5 Daily Detox Tactics For Performance
There is a lot of death and suffering in the world today because a large portion of the world's population view health as being about luck and genetics. The biggest influence on health and sickness has and will always be ENVIRONMENT.
This article covers one of the most misunderstood components of health. It’s also the most important in the 21st century where it’s no longer “Death to the least fit” (Survival of the Fittest from Charles Darwin isn’t a true representation on selection pressure either, check out Spontaneous Evolution by Bruce Lipton if you want to understand what happened with Charles Darwin and Evolution).
In the 21st century it became “Death to the worst detoxifiers”.
Detoxification is as Real as life and death. No cell or living being on earth can survive without it. In the human body the liver is the key detoxification organ. It uses the nutrients concentrated there to breakdown undesired compounds in the blood into less harmful substances for excretion from the body.
Whenever I post about Detoxification people try to tell me that detoxification is something that happens without influence from the owner of the body or the environment it’s in. People with science and medical backgrounds are often the strongest in these views.
If you bathe in shit / chemical / toxic sludge for hours a day - how healthy would you be? The same question can be asked for every cell within the body.
As Bruce Lipton discovered in his stem cell research many years ago. It’s the environment of the cell that makes all the difference.
http://drjockers.com/
The 4 main pathways for excretion of waste (toxins) are:
Transpiration
Urination
Respiration
Defecation
6 years ago I studied Functional Diagnostics Nutrition which teaches how to use lab work to optimise health. Within the course Reed Davis likened blocked detoxification pathways to a full vacuum cleaner bag. When the vacuum cleaner bag is full the room (environment) will become dirtier and dirtier despite the vacuum cleaner being used 24/7.
5 things you should already be doing everyday to support detoxification:
Quality Water
Since sweat and urination depend heavily on water it’s important that we have enough of it passing through the system. In a perfect world of low toxicity I would recommend drinking to satisfy thirst but we don’t live in this perfect world. We’re often distracted and given other drinks that mean we drink less water. Dehydrated cells may experience decreased efficiency.
My Plan
Drink at least 3 litres of water per day. Preferably quality spring water or ionised water. Avoid tap water and use bottled water as minimally as practical.
Nutrient dense food
When you look at the substances used in phase 1 and phase 2 liver detoxification you see that many of the chemicals needed are often deficient in the modern diet. Supplementing to try to cover these shortages is like using bandaids over bullet wounds. Whole foods are the key to supporting this pathway.
My Plan
Constant - Vegetables and broth are the centre of my diet. Healthy fats, small doses of organ meats (kidneys/brain/liver etc.).
Maintaining/Building Muscle - Muscle meat and gelatine depending on training volume and bodyweight goals.
Energy - Either fats / oils if I’m using a low-carb / ketogenic diet or rice and vegetables if I’m using a mixed energy source diet.
Movement
All cells require movement and mechanical stress to function optimally. When we move lymphatic fluid, one of the keys to our immunity is pushed around the body. Cleaning the lymph is something that has been a focus for traditional medicine through ages. While lymphatic drainage, yoga and other specialised techniques for squeezing fluids around the body can be useful the base of all day incidental movement is where we should start.
My Plan
Use incidental movement and posture change all through the day. Train skills and mobility throughout the day as well as strength. Small frequent training sessions together with some extended sessions.
Sun
The research around vitamin D and detoxification as well as preventing cancer is very strong. Even more important than this is if we look from a logical perspective, all living beings have evolved under the sun since the beginning of life on earth. The idea that we should avoid it or that it doesn’t support life is one of the craziest thoughts that many people in the “educated” world cling to. Wrapping cells up and applying toxic lotions to shield them from one of few constants for life on earth is deadly. Too much sun will cause you pain and help you to realise that you’ve made too drastic a shift. You changed your environment so quickly that your body can’t adapt enough. The pain makes you stay out of the sun for a day or two and then next time you’re a little more resilient. The path is exactly the same as with weight training. If you take someone who is new to weights and expose them to a three sessions per day weightlifting regime they will be sick and near dead within a few days. Very gradually increasing exposure to strength training on the other hand can mean that even minor muscle soreness is avoided.
If you eat low fat or shower/swim directly after sun exposure you will decrease your vitamin D absorption but you will still get many of the other wellness effects of the sun.
My Plan
Get some exposure everyday. Even if it’s cloudy the energy is still flowing from the sun. I try to spend time in the sun before 9am for as long as practical and then get 10-40 minutes of sun during the day when the sun’s energy is stronger. I haven’t been sunburned in the last few years because my body is adapted to this regular stimulus. Sometimes I will use coconut oil on the skin before or after sun. I have had blood tests in the past to ensure that my vitamin D levels are in the high normal range.
Rest
Energise the body with great food, sun and movement, then rest. We need to allow rebuilding to occur and much of the detoxification happens while we sleep. A few consecutive days without energetically recharging and we die. If we can optimise sleep then we can start each day with a full charge just like on our phones!
My Plan
There are many keys to optimising rest. I focus on getting to bed before 10pm or within a couple of hours of sunset where possible; sleeping in a room free from artificial light (heavy curtains / shutters and no technology in the bedroom are the key); focussing on the energy of peace and gratitude before sleep.
Energy Flow
The first 4 tips probably fit into your current paradigm of thinking. Chances are an honest check on your current routine will tell us that you can do a lot better with yourself and those in your close circle of influence. This last one will be classed as ‘woo woo’ for many but as I sit in Ubot, Bali and see smiling face after smiling face I know that there is another basic here that is mostly ignored. Energetic/emotional state is going to have a huge impact on all your cells and interaction with your environment. Self-image and beliefs tell your body what is expected of it. If you expect signs of toxicity to be bursting from your skin everyday then they could be there despite nailing the previous 4 basics and even a bunch of advanced techniques.
My Plan
This is probably the area I struggle most with. I love science and even as I see this proven more and more in science I still have to work hard to keep coming back to this one. When I’m with RealMOVEMENT community it’s easy to get in the energy flow but away from those times I can get caught in the winds of emotion around me as much as anyone. Reading, music and meditation are the most powerful tools to help me get back to a growth energetic state.
CONCLUSION
I've learned about building wellness through necessity. I've been sick too often to achieve what I want in life. Applying these lessons has helped me build the life I want, to be a role-model for the athletes I work with and to develop my own performance.
I try to take responsibility for any sickness / injury that I experience and go back to my checklists of what I believe builds great health and performance. Often it's already obvious to me that I’m missing fundamentals. Sometimes I need to concentrate and think back to past lessons. Less often now I need to look for a new source of knowledge, a book or person to guide my path.
The idea that it’s up to you how healthy you are might make complete sense to you but there are many powerful influences around us that make being the victim an easier, medically validated option. I hope that reading this has helped to inspire you to carry this belief deeper and to share it with more passion through your actions even more than your words.
By focussing on being “Better Than Yesterday” with your BASICS you will go a long way towards improving the environment your cells are living in. There is a lot we can control in this process.
Don’t look for fancy pills, potions and quick fixes ahead of building the BASICS.
Let me know if you would like to hear more about some of the things that can be applied beyond the basics to optimise health and performance.