What Causes Poor Detox Pathways? 10 Tips on How to Open Detox Pathways 

Unlike popular belief, the word “detox” doesn’t always mean partaking in a restrictive diet or a way to cleanse your body from a fun weekend of binge eating desserts and drinking alcohol. Clearing your detox pathways simply means supporting your body’s natural detox organs on a daily basis…without needing to go on a juice cleanse or low-carb diet. But why do you need to clear your detox pathways, to begin with?

If you’re dealing with any type of symptoms ranging from headaches to PMS, bloating to feet-dragging fatigue, and even frustrating insomnia, blocked detox pathways could be to blame! 

Now, are you wondering how to open your detox pathways? Well, this article will explain what your prime detox organs are, what factors could be contributing to toxin buildup, and tips to clear your detox pathways. This way, you can ditch those annoying symptoms and get back to feeling like yourself again!

Symptoms of Poor Detox Pathways (aka toxin build-up)

When your body’s toxic burden reaches its breaking point, your body will give you signs that its detox pathways aren’t working optimally and that they need help. These warning signals could be expressed as any of the following symptoms (but not limited to):

• Acne or skin issues

• Stomach pain

• Insomnia

• Brain fog

• Constipation/diarrhea

• Bloating/gas

• Always feeling exhausted

• Depression

• Achy muscles & joints

• Poor immune function

• Feeling yuck after 1 alcoholic beverage

If left to accumulate, long-term toxin exposure can lead to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity just to name a few.

Main Detox Organs That Rid Your Body of Toxins

Your body has a natural detox system that eliminates environmental toxins, foreign invaders, and even excess estrogen (which can be problematic if not excreted). These detox organs include your skin, lymph, lungs, kidneys, liver, and gut.

It’s important to learn where your toxins are hiding and filter them out. It’s also important to buy non-toxic alternatives. The EWG’s website is a great place to explore more information about toxins.

Excess Estrogens

Excess estrogen that is not properly excreted via the liver and the bowels can become extremely problematic. While excess estrogen can impact the function of your detox organs, poor detoxification can also lead to excessive circulating estrogens. This is concerning since both toxins and excess estrogens can lead to serious symptoms and chronic issues.

If you drink wine every night to wind down and expose yourself to environmental toxins through beauty products and pesticides, then your body won’t prioritize healthy estrogen detox pathways, causing estrogen to recirculate and not properly undergo estrogen neutralization and excretion.

Typically, you want excess estrogen to be metabolized through one of three pathways: 2-OH-E1, 4-OH-E1, or 16-OH-E1. You want most of your estrogen to go through the pathway that leads to the 2-OH-E1 metabolite (healthiest). The other metabolites (4-OH-E1 or 16-OH-E1) can cause damage and can even contribute to inflammation, causing headaches, sore breasts, PMS, painful periods, and even cancers.

To help guide your body through efficient estrogen metabolism, through the 2-OH-E1 pathway, you must support your liver and ease any unnecessary toxic burden.

Feeling Constantly Stressed and “Down” 

Being constantly stressed and experiencing negative emotions and thoughts impact your body more than you think! This negativity can slow down your detox pathways, contributing to the accumulation of toxins that damage cells and cause poor health.

Poor Lifestyle Habits

When you skip exercise, stay up late, and don’t prioritize self-care, it can also lead to dysfunction and suboptimal detoxification processes. When you lack sleep, your body will lack energy. It will also more easily put you into fight or flight mode, which decreases or even halts your ability to detoxify.

Not Drinking Enough Water 

If you want your body to detox properly, you need to ensure that your body is hydrated every day. Water is the medium that transports toxic waste products out of your body through urine, breath or sweat. If you don’t have enough water, those pathways become sluggish and don’t detox efficiently, allowing build-up.

It’s also vital to load your body with filtered water versus plastic bottled or tap. If not, you could be adding more toxins to your body!

Opening Your Detox Pathways

1. Choose whole + organic foods, and especially be sure to go organic for foods high on the EWG’s dirty dozen list. Buy from farmers’ markets or grow a little garden in your backyard if you’re up for it! Whole foods can give your body more antioxidants which can help protect your body in the detox process.

2. Remove liver loaders like alcohol and medications since they put extra pressure on your liver and detox pathways.

3. Buy non-toxic products to reduce your daily toxic burden. I would start with cleaning products, laundry detergent and personal care products.  I have all of mine listed here!

4. Drink more filtered water to support the actual excretion of toxins out of your body, while making sure you aren’t loading up on toxins in drinking water while doing so. Invest in a Berkey (use code TAYLORDUKES for 5% off) or Aquasana water filter (use code AQTDW50) for your home and don’t forget to fill up your water bottle to encourage drinking throughout the day!

5. Eat to support your liver, consuming plenty of plants and protein! Consume cruciferous vegetables every day, which provide organs and detox processes with vital nutrients that act as cofactors to help metabolize carcinogens. Indole-3-carbinols from these veggies also encourage your liver to favor estrogen excretion via the 2-OH-E1 pathway. Eat high-quality protein, since your liver needs ample amounts of amino acids for your phase 2 detox pathway, which excretes toxins. This is why juice cleanses alone aren’t ideal — they don’t include enough protein to support this phase of detox. Include grass-fed meat, eggs, and wild-caught fish like salmon. Butcher Box is AMAZING for their high-quality meats and seafood.

6. Feed your gut with pre and probiotic foods, which supports your gut microbiome and motility, which aids in getting toxins and excess estrogens out. Your gut is a detox organ, so it is important to have daily bowel movements.

7. Boost your liver with supplementation through antioxidants like glutathione (Liposomal Glutathione, Lemon Mint Flavor Quicksilver Scientific or Taylor Dukes Wellness glutathione), nutrients like B Vitamins (Designs For Health B Complex), or even a detoxification blend (Dual-Tox DPO® NuMedica). Nutrients like resveratrol, N-acetylcysteine, iodine, calcium-gluconate, and bifidobacterium can help rid of estrogen through the “good” pathway.  Be sure to buy high-quality supplements. If you need to stock up, grab yours at my Fullscript online dispensary. 

8. Get your sweat on to help release toxins through your skin and encourage lymphatic flow to help get toxins out of your body. HIIT workouts, sauna, and hot yoga are great for this! I love my Sunlighten sauna (use code TAYLORDUKES) and HigherDose sauna blanket and PEMF mat.

9. Dry brush your skin to open your pores and allow heavy metals and BPA to be more easily released when you sweat. This supports your lymph system as well. I love Primally Pure’s dry brush (use code TAYLORDUKES for discount).

10. Start using coffee enemas and castor oil packs, which help accelerate the detox process in your liver.  Castor oil acts as an antioxidant as well as decreases inflammation in your liver.  Coffee enemas increase glutathione S- transferase, which is a major detoxification enzyme. Here are my favorite coffee enema supplies and castor oil pack!

How to Tell if Your Detox Pathways Need Support

Functional Medicine lab testing like hormone, stool, and nutrient testing can give you insight into which detox pathways are being used, how your estrogens are being metabolized, levels of inflammatory markers in your body, and if your body is being burdened with toxins. This information can give you a more specific idea of how to open detox pathways in your body since every person is different.

Remember that opening your detox pathways doesn’t have to be complicated but it does take a conscious effort to create those healthy habits. Stick with these tips and you’ll start to notice your symptoms start to fade away. I know you can do this!

Get Your Gut Right

If you need access to a stool test, a gut health expert, and personalized protocols, the Get Your Gut Right program might be the right fit for you. This is a very comprehensive program that also focuses on nutrition, detox pathways, the nervous system, clean environment, and more. Click HERE to learn more.

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