I once met a friend for tea and between bites of her muffin (??) she explained to me that her eczema on her face was just a detox reaction. I bit my tongue but naturally was a little sceptical…

Another time I had picked up some kind of nasty bug while on vacation and a friend came over to see me and let me know that my body was just detoxing… Um thanks… no, diarrhea is not always detox.  Sometimes I get upset and I feel that comments like these give those of us who are interested in helping the body’s detoxification processes just look dumb :/

We do hear this when we are actually on a cleanse, no cupcakes, an actual cleanse. And it is definitely true. I’ve made “cleanse” mistakes and maybe you have too: Going way too hard core way too quickly with diet and lifestyle changes and getting hit with headaches or other icky feelings for a few days.  This is not a sign that you’re kicking ass.  It is a sign that you may be releasing stored substances at a faster rate than your liver can handle.  Or that there is a backup between phase one and two detoxification, an imbalance there.  When we experience these “detox” symptoms they are actually tox symptoms showing that harmful metabolites in our bodies are doing harm rather than being excreted safely.  Take care of yourself, support your detoxification and excretion pathways and go slow enough that your body can handle what you’re throwing at it.

With that being said, what I can calling tox and some call detox reactions still need to be differentiated from more serious problems.  Here are three easy ways to know if you are experiencing detox or if you are experiencing something more:

#3 way to know if your detox reaction is actually a detox reaction: You are moving in the direction of more and more clean/great/healing food and lifestyle choices. For example this could happen when starting a new fitness program, incorporating more greens, meditating, using infrared saunas, removing processed foods from the diet or anything that is going toward the clean and away from the processed food worlds.

This could also happen if you were at a plateau for a while and then something happened like christmas or someone’s birthday party and you ended up with foods in your system that you are no longer used to. In that case the body will be extra motivated to get rid of the offending foods and this is detox, this is our bodies working exactly as they should. Maybe my friend with the cupcakes WAS detoxing? You get the idea! 🙂

#2 way to know if your detox reaction is actually a detox reaction: You experience the negative “reaction” for a short time. Less than three days. If, for example, you make a dietary change too quickly and then feel nauseous for five days there may be more going on than detoxification. Maybe the liver needs more support and cannot handle the job of detox the way that it should. Maybe the digestive system is having trouble getting rid of something or maybe the new food that has been suggested to you is simply not working for you!  You can intervene in holistic ways that help to support the body to do what it’s trying to do, get rid of what is hurting it.

#1 way to know if you detox reaction is actually a detox reaction: You feel BETTER after it is over! Even better than before. So after a short time of feeling not-so-great you suddenly feel better than before. The birds are singing the sun is shining and you are loving life in a new way. You probably just experienced a short detox hoorah.

Since at the root cause level many chronic conditions are triggered by something in the body that shouldn’t be there in the first place detoxification is a good idea. I encourage you to lightly cleanse your body and move in the direction of clean food choices but never at the detriment to your long term well being or to the level that it hurts you from doing too much too fast.

Have you experienced the Herxheimer or detox reaction before? What triggered it? I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below.

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Brace yourself!!

Have you watched Outlander?  Such a good show from a herbalists’ perspective.  Maggots and leaches were used in medicine in the past.  When each of us gets over how disgusting that is we can remember the role of the maggots was to eat diseased and deceased flesh, in effect taking out the garbage from wounds and other skin conditions.  Actually quite resourceful, observant and courageous.  Thank goodness we are not doing that anymore!  We’ve made some progress and have stopped putting creepy crawly things on our bodies, right?  Or have we?

Candida

Candida likes to feed on diseased or deceased flesh and tissues that are not oxygenated well.  Candida takes out the garbage.  Unfortunately the garbage collector has job security and tenure.  We can ask her to leave but there will always be a few Candida hanging about, waiting to fulfill their role in the holistic whole.

As long as we are on this planet we are in a relationship with Candida and other yeasty beasties.  Candida is essential for the proper functioning of our planet and the disposal and recycling of our own wastes.

