FOODS and NUTRIENTS USED IN DETOXIFICATION

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What are the best diets and the importance of having antioxidants in your diet? Also a little bit about immunity because many people with mold illness ends up having an immune dysregulation.

So the first thing I want to talk about really is the total toxin load. Once you get so much toxins in your body, it kind of overflows. Kind of like a bucket when it fills up. And that doesn't really happen until we run out of the antioxidants in our body. And that's when we're going to start seeing symptoms, and we have to take in consideration of the combined stressors.

And that's why you'll have several people in the household, and not everyone is sick is because maybe you ran out of antioxidants and the other people are better able to detox.

So what we want to do is, we want to optimize your health. We want to make sure that we have clean food, clean water, and clean air.

So there's some really important things to remember for detoxing and it can take many months.

Your practitioner should want you always to start with diet changes. First, you got to get clean from the mold and get out of that space.

You want to always start with diet changes and support the GI and any type of Herxheimer support. A Herxheimer reaction is when you're releasing too many toxins or killing too many bacteria, fungus faster than your body can get rid of them. And so then you may end up with flu-like symptoms or just feeling worse. And sometimes just by changing your diet, especially if you’re on a really poor diet.

Some people want to start adding detox and adding things too quickly and I totally get that.

I was scared when I first found out that I had mold toxins and metabolic dysfunction from the mold and I wanted that mold out YESTERDAY!

It may  increase your risk for a healing crisis or Herxheimer reaction. Now, the reason why your practitioner may say the diet first is because the diet helps to push the toxins out of hiding. As we start cleaning up our diet and the cells in the cell membrane starting getting a lot healthier, then it opens up, and things start working. And the cells start detoxing on its own.

You want to wait and let the body adjust on its own rather than just take a whole bunch of supplements and try to push it into working better. Give the body time to adjust and start dumping toxins.

There are four diets that are typically recommended: the autoimmune paleo (AIP), low histamine, anti-candida, and low FODMAP. And mainly, it's the autoimmune paleo diet, but your practitioner should screen to see what diet is the best for your particular situation.

We need a very diverse diet for our microbiome to be healthy. And one little-known fact is that the microbiome actually will eat the mycotoxins that are in our food. And so, they don't really know how much mycotoxins are actually absorbed. The autoimmune paleo diet does leave the foods out that's the highest in mycotoxins. Also remember inhalation is 20 times more toxic than what we typically find in our food, so try not to be too rigid, most important to remove the mold you’re inhaling.

I follow the AIP diet. I believe it the best for detoxing because it's higher in protein and when our body starts breaking down protein in the body, and then we get in the spiral. And when we're in that downward spiral of a catabolic state, the mitochondria, which is the energy-producing machine, will shut down and contract, and then that's even lowered energy.

We should increase the protein because that provides the amino acids that turns our body into an anabolic state of repair. And we have to be in an anabolic state to repair all of the damaged systems in the body. This diet should help you have better cognition, mood, wellbeing, less stress. It’s also proven to improve libido and even help with sleep. The autoimmune paleo diet is also full of antioxidants.

Whether you're going to get sick from mold toxins or not depends on a lot of things. And our genetics is one thing, our ability to detoxify, our previous diet, the amount of stress, past traumas. There's a whole conglomeration.

And that's why it's really important to work with somebody that knows a lot about all of the different pillars that you have to look at and address while you're getting well. It's not like, oh, well, follow this one diet. Take this supplement and do this detox. You always want to work with a knowledgeable practitioner to help guide you through this tough phase in healing.

Now, the importance of antioxidants is they protect our barriers. They're lined with our lungs, our GI tract, sinuses, and even our red blood cells are lined. The whole red blood cells is lined with glutathione and taurine to protect them. If we don't have these antioxidants, then the barrier systems are breached. It's kind of like the dam is broken, and now all of the toxins are flooding inside the body, traveling around, getting everything, and that's when we get sick.

Our body is a fantastic detox machine. I mean, we detox through our lungs, through our urine, through our feces, through our skin, everywhere—even our hair. In the past, since industrial revolution, chemicals are everywhere. I mean, never before have humans been exposed to so many toxins. So you've got all these chemicals and all these other toxins plus all the drugs that we're taking on top of being exposed to mold.

So we have to stop using our air fresheners, fragrances, smoking, change all of our personal care products, clean up our diet, have a really good fatty acid intake of our omega-3s, and 6 because the cell membranes are made up of fatty acids. And then, we protect them with phospholipids, vitamin E, and vitamin C so that they can repair and get restored.

Now, antioxidants are a really big part of this because they provide polyphenols. And herbs are full of antioxidants. One thing about the polyphenols that we want to remember, they have very poor bioavailability, even though they're very helpful for us.

https://draxe.com/nutrition/polyphenols/

So glutathione is always a good idea if you're having mast cell crisis. You can always take some glutathione (under the advice of your practitioner of course). Sometimes that really helps stabilize it. NAC and tocotrienols, and glutathione together can really help restore our barrier systems.

I also use hibiscus tea, hot or iced. Not only does it taste good, it's got a beautiful red colour. And you can add a little bit of raw local honey in it if you like.. Not a lot, but just a little bit. That helps to naturally support glutathione synthesis.

Even teas, go and get a dozen. Just go and act like you're in the candy store on the tea aisle and get all different kinds of teas and rotate them because they're full of antioxidants and full of polyphenols.

I also drink electrolytes on the daily as well. Our bodies need those minerals to support many functions in the body and especially detox. There are many flavoured brands out there but I prefer to get ones that contain no sugar or nefarious chemicals or additives or simply, add Himalayan rock salt to a mason jar, fill with clean water and let it sit for a day. Then add a teaspoon of that salt water to one of your glasses of water that day. Easy and cheap electrolytes!

There are many vegetable, fruits and proteins that are important to include in a healthy diet and more so if you are struggling to detox chemicals and pathogens from your body. So eat the rainbow, stick with ethical cuts of meat, wild caught fish and don’t forget the organic coffee :)

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me. Especially if you’d like to learn more about the AIP diet and recipies.

As always, take care of yourself and talk to you soon!

With love,

Melissa