Happy 2024!
As we embrace the new year, full of potential and promise, it’s a time when many people embark on some kind of health kick. Whether it’s a new diet, fitness regime, fast, detox, or going alcohol-free, everyone feels inspired to improve their health and well-being in January.
Beyond the key areas of managing stress, eating better and being more active, one of the best things you can do for your health is a periodic detox. And, this time of year is ideal because it’s typically quieter, with fewer social events that might otherwise make detoxing tricky.
However, many people often question the need to detox. So, let’s explore and address that concern in today’s post.
Firstly, it’s important to understand that our bodies aren’t designed to handle many of the toxins we’re exposed to in modern-day life or the levels at which we’re exposed. We encounter a range of toxins from various sources:
- Environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals, are pervasive in the air and water, making exposure unavoidable.
- Processed foods often contain artificial additives, preservatives, and pesticides that introduce potentially harmful substances into our bodies. Not to mention toxins from alcohol, smoking and vaping.
- Everyday items like personal care products, fragrances, cleaning supplies, and even furniture can contribute to our toxic load through synthetic chemicals.
- Technological advancements have also brought about new challenges, with electromagnetic fields from electronic devices potentially affecting our health.
As we navigate our modern lives, understanding and minimising exposure to these diverse toxins is crucial, but it’s not just about avoiding these toxins; periodic detoxification can be a proactive step towards preventing disease and achieving optimal health when done correctly.
Why? Well, our bodies are intelligent and self-healing. However, the toxins and chemicals we are now exposed to disrupt this intelligence and put the body in a state of ‘toxic burden’.
We also typically lead lives that don’t support natural detoxification well – for example, sweating is a key way our bodies expel toxins. How much and how often do you sweat? Moving in a way that involves slight bouncing, such as running or brisk walking, triggers our lymphatic drainage system to work and helps process toxins, but if we’re fairly sedentary, this won’t be happening enough.
Additionally, if we’re chronically stressed, running on empty, not allowing adequate time for rest, sleeping poorly etc – we won’t be able to handle and process these toxins as effectively either.
Toxins make us ill – they can damage our organs, alter how our cells function, accelerate ageing, and disrupt hormone balance.
But the significant, lesser-known problem, is that they can impair our ability to detoxify in the first place because the heavy toxic load overwhelms the body’s ability to detox. The more toxins you have burdening your system, the greater the damage to your detox pathways.
This is why a structured detox can be so important because you’re also restoring your body’s ability to get rid of the build-up of toxins and future toxins.
I like to compare it to your car’s MOT or service – a method of sustaining and extending the optimal functioning of the vehicle. In the realm of health, your body serves as the vehicle, and the detox acts as its essential service.
Ideally, detoxification is something we should think about every day, and I’ll be sharing simple practices to minimise your body’s toxic load in an upcoming post. However, I’m also a big fan and advocate of doing annual or quarterly more in-depth detoxes. This targeted approach is a powerful way to improve your health and support your longevity and quality of life, so stay tuned as we delve deeper into these discussions this month!
If you are interested in learning more about detoxing safely and beneficially, I am excited to be launching a new 121 programme in February. To be added to the waitlist and to be the first to receive more information, send me a message via my Contact Page today.
Kate x
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