It’s time to Detox 2020

And don’t we all need it?

Perhaps never has there been so much hope, so many great expectations, placed on a new year as there is with this one. After a terrible 2020 and a winter cooped up at home trying to steer clear of the COVID virus, who could be blamed for looking for an opportunity to shake free of all the toxicity that has piled up on us?

The last year “is a lot to detox,” says Amanda Archibald, a registered dietitian and former Midwesterner who founded The Genomic Kitchen, which combines nutrition science with the culinary arts.

“Detoxification, honestly, is like our waste-management system. What the body is trying to do is remove substances that, if they built up, would be toxic,” she says, pointing to things like environmental pollutants, chemical residues in food, drugs, hormones and—no surprise—stress.

Mainstream medicine says the human body is designed to get rid of toxins on its own, utilizing the liver and kidneys. Detoxing— which can vary from teas to fasting, specific diets and cleanses—is considered unproven by scientific standards and can even potentially be dangerous if it fails to account for individual medical issues.

But Archibald begs to differ. While not denying that some approaches can be problematic for some people, she says the self-cleaning notion is “a misunderstanding” and that there is scientific evidence to support detoxing.

“Our genes have not evolved fast enough to keep up with the system we live in,” she says. “Genetically, we know that some people are more adept than others at detoxification, regardless of the day or the season. Poor detoxification systems can result in any number of health issues.”

Archibald says she has no “recipe for detoxing” but uses genetics to design nutritional programs on an individual basis. Even so, “There’s a very specific kind of toolbox of ingredients you can use. … You are using your body to turn on your body’s innate processes.”

Her toolbox includes turmeric (a root in the ginger family), quercetin (which comes from the allium family) and Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, rosemary, basil and sage.

“Probably the most important foods would be cruciferous vegetables”— cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, Brussels sprouts. Eating them mostly raw or lightly cooked is enough to start a chemical process in the body, she says. “If you don’t eat cruciferous vegetables, you’re missing out.”

Gloria Jensenius, a certified natural health therapist and owner of Harmony Healing in Waterford, also uses a food-based approach, based on her belief that “you are what you eat and what you don’t eliminate.”

She recommends fermented or sour-tasting foods to help the liver and gallbladder do their work, starting with lemon juice every morning. Or mix three ounces each of lemon juice, pineapple juice and olive oil to flush the liver, “just get that sludge.” Do this for the last five days of each month, for three months, on an empty stomach.

“Spring is new growth, spring is more green. So, we look at younger plants, new greens, sprouts, microgreens” and yellow plants such as dandelion for the liver. “Spring really is a time of rebirth and our bodies can do a longer detox,” she says. “Fixing the gut biome isn’t as hard as people think.”

She works with clients to create a profile of tastes they like and don’t like. “Trying to see what area of the world a person comes from helps,” she says.

Jensenius recommends buying local, in season and organic foods whenever possible and visiting the Environmental Working Group’s website (EWG.org) for its shoppers’ guide to pesticides in produce.

“I try to do food sources first,” she says. “Eat as clean as you can. … Really, to be a conscious consumer is very important.”

Both Archibald and Jensenius say detoxing is a process, not a quick fix and not a “one size fits all” exercise. And you have to follow through.

“You don’t just start the process; you’ve got to finish it,” Archibald says. Just like quitting smoking, “a lot of people are good at starting.”

If you want to do it yourself, just eat a healthy diet, like we all know we should. One quicker DIY approach is to eat only fruit and vegetables for a day or two.

“It’s a good idea to know your goals first,” Jensenius says. “The longer a problem has persisted, the longer it’s going to take to fix it.”

If you’re going to buy products sold for detoxing, such as teas or supplements, read labels and make sure there are no interactions with any medicines you take or medical conditions you have.

The emotional side of what we have collectively been going through for the past year probably needs to be addressed as well.

“I usually talk with my clients about the mental component,” Jensenius says. “Sometimes we have to look at the stress level.”

Thoughts, she says, have power, be they negative or positive.

“We need to think as much about food detox as we do emotional detox,” Archibald says. “The stress … is as harmful as eating at McDonald’s every day.”

To learn more visit GenomicKitchen.com and HarmonyHealingLLC.com.