Minimizing potential toxins in food and replenishing nutrients in the body are two effective ways to nutritionally detox.
We’re exposed to toxins on a daily basis, including from the foods we eat. Common toxins include pesticides, added sugars, and trans fats.
When toxins build up in our body, we can get symptoms like brain fog, low energy, skin rashes, imbalance of microbiota that cause dysbiosis, and even more imbalances. Then you know, it’s time to take action before these symptoms become diseases.
One of the first thing to do is to figure out, where you are getting the toxins from the environment. Okay, you can say they are everywhere, because we live in a toxic environment. But, we are other things we can control more than others. One of those areas is our food choices.
We every bite of food we take, we choose to heal or not to heal the body. It’s good to know that we can actively choose for health or disease with our meals, so let’s start there.
What can we reduce or avoid in foods in order to help your body reduce toxins?
There are some general principles for everyone. Are some personalized guidelines for each individual. Le’t begin with several principles:
First: REDUCE AND REPLACE FOODS THAT ARE PROCESSED
What does that mean? Mean, the food that you purchase in wrappers, containers, plastic, boxes, bags and cans, that have a long ingredients lists or unnatural ingredients. These food are package in this way and filled with these synthetic ingredients, because they have to live a long time on the shelf.
Canned food are especially toxic, because the can is made by metals and inside of the can typically has a plastic liner- like bysfenol A, that can interact with the food inside the can, especially those that are acid like tomatoes.
When you avoid processed food, we are doing yourself a big favor, by eliminating the toxic ingredients, as well as toxic containers that they are packaged in.
Second: REDUCE OR AVOID THE FOOD OVERCOOKED
That’s right: grilled, fried, broiled, baked. When you see a food that has been made brown through cooking, you know that have some extra toxins in. We can actually make a healthy food –unhealthy, through cooking it a high temperatures. When you see that color change in the food with crisp edges, we know, you’ve lost nutrients and gained toxins.
Some of these, heat related toxins, are know as heterocyclic amines, which can be cancer causing and make the body more inflamed.
I’m not suggesting you to eat raw foods to avoid toxins. A little bit of hit is necessary to make the nutrients and food more available to the body. So, steaming and using slow, low methods of cooking are preferred. A role to thumb, to watch the color of food, while you’re cooking.
Third: REDUCE OR AVOID FOOD THAT ARE FILLED WITH PESTICEDES
One way you can lower your toxin input through food is by choosing organically – grown foods when you can.
Organically grown food are grown and harvested in such a way that they do not have pesticides, insecticides and herbicides applied. In fact, because they don’t have all these chemicals applied to ward pests away. They tend to fend for themselves and makes compounds to keep bugs away.
Many of those compounds tend to be healthy for us. So, when you buy organically-food, not only reduce the toxic load, but you can actually get some additional benefit from the other nutrients it contains.
Pesticides can be nasty for our body, and can disrupt our hormones. So, making the choice to buy organically-grown food is not just good for the environment but a form of built –in health insurance, to keep our body functionally better, through hormonal fluxes. This is especially important in teens, people who are stressed and those who are going through menopause changes later in life.
If you are not able to allow organically- grown food because it’s more expansive, then do the next best thing :
– Remove the pesticides from food by washing them well before you eat them.
– Use warm water and a little biodegradable soap, to get the resinous pesticides off and scrub when possible. I would even suggest washing and rising your organically –grown food too.
I want to mention that are other more specific principles that may be essential for you, as an Individual:
One is to find out what foods you are allergic to. When your immune system react to a food, it creates inflammation in the body. When you’re inflamed, you compromise your body ability to function and ward off toxins.
Since most people eat the same things every day, it’s important to get variety in your food choices.
You can get a allergy test done, you can also find out how you feel with foods, by doing elimination diet. Taking out the top dietary allergens like: eggs, cheese, sugar,soy, shellfish, wheat, and others, for a period of three to four weeks, and then adding them back one a time, can help you to see how your body responds to them.
I used elimination diet even for myself, to get clear on what I need to eliminate.
It’s a good idea to do the diet at least once a year, because your body, your toxic burden is always changing. You might actually get better, or you might be more compromised in your health, year after year, causing to respond differently to foods. You may be outright allergic with a immune response or simply have an intolerance, where your body doesn’t feel so good with those food.
In summary, reducing or avoiding certain toxins and foods, when you clear this everyday noise of toxicity in foods, you will feel better, look better.at perform at your best.
To a better health,
Elena
Integrative nutrition Health Coach