DETOX

Gut Detox Cleansing. 

Since the Human Microbiome Project run by NIH in 2007, the scientific community has accepted the value of the gut being more than just a tube to breakdown and absorb food for fuel. Before that if you were to ask a Gastroenterologist about SIBO or the microbiome sending antibody signals and hormone reabsorption …. Most would say please follow up with your primary care doctor. In fact the only docs addressing GUT and the ecosystem of the small and large intestine were “functional medicine doctors”.  This specialty can be given to MD’s and DO’s trained in standard allopathic medical schools OR to ND’s (naturopaths) trained at Bastyr University or chiropractors, acpuncturists, dieticians psychologists or even personal trainers. So with the wide sweep of different training methods, I feel it is imperative to know the education  redentials of your healer. Bottom line is to have a team of Profesionals guiding you on making proper lifestyle changes to keep you healthy and disease free WHILE using data interpretation and personalization.

Back to detoxing, when vitamin shops and the concept of nutraceuticals came into vogue every brand was touting their product as a single pill/liquid to take and fix all ailments!  Estimates have figured the nutraceutical industry will make 100-400 billion dollars this year.  With that, there are non medical protocols being sold as “this is what your gut needs to function properly”. Obviously if your gut has been slowly rendered dysfunctional over 3-4 decades…it will take a lot of fixing to return back to youthful function. (..the days you could eat anything and not be effected!) Now-a-days you have that same extra scoop or one last sip or the desert that you deserve and BOOM your up 10 lbs with bloat, brain fog and reflux. 

So I’m these times of over abundance it will take a lot of education and experimenting to find what is healthy for you and what you should stay away from both in type of food, volume or food and timing of food. You must be your own advocate and a guardian for your family to steer clear of the food hormone traps that make us all prisoners of the fast food industry. (The algorithms are calculated to draw your attention when you are weakest…so you MUST prepare to respond and live your strongest in these times of abundance) To learn how civilization has dealt with times of plenty (seems to come in cycles) let’s look at tradition.

It’s fairly easy to say where the practice started, ancient cultural traditions have involved decreasing food intake during times of religious abstinence. Most old religions will have the concept of cutting down food and beverage during a short time to become more attuned to developing inner wisdom. (This means if you are distracted and cannot focus on a mindful routine try to remove the biggest signals-hormone triggers. When the digestive system is empty, it causes less hormonal waves and adds to better focus and concentration on a goal/target/emotion. Many of the major religions throughout the world will practice some form of fasting. In Catholicism  (what I practice) we do not eat meat on Fridays during Lenten season.  With my fraternity called Exodus 90, we start with no meat on Wednesday and Friday in January and go until Easter Sunday…(along with exercise daily, holy hour dedication, no unnecessary social media and cold showers!)  This introduced me to cold immersion therapy!  I cannot speak for other religions but many friends have honored me by teaching how they celebrate “detoxing”.

Yes I equated Fasting Diet practice with Detoxing. In my view, it results in the same gain…focused attention, better insight, less need for sleep and less hormonal waves from the HIGHLY PROCESSED FOODS OF TODAY!!! Fasting is ancient but now more than ever I see value in the regular implementation of a fast/detox.  The hyper-palatable, highly processed foods with a shelf life of years vs days is convenient to store and pull out at arms reach while in the seated position (…and sometimes even while lying down) at any time of the day or night…totally breaking moms tradition of “don’t eat before dinner or you’ll lose your appetite”.  Before the internet was invented, people had to commute to work (30-60minutes one way) and store a mid day meal (lunch bag or lunch truck) and then travel home to eat at the table together. Now the lines at home are obscure like the hours of work and recreation (even sleep). The data on regular meals vs smaller more frequent meals vs cutting down on total calories vs low carb vs intermittent fasting vs OMAD…all confusing on purpose. The food industry is spending millions of dollars to keep you addicted, keep you hungry and keep you as a frequent flyer.  I would go one step further and suggest the food industry is linked to the prescription drug industry with a strategy to keep you as subscribers for the remainder of your diseased life. 

