Detox Naturally & Functional Medicine

I follow Dr. Mark Hyman regularly as he practices functional medicine and is well respected in his are of expertise. Finally a medical practice I can respect!

Functional Medicine focuses on finding the root cause of illness or disease instead of just masking the illness with a quick fix of medication. Instead of sending you home with a prescription, let’s figure out the root cause and try to cure you through alternative methods (ex: diet, exercise, relaxation techniques).

Wikipedia defines functional medicine as: “a form of Western complementary and alternative medicine unrelated to the Western biomedical approaches.
It claims to focus is on treating individuals who may have bodily symptoms, imbalances and dysfunctions. Functional medicine seeks to identify and address the root causes of disease, and views the body as one integrated system, not a collection of independent organs divided up by medical specialties.
Functional medicine practitioners provide chronic care management with the belief that "diet, nutrition, and exposure to environmental toxins play central roles in functional medicine because they may predispose to illness, provoke symptoms, and modulate the activity of biochemical mediators through a complex and diverse set of mechanisms.“


A favorite article by Dr. Mark Hyman of mine came out recently. It gives you some quick facts on chemical toxins in our environment, and how we can detox naturally, and incorporate these habit into our everyday lives. A graph from his article is below, please click on the link and give it a read.

10 Simple Steps to Enhance Detoxification

Proper detoxification is so essential for health that you need to start enhancing your body’s ability to detoxify today. Here is how to do it:

1. Drink Clean – Drink plenty of clean water, at least eight to ten glasses of filtered water a day.

2. Eliminate Properly – Keep your bowels moving, at least once or twice a day. And if you can’t get going, then you need some help. This can include taking two tablespoons of ground flax seeds and taking acidophilus and extra magnesium citrate capsules. If you have any chronic diseases or problems, you have to be careful about taking supplements and should work with your doctor.

3. Eat Clean – You should also eat organic produce and animal products to eliminate the toxins, hormones, and antibiotics in your food.

4. Eat Detoxifying Food – You should eat 8 to 10 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables a day, particularly family of the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, collards, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi) and the garlic family (garlic and onions), which help increase sulfur in the body and help detoxification.

5. Minimize Drugs – Avoid stimulants, sedatives, and drugs, such as caffeine and nicotine, and try to reduce alcohol intake.

6. Get Moving – Exercise five days a week with focus on conditioning your cardiovascular system, strengthening exercises, and stretching exercises.

7. Avoid the White Menace – This includes white flour and white sugar.

8. Sweat – Sweat profusely at least three times a week, using a sauna, steam, or a detox bath.

9. Supplement – Take a high-quality multivitamin and mineral supplement.

10. Relax – Relax deeply every day to get your nervous system in a state of calm, rest, and relaxation.

Drink your water, eat your colorful fruits and veggies, sweat it out as much as possible and be well my friends!!