Written by Vera Coetsee, Health and Nutrition Coach
1 Dec 2022
With the holiday season approaching, many people are getting ready for socials, events, late nights, and overindulging in food and drinks. Although this can be an exciting time to look forward to, your digestive system might not agree. Before you start celebrating, it might be a good time to look into importance of detoxification. If not before the holiday season, then definitely after when your stomach needs the much deserved break.
But what exactly is detoxification and what does it entail? For most people, juice and diet cleanses come to mind when we think of detoxification. But detoxification actually 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. So if our organs are already detoxifying for us, do we really need to do anything to help with the process? The answer is yes. 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.
The liver is one of the largest and most important organs in the body and key in the importance of detoxification. It is the primary organ of detoxification since it has the ability to transform waste products and toxins into water soluble substances to be eliminated via the bile, bowels or sweat. In order to do the job properly, the liver has to be supplied with the right nutrients, vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants to fight the oxidative stress that comes from the toxins. Luckily for us, there are helpful practices and resources out there that we can incorporate to help provide our liver with these nutrients and antioxidants.
So let’s look at resources that you can use to help your body detoxify:
Detox Diet and 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. Unfortunately, the number of food additives in today’s food supply chain are staggering, which places a heavy burden on our livers to detoxify these chemicals. Pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, heavy metals and chemicals can all strain your natural detoxification systems. It is, therefore, important to buy natural, alive, and good quality foods which will support your detoxification organs such as your liver. Research shows there are specific foods that can help your body boost its detox power. Liver supporting foods include beets, lemons, grapefruit, blueberries, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, eggs, fatty fish and nuts. So make sure to add clean sources of these foods in your daily diet. After several days of eating more detoxifying foods, you will start to sleep better and feel more energetic. Vitamins to support the liver are also very beneficial to help the detoxification process. 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).
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. Instead of steam or flame-stoked heat, like most traditional saunas or steam rooms, infrared saunas use infrared lamps and electromagnetic magic to create warmth. The health benefits come from the fact that infrared heat your body directly, and the warmth penetrates more deeply compared to traditional saunas. This is why 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. Other benefits of infrared sauna include heart health, anti-aging and skin health, weight loss, better sleep and stress reduction.
IV therapy
IV therapy is a delivery method for fluids and medication. “IV” stands for intravenous, which means the fluid is administered through the veins. During an IV infusion, your body receives nutrients directly into the bloodstream. This bypasses the digestive system, which would otherwise lower the amount of vitamins your body can absorb. With drip hydration, nutrients are instantly available, so your body can absorb 100% of what it needs before passing along the rest to your kidneys to be flushed out. 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.
Deep Lymphatic Massage
The lymphatic system is the secondary system of circulation in the body with the major task of cleaning and nourishing the cells. A lymphatic massage is a therapy performed with the intention of stimulating the body’s lymph system. The idea is that waste products can be removed from the body more efficiently, which is important for detoxification. 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.
So who should be undergoing a medical detoxification? Unfortunately, with the increase of toxins in our environment and the burden our diets are placing on our liver, most individuals need assistance when it comes to detoxification and need to understand the importance of 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 today to find out more about this program and to understand the importance of detoxification or go to our website to find out more.