107: The Truth About Detox Myths

MK: Have you ever tried a five day choose cleanse, you know, to detox? Well, in this episode we'll talk about some of those detoxification myths and I'll share with you what is effective and what is not. And spoiler alert, no, you don't need to do a five day choose cleanse to help your body with getting rid of toxins.

So specifically. In this episode, we're gonna talk about the body's natural detoxification pathways and why just staying out of the way is the best way to support your body with doing what it already knows you need to do. So it's more about, or it's less about what you eat and what you consume versus what you don't consume, and what you don't eat and don't do.

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And one of the main. Organs involved in detoxification is the liver. You know, there are so-called phase one and phase two reactions that allow the liver to neutralize toxins so that they can be then excreted, for example, by converting fat sour compounds into water soluble ones that can then easily excreted via a sweat or via the urine.

And at this point, it's worth pointing out that. A lot of people think that the liver is like a, a thief or a sponge that accumulates all of those toxins, but that's not true at all. The liver doesn't store any of those toxins. It simply causes chemical reactions that make those, that deactivate those toxins and make it then easy for other organs, such as the kidneys.

Or your skin when it comes to sweating to excrete those toxins. And what that means by extension is that eating organs like the liver, does not expose you to any more toxins than when you eat muscle meat, for example. So that's a whole myth and misconception that e liver has a lot of stores, a lot of toxins.

Not the case, but it's the liver is one of the most important. Organs that can help with detoxification. The kidneys, uh, are another important organ because they filter the blood and then they excrete the waste via the urine, the lungs, that's also something that most people probably don't know is they expel.

Volatile compounds such as alcohol or acetone with each breath. So that's one way of getting rid of toxins and that's the reason why, you know, alcohol breath meters and, and ketone breath meters work. Because they measure the amount of alcohol or acetone, which is a ketone body in your breath. The skin and lymphatic system are obviously also important, you know, in the sense or in the context of sweating and just transporting toxins off, you know, as, as far as the lymphatic system is concerned, or just sweating, you know, when you sweat, you excrete toxins through the skin, which is why one of the reasons why exercising or sauna bathing.

are excellent way of detoxification because they support the natural, the body's natural ability to sweat and to excrete toxins via sweat. And then the microbiome, they gut microbiome is also an important factor because that can help metabolize and excrete certain toxins via the stool. So anything that gets out of your body, be it sweat, be it poop, be it urine, um, can help you detoxify be the breath.

And then the liver. So those combined are your body's main detoxification pathways, and all you have to do to help your body detox efficiently is to not negatively impact any of those systems. For example, drinking alcohol or abusing alcohol is one of the best ways to negatively impact your liver's ability to detoxify.

Obviously, because it takes a lot of resources to deal and to metabolize and detoxify alcohol, right? Or ethanol, which is the part of alcohol we consume, that's problematic. So in a nutshell, do everything you can to support those systems. Don't do anything that negatively impacts the function of those systems.

Now, what does it mean specifically, because a lot of people think well. If you wanna support your liver, you have to consume milk thistle and other herbs that, you know, support a specific organ. So that can do a better job of, of detoxifying. Now here's the thing though, if you eat soup with a, with a lead spoon, it doesn't matter what supplements you take, you're gonna be exposed to those heavy metals and you're gonna pay the price for it in your body will have no way of effectively detoxifying.

So what that means is. That it's significantly more effective to avoid behaviors, meaning eating certain foods, exposing yourself to environmental toxins through skincare products, through, um, high VOC paint in your home to stains and glues, and to all of the things that we expose ourselves to in our modern world.

Uh, you know, removing those or mitigate or reducing your exposure significantly more effective than taking a supplement. And so specifically what I mean by this is from a food perspective, the least toxic way of eating is a carnivore based diet, not plants, not greens, not herbs, because all of those, even though some of them have medicinal purposes that can support certain organs, I'm not arguing that they also often come with toxic chemicals such as antinutrients that can stress your system.

