Everyone is exposed to toxins, albeit at varying degrees. Our food supply is compromised – crops are regularly sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. Our food has increasing amounts of preservatives, additives and artificial colourings. In addition, most highly processed convenience foods have sweeteners added and most are stripped of their nutrients – ’empty calories’.
Several metabolic pathways in the body are responsible for breaking down toxins and converting them into compounds that we can eliminate through sweat, urine and stool. Several nutrients are required for the body to do so effectively and a shortage of any of these nutrients could increase our toxic load.
What are the main factors that determine our true toxic load?
- Diet – what we eat significantly affects our toxic burden. Pesticides, commonly found on crops are endocrine disruptors (affecting the synthesis, metabolism and elimination of our hormones) and can end up stored in the fat cells in our bodies. This puts increased pressure on the liver to detoxify. Check out the Dirty Dozen list for the most pesticide-laden crops here.
- Genetics: Are you genetically predisposed to deficiencies in the production of detoxification enzymes? Genetic factors can influence the effectiveness of liver function. How well you detoxify is dependent on your genes and on nutrient status. Of course your genes can be significantly influenced not just by nutrition but by your lifestyle and the environment. My article on genetic detoxification single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that we inherit can be read here.
- Toxins: We are exposed to external (environmental) toxins such as pollution, poor quality water, mould in our homes, hormone-disrupting chemicals in our cleaning and personal products and plastics. Internal toxins that accumulate in our body includes hormonal and metabolic toxins as well as those found in our gut such as pathogenic bacteria, fungus and yeast. Our bodies can also store heavy metals such as mercury and lead. Detoxification is crucial.
Tips for Reducing your Toxic Burden
- Eat a ‘cleaner’ diet: a nutrient dense, pythonutrient-rich, gut-friendly (fibre-rich) diet is key. Strive to eat organic fruit, vegetables, meats (grass-fed, free-range).Organic animal products are antibiotic, toxin and hormone free. Our liver convert toxins into intermediate metabolites that can be excreted from the body. High-fibre foods can then help eliminate these toxin metabolites.
- Eat 8-10 servings of vegetables and fruit, a variety of colours (‘eat a rainbow’) per day. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts aid detoxification.
- Keep your bowels moving – this should be daily.
- Reduce the amount of foods that you consume that comes wrapped in plastic – soft plastics in particular leach xenoestrogens (oestrogen-like molecules) that can disrupt our hormonal balance. Swap your plastic containers for food storage in the kitchen with glass containers. Use stainless steel water bottles and lunch boxes.
- Choose cleaning products that are not loaded with chemicals – to reduce toxic vapours in your home. Think about exposure to infants and children. Switch to natural alternatives or make your own.
- Exercise – by sweating, we eliminate toxins through our skin.
- Reduce sugar, white flours, processed refined foods.
- Detox your mind – negative emotions can be a source of toxins.
- Drink 8 glasses of filtered water daily to flush out toxins.
- Spend time in nature, amongst foliage. If you are on a bike in the city, cycle through parks and avoid pavements close to car fumes which contain nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.