+ WHY DETOXIFICATION IS IMPORTANT 

Our bodies are DESIGNED to detox. We’ve got a whole system of organs that are programmed to rid our body of anything that might do it harm.

That being said, most of our bodies get overloaded with toxins from processed food, alcohol and medical prescriptions, bacteria and chemicals in the water we drink, beauty products we slather on our skin and the air we breathe, as well as chronic stress and even living a sedentary lifestyle.

Exposure to these overtime can cause toxins to accumulate to unhealthy levels, which then tends to take a toll on our bodies in the form of hormonal imbalance, weight gain (or loss), infertility, gut issues, bloat, brain fog, PMS, mood disorders, depression, anxiety and even chronic disease.

Thus it’s important we routinely incorporate practices into our lives that support detoxification in order to maintain hormonal balance and optimal health.

+ HOW DOES DETOXIFICATION WORK 

You can think of the liver as the body’s filtration system. Everything we eat and drink — as well as many of the things we inhale and absorb through our skin — pass through the liver to be detoxified.

The liver filters the blood through two different phases, removing harmful substances, such as drugs, bacteria, toxins, and foreign proteins, where they are then further filtered through our kidneys and excreted via our bladder, or through our intestines and eliminated via our bowels.

+ WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR BODY STOPS DETOXING EFFECTIVELY 

This process is all well and good until the liver gets overwhelmed with routine and chronic exposure to toxic substances and can’t do it’s job nearly as effectively.

When this happens (again primarily due to repeated exposure of prescription medications, birth control and drugs, caffeine, alcohol and environmental chemicals) the liver has to decide which toxins to prioritize and releases the rest of the toxins back into your bloodstream until it can handle them, wreaking havoc on your entire immune system and disrupting phase one of the toxin breakdown.

As the liver continues to work to filter through the toxic overload, it also produces a large amount of free radicals, which are a source of inflammation (and the root cause of most symptoms and chronic disease).

This typically isn’t an issue because the free radicals are processed quickly by phase two of the liver detoxification process and neutralized. But, if the liver is already overloaded during phase 1, these free radicals build up, causing major damage to the cells of the body. So much so that they can be even more harmful than the original toxins!

+ HOW DOES DETOXING AFFECT MY HORMONES

The liver also has the job of filtering through our hormones, primarily estrogen, which it breaks down into different metabolites.

The liver will always prioritize filtering through outside substances first (as they can cause more immediate harm) so if it gets overloaded with these, it cannot properly filter through our hormones, which typically leads to too much estrogen in our system.

The estrogen then has to go somewhere, so it’s stored in our fat cells (hi, weight gain). These fat cells then trigger the release of even more estrogen back into our systems! It’s a vicious cycle.

Estrogen dominance is the root cause of many symptoms and imbalances, including —

+ SYMPTOMS OF AN OVERLOADED LIVER/ SIGNS YOU NEED HELP DETOXING 

+ HOW TO DETOX SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY 

1) Decrease Your Toxic Load

2) Support Liver Through Optimal Diet and Lifestyle

+ HOW DOES ACTIVATED CHARCOAL WORK 

Activated charcoal is a highly absorbent material with millions of tiny pores that can capture, bind, and remove unwanted materials. The porous surface has a negative electric charge that attracts positively charged toxins and gas to be carried easily out of the body.

It’s so effective at trapping and flushing toxins out of the body that hospitals routinely use it as a way to treat poisoning and drug/alcohol overdoses. 

When purchasing Activated Charcoal you want to look for a a brand that uses the carbon source coconut shells. The coconut shells are “activated” by high temperatures, removing all the oxygen and changing its chemical structure to create much smaller particles with more surface area.

My favorite brand is Bulletproof, and my favorite way to enjoy it is to use the powder from the capsules in this dreamy + creamy Activated Charcoal + Date Latte (recipe below).

+ NEED ADDITIONAL SUPPORT DETOXING OR BALANCING HORMONES

Sign up for a complimentary 30-minute health consult with me here.

Detoxifying Activated Charcoal + Date Latte

This superfood sip is cozy, simple to make and slightly sweet without any refined sugar. It contains activated charcoal powder, which is so effective at trapping and flushing toxins out of the body that hospitals routinely use it as a way to treat poisoning and drug/alcohol overdoses, making it the perfect concoction to whip up after a night of too many cocktails or cookies. 

PREP TIME:	TOTAL TIME:
00:00 Mins	00:05 Mins

• Author: Lauren Chambers

• Servings: 1

• Recipe Type: drink, beverage

• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 12 oz (or 1 and 1/2 cups) non-dairy milk such as cashew, coconut, hemp, etc.
• 1 tbsp coconut oil or butter
• 1 tsp (or powder from two capsules) activated charcoal powder 
• 1 date, pitted and chopped
• Optional — 2 scoops collagen peptides 

Instructions

1. Add coconut oil or butter to a stovetop pan over medium heat and melt.
2. Stir in activated charcoal powder to create a paste, then add in non-dairy milk, date and collagen powder. Heat through a few minutes or until steaming (do not boil).
3. Remove from stovetop and pulse in a blender for 5-10 seconds, until frothy and well-mixed.

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