How to Enhance Your Body’s Natural Detoxification System
Approximate average reading time is 9 minutes.
Note: This article pulls directly from a recent “healthline” article titled “What is a Full-body Detox?” It was last edited by a medical professional on May 16, 2023. Click the embedded hyperlink to read the article in its entirety.
“Detoxification” and “detox” are current buzzwords, implying that we need artifice to cleanse our bodies. The word “toxin” in the context of the body refers to the presence of synthetic chemicals, heavy metals, and over processed foods that negatively impact our health. Our bodies, however, are fully capable of detoxifying themselves without any special diets or supplements.
Think of yourself as an amazing living machine comprised of an integrated collection of organs (the lungs, liver, kidneys, digestive system, and skin) working together to cleanse your body. When these organs are healthy, they effectively eliminate unwanted substances from your body.
By making some simple lifestyle and dietary changes, you may very well enhance your body’s natural detoxification system:
Limit Alcohol
I love a good lemon drop martini, but do I need one every day? No. Drinking too much alcohol reduces the liver’s ability to function normally. Limiting or abstaining from alcohol is one of the best ways to ensure that our body’s detoxification system is working at its best. Health professionals recommend limiting alcohol intake to one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. Ideally, however, we should abstain from alcohol altogether.
Get Enough Sleep
Quality sleep is another way that our bodies naturally detoxify. If you are sleep deprived, your body does not get the time it needs to remove toxins that can build up and negatively impact your health. Lack of sleep contributes to increased stress and anxiety, high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Most health professionals recommend between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per day.
It’s interesting to me that traditional Chinese medicine uses an “organ body clock” organized around the concept of the ebb and flow of energy within the body. For example, during the hours of nighttime rest (say 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM), the body is cycling through a series of cleanses that restore it and keep it functioning in a healthy manner. It starts with the endocrine system (9:00 to 11:00 PM), the gall bladder (11:00 PM to 1:00 AM), the liver (1:00 AM to 3:00 AM), the lungs (3:00 AM to 5:00 AM), and the large intestine (5:00 AM to 7:00 AM). If you should find yourself waking up at the same time on a routine basis, that may be an indication of a detoxification system in need of attention. For me, that concept of the body repairing itself system by system, organ by organ, makes so much sense. It puts into perspective just how important sleep really is to our overall good health.
Drink More Water
Water does so much for our bodies. It helps to regulate our body temperature, lubricates our joints, aids digestion and the absorption of nutrients, and detoxifies our bodies by removing waste products. Our bodies are continuously repairing and restoring themselves, and these processes release wastes in the form of urea and carbon dioxide. Water helps our bodies to effectively remove these toxins from our blood.
According to Mayo Clinic, women living in a temperate climate should drink 11.5 cups (92 ounces) of fluid a day. Men should drink 15.5 cups (124 ounces). Their recommendations cover fluid intake from water, other beverages, and food. About 20% of daily fluid intake comes from food, the remainder from liquids, ideally water.
Limit Sugar and Processed Foods
More and more health professionals attribute today’s public health crisis to the amount of sugar and over processed foods we ingest. For reference, “processed foods” can include any food item that has been canned, cooked, frozen, or packaged. We can enjoy many processed foods (frozen fruits and vegetables and pasteurized dairy) as part of a healthy diet. We need to be aware, however, that some highly processed items are loaded with salt, sugar, additives, and preservatives that can harm us. Scientific research links the consumption of sugar and highly processed foods to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Doctors nationwide are stressing the importance of eliminating junk foods entirely from our diets and replacing them with fruits and vegetables.
Eat Antioxidant-Rich Foods
Our body naturally produces molecules known as free radicals. Exposure to alcohol, tobacco, poor diet, and environmental pollutants, however, can cause our body to produce excessive amounts. Antioxidants protect our cells against damage from free radicals. Eating foods rich in antioxidants helps to counter the stressors that contribute to dementia, heart and liver disease, asthma, and certain types of cancer. Antioxidants contain vitamins A, C, E, selenium, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin. These nutrients can be found in berries, nuts, cocoa, vegetables, spices, and beverages like coffee and green tea.
Eat Foods High in Prebiotics
Gut health is important to keeping your detoxification system healthy. Prebiotics, a type of fiber that feeds the good bacteria in your gut, can help address unhealthy shifts in bacteria caused by antibiotics, poor dental health, and poor diet. Good sources of prebiotics include tomatoes, artichokes, bananas, asparagus, onions, garlic, and oats.
Reduce Salt Intake
Consuming too much salt can cause your body to retain excess fluid. Increasing your water intake, while it may seem counterintuitive, is one of the best ways to eliminate wastes from your system. Foods rich in potassium can also help—foods like potatoes, squash, kidney beans, bananas, and spinach.
Stay Active
Regular exercise can help to reduce inflammation in the body. You should aim for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise (like walking) a week or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise (like running) a week. By the way, I can hear Beverly saying in my head, walk a mile a day in 20 minutes.
Take good care of your body: it’s an efficient detoxification system. Limiting (or eliminating) alcohol and tobacco, getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, and eating a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables should not be a surprise. We know this even when we choose to ignore it. I leave you with a quote from Publilius Syrus, a first century Latin writer. “Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings.” Common sense never gets old.