Now.  Sometimes I like to pretend Candida is not a problem.  This is mostly because I am so tired of so many alternative practitioners telling folks they have Candida and they should go on a diet for a few months, sometimes without doing any real testing or trying to find the root cause.  Have you ever gone on a Candida diet?  Tell me was it the root of your problems?  Did the diet fix it?  My guess is your answers might be yes no no.

Candida overgrowths, if indeed that is what is going on, are cause of the problem but a solution of sorts.  There is no waste disposal without waste.

Candida is not the root of the problem but a bit of an invasive and opportunistic hitchhiker.  It is not the Candida but the GARBAGE that is the problem.  No garbage = no candida it’s as simple as that in theory.

Once these yeasts are established or overgrown we must do more than stop feeding them by going on a candida specific diet.

We can reduce the garbage by:  eating fresh whole foods that are high in minerals, drinking plenty of good water and experiencing exuberant no-holds-barred fun.  (You may be thinking… she’s completely lost it this time)

Fresh whole plants are high in fiber and will have a cleansing and detoxifying effect on the body.  If food is not sitting around waiting to be fermented but instead moving happily through we will have less garbage left behind to feed to the yeasts.  Fresh foods high in minerals will also be… high in minerals.  We need many minerals to move oxygen around the body, keeping our tissues healthy and alive.  One of the most important minerals is iron, for example.  With enough iron and B vitamins (folate, 6 and 12) our bodies are more able to make healthy red blood cells that can transport oxygen around our whole systems keeping us fresh and oxygenated.  Our bodies will be better able with adequate trace minerals, chromium, vanadium, magnesium and zinc, to maintain blood glucose homeostasis.

Trust me the candida are not going to like it when we maintain our own homeostasis without them.  But you will.  Just simply having healthy red blood cells can make you feel alive, energized and smarter.  Of course we need more than minerals for this, we need all the vitamins/minerals that we need.

Drinking plenty of fresh water.  That’s right!  When our bodies become dehydrated they pull water out of our blood to preserve the more sensitive tissues.  Less water in the blood means just a little less circulation and oxygenation.  Of course dehydration CAN be very serious.  I was reading a study this morning that claimed to have found that 80% of North Americans were chronically dehydrated.  And I believe it.  Did you know that you can tell the difference between chronic and acute dehydration by looking at certain blood markers from a functional diagnostic perspective?

What are your vulnerable places?  Can you have some spring water stashed at your desk?  In the car?  Replacing some of the water with fresh green or other juice would be even better, depending on what you can handle for blood sugars.  Then you are getting the water, the minerals, increased energy and a delicious juice.

Soon onto the fun.  First the un-fun.  Many studies have shown the effect of stress hormones on the body over prolonged periods of time.  Producing cortisol, the chronic stress hormone, steals precursors away from the sex hormones and the growth and repair hormones in something called the pregnenalone steal.  Increased cortisol over time can also contribute to insulin resistance, thyroid hormone resistance and arterial damage not to mention the cascading effect of loss of sleep and systemic inflammation (that’s a biggie).  Some studies have shown that chronic stress can affect the heart’s electrical rhythm.  Stress can definitely affect the behaviour of the digestive system and can create an environment friendly to hostile bacteria, yeasts and parasites to boot!

What is the opposite of anxiety?  Relaxation and fun.  If stress can lead to various conditions that affect circulation negatively then de-stressing may be helpful!  Being in a lively state of being, a state of life-liness helps keep Candida and other yeasts at bay.  They are waiting to decompose us.  Not yet, Candida, hold on.

One more thing about fun.  When we are laughing or when we are in a state of love our bodies actually produce more immune cells!  Our bodies have increased immunity when we are wearing that rosy glow.  This is good news for us.  We are going to need our immune systems to fight off the candida especially since we are not feeding them any more.

I would love to hear from you.  Please share your experiences, positive and negative about the Candida diet in the comments below 🙂

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