TPV Podcast, Episode 269: The Truth About Detoxes

In this episode, we discuss the difference between trendy detoxes and helpful ones and explain how your body really detoxes.

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• News and Views (0:41)
  • Sarah and Stacy are recording during the day, and Sarah isn’t in her PJ’s (for once!)
  • Sarah’s still tired because she’s been recording videos for the Autoimmune Protocol Lecture Series videos all week.
  • Stacy is excited about the next few shows because she got to pick the topics!
  • After finishing Paleo Principles (which is 672 pages) Sarah went right into filming videos.
  • Her feet have been swelling at night with no real explanation, and this got worse during filming.
  • Sarah’s FIFTH formulation of her thyroid medication has been working really well, and she is happy that she’s lost some weight as a side effect.
  • Stacy says that Sarah is a good example of weight loss coming on the heels of improved health. But it might also be triggering her swollen feet…
• The Truth About Detoxes
  • This week’s episode is Stacy’s suggestion, but it comes at a great time because of Sarah’s swollen feet!
  • Sarah’s Functional Medicine specialist suggested that estrogen stored in her fat, which was released during her rapid fat loss, might be causing the swelling in her feet.
  • So, her doctor recommended a medical detox from Douglas Labs, which helped reduce the swelling right away!
  • Stacy thinks there’s a lack of education around other types of detoxes, as well as marketers who prey on “detox” searches on the web.
  • Sarah says lots of detoxes have no grounding in science; a lot of them are fiber-rich and make you poop a lot. Another example is the coffee enema, which can actually be dangerous. Read Sarah’s post “Coffee Enemas: What the Science Says versus What You’ve Heard” for more.
  • Interestingly, lots of detoxes, like juice cleanses, can have immediate beneficial effects because you’re eating more veggies and pulling out inflammatory foods (such as FODMAP’s and alcohol). However, they’re not a good solution because they starve your beneficial gut bacteria.
  • Detoxification happens in the liver, but these cleanses don’t support the liver.
  • Most “Toxins” are fat-soluble, including heavy metals, metabolic by-products, and excess hormones.
  • Liver detox:
    • Phase 1: Liver transforms them into water-soluble forms.
      • Nutrients for this include B Vitamins, Vitamin A, Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium.
    • Phase 2: Conjugation – the water-soluble molecule is combined with something to neutralize it, and by-products are secreted into small intestine and eliminated or sent to kidneys and eliminated
      • Nutrients for this include Amino Acids, Glutamine, Methionine, Taurine, Cysteine, Vitamin B and C, Selenium.
  • Liver stores the nutrients needed for detoxification, so eating liver (or taking Vital Proteins Liver Pills) is a great “detox” strategy.
  • Fiber from veggies (especially non-starchy), water, organ meats, bone broth, seafood, and fruit are all great detox foods – i.e. the Paleo diet!
  • It’s also important to stay hydrated.
  • If your liver can’t keep up, supporting Phase 1 or Phase 2 with botanicals like Milk Thistle can be helpful.
  • This is what a medical detox looks like; it should only be done under a doctor’s supervision.
  • In contrast, most detoxes just clear out your good bacteria and don’t support your liver at all.
  • Stacy really doesn’t like that companies use misleading “marketing techniques” to convince people to buy their detox products that don’t work.
  • Find a good functional medicine doctor to work with!
  • Stacy and Sarah both love Vital Proteins beef liver pills.
• Rate and review us. Goodbye!
• Outro (53:09)