Detoxification is the first step on the path to healing. With decades of experience the doctors at Center for Advanced Medicine have found that environmental, lifestyle and dietary toxins are the most common root causes of chronic illness. Reduction of total body toxic burden is essential to the prevention and treatment of disease. When our bodies carry a heavy toxic load we develop symptoms. These symptoms may manifest as pain, autoimmune disease, sleep disorders, low stress tolerance, migraines, hormonal imbalance and many others.
Rule #1: Identify the toxins and STOP the exposure
Identifying toxins then stopping your exposure is integral to reducing your total body burden. When we are still being exposed to toxins it will be impossible for our body to keep up with the natural detoxification process. For further information on identifying toxins in your environment click here.
Dr. Nelson and Dr. Fogelman guide patients through the process of identifying toxic exposure and toxic burden through the Computer Health Scan. Additional blood, urine and salivary testing is also available through Dr. Drucker, Dr. LaBeau and Dr. Sandison. Depending on your history and symptoms one or both tests may be recommended.
At Center for Advanced Medicine we offer a variety of different cleansing options depending on your needs and the recommendations of your doctor.
The Detoxification Diet/Cleanse
The detoxification diet is intended to be a short-term, eight day cleanse. The diet is relatively simple and results are profound. It is a combination of very specific foods, enzymes and supplements taken over eight days with the guidance and support of a doctor and Diane, our Wellness Educator. It is designed to provide optimal nutrition so the body can optimize its natural detoxification processes.
Your physical reaction to the 8 day cleanse provides both you and the practitioner with valuable clues to answer your health concerns. We often discover dietary factors are a major player in your health issues.
A colonic and lymphatic massage are recommended during and after the 8 day cleanse to flush out toxins that have been released by the detox diet.
Following the 8 day cleanse a maintenance diet is provided by your practitioner. A doctor will discuss your physical reactions to the detox, which will influence the next steps on your journey to health.
Metal detoxification
Toxic heavy metals are a problem for many people with chronic health problems. The largest, but by no means the only, source of these is the mercury in dental fillings. Dental testing and evaluation can be done, and there are tests to determine to what extent heavy metals are a problem for you. There is counseling regarding the safe removal of dental metals. Once metal fillings have been removed from the teeth, chelation can be done.
Sauna detoxification
The Center for Advanced Medicine has a complete detoxification sauna program available on site. Sauna is valuable for detoxifying harmful chemicals from the body, even when the exposure was years or even decades ago. These chemicals include pesticides, solvents, and drugs. (see more under this heading)
Colonic detoxification
Colonics clean out the colon of old dietary waste and also help in the release of toxins from the liver. A colonic is especially valuable a day or two after some other type of detox is done, such as sauna, detox diet, chelation, or liver/gallbladder flush, as it aids in the removal of toxins released by the detox.
Counseling and books on Detox
Detoxification is of limited use if the influx of new toxins is not stopped or slowed down. Counseling on eliminating these is provided at the clinic, and books on detoxing are available in the supplement department.
Ways to support healthy detox every day
Every cell in the body has a natural detox process. Toxins from each of our cells move around the body through our blood and lymphatic systems. The body excretes via the skin, liver, colon, kidneys and lungs. We don’t use these excretory routes nearly enough on a regular basis when we eat fiber-poor, nutrient-poor diets. We are dehydrated, we don’t breathe deeply regularly, we don’t sweat enough, we don’t relax enough and our gut flora is imbalanced. Unhealthy gut membranes and diet all increase absorption and, more importantly, reabsorption of poisons.
Support toxin elimination through the skin and lymph:
- Weekly lymphatic massage
- Daily dry skin brushing
- 10 min on a rebounder
- Sweat for a minimum of 30 min daily during exercise or in a sauna
Support toxin elimination through the liver:
- Ask your doctor which liver support is best for you. We carry Xenoprotects, Methylate Detox, Glutathione, B vitamins and many others. Dosing and formula will depend on your symptoms and history.
- Eat whole foods
- Have 2 servings of brassica family aka cruciferous vegetables daily. Included in this family are broccoli, kale, arugala, bok choy, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, watercress, turnip and horseradish.
- Avoid your food allergens, intolerances and known triggers
- Avoid pharmaceutical and recreational drugs including alcohol.
Support toxin elimination through the bowels:
- Regular bowel movements are essential to health. Tell your doctor if you have less than one bowel movement daily.
- Eat plenty of fiber filled vegetables and other whole foods
- Avoid acid blocking or acid neutralizing medications
- Slow down to eat and chew your food
- Take time to relax and stimulate your rest-digest-heal nervous system
- Avoid known food allergens or triggers
Support toxin elimination through the lungs:
- Deep breaths
- Craniosacral or other body work to eliminate restrictions in the diaphragm
- The most volatile toxic compounds (VOCs) that vaporize at body temperature like solvents and cleaners are excreted best through the lungs.
