Detoxifying to Support New Beginnings - Part 2

Once your elimination pathways are moving (sweating, urinating, and having a bowel movement regularly (click here for more information)). There’s no concern that once we start supporting with detoxification, that these products will accumulate in your body - it is time to start working on supporting your organs of detoxification! These organs include: your liver and kidneys.

The liver is the organ in charge of metabolizing various toxins from our body, including: hormones, medication, alcohol into something that doesn’t harm our body. It does this through 2 phases of detoxification. It’s constantly working, and with the amount of chemicals we are exposed to regularly, that means our liver has to go on overtime - all the time. So how do we support our liver? We do this by limiting the amount of processed foods we eat, and eat organic, whole foods. If organic isn’t possible for every produce you consume, then avoiding the Dirty Dozen or making sure to get those organic, is a good compromise. The next thing you can do is provide the building blocks (in the form of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients) that the liver uses in Phase 1 and 2 detoxification.

From Haelan LifeStream Center and Retreat

Though we often focus on supporting the liver to detoxify, we also have another organ that support detoxification - the kidneys. The kidneys filter your blood and is in charge of supporting water and electrolyte homeostasis within the body. As such, it filters through a lot of blood everyday to maintain the proper balance in our bodies. One of the best ways to support your kidneys support your cardiovascular system. This is because it’s what carries the blood to the kidney to filter, and the health of them will determine how effectively the blood is being delivered. This means, that maintaining a healthy blood pressure and supporting the mobilization and elimination of toxins and metabolites by drinking water is important. Other ways you can support you cardiovascular system is to be regularly active, and are eating a variety of vegetables and fruits to get different minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients into your diet. These will give your body the building blocks it needs to ‘fix parts that need repair’ and protect your body from free radicals, that can cause atherosclerosis, which can lead to high blood pressure, and an increase in cardiovascular events. Also make sure you are not holding your urine, since this can cause weakness in the sphincter between the bladder and urethra and cause damage to the kidneys via increased pressure and replication of potential bacteria.

The number one cause of kidney damage is diabetes - which means that supporting a healthy insulin-glucose balance will also support your kidneys. Diabetes also increases your risk of a cardiovascular events, since it affects your body by increase inflammation and free radicals. All these systems communicate with each other, so supporting one or more systems can help other systems in your body as well.

In summary, to support your liver and kidney, you want to:

• Decrease processed foods to lessen the burden of your liver and kidney

• Eat colourful fruits and vegetable to provide the nutrition and building blocks to maintain a healthy body

• Be regularly active to support your cardiovascular system and allow your kidneys to filter that blood more effectively

• Make sure to stay hydrated - your urine should be a pale yellow - the exception to this is if you’re taking a B complex. Your urine will be neon yellow

• Maintain a healthy blood pressure and insulin-glucose balance

• Don’t hold your urine

~Dr. Charmagne

Understanding Food Sensitivities

Food Allergies vs Food Sensitivities

They use different immunoglobulins of the immune system causing different reactions, causing different reactions. Food allergies use the IgE immunoglobulin and food sensitivities use the IgG immunoglobulin (side note: Immunoglobulin will sometimes be switched with the word antibodies depending on what you’re reading). IgE reactions tend to occur faster and is also known as Hypersensitvity type 1; whereas, IgG reactions tend to be delayed (can take up to 3 days to get a reaction) and is also known as Hypersensitivity type 3 (PEDIAA, 2019).

IgE Immunoglobulin

• Reaction causes release of histamine

• Itching, hives, anaphylaxis, red skin

• Reactions happen very quickly

• Test: Skin Prick test, IgE Blood test

• Through an Allergist

IgG Immunoglobulin

• Reaction causes release of inflammatory mediators

• Chronic inflammation (eg. eczema, bowel symptoms (constipation, stomach pains, diarrhea, etc), migraines, etc)

• Reaction can take up to 3 days to occur

• Test: Elimination Diet or Food Sensitivity Test

• Through a Naturopathic Doctor

IgG reactions can manifest in different ways, and since they’re delayed, can be a little trickier to track, and therefore has a higher tendency to become chronic reactions. This in turn can lead to chronic inflammation, which can cause a number of other symptoms. IgG immunoglobulins have been seen in patients with allergic-like reactions (Shakoor, et al; 2016, Crowe; 2019)

Gut Health and Your Immune System

Your gut is exposed to the outside world, which makes it a key player in regulating your health. 70-80% of your immune system is found in your gut through GALT (Gut-associated lymphoid tissue) receptors. These are receptors found all over your intestines that communicate to different parts of your body by presenting foreign bodies (eg. bacteria, viruses, etc.) to the immune system to start building up an immune response (Microbe Notes, 2018).

Discovering Your Food Sensitivities

Both of these methods should be monitored by a qualified practitioner

Elimination Diet

• Pros:

  • Understand how your body reacts to different foods

  • 100% accurate with tracking and reintroduction phase

  • Cheaper

• Cons:

  • Requires time and commitment

  • Takes 4-6 weeks of eliminations + the amount of time needed to reintroduce the foods

  • Can be difficult to see if a food causes a reaction if you are not in tune with your body or second guess yourself

Food Sensitivity Test

• Pros:

  • Convenient

  • Good for people who like visuals or are analytical

  • Takes most of the guessing out of it

• Cons:

  • Not 100% accurate

  • Is changeable depending on the health of your gut

  • Expensive

When I work with patients on these concerns, I ask my patients to fill out a questionnaire at the beginning before the eliminate the foods, and afterwards, so we can see things have shifted, and where they’ve experienced an improvement of symptoms. To better understand how to incorporate these into your life to discover your food sensitivities, book an appointment with your Naturopathic Doctor.

~ Dr. Charmagne

Health Resolutions

Health and weight resolutions are the most common resolutions to start off the new year with. That’s one of the reasons why gyms do so well at the beginning of the year, and the reason they are so crowded. However, within the next month or sooner, the gyms are almost back to normal, and that huge rush of people aren’t there any more.

It’s awesome that people want to become healthier versions of themselves, that is something to be proud of - wanting to become a better version of yourself. But what is stopping you? When February comes rolling in, why do you stop going to the gym, or eating healthy, or drinking as much water as you should?

You obviously want this for yourself, otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it a resolution. It’s funny how we tend to be our own biggest obstacles when it comes to achieving goals. So get out of your way, and stop making up excuses as to why you have given up. Use some tough love on yourself - with love being the key word. You have to be your own cheerleader, and if you need a boost, look at all you have accomplished in your life. These accomplishments can be anything, from finishing high school, developing your talents, having your own business, building long lasting and strong relationships, having your own family, etc. Find and make evidence that you are an awesome person, and you are deserving of your goal.

Your self talk is extremely important when accomplishing your goals, and developing new habits. Start off small, and collect your evidence. If you make incremental changes in your life, everyday, and build them onto each other, you will change the trajectory of your life. And while going on your journey to accomplishing your goal, remember to be kind and gentle to yourself.

This is your life - you only have this one to experience and hold dear. So if you want to live a healthier life, then make conscious decisions to become a person who is healthy. For more inspiration, here is a list of amazing people, who can change your perspective about various things in your life, from habits, resolutions, and relationships:

• James Clear

• Brené Brown

• Joe Dispenza

For further tips and tricks to accomplish your goal, check out last year’s blog: Another Year, Another Beginning.

~ Dr. Charmagne