Why Is Detoxification Good for Health? How to Supercharge Your Natural Detox Pathways

What comes to mind when you hear the words “detox” or “detoxification”? If these words immediately elicit thoughts of fasting for extended periods of time or guzzling down foul-tasting juices and detox teas, you’re certainly not alone. There are countless companies and advertisements peddling intense and often unpleasant protocols to help you “detox” your body.

But the truth is, supporting your body’s ability to eliminate toxins certainly doesn’t have to be complex or miserable. In this blog, we’re going to dive into exactly what detoxification actually entails, why supporting your detoxification pathways is so crucial in our modern world, and explore some potent strategies to supercharge your natural ability to detox.

Detoxification Defined: What Does Detoxification Do for the Body?

What does it even mean to support “detoxification”? In simplest terms, detoxification is a process that takes any compounds that exert a toxic effect on your body and converts them into a less toxic form – allowing them to be more effectively and more readily eliminated from your body.

Detoxification is an ongoing process that’s continuously taking place throughout your body and consists of 3 distinct phases which are:

• Bioactivation: Your cells transform toxins into a more usable form. Think of this phase sort of like “bagging up” any “garbage” that’s hanging around.
• Conjugation: This phase prepares this “usable” form of the toxin for transport – like putting the “bag” of garbage into the waste bin so it can be taken away.
• Transport: In the final phase of detoxification, toxins – aka the garbage – are picked up and transported out of the body.

Because we inevitably come into contact with a plethora of toxins on a daily basis, our bodies have their own built-in, all-natural detoxification pathways.  

Major Detoxification Systems of the Body

Your body naturally neutralizes and eliminates toxins via the following detox pathways:^1,2,3,4

• Your liver: Think of your liver as a sort of “weigh-station” for your blood – with your liver cells inspecting, sorting, and processing any compounds floating within your bloodstream. If your liver detects toxins, the compound is labeled, altered if needed, and packaged up to be shipped to your kidneys or digestive tract for elimination.
• Your kidneys: Your kidneys serve as a major filtration unit – with your kidney cells working together to filter and trap any toxins so they can be discarded via your urine.
• Your digestive system: Your digestive system is designed to eliminate not only undigested food, but also waste materials, and toxins every time you go to the bathroom.
• Your skin: Breaking a sweat isn’t just good for your fitness. Sweating can also serve as a vital detoxification pathway to release toxins through the pores of your skin.

So if these detoxification systems are doing their job in the background, why should we be worried about boosting our body’s ability to detox?

Why Worry About Detoxification? The Benefits of Detoxing

Our bodies are well-equipped to handle an influx of potentially harmful toxins. But the problem arises when the amount of toxins coming in exceeds your body’s ability to effectively detox. Think of your ability to hold and process toxins like a bucket.

Your “toxin bucket” can effectively hold a certain amount of toxins at any given time. When toxins begin flooding in and your overall toxic load begins to climb, this toxin bucket can overflow – allowing toxins to accumulate within your body. This overflow and accumulation of toxins can overwhelm and burn out your detoxification pathways – which can have a domino effect triggering things like:

• Impaired immune function
• Imbalanced hormones and neurotransmitters
• Increased inflammation

Underlying imbalances like these can be the root cause of countless conditions ranging from autoimmunity to endocrine disorders and from infertility to severe allergies. Meaning the primary benefit of supporting and enhancing detoxification is preventing the development of a wide array of health conditions.

But what’s the best way to go about boosting detoxification?

Detox Diets, Cleanses, and Fasts: Do They Really Work?

The answer to this question is – it’s complicated. You see, many of these short-term fad detox diets, cleanses, and fasts may indeed speed up the release of some accumulated toxins. But the problem is, they don’t provide your detox pathways with the additional support they need to package up and eliminate these toxins properly.

This means that oftentimes, short-term detox programs that utilize a crash diet, fasting, or living off of juices can actually have the opposite effect – overwhelming your detox pathways, allowing toxins to be reabsorbed, and making you feel downright crummy. So rather than partaking in a “quick-fix” detox program, the best way to amplify your ability to detox is by taking a big-picture approach.

Let’s dive a little deeper into what it means to take a big-picture approach to help your body detox naturally.

So, How Can I Detox My Body Naturally?

