not” (Isaiah 41:10). It’s amazing that science is actually proving the benefits of obeying God in this. Stress produces hormones that can mess up our bodies’ detoxification process. When we are stressed our sympathetic nervous system is turned on (think fight or flight mode) but when we are relaxed and at ease our parasympathetic nervous system is set.

Detoxification is a parasympathetic process

This means if we’re in a constant state of stress, it’s hard for our bodies to do what they need to in order to detox. Things like deep breathing exercises can help switch on that parasympathetic system. Also meditating on God’s word, and doing what it says in His word: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8. Changing our thoughts to focus on God and His word and to be joyful always has benefits for our spiritual health as well as our physical he

alth!

I know some of these things can seem pretty basic and we’ve all heard to eat our veggies and exercise for better health, but I hope that knowing the why behind these things can help give you more of a purpose to make those choices each day!