Toxins, Toxicity & Detoxification

The most common signs of toxics burden in your liver, gut, and cells include:

Stubborn belly fat  Low sex drive Feeling tired all day long  Anxiety or mood swings Inability to fall asleep  Lack of concentration Sugar cravings Gas, bloating, or constipation  Headaches Skin issues like rashes, eczema and breakouts  Recurring chronic infections like Candida, colds, yeast infections

Toxins are described as a physical, emotional, or mental effect… or substance, capable of causing injury, illness, disease or even death. The total body burden of toxins or Toxic Load is the total accumulation and/or interaction of all the toxins that the cells of our bodies are exposed. Each one on its own, in small amounts, may be insignificant or harmless to the body, but toxins often act synergistically, causing physiological dysfunction. This dysfunction can lead to fatigue, sickness or chronic disease in susceptible people.

It’s not just chemical toxins. The concept being introduced is that of the exosome. The exosome means it’s not just chemical toxins that can harm our cells – it’s radiation, it’s physical & emotional stress, it’s lifestyle factors, it’s chronic infections, it’s the state of our gut health, it’s drugs (chronic medication), it’s poor bad diet, it’s pollution…. its anything, even in tiny amounts, that when put all together or accumulate, cause TOXIC OVERLOAD in our bodies !

How are we exposed to toxins on a daily basis?

There are two major sources of toxin exposure: exogenous toxins, which simply means external, or from the environment, and then there’re endogenous toxins, which are the toxins that our bodies produce as a natural by product of tissue metabolism. As an example, we produce endogenous toxins (Lipo-polysaccarides or LPS) in our intestines/gut just from eating food.

We are always producing endogenous toxins, but a healthy body is equipped to transform these and effectively excrete them from the body through one of the six major detoxification systems: Intestines (poop), Liver (bile), Skin (sweat), Kidneys & bladder (urine), Lymph drainage and Lungs (carbon dioxide & pollutants). Toxicity, or toxic overload, occurs when the amount of toxins in the body is more than the detoxification pathways can effectively eliminate, perhaps because they are sluggish or blocked.

What are some of the environmental or exogenous sources of toxins? There are soooo many – let’s start with a few of the more common but often not recognised ones: radiation from using your microwave & EMF from cell phones, tablets, laptops and from ultraviolet (UV) light. Arsenic exposure is surprisingly common (rice is a source!), as is heavy metal exposure: mercury from amalgam (silver) fillings and aluminium from wearing nail polish & lipstick or regularly eating canned foods. Heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, are also common in our water supply. Chronic medication is another common source of exogenous toxins, and so is bottled water and till slips! Beware the BPA’s!

Free radical toxin exposure also comes from burning organic materials – cigarette smoke, those much loved South African braais, browning food and even from the type/quality of cookware used in the cooking process. Excessively browning food, even vegetables, produces whats called AGES, or Advanced Glycation End Products – which are high in free radicals, creating oxidative stress and toxicity in the body. Exogenous toxins are also found in food: animal products (hormones, anti-biotics), plant foods (oxalates in spinach, pesticides on non-organic food); and for those of us coffee addicts: coffee is a mold crop!  Mold exposure is extremely common and very toxic, producing a wide array of symptoms in the body. Remember to drink only organic coffee and to look out for, and get rid of any damp in your home!

A healthy gut is fundamental in both minimising the amount of endogenous toxins produced in our bodies, as well as maximising our body’s ability to excrete and eliminate both endogenous or exogenous toxins. An unhealthy gut has ‘breakage’ in the intestinal lining (leaky gut) that allows reabsorption of toxins from the digestive tract back into the bloodstream. There is also decreased absorption of antioxidants from food due to a leaky gut, further depleting the nutritional building blcoks required for detoxification.

