How to reduce your toxic load and feel healthier

The Vitl Nutrition Team / 13 Nov 2017

Party season is about to kick off which means rich food and lots of festive booze (at least, we hope). These extra toxins can put quite a strain on the liver, so here's how to help reduce your toxic load in other areas so you can stay healthy throughout the season and support your body as it detoxes all the extra indulgences.

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What are toxins?

Toxins are substances that are poisonous or damaging to humans. They come from a variety of sources:

  • Drugs (i.e. alcohol, caffeine and medications) 
  • Certain substances in plants (i.e. herbicides, pesticides, insecticides), animals (i.e. hormones) and water (i.e. chlorides and flourides) that we consume 
  • Heavy metals such as lead and mercury 
  • Organic chemicals in our environment found in everything from fuel for our cars to cleaning products to skincare 

Toxic load is a term more commonplace in holistic medicine, in which we’re thinking about the accumulated amount of toxins which can affect your bodily systems at any given time.

How do I know I need to reduce my toxic load?

We are detoxifying all the time, via your liver, kidneys, bowels, skin and breath. If your body didn’t do this effectively all the time you wouldn’t last very long.

That said, your diet, environment, lifestyle, and even certain types of bacteria in your gut can all build up to increase our toxic load. Over time this can manifest itself as feelings of sluggishness, digestive issues, poor sleep, low immunity and even longer-term development of diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Ideally, we should keep our toxic load to a level where our body can optimally function. However, if you have gone through a period where you feel that you have overdone it and are feeling the negative effects, taking a period where you focus on reducing the amount of toxins whilst increasing foods that contain detoxifying nutrients can be very beneficial.

How can I reduce my toxic load?

  • Use filtered water

Toxic chemicals (i.e. chlorides, fluorides and heavy metals) are present in unfiltered water. Therefore the quality of what you’re drinking and adding to your food is important. Use filtered water for drinking and cooking wherever you can.  

  • Avoid plastic and non-stick cookware plastic containers 
Water bottles, microwave containers etc that contain BPA should be avoided as some research has suggested it can mimic oestrogen in the body and is linked to certain cancers (i.e. breast cancer) and other issues such as early puberty and infertility. Meanwhile, non-stick cookware contains a chemical coating (including chemicals known as TFE and PFOA) that is also thought to cause harm.

  • Cut processed foods and avoid larger sized fish
Processed foods contain chemicals (i.e. preservatives, artificial flavours and sugar) which your body doesn’t need. They are often nutrient depleted too meaning they won’t help detoxification either. Also, larger sized fish (i.e. swordfish, marlin and canned tuna) should be avoided and they tend to contain increased stores of mercury (a toxic heavy metal). 

  • Eat whole foods and choose organic where possible
 Eat a range of fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants differ by what they detoxify but also by their colour, so get in a range of differently coloured fruits and vegetables to get a range of detoxifying nutrients. Also, go organic where you can to minimise the level of pesticides and herbicides (and in the case of animals, hormones and antibiotics) and other unwanted toxins in your diet. If you’re prioritising, check out the ‘clean fifteen’ and ‘dirty dozen’ to find out the fruits and veg with the most/least toxic residues.  

  • Support your liver and digestive system with nutrients

Increase your intake of detoxifying fruits and vegetables (i.e. beetroot, garlic, leeks, broccoli, fennel) or consider including green superfoods like spirulina and chlorella into your morning smoothie. It’s also worth including B vitamins and quality protein to help facilitate detoxification. Your digestive system is important too to help get rid of toxins so make sure you’re getting in soluble and insoluble fibre (from fruit, vegetables and whole grains) and probiotic-rich foods (i.e. sauerkraut and live yoghurt) to help aid digestion.

  • Go au naturale
Lots of harmful chemicals and toxins can be found in commonplace beauty products (which can get into the bloodstream through skin absorption) and household cleaning products (which can be ingested and absorbed in all sorts of ways). Consider using more natural, organic products by using vinegar, baking soda and lemon for cleaning products, and organic, natural beauty products. 

  • Move around

Skin and sweat are a great way to remove toxins through the skin, and exercise can help get systems (i.e. circulatory, digestive and lymphatic systems) working and moving to help get rid of waste.  

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The Vitl Nutrition Team

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