DETOXIFICATION
Did you know an average person is exposed to over 50,000 chemicals every day?
Where are these coming from? Our air, cleaning products, perfumes, our own body products, cosmetics, our food, plastics and more. Much of our daily life includes exposure too these things and many can create a myriad of symptoms, illness and eventually disease if not cleared from the body in a timely fashion.
Signs that YOU might not be detoxifying very well include:
- Skin problems (rashes, acne, etc.)
- Food and scent intolerances
- Constipation, diarrhea, and other digestive issues
- Frequent colds and viruses
- Unexplained headaches
- Muscle/joint aches and pains
- Fatigue and low energy
- Anxiety/depression
- Brain Fog
- Headaches
- PMS/menstrual irregularities
- Insomnia
If you experiences two or more of these you likely are not eliminating toxins very well. Those pathways are likely deficient or working poorly due to genetics or other lifestyle challenges that are likely causing your body to recycle toxins creating more problems for you.
Let’s dive into a bit of science and understand what happens when our bodies come in contact with a substance and then performs its job of wrapping it up and clearing it from the body.
Phase
1
In the first phase the goal is to take substances that have accumulated in the cells and transform them into water soluble particles wrapping them up preparing them to send to phase 2.
In order for this process to occur a vital enzyme from the liver called Cytochrome P450 comes into play and helps to transform the identified toxin. In simplistic terms this enzyme wraps the substance up and passes it onto Phase 2 of the liver on its journey out of the body.
Things like exercise, diet, sleep and mood all impact how the P450 enzymes do their job. Some things can speed them up or slow them down.
How Can You Support the P450 process?
- Good sources of protein
- B vitamins
- Minerals magnesium, selenium and zinc
- Glutathione
- Cruciferous Vegetables
Phase
2
Once things are wrapped up like a present from the P450 enzymes, they go to phase 2 in the liver. Phase two is all about pathways of which there are 6 different pathways necessary to do their job. Now unfortunately this is where many people have issues. Ideally the wrapped package from Phase 1 is joined or conjugated/bound with a pathway in Phase 2 with the intention to become more water soluble for easier exist from the body.
When this phase isn’t working correctly symptoms turn into illnesses which then can turn into diseases like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, lupus, Parkinsons and other immune dysfunction problems.
The pathways include:
- Sulfation
- Glucuronidation
- Glutathione Conjugation
- Acetylation
- Amino Acid Conjugation
- Methylation
How do you support Phase 2?
Things like:
- Amino acids: Cysteine, glycine, methionine and taurine
- Magnesium
- Glutathione
- Vitamins B5, B12 and folate
- Vitamin C
- Choline and Inositol
Phase
3
Phase 3 is not as well known as Phase 1 and 2 for some reason.
The foundation of Phase 3 is about proper bile flow. The key components of Phase 3 are bile, the kidneys and intestines.
Bile is created in the liver and stored and secreted by the gallbladder and made up bile salts, phospholipids, cholesterol and water.The main function of our bile is to help digest fats, support the gut microbiome and carry toxins out of the body.
People who no longer have a gallbladder have an increased risk and challenge to have optimal detoxification. However there are ways to support phase 3 just like Phase 1 and 2.
Now the package that was wrapped up in phase 1 and now made more water soluble from phase 2 is ready to be removed from the body. They are sent into the bile and intestines to be processed and cleared. A healthy gut is vital to this function along with healthy hydrated kidneys.
If for example, the bile is sluggish and slow due to a a variety of issues such as stress, poor diet, lack of sleep detoxifying will be less than optimal and often present physical problems.
Phase 3 support includes:
- Bitters
- Dandelion, artichoke
- Binders
- Phosphatidycholine(PC)
- Stay hydrated
Phase 1, 2 and 3 are all critical to supporting us as we encounter daily life. As you can see there are key pieces that are needed for us to properly detoxify. If there any problems in any phase, we will create physical and at times emotional challenges.
By supporting each phase, we can help ourselves clear the things we are exposed to every day and prevent a back log of toxins creating problems for us.