The naked truth is that we are exposed to toxins at every turn! Fortunately, nature has exquisitely designed our bodies to effectively and efficiently deal with both exogenous and endogenous toxins. It is when toxins accumulate or combine, and when our detoxification pathways are in any way compromised, for whatever reason, that toxic burden occurs and symptoms begin! Our brains are extremely sensitive to toxins. We are all familiar with BRAIN FOG – forgetting someone’s name a minute after being introduced; searching for our cell phones while talking on them, walking into a room & forgetting what we came into it for….Research has recently found that that many products cause neural or brain toxicity, even at minimal levels of exposure.The recent rapid increase in the occurrence of diseases such as early onset dementia, Alzheimers’ and Parkinson’s are testament to this.

What makes a person more or less susceptible to being harmed by toxin exposure?

A large part of the susceptibility has to do with our genes and genetic variations! A person may have the genes that limit their ability to chemically or enzymatically transform toxins so that they can be excreted. Toxins can then build up more quickly in their system, causing illness and disease. The good news is that our genes can be turned on or off, suppressed or expressed, through our food choices (nutrigenomics) as well as the effort we make in reducing our environmental toxin exposure (epigenetics)!

Lifestyle, diet, and nutraceuticals (nutritional products) can enhance the clearance or detoxification of toxins, preventing disease and restore health, energy & vitality. Macronutrients, good fats, protein, and carbohydrates, as well as micronutrients, vitamins and minerals and smaller molecules are essential in ensuring sufficient & optimal detoxification. Adequate tissue antioxidants, such as vitamin E, Vitamin C, glutathione, carotenoids, minimise or quench free radicals so they can have less a toxic effect. Plant nutrients, called phytonutrients, are powerful antioxidants at the level of each one of our cells. Phytonutrient sufficiency comes from ‘eating from the rainbow’ every day!

In summary, we decrease the toxic burden of our bodies by both minimising toxin exposure and maximising our detoxification systems!

• Limit alcohol intake
• Focus on quality & quantity of sleep (7-8 hours/night)
• Stay hydrated
• Reduce intake of processed & inflammatory foods
• Eat antioxidant rich foods
• Eat foods high in prebiotics
• Decrease salt & refined sugar intake
• Get moving!
• Manage stress

Why the detox drip at the DripBar ?

As well as Vitamins B Co and B12, the detox drip contains glutathione, magnesium, Vitamin C and Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) which are all powerful antioxidants, supporting your cells with detoxification.

Blog post written by Chantal Du Chenne, Gut Health advocate and Functional Medicine Health and Lifestyle Coach. Co-authored with Raeesa Hussain (Clinical Associate)

BIO: Chantal is a B.Sc.Hons Allied Health with an international diploma in Nutrition and Sports Nutrition. Chantal is a passionate Gut Health advocate & Functional Medicine Health & Lifestyle Coach, specialising in the improvement and management of the chronic diseases of lifestyle, the illnesses and diseases associated with dietary excess and their relationship to leaky gut and dysbiosis (imbalance) of the gut microbiome. These conditions include IBS, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, overweight, obesity, acne, eczema, depression, anxiety, auto-immune, hormone imbalance, cancer, cognitive decline etc.

Over her 25 year career, Chantal has held various positions within the health and wellness industry – including 10 years as the Executive Head of Vodacom’s corporate wellness & mobile health programs. Chantal is the owner/ founder of the DripBar which offers vitamin and mineral drip therapy in improving micronutrient deficiencies related to lifestyle, underlying conditions & chronic medication. She is also the founder/owner of a Kombucha brewery which produces the brand of organic green tea ‘booch’ called theFarmacy.

Chantal is a competitive cyclist, a plant strong vegan and mom to two grown up girls.

To book a health coaching session: info@thedripbar.co.za or chantal@healthtrac.global

This blog post contains information that is not designed to take the place of,
substitute, or replace any form and method of professional or medical advice
and treatment or medicine. All content is the author’s opinion and is not
intended to diagnose and remedy. The facts and figures contained in this
document are presented solely for informational and educational purposes
only.