Supporting Detoxification Organs

 

My last blog looked at how to support our body with nutrition as we detoxify and this blog answers the next most important question: ‘how do we support the organs that are doing the most amount of work as we detox?’ All the organs in our body work hard to break down and get rid of toxins: our kidneys filter blood and produce urine to excrete water-soluble toxins, our lungs expel carbon dioxide, our intestines excrete waste products, our liver clears out fat-soluble toxins and our skin excretes bacteria through sweat. With all this going on all the time, we need to ensure that all of the body’s systems are supported and that all organs have the nutrients they need to function optimally.

 

Liver

You may be familiar with the liver as the organ responsible for breaking down the toxins that are removed from the body through bowel movements. The liver is also responsible for metabolising proteins, carbohydrates and fats, and for detoxifying hormones, fat-soluble toxins and drugs. The liver also makes bile which is necessary for fat and fat-soluble vitamin absorption.

As a Nutritional Therapist, I will be looking at supporting your liver function to encourage good detoxification and elimination, and optimal metabolic and hormonal balance. Our liver works with our intestine, kidneys, lungs, skin and blood to ensure that toxins are transformed into less harmful substances. Eating lots of cruciferous vegetables and beetroots[1], especially organic beetroot juice[2], along with raw garlic[3] can help support the liver naturally. Dandelion Root can be used to support liver function and bile flow, while glutathione or milk thistle can be used as additional supplementation. Milk thistle can decrease liver inflammation, and turmeric extract can protect against liver injury. Amazingly, the liver can regenerate itself through good diet, healthy lifestyle and the right supplements…which means you can have an optimally functioning liver at any age!

 

Pancreas and Gall Bladder

Your pancreas should be producing sufficient digestive enzymes and your gallbladder should be producing bile, both of which can help destroy unwanted micro-organisms in the digestive tract. Beetroots are a good way to cleanse the gallbladder and improve bile flow, while Blackseed oil can be very beneficial in supporting the pancreas. Brown seaweed has surprising beneficial effects on the pancreas, kidneys, and liver, as well as a reduction in kidney and liver damage resulting from diabetes.[4] Berries, cherries and grapes (make sure they are organic!) are all rich in antioxidants which can combat oxidative stress and inflammation during detox. Leafy greens and raw carrots are high in vitamins and minerals, and curcumin has strong anti-inflammatory properties that can help modulate inflammatory pathways.

Kidneys

Our kidneys work hard to filter waste from our blood. Waste removal in the kidneys is excreted in the urine or passes into the liver to be excreted through bile into the digestive tract. Staying hydrated is one of the most important ways of supporting our kidneys, and adding lemon juice to your water gives further benefits to the kidneys. Stinging nettles and celery can help support the kidneys, and you might also like to consume more cranberries and drink more cranberry juice![5] Cranberries contain D-Mannose and may improve kidney health by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress and reduce urinary tract infections.[6] Finally, oregano extract can be used to support the urinary tract during a detox.

 

Gut

For efficient digestion and absorption your stomach should be producing correct amounts of stomach acid. The bacteria and microbes in your intestines should be balanced and your gut lining should be healthy and strong. Incidentally, this is why it is essential to prevent constipation. The stool is loaded with toxins and since blood goes from the bowel to the liver, constipation causes the liver to overwork. I have got a great green smoothie recipe which is helpful for relieving constipation and boosting liver function. You can read more about gut health in one of my previous blogs here.

 

Skin

The skin is the largest organ in our bodies and we are continually excreting toxins from our body via urine, stools, sweat and normal breathing processes. The best thing to do to help detoxification through the skin is to increase sweating! Think of saunas and exercise that makes you sweat. It is important to allow yourself to sweat and not to use anti-perspirant which blocks your pores to prevent sweat. Make sure you either have a cold shower before your sauna to remove any toxins from your skin, or soak a muslin cloth in cold water and wipe your skin before you shower. This will prevent the toxins on your skin from being reabsorbed during the sauna. Also make sure to shower after your sauna or exercise rather than load up on the anti-perspirant for the same reason!

 

Hair

I have included a brief discussion of Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)here because our hair can help us in the journey of detoxification. Earlier this year I spent several months doing a course that did a deep dive into minerals and toxic elements. Did you know hair is considered as one of the organs in the body? It is a filamentous structure made of keratin, a protein, that grows from follicles located in the skin and it can tell us a lot about toxicity in the body.