- Use natural cleaning products in your home.
Support toxin elimination through the kidneys:
- Drink half your body weight in oz of water daily
- Avoid unnecessary pharmaceutical medications
- Drink clean, pure mineral water from metal or glass containers, never plastic.
Weight and Toxins
Most toxins are fat soluble and that means they end up being stored in our fatty tissues including cell membranes, nerve cells and the brain. Toxins can live for decades in our fatty tissue. To mobilize toxins found in fatty tissue it is important to induce the break down of fat. Increasing exercise and core body temperature in combination with a nutrient rich, low calorie diet will induce the break down of fats.
Factors that Increase Fat Breakdown
- Calorie reduction like the 8 day cleanse
- Aerobic exercise
- Increases your metabolic rate
- Moves blood and lymph by increasing heart rate and through repeated muscle contraction
- Promotes toxin elimination through the skin through sweat
- Heat (sauna)
- Niacin bolus dosing – Start at 50 mg of Niacin before getting into the sauna then each day double the dose. Don’t increase until the flushing stabilizes. You will get to really high doses and the flushing will always be the same. You can get up to 500 – 1000 TID with no real flushing issues.
- Massage
Cleansing Adjuncts
Alkaline pH
Many toxins are excreted better by the kidney, skin, liver, and lungs when the pH of blood, lymph, urine, saliva is greater than 6.5.
To promote an alkaline blood pH consume a diet of mostly plants, drink lemon water upon waking, add ¼ tsp of baking soda to 8 oz of water and drink daily. Avoid red meat, alcohol, sugar and processed foods.
To test your pH use pH strips and dip into first-morning urine. Goal is 6.5 – 8.5.
Sleep
Excellent sleep practices will stabilize the body, minimizing fatigue and discomfort during the treatment and a well-rested body will detox better. Detoxification takes energy! The energy required to excrete 16 oz sweat is equivalent to a 2-3 mile run.
Fiber
Fiber binds toxins release by the liver into the gut. Having enough fiber in our diet is essential to eliminating toxins. If there isn’t enough fiber in our intestines we will reabsorb toxins that have already be processed by the liver. These nasty toxins will go back into our blood stream, affect our cells and then go back to the liver to be processed all over again! The liver has a big enough job to do! Help it out by getting plenty of fiber through a diet high in vegetables and adding fiber and binding supplements like Rice Bran, Chlorella, Chia seeds and Psyllium.
Get Outside
Nature doctors have long practiced healing with air, water and sunlight. On non-fasting days exercise vigorously, preferably out of doors. Enjoy brisk walks, calisthenics, biking, jogging or your other favorite form of movement for 20-60 minutes, once or twice each day.
Hydrotherapy
Do one of the following water therapy options 2-4 times/day, as time permits. Stand under the alternating hot and cold water flow in your shower (1-3 minutes hot, then 30 seconds cold while you rotate; repeat for 3 cycles); or wrap your body naked in a cold wet sheet from neck to toes, immediately lying down under blankets to lie still until you are relaxed and warm; or if a cold tub, river or lake is handy, exercise to a sweat and then do a cold plunge for 30 seconds.
These stimulations are good after exercise, sauna, or anytime you feel robust. Stimulating circulation and skin with air, sun and water is a profound addition to a cleansing program. Not only does it improve circulation and elimination through the skin, but it strengthens and calms the nervous system, so critical to releasing any physical or psycho-emotional stressor that might be holding up your cleansing.
Breathe deeply, and allow as much sun and air to contact as much of your skin as comfort permits; this will awaken the skin – a vital and forgotten organ of respiration and elimination.
Prayer, Relaxation, Meditation
Numerous healers have noted empirically that our bodies’ tissues retain toxins and after physical trauma or in response to psycho-emotional-spiritual distress. Perhaps it is intuitively sound that it would be so, that when the mind is in the “holding on” mode, the “tightening up” that comes while feeling afraid, antagonistic, critical (of other or self), anxious, angry, ashamed – the cells tighten up, hold on and hold in.
During your cleansing regimen, several times every day spend 2-5 minutes doing slow deep breaths of appreciation – for the nourishment of air, for your beautiful body and self, for the opportunity to cleanse and be well. Take time for your spiritual or personal practice, at least once or twice a day; your choice completely – prayer, meditation, yoga, happy relaxation, stretching, dancing, singing, etc. Imagine your cells releasing burdensome material, and robust circulation carrying it away.
