---
title: "New September; New you! Should you detox?"
entity: "blog"
canonical_url: "https://www.embernaturopathic.com/blog/new-september-new-you-should-you-detox"
markdown_url: "https://www.embernaturopathic.com/llms/blog/new-september-new-you-should-you-detox"
lastmod: "2021-09-28T03:08:00.000Z"
---

## Introduction

This is something we hear in our office all the time - a patient comes in and asks if we have heard of the latest detox trend.

Is detoxing good for us? 

At Ember Naturopathic, we believe in optimizing our organs of elimination through diet and lifestyle. We encourage adopting day-to-day healthy lifestyle habits versus embarking on an extremely difficult, intense 10-day detox that deprives our bodies of required nutrients and that is simply not sustainable over the long term.

## The Importance of Detoxification:

Humans are designed to eliminate toxins every minute of every day. We do so by using our organs of elimination - our liver, kidneys, lungs, skin, and even our bowel movements. However, even though the human body is robust and adapted to some levels of stress, we can only handle so much. Eventually, some people hit their threshold and start to feel these cumulative effects. These symptoms can manifest in many ways through headaches, insomnia, fatigue, skin issues, brain fog, etc. Some individuals are blessed with strong detox genetics, while many others are not so lucky.

## Daily Tips for Optimal Detoxification:

What adds to our day to day toxic load? Pollution, pesticides in our food, our water quality, plastics, chemicals in our cleaning products, chemicals in our beauty products; the list goes on. 

Given our continuous exposure, managing this load by buying an air purifier, keeping windows open as much as you can to allow for clean air to come in, buying organic produce when you can, buying non toxic cleaning products, as well as non toxic, clean beauty products, can greatly reduce the negative effects.

## Managing Your Exposure to Toxins:

In addition to reducing your everyday toxic load, some daily tips and tricks to increase your body's efficiency, and therefore its ability to eliminate wastes can include:

- A glass of warm lemon water in the morning
- At least 8 glasses of water a day 
- Increasing liver loving foods such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, garlic and onions
- Eating organically grown fruits and vegetables when you can (check out the clean 15, and dirty dozen for more information) 
- Aiming for 35 grams of fiber a day to keep your gut and bowel movements happy
- Sweating every day whether it is through exercise, a sauna, or a brisk walk

When you first start to learn about the toxins/chemicals all around us, it can feel daunting. A helpful resource we often recommend is the [Environmental Working Group](http://www.ewg.org) website. Here you can review household products based on their potential health risks via their online rating system. You can also visit [www.ewg.org/skindeep/](http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/) to have quick access to the same type of ranking system for skin and makeup products. 

## The Ember Approach to Care

Ensuring our detox capabilities are optimal is one of the first phases in our systematic [Ember Approach](/howitworks#ember-approach) to care. Our detox abilities are a core building block to our health, and often need to be addressed before we move onto different aspects of our patients' health in order to achieve optimal results. 

Contact us for more information on getting your health back on track.

P.S.   Wondering if you are one of the unlucky ones that has a genetically harder time detoxifying? Ember's naturopathic doctors use the advanced genetic analysis platform, GeneRx, to generate a personalized health analysis report and treatment protocol. Book in for a complimentary 15 minute consult to see if this is something that would be beneficial for you.