The Essential Step You Must Take Before Starting a Detox

Clients that come to me often have in their head that they need to do a thorough detox in order to alleviate the symptoms they're experiencing with their gut.

Occasionally there is a need for that (like with mold toxicity, heavy metals and infection) but majority of the time the body actually doesn't need it.

In fact, doing a detox can often make the body and symptoms worse off.

The reason why has everything to do with your nervous system.

Let's give you a recap about the nervous system and how it functions.

The nervous system is the conductor of the orchestra that is your bodily systems. It controls how the gut, blood sugar, and hormones will respond when relaxed and when stressed.

Most people in today's society are functioning in a sympathetic (fight or flight) state or are in the in between state of functional freeze where they are partially frozen and partially activated. Meaning, they may have the desire to do various things but they lack the momentum to actually move a foot forward. This is where people think they need a motivational coach. In reality, they need to slow down and offer safety to their body.

When the nervous system is activated in these states typically the symptoms that pop up include:

• Digestive irregularities (constipation, bloat, gas, diarrhea)

• Energy fluctuations thanks to blood sugar imbalances, even if you eat healthy

• Systemic inflammation causing joint pain, fatigue, and skin issues

• Brain fog

• Anxiety

• Lack of fulfillment

When I review this clients paperwork the answer is YES, the gut needs support. However, in conversations with this client about the state of their nervous system, their stress levels, and getting to know the full state of their body through the review of the comprehensive paperwork in a consultation it becomes clear that a deep detox will be too much.

The reason why is because these more elaborate detoxes do often add stress to the body. (I'll go over ways to make it more gentle at the end).

They are also not addressing the root of what the issue is in this example. These clients that come my way are having digestive issues because their body is getting the signal that there's a threat and therefore, is responding exactly as it should in that scenario.

This looks like:

• Your nervous system will get the information of the perceived threat. This could be stored trauma and emotion, an email, the environment at work, a stressful situation, lack of rest, nutrient deficiencies, food sensitivities, and even unconscious behaviors like your posture and how you move throughout the day that is triggering this response.

• Your body then signals to the digestive system to slow the process down to preserve energy. This is where difficulty with digestion can occur that can snowball into more inflammation in the digestive system and eventually leaky gut.

• This continues until the underlying issue- the threats- are dealt with.

If you throw a detox in there it might "help" for a short period of time because chances are you're more conscious about what you're eating and more intentional about connecting to your body... two things the nervous system loves.

In my experience once that detox is done the client will slowly revert back to previous patterns and behaviors because they haven't gotten the tools to maintain results for long term.

What I would recommend doing instead:

• Focus on supporting your Nervous System with somatic tools, mindfulness practices, and moments of connection with yourself

• Add in nutrient dense foods to crowd out highly processed foods and foods with added chemicals and refined sugars

• Hydrate with filtered water and added minerals + electrolytes

• Register for a Consultation to get customized results

Additionally, you can apply some of these practices to boost your detoxification in a slow, mindful way:

• Sweat! Move your body and/or go to a sauna (just be sure to hydrate afterwards)

• Dry brush before the shower to help boost the flow of the lymphatic system

• Cut out alcohol

• Limit exposure to fragrances and products with chemicals that can disrupt the microbiome in the home and maybe add in a high quality air purifier

• Sleep! Get adequate sleep to help your body do it's thing

Friend, if you get anything from this post today I hope it's the understanding that your body is trying to communicate with you everyday. Honoring what it's trying to tell you by taking the time to fully comprehend it's needs and language will change your life for the better.

Here to help you do exactly that!

Happy healing,

-Shannon