And that can significantly mitigate some of the advantages or some of the compounds, the positive compounds in those plants. I'm just taking, for example, greens, you know, leafy greens. Yes, they might have antioxidants, which can help neutralize free radicals, but at the same time, most of them are also very high in oxalates that then stress your kidneys.

They can accumulate to kidney stones. They stress your liver, they stress your gut, you know, and so I'm not a huge fan of, of using something that comes with significant downsides. I'm, I'd rather stick with something that is known to be the most compatible food for humans because it has been like that for many, many, for millennia.

And that is red meats from. Responsibly raised, ideally regeneratively raised ruminants like cows or goats or sheep. There are the least amount of toxic components in those foods and the highest amount of micronutrients that their body can use to support all of those detoxification organs. So that's just from a food perspective, from a water perspective, you know, avoid drinking.

Uh, from plastic bottles because they have microplastics and endocrine disrupting chemicals, which can again, negatively impact your body's detoxification systems. You know, sleep is incredibly important because sleep regulates a lot of the hormones that are involved in your body's detoxification pathways.

Um, hydration is obviously important. You know, again, not drink out of plastic bottles, but high quality water either, you know, filter tap water or water out of pla of glass bottles, uh, is incredibly important for, you know, making enough enough urine. And having, uh, proper lymphatic drainage exercise obviously can help because that not only can be assembling as simple as, you know, walking or, or, you know, rebounding.

It doesn't have to be a high intensity kind of workout like CrossFit, but that can stimulate lymph drainage. But if you do it more vigorously, then you sweat and again, you port your body's ability to excrete toxins via other sweat Sauna bathing is an incredible way to sweat, to raise your heart rate and to cause some of those, um.

Some of those toxins get out through the sweat. Fasting is a great way of reducing toxins because fasting triggers ketosis and that leads to the use of your own body fat as a source of energy. And whenever you reduce body fat, then you get rid of those. Toxins that are often stored in fat tissue. That includes PFAS and some of the, you know, forever chemicals and endocrine disrupting chemicals that are often, they're often fat soluble and stored in fat tissue.

And if you remove your own fat tissue, you flush those out. Just keep in mind though. That when that happens, if you have a lot of fat tissue, let's say, and you fast and you lose a lot of weight in a very short amount of time, then that can temporarily increase the amount of toxins in your bloodstream before they can get excreted, and that can lead to temporary side effects.

It's called a Herxheimer reaction. So just be mindful that if you lose weight too quickly, you might end up with more toxins in your body than your body can handle at the time. And so doing it slower, slower is usually a good approach. Stress management is incredibly important, like breath work and meditation or just being out in nature.

You know, walking around barefoot and enjoying nature can help because high cortisol levels. Which, you know, cortisol is high when you are stressed, can negatively impair some of those enzymes responsible for your de or helping your detoxification pathway. So keep cortisol low. You know, cortisol is important, obvious in the morning, so you get up energetic and all.

It's important to have higher cortisol levels, but if you are chronically elevated, that can negatively impact your detoxification. Pathways, um, supporting your body with enough micronutrients from the food you consume. That's why important. It's important to consume animals nose to tail, not just the steak, the lean steak, but you know, anything in between, including the organs because they have a lot of those micronutrients that are important.

For your detoxification path pathways, and for your overall metabolism. So you need for your immune system to have proper defenses, et cetera. You know, make sure you consume all of the organs and if fresh, you know, isn't your cup of tea. You know, one of the reasons why we sell. What do we sell at MCA supplements is because we wanted to make organ meats available to anyone, you know, in a very convenient, you know, free dried form in Aladin.

Capsules don't taste like anything, don't smell like anything, and you get all of the micronutrients. Your body needs to support liver and the kidneys, you know, all of the organs involved in. Detoxification pathways. What you don't have to do is, you know, do, uh, juice cleanses, you know, uh, not consuming protein and fat for extended periods is likely going to negatively impact liver enzymes, for example.

