What is toxic load?

It's a condition in which one or more of our detoxification pathways are sluggish and we are not eliminating toxins efficiently.

Our body has six main different detoxification pathways to eliminate toxins from the body. Two of our biggest ones are our gut and liver! 

Anything we ingest has the opportunity to go through this “first pass metabolism” where it gets broken down into less toxic forms from the gut and liver. If these areas are not functioning optimally, we can get a build up of toxins within the body.

Some things we put on our skin that get absorbed will completely bypass this step, resulting in free circulation of them throughout the body.

First step? Starting to reduce our exposure to chemicals in the home is a great way to support the body. You can find a list of my favorite non toxic swaps on my website.

How do we know we have a high toxic load?

This is the tricky part, as there is no best way to determine this.

Oftentimes I see it encompassing a variety of symptoms that may seem to come from “nowhere” or are “mystery” symptoms. It really involves an in depth history of someone’s potential past/current toxin exposures, symptoms, review of labs, diet, lifestyle, stress levels, and any other pertinent info such as diagnoses that can impact our detox pathways from inflammation. 

There are such things as testing someone’s total toxic burden, but to accurately get a representation would cost anywhere from $4000-$10,000. Aside from the fact that these are expensive, they’re also ONLY a snapshot in time.

Not only this, but many chemicals actually reside in adipose tissues and will stay there for decades! Or they can reside in our bones, like fluoride and lead. So they won’t get picked up on testing.

One more thing about testing is that different toxins will preferentially leave our body in different ways, such as blood, sweat, or urine. So for example, doing one toxic burden test through urine only would not give an accurate representation.

Different symptoms associated with toxic load

These can range from gastrointestinal symptoms, to skin issues, and to other symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, and swelling.

If there is an underlying gut issue, such as SIBO/IMO/SIFO, this can actually cause sluggish liver detoxification pathways and produce endotoxins that create inflammation. I find that gut issues are widely linked to inhibiting detoxification.

When treating these conditions, it is important to support our detox pathways, especially our liver, to help our body in eliminating whatever we are trying to rid the body of.

How do we support our detox pathways?

🌱 Aid in correcting any gut dysbiosis or dysmotility; support gut through plant nutrition; add in variety of colorful plant foods, herbs, spices to aid in diversifying gut microbiome

🌱 Sweat! About 5-10% of toxins preferentially leave the body through sweat 

🌱 Decrease stress through lifestyle factors such as meditation, journaling, and breathwork: this supports all detox pathways. When we are stressed, it downregulates detoxification and puts us in a sympathetic state

🌱Eat liver supporting foods! Beets, ginger, turmeric, leafy greens, grains, high quality protein sources, sprouts, vitamin C rich foods, cruciferous vegetables

🌱 Exercise! This upregulates our body’s master antioxidant necessary for liver detoxification, and aids in gut motility 

Sulforaphane in sprouts is amazing at supporting phase 2.5 of our liver detoxification by: inducing the necessary enzymes and providing the antioxidants to support (doi 10.1021)

Need help in your SIBO, toxic load, and gut journey?

Apply for a free 15 minute consultation and we can discuss your case. I do have a waitlist for new patients at the moment, so sign up for this free call now if you can. 

Happiness & health,

Dr. Steph

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