Written by Vera Coetsee, Health and Nutrition Coach
8 January 2024
The New Year symbolises new beginnings, making it the perfect time to reset your body and mind with a detox. The holiday season is typically marked by festivities that often include indulging in rich foods, sweets, and celebratory drinks. While enjoyable, this period of indulgence can leave our bodies feeling sluggish and overwhelmed. The New Year provides a natural breakpoint, a chance to leave behind the excesses of the festive season and start anew.
Detoxification refers to biological processes happening all the time in our body to remove toxins and waste. On a day-to-day basis the liver, colon, kidneys, skin and lymphatics are working hard to continuously remove these toxins from our body. We are exposed to so many chemicals every day, be it in our food supply, the air we breathe, daily use of cosmetics, and other chemical agents in cleaning. The exposure to these chemicals are very harmful and can cause potential damage, such as placing an extra burden on our detoxification organs. It is, therefore, important to adopt some healthy practices, which support our organs in flushing out the toxins.
Consume wholefoods and support with supplements
When it comes to the importance of detoxification, the first thing to do is to stop bringing toxins into your body, and the place to start is with the food on your plate. It is important to buy natural, alive, and good quality foods which will support your detoxification organs such as your liver. Liver supporting foods include beets, lemons, grapefruit, blueberries, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, eggs, fatty fish and nuts. Supplements containing antioxidants can help to combat the many free radicals generated during detoxification. Antioxidants include vitamin C, lipoic acid, glutathione, selenium, zinc, magnesium, iron, vit B2 and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC).
Eliminate toxins with infrared sauna
An infrared sauna is a type of sauna that uses infrared heaters to emit infrared light experienced as radiant heat which is absorbed by the surface of the skin. Infrared saunas offer an effective way to help the body detoxify. Infrared sauna uses specific wavelengths of infrared light to penetrate deep into fat tissues to eliminate toxins from sweat and promote effortless, deep, productive sweat for detoxification. In a sauna session, the body is able to get rid of heavy metals, toxins, chemicals, nicotine, and other harmful substances by removing them via your sweat.
Replenish your nutrients with IV therapy
An IV therapy of antioxidants can help in the direct delivery of antioxidants to the liver and fight oxidative stress from heavy metals, which is key in detoxification. IV therapy assists with detoxification by supporting the liver and replenishing vital nutrients, which will help get rid of harmful toxins and heavy metals. At Restore Integrative Medical Clinic, we offer a liver detox and antioxidant boost IV which includes B vitamins to boost liver detoxification and antioxidants to fight oxidative stress. Our medical chelation helps to pull heavy metals out from the body to be excreted through the urinary system.
Relax with a lymphatic massage
A good lymphatic massage is helpful for stimulating the lymphatic drainage system in the body to remove excess fluids and eliminate waste and toxins from the body. A lymphatic massage therapist can identify the rhythm, direction, and quality of the lymphatic flow and remap drainage pathways, which can reduce fluid retention and unclog lymphatic channels for detoxification.
At Restore Integrative Medical Clinic, we offer a unique detox program that combines nutrition, nutraceuticals, IV antioxidant infusion, infrared sauna and lymphatic massage to enhance all channels of detoxification. This is helpful for removing toxins like heavy metals and mold from the body. Make an appointment at our clinic here.
Sources:
Grant DM. Detoxification pathways in the liver. J Inherit Metab Dis. 1991;14(4):421-30. doi: 10.1007/BF01797915. PMID: 1749210. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1749210/
Li P, Su R, Yin R, Lai D, Wang M, Liu Y, Zhou L. Detoxification of Mycotoxins through Biotransformation. Toxins (Basel). 2020 Feb 14;12(2):121. doi: 10.3390/toxins12020121. PMID: 32075201; PMCID: PMC7076809. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32075201/