I’m so happy that my face is broken out right now!

…. Ok, so maybe I’m not being completely honest.

I’m not HAPPY that my face is broken out, BUT I know the cause and reason for it and it means my body is working out all the toxins!

What the heck am I talking about?

Well, I’m talking about the process our bodies go through to detox!

When a toxin comes into our body, it is processed by our liver. Then, depending on whether it’s a fat soluble toxin or a water-soluble toxin, it’s sent down a different path.

Fat soluble toxins are sent to your colon and then eliminated.

Water-soluble toxins are sent to your kidney and then eliminated.

But, there is one other way toxins are processed in our body – and that is through the skin. Toxins can come from either the colon or the kidney and can be eliminated through our skin.

The problem?

Not all toxins actually follow the elimination process and end up lodged in our fat cells, tissues and muscles.

If you read many of the autoimmune diet or chronic illness books out there, detoxing your liver is a vital step to regaining health. I can say that I’ve made many changes, but it wasn’t until I really started to focus on detoxing my liver that I started to see the biggest changes.

How am I doing that?

There are many ways we can detox our bodies. I’m sure you’ve seen the ‘3 day cleanse’ diets, drinks or shakes. But the best way to do this is to get proper nutrients from food sources (the best you can), supplement with what you can’t get and get rid of environmental toxins.We can’t afford to only do the quick fix detoxes once or twice a year. We need to be vigilant about it and try our best 24/7/365.

Sure, you could be crazy and drink water, lemon and cayenne pepper for a week, but the BEST way to detox your body is to make lifestyle and dietary choices that you can maintain for the course of your life.

I’m going to break this down into 2 categories.

A. What you put in your body

B. What you put on your body (look for post next week!)

Detoxification Process – What You Put In Your Body

Before I made drastic dietary changes, I always looked at diets as short term things. I’ll cut out carbs to loose a few pounds, I’ll count calories to fit into this dress, I’m going to exercise extra hard this week because I want to eat so much cake this weekend.

But in actuality, food is SO SO SO SO SOOOOO important to our bodies. It’s our fuel. It’s where we get our nutrients to live! If we’re not fueling ourselves with the right things, then we’re going to run out of steam. I mean, if you put diesel in your ecofriendly car, is it going to run smoothly?

 

So what are 3 things you can do to help cut down the toxins you’re putting in your body?

 

1. Be aware of GMOs And Pesticides In Your Produce!

GMOs are extremely dangerous to our bodies and we must try to avoid them at all costs. (Check out my #WellnessWednesday post on GMOs) In a perfect world, we’d all be able to buy local, organic products. But, since I like to live in a realistic world, what’s the best way to avoid harmful GMOs and pesticides?

The dirty dozen and the clean 15! The Environmental Working Group always puts out a shopping guide which lists the most up to date dirty dozen and clean fifteen! Here is the 2014 edition:

 

 

 

3. Pay Attention To Your Product’s Packaging

Ok, I’ll be honest, this isn’t something that I’m as vigilant about, but I know I should be. BPA (you know, you see the BPA-FREE sticker on some packages!) can be found in SO many products. It’s been shown to disrupt the endocrine system and leach estrogen into the body, which creates imbalances. Hormone imbalances can be tied to everything from obesity to ADHD.

For example, did you know that the lining of canned goods, the coating on receipts and the sandwich bags you use are all coated in BPA. I sure didn’t before I started learning more about this stuff!

PFOA (perfluorooctanic acid), the key element in Teflon, nonstick cookware, grease-resistant boxes, disposable cups, clothing, carpets, computer chips, car parts and flooring, has been shown to be an immune system disrupter. A study out of Stockholm University’s Unit for Biochemical Toxicology, reported that they couldn’t find a low enough dose at which PFOA DID NOT alter the immune-cell function.

Honestly, it’s hard to avoid toxins in the packaging of our food these days. The best advice I can share is to make the best possible choices that you can. Try to avoid plastic and pass on the teflon. If you see the following ingredient in your packaging don’t buy it:

Plastics to Avoid:

• Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)
• High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
• Polyvinyl chloride (IV or PVC)
• Low density polyethylene (LDPE)
• Polypropylene
• Polystyrene
• Other – which usually refers to Polycarbonate (PC) or Polylactic acid (PLA)

 

Soooo am I happy that some days my face looks like a 15-year-old girl’s – excluding the “laugh lines”?

No, but I know what I’m doing is helping and my body and is getting rid of toxins that I may have been carrying around for years and years and years!!!

What changes will you take and implement in your life??

 

Wishing You A Pain Free Day!

 

 

 

 

The following resources were used:

Autoimmune Solution by Dr. Amy Myers

The Paleo Approach by Sarah Ballantyne

Environmental Working Group.