SO where does detoxing come in? If you look at the current problems with health…number one is obesity  The trickle down effect of that is metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia. These are not in order and people that dont care about their health can enter the timeline of disease at any point but it always centers around eating TOO MUCH. 

The easiest way to break your addiction to the hormonal cascade caused by processed food ingestion is to stop it. AH BUT THE FOOD INDUSTRY PAYS THE MOST BRILLIANT PSYCHOLOGISTS IN THE WORLD TO KEEP YOU HOOKED!

The hyper palatable state many of the food companies create is just SOOOOO YUMMY!! The foods they produce give you a big wave of hormone (usually insulin and dopamine) that drown your tastebuds into thinking = orgasm!  How does one not get hooked. Case in point, take your youngest toddler-relative and ask the parent how the childs face looked when first given a slurpy or chocolate or lollipop or icecream? Usually its a facial reaction of bewilderment, happiness, elation and “GIVE ME MORE”. A single exposure is what starts the “food-fix” ravenous search and destroy hunting for snacks all the time. Like a food alcoholic…eye opener first thing in the am, a pick me up before lunch, another crunchy thing to wake you up post lunch…then the after dinner (and you didn’t eat much cause you were full) indulgence.  No boundaries between work space / kitchen / tv room 2 cupboard / bedroom tv and tablet-phone middle of the night. Likewise if you’re hungry at any point during the day…listen to your stomach as there is inherent wisdom in signaling the hunt for food reflex.  And that is the problem…the most devastating drug creation by the food industry is high fructose corn syrup. 10x sweeter than sugar 5x faster to absorb than a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Guaranteed to make your pancreas flood the brain with insulin (hellos diabetes and Alzheimers) and here’s the kicker…it dysregulates ghrelin and leptin the 2 major signaling molecules that send feedback from fat cells or the stomach that you are full (so stop eating). If your brain cannot tell when to stop eating you become that fat mouse in the experiment of continuous feeding. 

So ultimately cold turkey isn’t easy cause your brain will fight like hell to make you hunt for that sweet goodness if you are late by 30 minutes. No one looks forward to the withdrawal from sweets/simple carbs/alcohol…and consequently we rationalize by saying “I can’t detox because the last time I did, got chest pain, headaches, moodiness….essentially HANGRY!  How do you break this cycle? One way is to have the designated time of detoxing to a certain month or season or time of life and you can build up to it. Doing a detox can be exciting if you plan a ramp up to the event; join for a cause; do it as competition or just link it to a goal of reversing disease and feeling young again. These declarations make it more appealing and yes if you just use data, it can be motivating.

My favorite data comes from Volter Longo and the Fasting Mimicking Diet. This is a 5 day fast essentially decreasing total daily calories and the type of food eaten. His data showed benefit to chemotherapy patients, reversal of diabetes, ridding the gut of bad pre-cancer cells in fact he even found stems cells can be triggere to create youthful organs and immune systems again.

The dada from Jason Fungs book The Obesity Code cracked the breakfast industry by showing data to benefit pushing back the first meal of the day. The popularity of the Atkins diet brought low carb (this low insulin) eating to what is now the “keto” movement. Going into ancient times, fasting was suggested to prepare the digestive system and metabolism for the bounty of the new harvest. (Like going from the calorie dense foods and dishes of winter to the abundance of lighter veggies fruits legumes seeds of spring summer. So I usually suggest a detox end or winter beginning of spring then again end of summer/fall and beginning of winter. So at least a twice a year detox. Personally I do a 5 day detox about every 3 months. 

All in all with the science, ANY DETOX would be a good as it 

1-keeps high fructose corn syrup out of your practice for a while

2-it can get your gut ready for tasting good food and not the processed stuff

3-during the cutting back, you can inject a rekindling of your mindful practice/devotion

4-it forces you to declare food items as bad and good (clearly when under the influence of sugar/sweet/salty/drunk…it’s hard to discern. 

5-the practice helps break down large obstacles to longevity as small speed bumps throughout the year -much easier to handle than the January 1st wish of ‘losing 100lb’!