The process of detoxification involves moving the toxins out of your cells and into your bloodstream. Then your detox pathways that are primarily in your liver will convert these fat-soluble toxins to water-soluble toxins. Once the toxins are converted, your kidneys, skin, and gut can eliminate them, via urine, sweat, or feces.
Since we live in such a toxic world, your detoxification capacity is likely hampered. After all, every day you are likely to be exposed to a soup of different chemicals via your food, water, air, and personal-care products. Exposure to one chemical, such as glyphosate (the primary component of the ubiquitous pesticide Roundup) is bad enough—when chemicals intermingle in your body, it stands to reason that their effect is altered and intensified. A 2018 study found that when even small amounts of chemicals from food, pharmaceuticals, and personal-care products are combined in your body, you may experience liver damage.1
The results of this study support previous research demonstrating the effects of chemical cocktails, even at low levels,2 on the liver.3 To ensure your detox system is working properly, begin by supporting your kidneys, liver, and GI tract.
Every day, but especially on your KetoFast days, be sure to stay properly hydrated by drinking adequate amounts of pure, clean water. In my view, hydration is truly one of the foundation pillars of health, which is why I made it the very first step in my book Effortless Healing: 9 Simple Ways to Sidestep Illness, Shed Excess Weight, and Help Your Body Fix Itself.
Hydration becomes even more important when you are regularly engaging in partial fasting, because you need to be properly hydrated in order to detoxify and get rid of wastes through your sweat, stool, and urine. When you are partial fasting, it also becomes more important than ever to hydrate yourself with the purest, least contaminated water you can get your hands on, which is not necessarily easy as many dangerous chemicals find their way into the ecosystem, including into our water supply.
In general, it’s difficult to get access to pure water in your home unless you’re filtering your tap water. Most municipal water supplies contain a number of potentially hazardous contaminants at varying levels. Among the worst are disinfection by-products (DBPs). In water treatment facilities that use chlorine or chloramines to treat and purify the water, toxic DBPs form when these disinfectants react with natural organic matter like decaying vegetation in the source water.
These by-products are over 1,000 times more toxic than chlorine, and then you need to address other contaminants, such as fluoride and pharmaceutical drugs that people either urinate out or dispose of in the toilet. Trihalomethanes (THMs), among the most common DBPs, are Cancer Group B carcinogens, meaning they’ve been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals. They’ve also been linked to reproductive problems such as spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, and congenital malformations in both animals and humans, even at lower levels of exposure. These types of DBPs may weaken your immune system, disrupt your central nervous system, damage your cardiovascular system, disrupt your renal system, and cause respiratory problems.
In a 2017 analysis by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), water samples from nearly 50,000 water utilities in 50 states revealed more than 267 different kinds of toxins in U.S. tap water.4 Of the 267 chemicals detected:
Alarmingly, nearly 19,000 public water systems had lead levels above 3.8 parts per billion, which would put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels. Other chemicals of concern include:
If you have well water, it would be prudent to have your water tested for arsenic and other contaminants. If you have public water, you can get a local drinking water quality report from the EPA.5 The agency regulates tap water in the U.S., but while there are legal limits on many of the contaminants permitted in municipal water supplies, more than half of the 300-plus chemicals detected in U.S. drinking water are unregulated, and some of the legal limits may be too lenient for safety. For a more objective view of your water quality, check out the Tap Water Database created by the EWG, available at https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/.
I recently requested a water analysis from my local water authority. First they sent a five-page PDF with measurements of four contaminants, one of which was fluoride. I then asked for the full analysis, which resulted in my receiving a 60-page report that included literally hundreds of chemicals, including 2,4-D, dioxin, and glyphosate at 4,200 parts per trillion. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee bottled water will be much better.
Aside from the issues of plastic pollution, microplastic contamination, and the problem with plastic chemicals leaching into the water, bottled water is often just as contaminated with chemicals as your tap water. Rarely does bottled water undergo superior filtration, and bottled water regulations are actually laxer than those for municipal tap water.
Unless you can verify the purity of your water, seriously consider installing a high-quality, whole-house water filtration system. Ideally, filter the water both at the point of entry and at the point of use. This means filtering all the water that comes into the house, and then filtering it again at the kitchen sink and shower. As for the type of filtration system to get, there are a variety of options, most of which have both benefits and drawbacks. Here are a few of the most common options:
While advantages include a high flow rate and low maintenance cost, science points out the disadvantages, which include calcium sulfate fouling, iron fouling, and contamination from organic matter, bacteria, and chlorine.6
Carbon block filters offer the same superior filtering ability but are compressed with the carbon medium in a solid form. This eliminates channeling and gives the ability to precisely combine multiple media in a sub-micron filter cartridge. By combining different media, the ability to selectively remove a wide range of contaminants can be achieved.
Another alternative is to collect water from natural, deep springs. There’s a website called Find A Spring (findaspring.com) where you can look up natural springs in your area. Do your homework before setting off to collect water, however, as you may not be allowed to collect water from all springs, even if they’re listed. None of the springs in Florida, for example, are set up to be legally used as sources of potable water. You may also want to check and see if there have been any chemical spills in the area that might affect the purity of the water. A workaround can be to check whether your local state park has a potable well you can use, as they typically draw water from the same sources as the springs.
