If your body in too toxic it may interfere with weight loss.
Spring is a great time to detox but stay away from chemist/supermarket and even health food detox programs! Yes… Really! In a nutshell “they are rubbish and dangerous”. You should always undergo a detox program under the care of a healthcare practitioner.
Why? Because when you put your body in detox mode it increases the “load” on your liver. If your liver in already on the “sluggish side”, which is common for many of us living in a western society your liver is going to struggle to cope with the increased toxic load (as a result of detoxing). Consequently you will find yourself feeling quite unwell.
I often hear people on detoxing programs running around saying that feeling unwell is a type of “healing crisis”. I am sorry but that is absolute “BS”. Feeling unwell during a detox is due to the fact that your liver is unable to clear the toxins adequately from the body and as a result toxic metabolites are released into the blood stream: As a result I have seen many people end up feeling dreadful; lethargic, breaking out in hives and rashes, headaches, hives, pimples, migraines, nausea, vomiting and worse. Moreover, having these toxic substances floating around your blood stream creates high levels of inflammation and oxidation that does damage to your bodies cells. Not a good idea and should be avoided always.
If done properly you can detox and avoid all these nasty consequences. It requires addressing the inflammation originating in the gut first before promoting liver detoxification pathways. Secondly, phase 1 and 2 liver detoxification pathways must be balanced. It is very common for phase 2 detoxification pathways to be sluggish leading to phase 1 detoxification metabolites entering the blood stream causing the detoxing person to feel unwell.
A healthcare practitioner can support the liver with nutrients and herbal formulas to make sure your liver is able to effectively detox. If this is managed correctly you will feel well throughout the detoxification process. Additionally, most “over the counter” products do nothing to clear and repair gut inflammation. Before even looking at up-regulating liver detoxification pathways the gut should undergo a gut repair and regeneration program.
With gut inflammation reduced, the liver has a reduced load and can deal with up-regulating liver detoxification far more efficiently. Detox by all means but please do it under supervision of a health care professional.
