Removing toxins from your body is one of the most important things you can do for maintaining optimal health, supporting our energy levels, as well as losing body fat that we otherwise struggle to shift. 

Detoxing is a great way to reboot our system, revitalise our bodies, and feel renewed.

Detoxing often brings to mind days-long juice cleanses or week-long retreats at expensive spas. In reality, it’s a lot simpler than that. In fact, we’re detoxing all the time: that’s the main function of our liver and kidneys. And we can actually detox every day without making massive steps, instead making small adjustments. 

Read on to find how to eat, what to drink, and why relaxing is great for detox. 

Top 10 Ways to Detox

1) Eat the right protein levels for you

Most detox diets involve reducing protein but the amino acids found in protein are essential for liver function and detoxification. The argument for reducing protein is to give the liver a rest from protein metabolism but the reality is, most people’s livers are under stress from increased simple carbohydrate consumption.  Most people, when looking to snack or stress-eat, reach for a simple carbohydrate option.

When we eat the right level of protein and carbohydrate for us on a daily basis, this is a better strategy for long-term liver function. 

We should all eat what’s best for us, based on our genetics. Taking this quiz will give you a great jumping off point and the BePure Clinic can provide even more comprehensive information with testing and one-on-one consultations.

2) Eat plenty of healthy fat

One of the main pathways your liver uses to get rid of the processed toxins is through your bile.  Your liver stores bile in your gallbladder and eating fat triggers the release of this bile.  This bile release helps give you a bowel movement (see tip #8), which helps move the toxins out of your body.  Fat is a nutritional minefield and a lot of people are hesitant to eat it given it’s unfairly bad reputation since around the 1980s when fat-free products became all the rage. But, eating only clean, natural fats such as extra virgin olive oil, organic butter, organic coconut oil, organic lard or dripping is not only not bad for us, it’s helpful! Getting our essential omega-3 fatty acids means we're getting support for inflammation and immunity and the most convenient way to do this is with a fish oil supplement like BePure Three.

3) Drink plenty of pure water

Without a doubt, the best detox agent is water.  If your body is dehydrated, all the detox systems will not be able to perform optimally.  Water is responsible for keeping the digestive system flowing, and for the efficient filtration processes in the liver and kidneys.  Water is also extremely important for the function of the lymphatic system.  

Aim to drink 0.033 Litres of pure water per KG of body weight. 

To work this out use this calculation: [body weight in kgs] x 0.033 = number of litres.

If you’re worried about too many trips to the loo, take small sips regularly rather than big gulps so your body has time to use it.

You don’t want to be bringing in toxins with your water so where possible, drink filtered or pure spring water. 

4) Lymphatic massage, and exercise

The lymphatic system is incredibly important and often overlooked. It’s quite complex and intelligent in its function so let’s look at it in small parts.

The lymphatic system comprises three glands: The spleen, the Thymus and the tonsils.  

Around all the cells of the body there is fluid called interstitial fluid.  Our capillaries and small blood vessels release nutrients into this interstitial fluid, which moves around all the cells.  

The cells can then take up these nutrients and release by-products into this interstitial fluid.  This fluid has a one-way system around the body where it is eventually collected in ducts and vessels. It passes through lymph nodes and lymph glands before eventually entering the bloodstream.  You can stimulate the lymphatic system by massage - stroking the skin in a direction towards the heart.  

Wanna have a little more fun with it? Get bouncy! Rebounders (small trampolines) are particularly beneficial for the lymphatic system, while any type of exercise causing muscle contraction will also be of great benefit.  So, make sure you move your body!

5) Support liver function

The liver detoxes chemicals in a two-stage process.  The liver undertakes multiple mechanisms to deal with groups of toxins such as water soluble toxins, fat soluble, drug metabolism, oestrogen detoxification, toxins from cellular metabolism, food additives, toxins from bacteria and the environment.  The liver requires large amounts of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and antioxidants) to be able to perform its processes.  The best way to support liver function is by eating organic fruit, vegetables and meats (see #9) and supplementing your diet with a high quality mineral, vitamin and antioxidant supplement like BePure One. Unfortunately, it’s near-impossible to get the nutrients we need from diet alone so when we take a multivitamin, we can rest easy knowing our body is getting what it needs. 

6) Include these foods into your diet

Have you heard of phytochemicals? They’re quite magical and can be found in cruciferous vegetables like Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, swede, turnips, kale, and watercress. When these foods are chopped, chewed, fermented, cooked or digested, these chemicals are released. The substances released then break down into sulforaphanes, indole-3-carbinol and D-glucarate, which all have a specific effect on Phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification. 

Onions, garlic and leeks also contain many important sulfur compounds that increase detoxification. Leafy greens are rich in a number of minerals, vitamins, chlorophyll and flavonoids, which are essential to good detoxification! 

All of these ingredients would make a great soup! 

7) Sauna regularly

Having a sauna regularly is a great way to mobilise and eliminate toxins.  Infrared saunas have been shown to produce sweat that is made up of 15-20% toxins (made up of heavy metals, sulfuric acid, sodium ammonia, uric acid and fat soluble toxins.)

It’s a great way to relax and take time out.

9) Eat organic food

Getting your digestive system working correctly is of paramount importance and our body’s ability to get rid of the by-products of digestion is critical in an overall sense of detoxification.  You want to be passing 30 cm of stool a day with a transit time of 12 to 24 hours (transit time is the time it takes for your food to pass through you).  Primarily this is achieved through eating the right foods for you and ensuring your microbiome is at its healthiest. Taking a daily probiotic like BePure Two means adding good bacteria to your gut. Often, if we take a probiotic for the first time in a while (or maybe our whole lives) we can see a near-instant detox effect with diarrhoea. This happens when good bacteria eliminates bad bacteria and flushes it out of our system. While not overly pleasant, it’s a good sign!

8) Get great bowel movements

Eating organic food serves a dual purpose for detoxing. Organic foods contain more nutrients due to better nutrient availability in the soil, these nutrients support liver detoxification.  Secondly, due to the nature of organic food being chemically spray free you are minimising the load on your liver to detox these chemicals and in the process increasing your detoxification capacity for other chemicals – a win/win!  If you can’t afford to buy organic vegetables – try growing your own!

10) Relax

This might be our favourite way to detox. Many of the body’s detoxification pathways are controlled by your autonomic nervous system and relaxing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which is the dominant system for repair and ‘housekeeping duties’ like detoxing.  So, make sure to set aside some time for relaxing every day!

So, what next? 

Try not to be overwhelmed if thinking about detoxing. A detox can be as simple as giving our body a break to do its work, e.g fasting or time-restricted eating, or the opposite, where we supply it with extra nutrients to stimulate metabolic pathways, like our liver, of detoxification.    

• A top tip is to think which, out of these 10, you do the least and give them a go. For example, if you’re not a big water drinker, increase the amount you drink and take note of how you feel. If you have access to a sauna perhaps at your local gym, combine this with tip #10 and relax your way to detox.
  
  
• Secondly, take note of your diet: Is there room to add more fats or organic food? Maybe you can dedicate a patch of your garden to some hardy vegetables which is a great way to relax as well as growing food you know is good for you.
  
  
• Finally, Try the BePure Everyday Wellness Pack. With a high quality multivitamin, probiotic, and fish oil - taken daily your body will be ready for efficient and regular daily detoxification. 

If you have any further questions, feel free to call us at the BePure Clinic on 0800 52 54 52 or email info@bepure.co.nz. We’d be happy to help where we can