So whats the point of a detox?

Your liver is the detoxification centre for your body and lifestyle factors can increase the amount of toxins entering the body, causing extra stress on your liver. These factors include medications, coffee, alcohol use, smoking, high fat diets, pesticides and exposure to pollutants. A liver cleanse reduces the toxic load in the diet and helps build your liver function.

When would I need to detox?

When a body is overly ‘toxic’, certain signs and symptoms may be a result*, including:

• Nervous System symptoms: depression, fatigue, mood changes, poor concentration, headaches with nausea
• Immune Dysfunction: allergies, asthma, eczema, sinusitis, hayfever, food sensitivities, fibromyalgia, recurrent viral, fungal or bacterial infections.
• Digestive Problems: Indigestion, reflux, gallstones, intolerance to fatty foods, intolerance to alcohol, bloating, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome
• Blood sugar irregularities: sugar cravings, hypoglycaemia
• Hormonal imbalances: PMS, increased side effects to the OCP or HRT.
• Other symptoms: bad breath, itchy skin, dark circles under the eyes, excessive/offensive sweating, pale skin.

*This is not to say that the reasons for these symptoms are 100% result of a toxic liver, however it may be a contributor! 

Are there any side effects to a liver detox?

As your body eliminates toxins, you may temporarily experience headaches, irritability and fatigue. This effect will only be temporary, as your body removes the majority of the toxins.

I’ve learnt so much about health in this past 4 years and its important to experiment with different health strategies so I can understand how my patients feel when you given the same challenges. 

Laura's disclaimer: If you wish to undergo a detox, I highly recommend that you consult with a professional first, as a detox may not be for everyone to undergo at a whim. A detox can change your liver function, which in turn can alter some medication responses. 

Tune in soon for the guidelines to my gentle detox process. Its not as scary as it seems!

A clean liver is a happy liver (especially when it has a martini in its hand...?)

A brief history of the detoxees...

So who am I and whats with the detox?

 I’m a  4^th year naturopath student, currently studying at Endeavour College of Natural Health. I am also currently working at Ultimate Detox Solutions as a naturopathic assistant.  I already have a degree in computer science and software engineering, which has given me a group of terrific friends, helped me meet my husband and showed me the path that my career was definitely not in computer science or software engineering (yawn.)

From my current studies, don’t get the idea however that I am super health freak naturalness guru. I am a recovering junkaholic. I was one of those kids who was addicted to sugar, grew up on processed foods and used to drink red bull for breakfast on a daily basis.

My husband Jarod and I have been together for almost nine and a half years. For the first 6 years of our relationship, we ate mountains of junk food, cooked out of packets and gave ourselves pats on the backs when we bought a fresh piece of fruit. Sure, we had the roller coaster rides of motivation for exercise, but then something always stopped us after a while and we became the Jabba the Hutts of the couch again. Denial was our best friend... those moments when you think ‘its not me who is getting larger, the clothes are shrinking in the wash’, or ‘They must have changed the sizing measurements on clothes’.

3 years ago, we both had the epiphany moment after looking at some photos where we realised that we were overweight, unfit and going to both die early if we didn’t do something to change ourselves. This was it... no turning back. No more roller coaster. No more excuses or denials. We pulled the finger out and changed our lives forever. We didn’t crash diet, simply ate good foods. We exercised regularly, but not in excess. Over the following 9 months, Jarod lost 20kg and I lost 15kg. We kept this weight off and kept it balanced for 2 years... until we went to Hawaii in January for our honeymoon (Anyone who has had hula pie would understand completely – see picture below for an idea on how delicious it looks.).

Our bodies have ingested a large number of toxic food over the years, not to mention alcohol and environmental toxins. I used to work at an environmental science lab which analyses soils, water and air for pesticides, heavy metals and other fun things like that. I'm sure breathing in those materials has made my body super happy! So its time to try out a gentle detox to see how we handle a month of no alcohol and sugary goodness to allow our livers to take a holiday and remove any extra nasties from our bodies. Sayonara hula pie! 

There and back again... a detoxing story.

Starting on Monday the 26^th of September, my husband and I will be starting a one month liver detox  as an experiment. This will not involve a sole diet of grapefruits, or using a dodgy 48 hour detox products, far from it! Why does a detox need to be given such an evil label, with the thought of causing us so much harm? This blog is being written to show that not all detoxes are evil and can involve some pretty delicious foods along the way.

Along the journey, I’ll post up recipes of what we are eating and anything we have experienced along the way – both positive and negative. October is starting to fill up with events, so keep tuned to how we remain alcohol free and curb urges to chow down snacks at parties. Feel free to share any stories or foods you may have encountered during your own previous detoxing endeavours. Sharing is a great way to learn and even if one person is inspired to give this a go, then this blog has been worth it.

Cue the motivational music.