I Want To Detoxify My Body: Where Should I Start?

It’s hard to resist the temptation of a social media detox. These trendy posts make it seem like you can transform your life immediately, whether you want to lose weight, eliminate diseases, or rid your system of harmful substances.

In reality, following the latest trends can be risky and counterproductive. But working with an expert like Dr. Terry L. Franklin can ensure you learn the steps you need to harness your body’s natural ability to reduce your toxic load safely.

Dr. Franklin integrates Eastern and Western philosophies into his health care approach at his practice in Monterey, California. His one-of-a-kind method, Appreciative Medicine™, can help you reach optimal wellness by fostering physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being.

Are you ready to start detoxifying your body? Here’s how Dr. Franklin recommends getting started.

1. Schedule a consultation

If you’re ready to transform your health, it’s time to bring your provider on board.

Dr. Franklin practices primary care and functional medicine. That means he works to identify the underlying causes of a person’s symptoms so he can outline a customized strategy to target those specific issues.

More simply put: No two patients receive the same treatment, even when detoxing.

Working with a holistic medicine expert like Dr. Franklin also ensures you learn the tools you need to optimize your body’s natural ability to detoxify in a way that provides lasting results.

2. Watch your diet

You’ve heard the expression before: You are what you eat. And if you eat a lot of ultra-processed foods, that can add up to a higher risk of chronic illness and disability, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and Type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Franklin could suggest a variety of strategies to get your diet back on track. 

Common dietary changes to detox your body include:

• Eating foods low in mercury and salt
• Washing fruits and vegetables before consuming
• Choosing wholesome, nourishing, nutrient-rich products
• Limiting sugar
• Avoiding items with chemicals and preservatives

Dr. Franklin also offers lifestyle education coaching to demystify healthy eating so you can learn methods to make these dietary changes lifelong habits.

3. Minimize alcohol

Your body has a detoxification system built in, and your liver does a lot of the heavy lifting. 

Each time you drink, your liver metabolizes more than 90% of the alcohol. This process involves converting it to acetaldehyde, a chemical known to cause cancer.

But the liver also recognizes this is a dangerous toxin, so it converts it into acetate, a harmless substance, and eliminates it from your body.

This system functions like a well-oiled machine with low to moderate alcohol consumption — which even comes with some heart-healthy benefits. But when you consume too much, it can negatively affect liver function, leading to inflammation, scaring, and fat buildup.

To keep your liver humming and filtering waste and toxins, limit or avoid alcohol entirely.

4. Drink more water

Did you know your body is approximately 50-70% water? It’s also what you need to keep harmful toxins moving — and flushed — through your system. 

Believe it or not, cells in your body continuously repair themselves so they can function in peak condition and break down the nutrients you need for energy. 

But there’s a downside to this process as well. It produces waste products, like urea and carbon dioxide. When these products build up in your blood, it can cause problems.

That’s where staying hydrated can help. Water keeps these substances moving efficiently so you can get them out of your system by breathing, sweating, and urinating.

The amount of fluid a healthy adult needs varies from person to person, so Dr. Franklin can offer personalized guidance to keep your system on track.

5. Make sleep a top priority

Finally, one thing you might overlook is the crucial role sleep plays in reaching and maintaining optimal health — and that includes ridding the body of harmful toxins.

While you sleep, your brain goes through physiological changes, including ridding cells of toxins. Then the glymphatic system flushes them from your central nervous system.

Without adequate sleep, these toxins can’t drain properly, increasing the chances of neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s.

To help keep your brain and body functioning, try to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

Get started with your detox

This is only the beginning when it comes to detoxing the body.

Dr. Franklin can also provide personalized guidance on minimizing toxic exposure, lowering stress, and getting enough physical exercise. 

Remember, a healthy and effective detox isn’t a trendy drink or fad you’ve seen on social media. It’s making your whole-body health a priority to reduce your toxic load.

Are you ready to start your detox? Contact our office to schedule a consultation with Dr. Franklin in Monterey, California, today.