A HTMA can help identify any imbalances in minerals in our body and it can also identify heavy metals that require detoxification. It is an inexpensive laboratory test that measures the levels of essential minerals and toxic metals in a small hair sample. I recommend it as a valuable diagnostic tool and it is very easy for everyone to do.

Your hair is composed of various elements, including minerals that are incorporated into the hair as it grows. They remain locked into the hair and therefore give a unique window into the body’s mineral metabolism. I recommend a HTMA because it can identify mineral imbalances that may contribute to chronic health conditions, persistent fatigue, or unexplained symptoms. It can identify chronic imbalances or toxic exposures and it can also detect heavy metal toxicity as well as the presence of lead, mercury, or arsenic. You may want to check for heavy metals if you suspect the following symptoms of heavy metal toxicity: fatigue, memory difficulties, digestive disturbances, and neurological issues such as tremors or numbness.

You can discuss this in your consultations with me and you can find more information here. Look out for a future blog post on Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis after this Detoxification Series but in the meantime, please have a look at Emma’s Activities where I have written about the HTMA course I did!

 

Additional tips for organ support

As you will know from reading my blogs in the past, it is important to get regular exercise and eat a healthy diet, along with a healthy lifestyle with at least 8 hours sleep a night! In addition to any personalised supplements you are already taking, additional supplements for detox include NAC, Garlic, Zinc, juices, soups, and herbal teas. The last important detail for supporting organs of detoxification is to include specific compounds that bind toxins and remove them to prevent reabsorption into the body. We call these ‘binders’. Chlorella (a blue-green algae) is rich in vitamins and minerals and binds to heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides and mycotoxins – it is an excellent choice to include in your diet as a binder. Zeolite, activated charcoal and bentonite clays are also great. It is often best to take these on an empty stomach and to drink lots of liquids to help the body flush out the toxins.

 

As we head into the final destination of our detoxification journey, remember a single liver cleanse will not magically correct years of unhealthy living or eliminate all toxins. It will have a much greater impact after you work to eliminate the toxins that are going in to your body. Remember, we are aiming to support our body’s detoxification systems on a day-by-day basis and to support our organs of detox so they can efficiently and carry out their job every day!

 

With every blessing,

Emma

Emma Maitland-Carew – Registered Nutritional Therapist

Dip.ION, mBANT, CHNC Registered Practitioner, ILM Accredited Wellbeing Coach

Certified Live and Dried Blood Analysis, Metabolic Balance® Coach, HeartMath Coach, Accredited Wellbeing Coach

 

 

[1] Bastos, E.L., Schliemann, W. (2021). Betalains as Antioxidants. In: Ekiert, H.M., Ramawat, K.G., Arora, J. (eds) Plant Antioxidants and Health. Reference Series in Phytochemistry. Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-030-45299-5_9-2

[2] Clifford T, Howatson G, West DJ, Stevenson EJ. The potential benefits of red beetroot supplementation in health and disease. Nutrients. 2015 Apr 14;7(4):2801-22. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4425174/

[3] Zhang S, Gu Y, Wang L, Zhang Q, Liu L, Lu M, Meng G, Yao Z, Wu H, Xia Y, Bao X, Wang H, Shi H, Sun S, Wang X, Zhou M, Jia Q, Song K, Xiang H, Niu K. Association between dietary raw garlic intake and newly diagnosed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a population-based study. Eur J Endocrinol. 2019 Dec;181(6):591-602.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31557727/

[4] Motshakeri M, Ebrahimi M, Goh YM, Othman HH, Hair-Bejo M, Mohamed S. Effects of Brown Seaweed (Sargassum polycystum) Extracts on Kidney, Liver, and Pancreas of Type 2 Diabetic Rat Model. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014.

[5] Duthie, S. J., Jenkinson, A. M., Crozier, A., Mullen, W., Pirie, L., Kyle, J., Yap, L. S., Christen, P., & Duthie, G. G. (2006). The effects of cranberry juice consumption on antioxidant status and biomarkers relating to heart disease and cancer in healthy human volunteers. European Journal of Nutrition, 45, 113–122.

[6] Feliciano, R. P., Krueger, C. G., & Reed, J. D. (2015). Methods to determine effects of cranberry proanthocyanidins on extraintestinal infections: Relevance for urinary tract health. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 59, 1292–1306.