In this issue:
SPRING CLEANING & THE FOUR ESSENTIAL STEPS TO DETOX
Spring cleaning makes this kat sneeze. Nevertheless, the humans have been at
it, and, ha, ha, Zac got zapped in the process. Check out Zac’s before and after
shots on our Favorite Pets page.
Meanwhile, every minute of every day, your body is actively in “spring
cleaning” mode, doing its job “detoxifying” your system. Sometimes your body is
successful. However, sometimes, your body’s detox system can be worn down
through overuse.
As a result, your body can become increasingly toxic, causing inflammation to
get out of control. This chronic inflammation is often associated with illnesses
such as arthritis, heart disease, allergies, chronic fatigue or mood disorders,
just to name a few.
Carol Dean, MD & ND, in the book Stopping Inflammation talks about the
link between toxicity and inflammation, stating that there are four areas of
focus for healthy detoxification, including:
- Identify toxins in your environment and diet and decrease your exposure.
- Maximize excretion of toxins from your body.
- Enhance nutritional support for your “detox pathways”.
- Re-establish a healthy intestinal flora balance.
With this in mind, let’s explore each of these four important detox steps.
DETOX STEP 1: IDENTIFYING TOXINS IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT & DIET
In identifying toxins that hurt and bog down your body, it is important to
know where they come from, including assessing your exposure from:
- External toxins – external toxins are those environmental factors that
can be difficult to control. These can include exhaust fumes from cars or
manufacturing plants, pesticides or herbicides, ultraviolet rays, heavy
metal contamination, and so forth.
- Internal toxins – internal toxins are a different story. You can largely
control your exposure to these toxins (e.g., poor diet, smoking, alcohol,
antibiotics, prescription drugs, bacteria, viruses, etc.).
DETOX STEP 2: ELIMINATION THROUGH FASTING, SWEATING & MORE!
The next step in detoxification is helping your body eliminate toxins
naturally. Many traditional healing systems -- from Chinese to Native American
-- include special dietary fasts to help the body detoxify itself more
effectively.
Fasting does not necessarily mean giving up food entirely. Instead, a useful
definition involves eating and drinking “simply” -- abandoning overeating and
non-wholesome foods. For more on fasting, take a look at these studies:
If fasting is not your thing, you may want to experiment with a few other
healthy activities that maximize toxin excretion, including:
- Hot baths & steam baths (your skin is actually your biggest organ for
releasing toxins stored in your body)
- Massage (a good massage stimulates your lymphatic system, increases
blood circulation, decongests the pores and assists with respiration)
- Skin brushing (removes dead skin cells and opens pores)
- Exercise (yep, vigorous is better, as in “never be afraid to let ‘em see
you sweat”).
DETOX STEP 3: DIETARY ASSISTANCE FOR YOUR DETOX SYSTEM
The third step in detoxification is fundamental and involves eliminating the
dietary stresses of modern diets. Recently,
Dr. Hugo Rodier, at the Integrative
Health Conference in Salt Lake City, discussed this very topic.
Dr. Rodier -- a leading integrative physician who teaches at the University
of Utah’s Medical School and School of Nutrition – can sound a bit like a broken
record when it comes to diet, gently encouraging people who want to start with
“pills” (whether pharmaceutical or nutraceutical) to start with their diets.
Dr. Rodier recommends decreasing food toxins by replacing diets containing
refined sugars and that are high in saturated fats and processed foods with
healthier diets emphasizing fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, legumes, whole
grains, and pure water.
Whole foods diets are the least stressful to your body and allow your body to
focus more effectively on flushing out accumulated toxins.
For those of you with great taste in natural food, hurray!
For those of you with dreadful, sneaky food habits, and no taste for raw or
healthy foods, just remember this simple advice: “If it tastes good, spit it
out.” ^..^
DETOX STEP 3 CONTINUED: SUPPLEMENTS & HERBS FOR PROMOTING DETOX
Multi-vitamins, antioxidants, B-vitamins, calcium, and trace minerals are all
critical to supporting detoxification processes in your body.
Additionally, our sale items,
Milk Thistle
and Alpha Lipoic Acid, along with
SAM-e are excellent additions to any
detox routine. Here’s the scoop.
MILK THISTLE
Detoxification occurs mostly in the liver, which has several roles. The liver
filters the blood to remove large toxins, synthesizes and secretes bile, and
also dissembles unwanted chemicals. A big job!
Milk Thistle, or the extract of
Milk Thistle, known as silymarin, is well-known for its ability to protect the
liver and enhance the detox process.
The silymarin in Milk Thistle acts as an antioxidant, preventing damage to
the liver.
Although there are better-known antioxidants, including vitamins A, C, and E,
Milk Thistle is TEN times more potent in supporting the liver!
Glutathione is another important antioxidant, which is primarily synthesized
in the liver. Studies have shown that the higher the level of glutathione, the
greater the liver’s ability to detoxify. This is because glutathione actually
participants in a stage of the detoxification process.
Fat-soluble toxins are pretty common during detox; however, they are not
usually excreted, but instead reabsorbed (not pretty, eh?).
Glutathione, as it turns out, binds to fat-soluble toxin and converts it to a
water-soluble compound, which can be easily excreted.
The question usually arises, why not take a glutathione supplement?
Studies have repeatedly found that glutathione taken orally (in supplements)
is NOT efficiently absorbed by the body.
So, the best ways to increase glutathione in the body are:
- By diet – such as asparagus, walnuts, and avocado, for example.
- By encouraging glutathione synthesis – with the help of Milk Thistle,
Alpha Lipoic Acid, SAM-e, and even Vitamin C.
Research indicates that Milk Thistle actually increases glutathione levels in
the body. In addition, Milk Thistle also prevents depletion of glutathione when
your liver has been subject to bad boys like synthetic chemicals and even
alcohol.
For more information:
ALPHA LIPOIC ACID
Many in the research fields consider
Alpha
Lipoic Acid as an “ideal antioxidant.” In addition to its free-radical
scavenger abilities, ALA has been shown to provoke cells into producing
significantly higher levels of glutathione!
Alpha Lipoic Acid has also been shown to regenerate or salvage oxidized forms
of antioxidants, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and glutathione – making them
serviceable again. Hurray for recycling!
Toxic metals are also usually in trouble when Alpha Lipoic Acid is around,
since Alpha Lipoic Acid is a valuable chelating agent.
Chelation is the process of “grabbing” metallic substances, neutralizing
them, and carrying them off to be easily excreted by the body.
Pretty good stuff, eh?
SAM-E
SAM-e (or S-adenosylmethionine –
try saying that one fast) is another major compound found in the liver.
Interestingly enough, SAM-e is a precursor of glutathione (yes, we have a
glutathione theme going here).
SAM-e supports an important biochemical process called methylation. In
methylation, SAM-e supplies methyl groups to catalyze other reactions vital to
the detoxification process.
Fast Factoids: Once SAM-e has done its methylation duty it is
ultimately converted to homocysteine, which can be toxic if not converted by B
vitamins. That is why we tell our members who take SAM-e to remember to also
take B vitamins, like our Sublingual B Trio, which was designed to support
healthy homocysteine levels!
DETOX STEP 4: SUPPORT HEALTHY GUT FLORA OR “FRIENDLY” BACTERIA!
O-k. So you identified toxins in your environment, changed your diet, decided
“sweating” it out is a good thing, and added some detox supplements.
Hold on, there’s one more step – boosting the friendly bacteria in your gut!
Probiotics are intestinal
bacterial healers, which not only protect your gut from harmful bacteria, but
also modulate mucosal and immune activity in your body.
Probiotics, interestingly enough, also need food to keep up their energy
“fighting the bad guys.”
Prebiotics, primarily non-digestible food ingredients or fiber, are just the
ticket. Including plenty of raw fruits and veggies (with plenty of roughage) in
your diet will effectively feed the invisible army of probiotics you want
headquartered in your gut.
If you’re one of those characters who hasn’t yet embraced “high fiber” in
your diet, supplementing with fiber (like with our
Fiber Fit product) can also boost the
effectiveness of your probiotics.
For a quick scientific citation on probiotics and prebiotics:
CO-OP PRODUCTS SUPPORTING DETOX HEALTH
No pop quizzes ahead, so you can refer to the four steps of detox online any
time (just go to our
newsletter archive).
If you’re ready to go shopping, don’t forget to consider our sale items,
Alpha Lipoic Acid &
Milk Thistle, or other Co-op products
that can support detoxification, such as
SAM-e (paired with our
Sublingual B
Trio), Vitamin C,
Probiotics 16, and
Fiber Fit (prebiotics)!
Felines are a fastidious lot, as you know, but enough on cleansing for now,
don’t you think? Now, back to my inbox.
Still purringly yours,
Guido
Guido Housemouser
Chief Kat and Community Manager
Our Health Co-op
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