Detox, Nutrition + The Gut-Skin Connection.

Posted by Brittany Hay on January 16, 2019

Our bodies have so many amazing things happening inside to keep us going it can become easy to take it for granted.  Every day, all day long, our body works to neutralize, transform, and eliminate the harmful unwanted toxins that are all around us.  Toxins are not only alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine – they surround us daily.  So, just because you don’t smoke doesn’t mean you are out of the woods!  We ingest, inhale, and absorb all types of toxins.  Stress, pollution, beauty products, cleaning products, pain medications, artificial food dyes, pesticide, herbicides…the list truly goes on & on and continues to get longer all the time.  While we pay so much attention to how we are looking and feeling on the outside, how often do we spend time cleansing our internal self?  Probably not as much as we should be.  It can be difficult to know if your internal organs are functioning at their greatest potential, or if they are having any issues until we see a bigger symptom or problem arise.  By that point, our liver and other body systems have become overloaded and unable to bear the toxin load on their own.

Thankfully, to avoid reaching this point, you don’t have to go on a crazy juice cleanse or starve yourself for days on end.  A few easy steps taken daily can lend a hand to your liver, kidneys, intestinal tract, lungs, lymphatic system, and skin to improve and optimize your body’s own detoxifying system.  This will help ease the load that your body is bearing and help your body systems function at better potential!  Our aim is to decrease the number of toxins that we are putting into and surrounding our bodies with at the same time as providing ourselves the proper nutrients, and support we require for our body systems to do their job!  Give a little, gain a lot!

Some easy ways to support your body in detoxification are:

• When life gives you lemons, cut that sucker in half and squeeze it into your water! Drinking a glass of lemon water in the morning before breakfast will encourage your liver to produce quality bile which your body needs for digestion. The citric acid that is found is lemons supports maximum enzyme function – stimulating the liver and aiding in detoxification.
• Oil Pulling with a high-quality oil every morning for 15-20 minutes will pull bacteria and toxins from your oral cavity. Take one tablespoon of oil and swish around in your mouth for 15-20 minutes. When you spit the oil into the garbage (avoid the sink so you don’t clog your drain!), you are clearing these toxins from your body! Follow up with brushing, flossing, and tongue scraping for a truly detoxifying oral routine!
• Oral Routine – Tongue scraping is a fast and easy way to remove the bad guys from your mouth where you may be housing a significant number of bacteria. After brushing and flossing your teeth in the morning, scraping your tongue next will remove bacteria that can hinder digestion.
• Move your body and sweat it out – Morning exercise is a great way to get your body going, encouraging circulation of your blood and lymph systems.
• Dry brushing your skin supports detoxification. Not only will you be left with super soft skin, you are also aiding your lymphatic drainage and promoting digestion!
• Eating and drinking organic whole plant foods. Processed, manufactured foods do not have the quality nutrients that your body requires for your body systems to function at their fullest potential.
• Giving up coffee and switching to tea can be difficult for those who are avid coffee lovers, however the toll that drinking coffee regularly takes on your body makes the switch worth it. Dandelion Root Tea is very effective when it comes to liver detox.
• Don’t forget about your beauty products! What we put onto our bodies matters as much as what we put into our bodies. Products that are applied to our skin are absorbed so using natural, organic personal care products that are free of harmful ingredients will be a major win!  Of course we love Huna Apothecary for natural skincare!
• Clean green. Switch up your chemical ridden household cleaners for green versions. When you use cleaners around your home that contain many harmful chemicals you end up inhaling them into your body and expecting your insides to work it out.

Small changes to your every day lifestyle will add up quickly to a bigger change in your body’s ability to get those toxins out!  Something we think we can all get on board with!

So now that we are prepared on how to get the bad stuff out, let’s go over what we should be putting into our bodies in order to support our body systems to the fullest!

Firstly, what is good diet and nutrition?  That is an easier question to answer than you may think!  We already know that manufactured, processed foods are not ideal for our bodies to thrive.  Instead, we want to give our body natural, live, organic, high quality, whole foods.  We are talking about foods that are not processed and unrefined.  These foods are considered alive because they still contain live enzymes, such as fruits, vegetables, or sprouts.  These types of foods are going to feed your body the nutrients it needs to go about your daily life while supporting your systems to function at better potential!  Here is a great blog on what healthy eating really means- the Secrets of Healthy Eating from a Holistic Nutritionist.

In 2017 we saw Canada’s Food Guide start the shift away from dairy and meat being main dietary needs.  Now suggesting a plant-based diet, supported by whole natural foods such as legumes or unsalted nuts, and water to replace milk and protein.  While the newest food guide has yet to be released, we are all for the direction that they are heading!  Why does hearing this news make us do a happy dance?  Well, to be quite frank about it, this is good news for our guts!  Dairy is really hard on our bodies, and don’t you think we put them through enough already?

One organ that is sure to be thrilled about leaving dairy in our dust is our skin!  Skin is our largest organ.  It is our body’s protective barrier from the world.  It keeps our organs protected from outside elements like bacteria, toxic chemicals, sunburns, among other things, however, skin’s most important role is to protect against loss of our body water.  In short, if our skin is not in great condition and not being taken care of, we are putting ourselves at risk, and our body becomes compromised.

Our skin is a great tool to be able to see what is really going on inside our bodies.  The connection between your gut health and your skin is stronger than you know.

Your digestive system is responsible for breaking down the foods we put into our bodies, absorbing the good nutrients, and filtering out the bad.  There are trillions of tiny bacteria working away to figure it all out.  We want to make sure we are feeding the good bacteria, and not fueling the bad bacteria.  If we are enjoying a healthy balanced diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, with lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats our digestion will thrive, and our friendly-good guy-bacteria will too!  But!  If we are not fueling our bodies with wonderful nutrients, we will see symptoms and issues arrive as our levels of bad bacteria start to rise and our digestive systems weaken.
Some signs of improper or weak digestion can include indigestion, body odor, bad breath, skin issues, feeling bloated after eating, and brittle nails and hair.  Another list that can go on and on.  As the saying goes, if you heal the gut, you heal the body!

Most skin issues or conditions stem from a problem going on internally, usually including an overloaded liver.  Acne, inflammatory skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, premature aging are all reason to take a step back, evaluate what is going on inside of your body.  Address the problems at the root, rather than putting a band-aid over the issue and carrying on, while underneath the problem is growing bigger and bigger.

“All disease begins in the gut.”  -Hippocrates

This statement could not be more true especially when it comes to your skin.

 

This blog was written by Brittany Hay, Holistic Beauty Expert & Retail Specialist at Team Huna.