One of the things that drives us absolutely banana’s over here at Origins Medicine is all the horrible advice out there on “cleanses” and “liver detox programs.”
A huge amount of these “cleanses” can often do more harm than good.
When the body releases toxins the liver has to be in tip-top shape in order to eliminate them from the body.
If you’re liver is even a little overburdened then those toxins will simply get recycled right back into the body and not excreted like they should.
This can not only make you sick but increase your risk for degenerative disease.
We run most patients through a two week detox process and make sure to ALWAYS support the liver.
At the bottom of this post there is a link to the detox that we like to use.
Why Should I Detox Anyway?
We live in an incredibly toxic environment.
It seems to come as surprise to some people that we are part of this polluted environment!
Studies show that the average american has between 300 – 700 toxic chemical contaminants and the average infant is born with 40-70 measurable toxins in their body tissues!
If you don’t eliminate and minimize these toxic loads you are drastically increasing your long term risk of disease.
How Toxins Affect Us
Many of these toxins are endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins, meaning they affect our hormones as well as our brain, nervous system and all the important glands of the body.
They also cause massive stress on our cells leading to fatigue, premature aging, and create conditions for diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
When the body is shackled by an undue toxic burden it loses its ability to tolerate even gentle therapeutic supplements.
Solution: Support to Detox the Liver
The liver is a very complicated organ and we are going to make some big oversimplifications.
Just like cleaning your clothes takes two steps (washing phase and drying phase), the liver goes through two steps as well when it detoxifies.
Phase 1 is fueled by anti-oxidants to make toxins water soluble and cool inflammation.
Phase 2 Binds these toxins with amino acids so they can be eliminated and excreted.
The VegeCleanse Plus provides all the necessary nutrients to make sure the body properly gets rid of toxins.
Imagine trying to wash your clothes with dirty water and no detergent.
It would not work well.
That’s why you need the proper nutrients to help the detox process along.
The Mistake of Most Cleanses and Liver Detox Plans
While the VegeCleanse and other liver supportive cleanses are an ideal way to complete a detox plan there are a bunch of ways that can end up hurting more than they help.
Juice cleanses, fasting without detoxing first and unsupported cleanses like the master cleanse can all be problematic.
When you restrict calories from the body, the body dives into its fat stores to create energy.
Fat is where toxins are stored once the enter the body.
As fat starts to get used these toxins go right back into blood circulation.
Without liver support they simply move to another area in the body.
That’s why people often report feeling sick or ill when they are detoxing.
What most people don’t know is that this is totally un-necessary.
In future blog posts on liver detox and detoxification in general we will dive into the different components to ensure that your cleanse is a success, you lose weight and you feel great!
In the meantime, we would love to know what questions you have. Please write them in the comments below and we’ll do our best to answer.
My body is completely inflamed . I need an effective liver cleanse that allows me to continue to work.
Hi Michelle, my name is Michelle. I am no doctor but I would highly suggest you research and do a water fast for 5 days (only if possible). Also research “autophaghy “. I completely removed inflammation from my body when I did my water fast for 12 days (but I thoroughly did my research and monitored how I felt throughout the fast). Then you can go into a “conscious diet”. Good luck!