Firstly, what exactly do I mean by a detox? Detoxification is the process whereby the liver breaks down toxins, chemicals, pollution, your own body waste and excess hormones. This process has to occur in order to make these garbage compounds into something the body recognizes as garbage so that they can be eliminated. If waste is not fully broken down, or detoxified, it can linger in your system and accumulate. The liver has two processes where it breaks these down called phase I and phase II liver detoxification. Certain vitamins, minerals and other substances from plants help ensure that this process runs smoothly, such as vitamin B6, vitamin B12, active folic acid (5 methyltetrahydrofolate or 5MTHF), indole-3-carbinol, glucarate, sulfur, N acetylcysteine and so on. If your body doesn’t have enough of these, toxins will get stuck in your system.
Because detoxification is part of the process to break down and excrete excess hormones, doing a detox can help:
- Acne
- Heavy periods
- Painful periods
- Infertility
- PMS symptoms
- Endometriosis
- Uterine polyps
- Fibroids
- Many other hormone related conditions.
Clearing toxins from your system can also reduce risk for hormone sensitive and other cancers.