Detoxes are like CrossFit Hero WODS.  You know it’s going to suck, you do it anyway, and feel good because it’s over, not necessarily because of what you did.  I always leave with the same question.  ‘Was that necessary?’

For you CrossFitters, the answer is always, “yes.”  For you detox people, I’m not so sure.  Before you detox, you have to consider a few things.

1. Are Your Done Toxifying Yourself?

I can’t tell you how many people have told me they did a sugar detox.  I like to ask, ‘why did you detox from sugar?’  I get a variety of answers that come down to a basic mutual point that they have been overloaded on sugar and needed a break.

“How did you break your detox?”  I can’t tell you how many will break a detox or fast by consuming the substance they were detoxing or fasting from.  For some reason that’s justified in their minds.  I just did a sugar fast, now I can have that donut.  Let’s look at it from a different perspective.

“Hey Dr. Kurt.  I’m going to do a Crystal Meth detox.  I’ve just been using so much lately, my body needs a break.  But when it’s all over, I get to break my detox with a fat rock of Okie Coke.  I can’t wait to tell you how great I feel.”

Others are concerned about the industrial chemicals they are exposed to on a daily basis.  Though we can’t control all our exposure, we can control our home base.  These toxins will invade your body through what you eat, what you breath, and what you put on your skin.  I think the skin one gets over looked often.

Just think of all the products that you use on your skin; bath soap, shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, sanitizer, perfume, laundry detergents from your clothes, moisturizers, bug spray, sunscreen, dish soap, deodorant, hair products, and many more.  Before you detox, start cleaning these out of your daily rituals by replacing them.  We love the Toxic Free products from the Healthy Home Company.

Until you have committed to stop re-toxifying your life, don’t consider doing a detox.  It’s like the celebrity that is in and out of rehab.  Just because they are in rehab, it doesn’t fool anyone into thinking they are sober.  Stop fooling yourself into thinking you’re doing something healthy by doing a detox if you’re just going to have to do it all over again in a month.

2. Is Your Body Strong Enough to Support a Detox?

I’m not a fan of starting people with a detox for the reason that their body is not properly supported to start.  The stomach, liver, gall bladder, kidneys, small and large intestines are all involved with detoxing harmful substances when you come into contact with them. Part of the process is making the toxin less harmful, the other part is actual elimination.

If these processes aren’t supported, you may free up toxins, but if you can’t eliminate them properly, you will just recirculate those toxins.  It’s kind of like how a kid tricks you into thinking they ate what’s on their plate.  Instead of one lump of food, they spread it all around the plate in small quantities to make it appear that there is hardly any left.

Make sure your systems are supported before you start leaching.

3. Measure Your Outcomes.

How do you know you detoxed efficiently?  What outcomes are you using?  What substance are you trying to eliminate?  Feeling miserable is not a successful measurement of the effectiveness of the detox.  Just because you feel like crap, doesn’t mean it’s working.

Go ahead and do your detox but I would challenge you to get some lab testing prior to and after completion of your detox.  This could be a urine toxic element test that could test for a host of toxic metals like aluminum, mercury, lead, nickel, tungsten, and many more.  Maybe you test for a methylation profile to see if you even have enough support prior to attempting a detox.

There are many options and paths.  Just be sure to measure your outcomes.  Not sure where to start?  Book a complimentary 15 minute phone consultation.