You know, and too much sugar from, especially if you do, you know, fruit juices can spike insulin and that stress is liver function. So you don't have to do anything crazy. Just don't be in your body's way. Don't be in your own way, you know? We avoid foods that have toxins, and those unfortunately often, often stem from plant-based foods.

So know what you're eating and how you can mitigate them if you choose to include them in your diet. Sleep well, you know, be in the sun. Exercise. Try to reduce your stress by removing stuff from your plate, or learning how to better perceive those stressors so that your body has enough bandwidth to deal with other bodily functions, including detoxification pathways.

You know, use the sauna, um, go for walks, be out in the sun when it's super hot. Like right now in Georgia, we are just sweat by standing. You don't even have to do much. Support your gut microbiome by again avoiding, uh. A lot of the plant foods that are known to cause. Leaky gut or other gut issues. You know, supporting your gut is an excellent way of not only supporting your immune system, but also the part of the detoxification system that excretes toxins via your stool, you know?

And by doing all of that, and that at the end of the day, if you think about it, if you really think about it, all of what I said in this video goes back to the eight core pillars of living a healthy lifestyle. Eat well, move well. Build community. Reduce your stress. Expose yourself to hermetic stressors that make you more resilient to stress.

Avoid environmental toxins, endocrine disruptors, you know, from personal care products from uh, unfiltered tap water. From plastic food storage containers for all of those things. And if you do that, then your body has all the tools it needs and all the capacity it needs to remove toxins without having to go through crazy choose cleansers and you know, some of the other things that people do because it, they think it helps them reboot.

Um, and another nuance to that, of course is that yes, it's fine to do something for a couple of weeks. To make a difference. But if you do something like going on a, you know, a carnivore diet or you know, avoiding certain skincare products that you know are toxic or you know, exercising more, maybe if you then go back after a couple of weeks to old habits that re-expose you to.

More environmental toxins than your body can handle. You'll be back to square one in no time. So the point here is that you need not, if you do something drastic for a certain, for a couple of weeks to make a dent to significantly reduce your body's toxin load and to help your body flush out some toxins, that's okay.

But when you then go back, choose an approach that's still healthy enough, but maybe not as strict as. As what you did the, the few weeks leading up to it. You know, don't go back to where you were before because then over time you'll be back again, overloading your body's detoxification pathways. You know, find, find something that is doable that you can ideally do for the rest of your life.

From a nutritional perspective, that might mean, you know, sticking to an animal based diet that is not a carnivore diet, but that includes or can include, you know, some of the least. Toxic plants, and even maybe some of the more toxic ones if you consume them in small amounts and strategically and you don't go overboard.

You know? I mean, just to give you an example, you know, here at the Kummer house, you know, we have sourdough pizza once a month is sourdough. Um. The ideal food? No, it is not. You know, but we can get away with it, doing it once a month because our bodies have enough bandwidth to deal then with that injury that we inflict when we have that pizza, you know?

Uh, but for the rest of the time, you know, we eat an animal based diet, it's predominantly consists of animal based products, you know, and the least toxic plants. So find something that you can do sustainably. That is healthy enough, that does not overload your system. What that is in particular, you know, depends on various factors.

I cannot tell you, you know, just doing what I do might not work for you. Might be too restrictive for you. Uh, or it might not be enough for you because you are in, in, in worse health than maybe I am. You know, so it's an individual kind of decision how, what you can and cannot do. You have to find that out.

You have to experiment a little bit, but. Err on the side of being maybe a little bit too restrictive for a while and then finding out, okay, what can I get away with? And if you do that, then you don't need to worry about any crazy detoxification and, and, and flushing out stuff. Or rebooting or resetting.

I'm rebooting and resetting every single day and I don't do anything special about it. I just live a, a, a life that's healthy enough for what my body can handle. I don't even have to think about it. Nothing crazy, nothing extra. And with that, we're gonna wrap it up. I hope you like this episode. Until next time.