Lighten Your (Toxic) Load
First off, some of you may be wondering what the hell a toxic load is. Great question! It's essentially the amount of toxins and/or stressors that are in your body at any given time.
There are over 80,000 toxins (i.e. chemicals) in the U.S. market and the vast majority of them haven't been tested for safety. UHH...WHAT?! These are the types of stats that make me want to rip my hair out. We're being used as lab rats for our favorite brands without even realizing it.
These toxins are found pretty much everywhere - I mean, at this point we live in a toxic world.
The bulk of our toxic load comes from things that we put in/on our body and come into contact with. Toxic items can be found/produced everywhere you look in varying forms, like food, cosmetics, cleaners, household items, furniture/rugs, children's toys, air, mold, and even emotional stress - and they flood our bodies with things like pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, heavy metals, petrochemicals, bacteria, and fungus.
Over time, these cause major disruption and destruction to our internal systems.
It would be insane for us to think that the rising rates of cancer, infertility, digestive problems, food allergies, developmental disorders, diabetes, obesity, sleep disorders, hormonal imbalance, and autoimmune disease aren't linked to the ginormous amounts of toxins we're exposed to on a minute-by-minute basis.
Plain and simple, our bodies want everything we ingest and come into contact with to be as close to nature as possible, they just aren't designed to deal with stuff that's manmade - and by bombarding ourselves with toxins/chemicals/synthetics we're overtaxing our vital organs and all of our bodily systems as they scramble to remove these threats to their wellbeing ASAP.
There are two types of toxins: fat-soluble and water-soluble. We need to worry about water-soluble toxins a teeny bit less because our body is typically able to flush them out through the kidneys, but fat-soluble toxins (which are much more common) can't be flushed out until they're converted by the liver into water-soluble toxins.
This is all fine and dandy if you have a super-low toxic load, an unclogged lymphatic system, and kick-ass digestion - because your liver will be able to do its job and flush those bad boys out, but if you're like most of us and your liver is working overtime to process all of the junk you're throwing at it, many of these toxins end up getting STORED in your fat cells.
Yeah, as a last-ditch effort to keep toxins away from your vital organs, your body wraps them up in your fat cells and tells them to chill there until you take steps to flush them out. Nasty.
Side note: your brain is 60%+ fat - and doesn't expel stored toxins easily, which means it's stacking 'em up like an episode of Hoarders and storing them like a mofo. This is no bueno and has been linked to things like Alzheimer's, dementia, and developmental disorders.
Also, while they hang out Hoarders-style in your fat cells they don't just take a nap and relax - they continue to attack your body and inflict damage. It's like that one episode I saw where someone had all sorts of wild animals packed in their house, they were just eating everything in sight, breaking furniture, and taking craps all over the place until someone set them free.
Now that I've thoroughly freaked/grossed you out, it's time to discuss ways to lighten your toxic load. Don't worry - it can be done!
Outside of decreasing the amount of toxins you're exposed to (which I'll cover below), you really need to optimize your detoxification channels - primarily your digestive system, liver, and lymphatic system. Here are some quick tips to get you started:
Drink lots of filtered H2O - and make sure it's not out of a plastic bottle (toxin-releasing machines) - glass and stainless steel are best. I know you've heard this a billion times, but it's SO important for flushing toxins out of your body. If you're hydrated, your pee should be super light yellow and relatively odorless.
Up your fiber intake - this helps bile collect toxins in the digestive tract and remove them (via poop!). If you're not ingesting enough fiber, that nasty bile/toxin cocktail is sent right back to your liver, which stresses it out, and causes toxins to be released into your blood and then stored in fat cells. My favs in the fiber category are chia seeds, apples, and cruciferous veggies like kale, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts - these foods all also cleanse your liver. I add daily digestive enzymes, probiotics and shots of ACV for to give my digestion an even bigger boost.
Move your body - this is so essential for getting your lymphatic system moving, releasing built-up toxins through sweat, improving digestion, and boosting your metabolism - which, in turn, flushes those gross toxins wrapped in fat cells!
Decrease stress - it's been said that around 99% of all illness is related to stress - it actually changes the expression of our genes, inhibits the immune system, damages cells, and about a million other scary things, so reducing stress in our daily lives is a MUST. Especially in our perpetually-connected society. Practicing mindfulness and self care every single day is essential to decreasing stress. Just take a few minutes to devote to mediation, deep breathing (the lungs can expel TONS of toxins!), or anything else that makes you feel calm and relaxed.
In terms of reducing toxin exposure, here are some tips + resources to get you started:
Ever since I started regularly using essential oils, I've become hyper aware of places that toxins lurk, and how unnecessary and avoidable it is to have many of them in our lives. So I've been trying to eliminate them as much as possible.
I've replaced the majority of my medicine cabinet (which didn't have many synthetic products in it to begin with) and a bunch of cleaning products with things like essential oils, ACV and baking soda. You don't really don't need much at the end of the day.
At this point, synthetic cleaning products and fragrances smell like poison to me (which Kyle isn't a fan of because he somehow loves the smell of bleach - bizarre)!
Though I don't use a ton of cosmetics, meaning I only know how to do my makeup one way and I use a minimal amount of products (have you seen my "going out" look? All it consists of is my normal makeup with more eyeliner. Pathetic, I know!), that's my next area to tackle.
I've honestly been putting off looking up the toxicity of my bronzer because I was terrified it would be horrible (I've been in denial - it's just so GOOD), but I finally sucked it up and checked - and what do you know? It's basically poison! Back to the drawing board on that one.
Luckily I don't need to toss everything that I use on my face - brands like Dr. Hauschka, Juice Beauty, Alba Botanica (and good old fashioned coconut oil) - ended up being pretty well rated. If you have an amazing organic bronzer, hit me up - I need to know about it!
I'm in love with the Environmental Working Group. They're a non-profit that's all about improving the health of people and our environment. I mean, what's not to love about that? They have a ton of quick, easy resources + guides to being a smart consumer and avoiding toxins. Check them out and refer to them often.
Here are some of my favs to reference:
Food: Print out their pesticide-focused Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists to take with you while shopping for produce, search your favorite foods in their database to see how and why they rank on a health scale, and use their Seafood Calculator to determine healthy types and amounts of seafood to eat on a weekly basis.
Cleaners: Search top household cleaners in their database to see how they stack up and score on a health scale.
Cosmetics: Search thousands of cosmetics in their database and see how they score on a health scale (they have a mobile app too if you want to use while shopping).
Endocrine Disruptors: Read through this list to learn about the biggest hormone disrupting culprits. The more you know, the more you can avoid.There's so much useful info on this site in general - I'd definitely recommend taking some time to poke around. Without fail it sucks me into a database-searching vortex!
Anyway, if you're interested, I'll start incorporating specific tips to lighten your toxic load in future blog posts. Holla at me if you have any special requests.
BYE, TOXINS!
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. The information contained on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease.