The Science of Detoxification
A Naturopathic Perspective.
Summer is here, and as we go out and about, we like to be feeling good and looking our best. That’s why keeping our organs of elimination working well is so important.
Spring and Summer is often associated with detoxification because this is the time of year associated with renewal and being out and about socialising. As we shed our dry winter skin and get out and about in the warm weather and socialise more, we usually consume more food and drink, and this can put more pressure on our elimination organs.
Detoxification is a process that happens inside of our bodies every day. The elimination organs in our body transform substances that if they were left to accumulate inside of us could be harmful. The four primary organs responsible for this are the liver, the kidneys, the lungs and the skin. These four elimination organs do this naturally without us having to do anything every single day. Their job is to change substances that would be harmful to us into less harmful substances so they can be excreted by the body easily and safely. The idea of detoxification or a detox is to improve these processes and make them highly efficient.
The liver is usually the first organ that people think of when they think of detoxification.
The liver is the biggest internal organ in the body, it’s a very busy organ and does a lot of work when it comes to keeping the body in balance. The liver primarily transforms substances that if left to accumulate would harm you, into substances that the body can excrete through the urine and colon. The liver has two main phases of detoxification and it is important both phases are working well. The kidney is also an important organ of detoxification. We have two kidneys in our body, and their job is essentially to filter the blood. Our urine is in essence the poop of our blood. The kidney appreciates
lots of water as this makes its job a lot easier. The kidney also likes more alkaline foods rather that acidic foods. The lungs are our next organ of detoxification. The lungs are essentially a big filter responsible for filtering out fumes,airborne toxins, moulds, and allergens. The wee hairs in our nose catch things not meant to go down into our lungs. When we cough, we are often assisting the lungs in ridding of something it doesn’t want in there, we have to however be careful not to pass it on to another person who is close by, this is why it can be a good idea to cough into our elbow. The skin is also an organ of elimination. The skin is the biggest organ we have, its big surface area makes it a very important organ for ridding of toxins. The skin stops things from getting inside the body and into the blood and when we exercise and sweat it assists us to clean out many toxins.
The concept of a detoxification is simply to assist these organs of elimination and help them to work the most efficiently they can. You can do this through a good diet and exercise. If a person wants to use nutritional supplements or specialised diets to detox it would be recommended to seek the advice of Naturopath or Medical Professional.
Megan Karena
