Detoxify Your Life in 5 Weeks

Hello there! It has been a hot minute since I posted a new blog, and that’s because I’ve been busy emailing with my subscribers about detox! (did you know you can easily join that list below?? We’d love to have you!)

This post is from week 1 of my series on detox. This one is LONG (I promise they aren’t all this way, so hang in there). I’ll be loading these each week so you can catch up :) I hope you enjoy!

Today we are kicking off my 5-part email series on how to decrease the toxic load on your body.

We are starting the culprit #1 which is our food.

I know you are busy, but I hope you are able to take the time to read this or save it and come back to it. This email contains vital information that so many people aren’t aware of and it could change the trajectory of your health journey.

I hope to keep this from getting too “on my soap box” ish because this is a topic I could probably write a book on (not because I’m that knowledgeable, I just have a LOT to say on the topic).

Let’s start with glyphosate.

I know, I know, but please keep reading.

I get that the “G” word can be triggering for some. But bear with me. We are going to get technical for a sec and then dive in. We have to understand where this chemical came from and how it works before we can make decisions on whether we want to be ingesting it.

Glyphosate was discovered in 1950 and first patented in 1964 as a chelating agent used to strip mineral deposits off of pipes and boilers in commercial hot-water systems. It is very effective in this role because it binds to and removes minerals such as calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc.

In 1970, Monsanto would get its hand on the compound and discover that it was a mild herbicide. The Monsanto chemists manipulated it and made it much more effective, then bringing it to market as RoundUp. It held exclusive rights until 2000, when it was patented again as an oral antibiotic.

Glyphosate is a chelator, a herbicide, and an antibiotic.

Because glyphosate was so good at its job (aka killing everything in sight), farmers had to come up with seeds that would be able to grow, even when sprayed with this weed-killer. This spawned the creation of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

And what happened next? Weeds, just like antibiotic-resistant bacteria, began to be able to resist the chemical (nature always wins!). So companies just sprayed more and more glyphosate. Since 1974, nearly 19 billion pounds of glyphosate have been tossed on the earth and in the air around the globe.

Glyphosate works by interfering with the shikimate pathway, which produces the aromatic amino acids alanine, tyrosine and tryptophan in plants and microorganisms – but does not exist in the genome of animals, including humans. Because of this, scientists thought that glyphosate wouldn’t affect the human body.

They were wrong.

What they forgot to consider is that the trillions and trillions of bacteria and fungi that occupy our microbiome DO have shikimate pathways. And when THEY die, our microbiome dies. Well, that’s a bit dramatic, but it’s also kind of true. These microbes, the one that are killed by ingestion of glyphosate, are the same species that are crucial for a healthy gut barrier, digestion, helping with nutrient absorption, and our immune system (most of which resides in our gut).

An unanticipated side effect of the massive amounts of spraying is that by killing all the organisms in the ground, the soil is also essentially dead, devoid of nutrients that used to supply our foods. Because almost all soil is near somewhere that was sprayed by glyphosate, even organic foods are going to contain some level of it. It really is everywhere. Biodynamic farming was developed to offset this, but more on that at another time.

Lots of studies have proven the dangers of the increasing amounts of glyphosate in our world. It has even shown to be a culprit of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in animals. This is a disease that is currently having an unprecedented increase in incidence in the United States.

Glyphosate is impossible to avoid, so the questions we must ask are: 1) how do we limit our exposure and 2) how do we become better at excreting it from our system?

Let’s tackle the first one.

Shopping the EWG’s Clean 15 and avoiding the Dirty Dozen is an excellent place to start. Those on the Dirty Dozen list should always be purchased organically because they are the MOST sprayed items in the produce market. Additionally, these are generally foods with lots of crevices allowing glyphosate residue to remain.

Remember, glyphosate is not just at surface level. It is designed to penetrate the seed, stems, and leaves of everything that it grown. For this reason, simply because something has a thick skin, it is not exempt from being highly toxic.

Buying organic also guarantees that you aren’t also eating GMO seeds. I know there isn’t consensus around this and perhaps I’ll dive into that another time, but GMO crops are intentionally designed to survive glyphosate spraying so that they can spray them with a greater amount of pesticides. That is not something I want in my body—it’s not meant to be there.

Wheat, corn, and soy are the next category that should nearly always be purchased organic. These products are heavily subsidized by our government (and for so many reasons which I do not have the time to go into today—see I could write a book!) which allows them to be cheap, but also means there is no motivation to have a successful harvest. This equates to using tons and tons of glyphosate because it is “less work” in that the weeds are dead, but also it helps the harvesting go faster.

