After the holidays when we eat more food we may not typically eat, things that contain SUGAR, CAFFEINE, ALCOHOL, DAIRY, and GLUTEN.
It’s common to feel like you need to go back to basics and clean up your diet in order to FEEL normal again.
The reason why this happens is because the things you ingest – like sugar, caffeine, dairy and alcohol, affect multiple detox pathways in the liver, affect your metabolism, and change gut function.
Most people who need to detox feel sluggish, puffy, see a change in digestive function, acne and skin issues, low energy, brain fog, and symptoms of blood sugar ups and downs like anxiety or being hangry.
I think it all boils down to the biochemistry of how these things affect your detoxification pathways.
There’s a couple of layers to WHY you need to detox:
LAYER ONE: If detox pathways are blocked, that’s when symptoms occur.
LAYER TWO: If a person doesn’t detox well, that affects gene function.
LAYER THREE: Poorly functioning genes, affect your ability to detox period, this is without any sort of medical conditions, stressors, medications, and other issues.
LAYER FOUR: Your environment affects how well your detox pathways work. If you smoke, that depletes glutathione. You need a molecule for glutathione for each molecule that goes through phase I of detoxification. Lack of antioxidants = faster aging and development of more disease, like autoimmune diseases. Smoking is just one example. Another example would be that alcohol intake depletes minerals and B vitamins and neurotransmitters.
So that’s WHY you get symptoms – but let us look at the detox phases so that we understand some detox basics:
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Phase 1 is in the liver. It’s where your body starts to transform chemicals, hormones, and toxins.
After phase 1 is phase 2. This is where your body takes those chemicals and nutrients and packages them up and shuttles them to phase 3.
Phase 3 is in the gut – it’s where you poop things out.
Fun fact: The liver detoxifies caffeine using the same system (the CYP1A2 enzyme system), which is also responsible for initial metabolism of estrogen during Phase 1 clearance by the liver.
Phase 3 is a common problem, especially in sedentary Americans. If you’re not pooping once or twice a day – a well formed, fully evacuated poop, then you’re not fully utilizing phase 3. If the stool doesn’t leave the body, toxins and hormones like estrogen get reabsorbed into the bloodstream.
And this is just two organ systems of detox (liver and gut). This is me not even talking about how the gallbladder, kidneys, and lymph work!
So if you have symptoms after the holidays OR if you had a lot of symptoms before – a detox can help!
Here’s a couple of things to think about before you detox:
- You can’t detox if the skin isn’t open and you aren’t sweating.
- Pushing any detox protocols or supplements without having consistent bowel movements is not smart.
- Detoxing a stressed or depleted person is not smart.
- Detoxing without a clear goal, is not smart.
- Extremes do not work for detox – that’s why the Bold approach is holistic
- Juice cleanses wreak havoc on blood sugar and don’t work
- Protein shakes and heavy workouts don’t work
- 5 day flushes from the local organic food store don’t work
- You have to do something comprehensive if you want lasting results!!
- There needs to be a sufficient amount of nutrients (vitamins and minerals) on board for detox pathways to move forward
My favorite way to detox is HOLISTIC – it’s a combo of diet, supplements, and lifestyle hacks.
I talk about ALL this in my Be Bold Detox Program. So if you want a self-guided program with video modules, handouts, recipes, then this program is for you. If you want personal 1:1 advice, set up an appointment with me!
I hope these things HELP YOU make the right decisions for your health. If you want more information, there’s a video on this topic on my Instagram, and it goes into a little bit more depth.