We’ve been talking about the harmful role that man-made chemicals and environmental pollutants can play in your health. Whether it’s through the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, the skincare and cosmetics you apply or the cookware and house cleaning materials you use, over time you could be accumulating these environmental toxins in your body and adding to your toxic burden and therefore stress.
in this article, I want to talk about your body’s natural detox organs and what you can do to improve their function!
You detoxify through your emunctories…
What are your emunctories?
In naturopathic medicine, we refer to the organs that are in charge of removing waste material from your body as your emunctories.
They are the organs through which your body detoxifies.
And they include: your skin, liver, kidneys, lungs, and intestines.
Your lymph nodes which are a part of your lymphatic system also play a role here.
Your lymphatic system is a network of vessels and tissues that help to remove waste, toxins, and other harmful substances from your body.
Think of your lymph nodes as filters, trapping and destroying bacteria, viruses and toxins that are carried in your lymphatic fluid.
The approach to solving the problem of environmental toxin exposure needs to be 2 pronged…
These two strategies are interconnected: by lowering your exposure you are helping your body to not become overwhelmed and be able to better eliminate toxins.
One of the main reasons why minimizing your exposure is so crucial is because these toxicants are very stubborn, they do not easily get eliminated. Your body has to do work and spend a lot of precious resources (such as vitamins, minerals and energy) to be able to eliminate them.
So how can you support your body's natural detoxification processes?
By adopting a healthy lifestyle!
The health of your detoxification organs is not separate from the health of the rest of your body.
In fact, the health of your detoxification organs depends on your overall health.
If your hydration and nourishment are on point, you're sleeping well, you're moving well and you’re addressing the unnecessary sources of stress in your life then your body is better able to eliminate toxins.
In addition to the factors mentioned above, here are a few other important ways to help your body better eliminate toxins:
Make sure you’re sweating – You can sweat as a result of exercising or saunaing. They’re both great and needed.
And, if you're someone who doesn’t sweat much while working out then it is even more important that you use saunas as a way to sweat. At the same time, please make sure to not overdo it! Sweating has MANY benefits but it can also be depleting. So, listen to your body. More is not always better. And make sure you're hydrating well between your sweat sessions. Hydrate not just with water but also minerals, both before and after your movement and sauna sessions.
Make sure you're pooping – It is critical that you are able to have at least one healthy bowel movement per day on your own and without the use of laxatives (natural or otherwise). You can read more about what it means to have healthy bowel movements and how to (naturally) get there here.
Make sure you’re moving enough – We talked about your lymphatic system playing a role in helping your body detoxify! Did you know that jumping is an excellent way to stimulate lymphatic flow and drainage? Your lymphatic system relies on muscle movement to circulate your lymph, and jumping up and down acts as a pump and helps to move your lymph fluid. This can mean you jumping gently on your tippy toes or on a rebounder for a few minutes a day. If you're not able to jump, just make sure you’re walking enough!
In my work with patients, we formulate a protocol that optimizes their own body’s detox pathways and is suited to their needs. This is how you can help your body naturally detoxify through nutrition and other lifestyle factors without resorting to intense, depleting and even at times harmful detox programs and cleanses.