In the meantime, we are consuming a chemical toxic to our gut without even knowing it. Organic wheat, corn, and soy, particularly if you are vegetarian or vegan and eat a lot of tofu and soy products, are essential to ensuring that you are reducing your glyphosate burden.

And finally, animal products.

What they eat, we eat.

Traditionally fed cows are fed pesticide sprayed grain. Which means we eat meat that is loaded with glyphosate. I know this sounds so dramatic, but it’s true. In addition to this, conventionally raised cows have stress hormones that spike right before they are butchered, which remains in their tissues, which we eat!

With organic and pasture raised meats, they are not only fed a native diet of grasses, but they are able to free range which creates a high-quality meat. The butchering process is entirely different at these farms (I won’t go into detail because I want to continue to eat meat LOL) and the cows are cared for in such a way that they don’t have that same hormone spike when they are killed.

Dairy is the same. For cows that are treated poorly, their hormonal stress imbalances are passed to us via their milk. As well as the pesticides.

Same goes for chickens and their eggs. Research studies have also shown that pastured raised animals have higher levels of naturally occurring healthy omega fats.

My best recommendation? Find a local farmer who can sell you a cow or part of a cow. For eggs, I love Trader Joe’s pastured eggs. I will use these in between getting fresh eggs from a friend or my absolute favorite brand of pastured organic eggs from Vital Farms (these are expensive, but worth it every once in a while for the best fried egg of your life).

Okay I have one more item for you to watch out for. I’ll be quick on this one because this email is already getting way longer than I intended! I plan to write on a whole blog post on this topic, but organic coffee (also tested for mold and mycotoxins) is really important, particularly if you are an avid drinker. Coffee is one of the most sprayed crops and with the frequency that most of us consume it, we need to be mindful. Some of my favorite brands include Kion ($20 off with this link when you spend $80) and Kicking Horse, which I get through Thrive Market. You can get 40% off your first order when you join—Thrive Market is like Costco for healthy foods! I LOVE it for snacks and pantry staples. Anyway, stay tuned for more on this soon!

Let’s move on to how we can help ourselves remove the glyphosate load.

Glyphosate lives in our body for a long, long time. This study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the percentage of people who tested positive for a chemical called glyphosate shot up by 500% in that time period. The levels of glyphosate also spiked by 1208% during that time.

Our liver is our #1 detox organ, but our kidneys, and skin are also critical pathways. Glyphosate essentially clogs up our liver since it binds to copper and other crucial minerals important for liver function. There is also a very interesting connection between vitamin D, magnesium, copper, and glyphosate that I’ll explore more another time, but it’s safe to say now, that if you have elevated levels of glyphosate in your system, your liver isn’t functioning at it’s best. And when your liver isn’t functioning at it’s best, you can’t detox the glyphosate. See the conundrum? Oy.

So where do we start?

Drainage pathways: sweat, urine, and stool.

First, it’s vital to sweat multiple times a week, whether that’s through exercise or a sauna, get a good sweat and often! Hydration is also really important here. This helps flush out toxins through the kidneys as well.

Next, we need to consume herbs and other minerals that will bind to the glyphosate and as well as support our liver to be able to excrete it.

This is where binders come in. A good binder will help adhere to the glyphosate molecule and get through our digestive system to be excreted in our stool. But binding alone can’t do the job.

You have to be pooping. Regularly. Multiple times a day.

I know, I said it.

If you are not readily emptying your bowels, binding up glyphosate will actually just increase your toxicity load and harbor it in your large intestine. This will make you feel super sick.

So first, you gotta get pooping.

Next, a binder can support glyphosate excretion.

And third, herbs such as TUDCA will increase bile flow and support your liver to excrete all toxins.

There are lots of great binders on the market as well as other products to help you get glyphosate out of your system. I’m not allowed to give medical advice, BUT I can recommend that you find a practitioner who is willing to walk you through this process. It’s unique to everyone, so a blanket statement here wouldn’t be appropriate.

What do you think?

I hope I’ve convinced you not only to not only decrease your glyphosate consumption and consider organic foods, but I hope that I’ve inspired you to look at your detox pathways to help excrete the chemical residue that lives in your cells.

Know someone who might enjoy this? Please feel free to pass it on and encourage them to join our email community!

Here’s to your health!