Detoxification: A Trendy Craze or a Natural Body Function?
Herbal and lifestyle approaches to support elimination
*Before you read any further, I cannot stress enough that none of this is advice to you. It is not medical advice, and it’s also not advice from your friend. I am sharing my lived experience and education that I have picked up from years of working with people and their different skin, as well as my years of herbalism study. If you are going to read my words, I encourage you to read with an open mind but also with your discernment. YOU are the one with all the power; your body knows what is best for you. So take what resonates and leave the rest. If you don’t like something- that is fantastic, you should not do that thing. This is a beautiful place to be; it means you are listening to your intuition, and that is all I want for anyone.
The intent and purpose of this article are for education and entertainment only.
Because it is Spring, a time to shed the old, I’ve had the concept of detoxifying on my mind lately. It’s something that I have ramped up in my daily habits as I was recently working through a bit of an eczema flare-up, and when I say a bit of eczema, it had appeared on my hands and had gotten so bad I was looking at closing up shop until it could heal- I was even starting to lose dexterity in my hands because of the inflammation. It was no joke, but luckily, with a little of my intuition and background knowledge, I could heal by utilizing the properties of detoxification that I outline below. After that, I knew it was time for some support for my elimination organs.
When many of us think of the word detox, it may have negative connotations. Consumer culture has taken the very natural and ancient function of detoxification and made it a commodity. It has been turned into a problem to be fixed- sending messaging that you are dirty and must purchase this tea or this pill that makes you poop your pants. Instead of looking at how the body is breaking down and releasing what it is exposed to in this modern landscape. This can support the skin and overall health.
Detoxification is not necessarily just about getting stuff out, which it is; detoxification goes hand in hand with nourishment. You can’t just focus on putting the good things in, and you can’t just focus on getting the “bad stuff out” Detoxification also has to do with the assimilation and absorption of nutrients, distribution, and circulation through the body. We need everything to be nourished optimally for detoxification pathways to be able to do their job.
The elimination organs of the body work together to break down and eliminate different compounds that we are exposed to or the body makes endogenously (hormones, for example). The elimination organs include the kidneys, liver, lungs, colon, lymphatic organs and nodes, and, surprise, the skin! When any of these pathways are overloaded, the other ones have to pick up the load of the sluggish ones. This is why when there is irritation on the skin, it is helpful to consider what is going on with the liver or the colon. This is also why there is a strong correlation between asthma and eczema or allergies and eczema. Or asthma and digestive problems. The lungs are trying to carry the load. The body works together as a team.
Signs your detox pathways are flowing:
1-3 well-formed stools a day
You can break a sweat when doing something strenuous
You can sleep around 8 hours in the evening
You experience feelings of thirst regularly, and you are properly hydrated
Signs you may not be processing and eliminating (this is not to say that if you have one or all of these, that is 100% rooted back to sluggish elimination pathway, but consider this article a breadcrumb to give you something to think about)
Not pooping regularly or having diarrhea regularly
General aches and pains
Puffiness
Inability to lose weight
Unexplained fatigue, brain fog, exhaustion
Headaches- especially first thing in the morning without another explained cause
Skin rashes or acne
Weakness in the lungs
Not feeling rested when waking up in the morning
Seasonal allergies
Often sick, compromised immune system
The first and best way to support the body’s ability to break down harsh items it is exposed to is to reduce the toxic load you are exposed to. Not only this but removing foods that you may be sensitive to or are allergens. Eating more whole foods and less processed foods, breathing fresh, clean air, nixing synthetic fragrances, drinking purified water, reducing plastics as much as possible (definitely don’t drink from plastic water bottles), changing your cleaning products- better yet, making your own! Check your skincare ingredients: I avoid fragrance/parfum, coal tar, hydroquinone, Polyethylene glycol (PEG), Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, Talc, Resorcinol, parabens, and other synthetic preservatives like triclosan, Bronopol, DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, and quaternium-15- which are formaldehyde releasers.
Here are the things I have incorporated or re-incorporated into my life regularly that have helped with my detoxification support, helped me feel better, and allowed my skin to heal.
* Although I am a very early riser, this list is not a list of the things I do every morning upon waking. I do have a job, you know. They are things that I have brought in when they felt right. I am also well aware of the stress that comes along with feeling like you need to check off a “be healthy” list, and that’s not the point here- it should be about developing intentional habits and practices to feel your best and give your body what it wants and needs.
Chewing food thoroughly is the first step in digestion, and doing this is one of the easiest - and not to mention free- ways to support digestion.
Eating adequate amounts of protein gives your body the building blocks to fuel the detox functions.
Eating green leafy vegetables
Deep breathing
Moving the body
Rebounding
Other lymphatic support, like dry brushing or working with the Lymphatic Brush
Liver support
Hydration: Not just guzzling water- I wrote a whole article about proper hydration that you can find here.
Sauna
Red and Infrared Light Therapy
Grounding: bare feet on the earth
Mineral baths (sea salt, Epsom salt)
Coffee enemas-yes you read that right, and listen, I told you to take what resonates and leave the rest. I’m not telling you to do this, but it is a modality that has been utilized for a very long time to support bile production, among other benefits. I think it goes without saying you research this heavily before embarking on this journey.
Fasting-I know this is a controversial topic because fasting has been a part of human life in every culture since the dawn of time; I don’t have a problem with fasting. For me, it is a profoundly spiritual experience and something I have engaged in my entire adult life. It’s not for everyone.
Traditional Chinese Medicine focuses on bitter and sour flavors in the Spring to support detoxification. These flavors increase bile flow, increase urination, and support overall elimination. This includes sour fruits and bitter greens.
In Western herbalism, there is an herbal category called alternatives- which used to be known as “blood purifying,” but that description has become outdated. It’s a vast category of herbs, but almost every herb for the skin generally fits into this large overarching category.
Modern pharmacology does not understand alterative herbs well, so it can be challenging to wrap your mind around this category of herbs. They alter how the body metabolizes to perform functions like assimilation, nutrient absorption, circulation, and elimination. It sounds like the definition I gave for proper detoxification earlier.
The list of alterative herbs is very long, but here are some of my favorites that I include often:
Burdock
Red Clover
Cleavers
Dandelion
Plantain
Oregon Grape Root
Yellow Dock
Violet
Echinacea
Nettle
Garlic
Seaweed
And although it is not necessarily an alternative, I can’t discuss detoxification without mentioning Schisandra. Schisandra supports the liver in both phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification. It is an adaptogen, helping the body cope with stress, a hormone regulator, and an immune modulator. It boosts the immune system in times of need but also surveils and reduces excessive inflammation and other immune functions when overactive. Another time when the immune system is overactive is with autoimmune conditions. Schisandra is supportive of every organ of elimination, and in TCM, is traditionally worked with for deficient lung chi, which presents as coughing, wheezing, asthma, etc.
I hope this article sparked some thought on things to research further or gave you something to think about.