A key component of proper hydration is getting the water into your cells. One of the simplest ways of getting water into your body is to eat more foods that contain water, such as leafy green plant foods.
In his book The Fourth Phase of Water, Gerald Pollack, Ph.D., reveals the importance of structured water or H3O2 (as opposed to H2O, which is regular water). This structured water, also known as exclusion zone or EZ water, has unique properties. It’s more viscous, dense, and alkaline than regular water; has a negative charge; and can hold and deliver energy much like a battery. In fact, this is the kind of water found in your cells, and it helps recharge your mitochondria. Two simple ways to structure your water are:
The best way to get structured water is to activate the water already inside your body by exposing your bare skin to near-infrared and ultraviolet (UV) radiation, i.e., sunlight, on a regular basis. You probably already know that sunlight can help you manufacture vitamin D, but we are beginning to understand that humans are more like plants than we ever realized. We draw energy from the sun that benefits us in multiple ways, including in how hydrated we are.
It will also be important to be certain you are getting enough salt. Many people are fearful that excess salt will increase their blood pressure or cause other problems. But in reality many are not getting enough salt, especially those who are using a sauna or doing partial fasting, as they tend to eliminate quite a bit of salt.
Just make sure that it is not commercial salt that is highly processed. Also, it has recently become clear that many sea salts are now contaminated with micro plastics from ocean plastic pollution. The book The Salt Fix by James DiNicolantonio, Pharm.D., is an excellent resource to get you up to speed on this topic.
If you are dehydrated at the cellular level—and most of us are, particularly if we are facing any level of illness—you won’t be able to reduce your toxin accumulation effectively. So make sure you ingest enough structured water. By drinking structured water, eating green vegetables, and soaking and eating seeds, you will support your body’s detoxification efforts.
Due to its medicinal properties, bone broth is one of the foods I highly recommend, and personally use, to maintain a healthy connective tissue, as it is loaded with amino acids like glycine, proline, and hydrocyproline that strengthen your tendons and skin.
While restaurants and storefronts dedicated to serving broth have popped up in New York7, 8 and Los Angeles9 in recent years, the influence of bone broth on health and disease is nothing new. Well before it was elevated to a trendy health drink by elite professional athletes such as NBA star LeBron James and retired NBA icon Kobe Bryant,10 bone broth has been recognized across cultures and for millennia for its curative properties.
In earlier generations, when it was unthinkable to waste any part of an animal carcass, resourceful hunters and cooks mastered the art of simmering otherwise unusable cartilage, bones, hooves, and skin to produce a hearty broth. In some ways, we are now rediscovering many of the antidotes and home remedies that served our grandparents and great-grandparents well just a few generations ago.
Bone broth is exactly what it sounds like: broth made from animal bones. Homemade broth differs substantially from the canned, store-bought variety or the kind produced by adding boiling water to chemical-laden bouillon cubes. In its simplest form, bone broth is made using bones, vinegar, and spices. It is simmered in a pot or slow cooker at least overnight, or as long as 72 hours. Longer simmering times result in a more complete release of gelatin, minerals, and other nutrients from the bones, which is key to realizing the many health-giving benefits and restorative properties this broth has to offer. The process of making bone broth extracts the numerous minerals that comprise the bones, including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and sodium. Many of these are electrolytes, which means they help improve your overall hydration and can combat some of the detox symptoms that you may experience while fasting.
The most convenient way to obtain all the benefits of bone broth is to purchase it. However, you need to be very careful about selecting products. The dirty little secret of the bone broth industry is that many of the leading brands are using animals grown in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in China that are loaded with toxins.
While you can make it yourself, it is a very long process that might be daunting for some. If you decide to make your own, you will need to identify a source for high-quality bones; the rest of the process is fairly easy and requires only a little planning. The most efficient way to create your broth is to use a slow cooker or Crock-Pot. This will allow you to put a few basic ingredients in the pot in the morning, turn it on low heat, and walk away. Come evening, you will be welcomed home by a tantalizing aroma.
You can use beef, chicken, fish, or pork bones to make your broth. You will find that each variety offers unique flavors and nutritional benefits. The most important aspect of the broth-making process is to ensure you’re getting the best-quality bones that you possibly can. Ideally, you’ll want to use only bones from organically raised, pastured, or grass-fed animals. Using bones from animals raised in CAFOs means your broth will lack many of the most nourishing ingredients. Besides that, CAFO animals are often fed an unnatural genetically engineered diet and frequently are given antibiotics and growth hormones. You don’t want any of those potentially harmful additives in your broth, so make sure to start off with an organically raised product.
To find a local source for organic bones, connect with possible suppliers at local food co-ops, health-food stores, and farmers’ markets. Many farmers love to talk about their operations, and most will be more than happy to give you the details about the feed they use and how they care for their animals. Keep in mind that very often farmers from smaller farms raise their livestock according to organic principles even if their operation has not been certified organic. This is mainly due to the reality that the certification process is quite rigorous and costly, and generally unachievable for many small farms.
You’ll also want to use filtered water to make your broth.