The very best way to detox your body naturally is to optimize your natural detox pathways while simultaneously minimizing your exposure to environmental toxins. Here are some practical and powerful ways to accomplish this:

• Eat “clean”: Opt for organic fruits, veggies, grains, nuts, and animal products when possible to minimize the amount of toxins (like pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers) that make their way into your body.
• Switch to less toxic products: The products you use on a daily basis in your home and on your body can majorly contribute to your overall toxin exposure. Swap out conventional cleaning, beauty, and personal care products for less toxic ones.
• Filter your air and water: Unfortunately our air and our water can be chock-full of health disrupting environmental toxins. And because we obviously cannot survive without copious amounts of both air and water, these can be major contributors to your overall toxic load. Click here to learn more about air pollution and click here to learn more about toxins that may be tainting your tap water.
• Optimize your gut health: The health of your gut can drastically impact your ability to properly detox. Support your gut health by minimizing processed gut-irritating foods, promoting a healthy and diverse microbiome (the ecosystem of microbes that live in your gut), and ensuring you’re regularly going to the bathroom. If you have ongoing tummy troubles or are concerned your gut might not be in tip-top shape, it can be helpful to try a therapy known as colon hydrotherapy that can help essentially hit the reset button on your gut – promoting healing, optimal digestion, and enhanced detoxification.
• Sweat it out: Sweating can be a powerful way to mobilize and eliminate stored toxins. While exercising is certainly one way to work up a sweat, you can also sweat out toxins via a therapy known as infrared sauna detoxification therapy. By sending healing energy waves that penetrate deep into your tissues, infrared sauna therapy stimulates the release of toxins and triggers your body to sweat – allowing you to sweat out toxins without having to lift a finger.
• Supercharge your nutrients: Your cells and detox pathways rely on countless vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to perform their detoxification duties properly. But it can be hard to ensure you have an abundance of these detox-supporting nutrients through diet alone. That’s where IV nutrient therapy can help. By directly infusing a personalized cocktail of concentrated nutrients, you can not only nourish your cells but supercharge their ability to detox.
• Recharge your cellular batteries: Nutrients aren’t the only things that dictate your cells’ ability to function – they also rely on electrical and chemical energy fields to help them carry out their duties. By directing pulsed energy waves in the form of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, you can recharge and amplify your cells’ natural energy – allowing them to better mobilize, package, and ship out toxins.
• Maximize your cellular oxygen: Ozone is a gas made up of 3 atoms of oxygen. When you introduce ozone into your body via targeted ozone therapy, your bloodstream is saturated with oxygen – boosting your immune system and maximizing detoxification by binding to and neutralizing free-floating toxins.

You can certainly support and promote detoxification through some simple lifestyle tweaks. But if you want to shortcut your way to accelerated detoxification and better health, your best bet is to implement some powerfully potent biohacking strategies. The term “biohacking” simply refers to a strategic series of techniques that essentially “hack” your own biology to shortcut and optimize your ability to achieve a goal – like supercharging detoxification.

The therapies listed above are just a handful of powerful biohacking techniques that can not only maximize your natural detoxification pathways, but dramatically elevate your overall health, happiness, and longevity. But before you dive into a detoxification protocol, it’s important to know that it can sometimes come with some minor side effects.

Can Detoxing Cause Flu-Like Symptoms?

The answer to this question is – sometimes, yes. While a proper detoxification protocol should always be completed under the guidance of an experienced practitioner to decrease the chances of any unpleasant side effects, sometimes you may experience minor, flu-like symptoms.

You see, as your body releases, processes, and eventually eliminates any accumulated toxins, it can temporarily throw your body’s equilibrium slightly off-kilter – causing you to feel crummy before you feel better. But the good news is, most of the time these symptoms are short-lived. And once they pass, most people report feeling rejuvenated and reinvigorated.

Looking to Flush Toxins and Naturally Detox Your Body in the Phoenix Arizona Area

Ensuring your detoxification pathways are firing on all cylinders is more important than ever in today’s increasingly toxic world. If your primary, all-natural detoxification pathways become “jammed up” or overwhelmed, your body simply can’t function at optimal levels – which can have a domino effect that can put a serious damper on your health, mood, appearance, and longevity. Whether you’re managing an ongoing condition, healing an imbalance, or simply seeking to improve your well-being – you can’t afford to ignore your ability to properly detox.

If you’re in Phoenix or the surrounding areas and you’re ready to take the next step in up-leveling your detoxification pathways, we’ve got you covered. One of our primary areas of focus is accelerating and optimizing your ability to eliminate and properly process any accumulated toxins while equipping your body with the support it needs to handle incoming toxins.

We take a multi-pronged approach – helping you create a low-tox lifestyle while simultaneously implementing an arsenal of potent, cutting-edge biohacking strategies to help you look, feel, and perform your best as quickly as possible. If you’re ready to take the next step and discover what it feels like to take your health up a notch, come into Silver Tree Wellness and consult with one of our experienced practitioners – we’ll come up with a comprehensive plan for your health that’s as unique as you are.

To schedule your consultation, call our office at 602-675-0170 or send us an email by clicking right here. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Resources

1. What Does the Liver Do? | Children’s Pittsburgh (chp.edu)
2. The Kidney Dysfunction Epidemic, Part 1: Causes – PMC (nih.gov)
3. Modulation of Intestinal Functions by Dietary Substances: An Effective Approach to Health Promotion – PMC (nih.gov)
4. Decreased Skin-Mediated Detoxification Contributes to Oxidative Stress and Insulin Resistance – PMC (nih.gov)

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