Ep #161 Toss Out the Toxins and Restart Your Body with Dr. Joseph Pizzorno

Hello and welcome back to the Sexyfit Podcast.

Sister, we’ve all heard of toxins as little villains in the world that we should fear. But what are toxins, how are they harming us, and what can we do to rid our bodies of them?  

Today I am very excited to introduce you to my new friend, Dr. Joseph Pizzorno. Dr. Joe is one of the world's leading authorities on science-based natural medicine, best-selling author of The Toxin Solution, and founder of Bastyr University (the first fully accredited, multidisciplinary university of natural medicine).

He is the walking encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to long-term sustainable health. A twelve-book encyclopedia to be exact.

We’ve covered this topic before but never quite like this. Let’s dive in!

Here’s What We Talked About

• Understanding what toxins are and the shocking ways they are harming our bodies so we can stop letting them in and start flushing them out.
• How to remove toxins from our systems naturally and safely so we can set ourselves up for sustainable long-term health and efficient detoxification.
• What Dr. Joe does to keep his body free of toxins and what we can do to live a toxin free life and achieve our transformation with more energy than ever before.

What are these Little Villains and What are they Plotting?

Dr. Joe’s definition of a toxin is anything that disrupts human physiology.

That’s pretty broad, so let me elaborate.

For example, salt at high levels or wheat for those that are gluten intolerant.

But sister, salt and wheat are not the only two commonly known toxins.

Our water has traces of arsenic (the stuff they use to make car batteries and rat poison), the air we breathe is polluted, and our veggies are grown with unsafe fertilizers.

Toxins are everywhere.

They disrupt our enzyme systems causing our physiological processes to work slower and less efficiently, and we can end up with more disease in the future.

Now, before you decide to never leave your house, hide under your desk, and never eat again, it is important to know that our regulatory systems have various ways to flush out toxins.  

(Want to learn more about gluten’s toxic effect on the body? Check out Ep#143 Remove the Toxins, Reset Your Hormones, Restore Your Energy with Michelle Brown).

Most of us think about our liver as being the primary route for detoxification, don’t get me wrong, it certainly is important, but we have multiple ways in which we fight off toxins.

We have enzymes in our gut that break down toxins coming from our food and enzymes in our lungs excrete toxins that we breathe in.

How to detoxify:

While our systems are hard at work to remove toxins, is there more we can do jumpstart these processes and detoxify?

Absolutely.

Step 1: Dr. Joe’s first step to detoxification is to not let the toxins in.

They can stay in our systems  for very long periods of times, so blocking entry is very important to reversing the effects of these toxins.

You can’t save a sinking boat if water keeps getting in, right?

Step 2: The second step is preparing our bodies for detoxification. Instead of jumping into full detox mode, Dr. Joe recommends getting our guts, livers, and kidneys functioning properly.

After all, they hustle hard to flush toxins out for us, don’t you think they deserve a little love?

How do we do this? Our liver has a major role in flushing out our toxins. It makes toxins water soluble so our kidneys can get rid of them and make them into forms that can get into bile that is broken down in our guts.

Freaky fact here: about ninety percent of the toxins that are broken down by the liver are reabsorbed by the body. Wait...what? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Well, yes but if we introduce more fiber into our bodies, these toxins can be excreted through our…...poop.

Aside from fiber, our liver also needs iron and B vitamins. The enzymes that break down toxins in our liver need iron and B vitamins to perform this function, so get those supplements in, sister.

By getting more fiber, iron, and B vitamins into our bodies, we are preparing our bodies for detoxification in a safe and totally natural way. No juice cleanses necessary, sister (save that cash money, those juices get real pricey).

Step 3: The third step is detoxification. Dr. Joe sets his clients up to detox in a number of ways.

One way in which he does this is a moderately caloric restrictive diet.  A lot of toxins are stored in our fat and getting rid of that fat will get rid of the toxins (great...another diet).

Another way is to consume alkalizing foods. Like tomatoes, parsley, avocado, and kale. Most people consume a very acidic diet and this makes it difficult to release toxins. While alkaline diets make it easier to detoxify and release toxins that only leave in alkaline settings.

As we already discussed above, sweating is another great way to release toxins and for this Dr. Joe recommends saunas.

You can  sit back, relax,  don’t forget to hydrate, and let the toxins leave your body. We can get used to that, right?

Or you can go outside for a run, HIIT session on the stairmaster, or whatever gets you sweating. It’s really up you, sister.

Want even more fun and sweat inducing workout ideas? Sister, check out my book The Sexyfit Method for great workouts that will have you sweating out those toxins along with over forty mouthwatering recipes.

Like a bad boyfriend, there are many ways to kick toxins to the curve. Your body is hard at work flushing out those toxins but a little assistance can make a huge difference to revamping your energy and preventing disease.

Dr. Joe’s Favorite Things:

Dr. Joe has an incredible wealth of knowledge that he has acquired over half a century of researching toxins and natural medicines. Really makes us wonder how he keeps healthy and prevents toxins from entering his body.

Sister, I asked him just that.

He drinks filtered water and has a whole home filtering system. This prevents toxins from making into his water supply and into the air he and his family breathe.

What about food?

Dr. Joe makes sure to eat nutrient dense foods that are organic. He also makes sure his food is cooked properly and that his pots and pans do not contain any harmful chemicals.

Sister, that’s just guts and lungs but there are plenty of toxins on all the pretty and lovely products we rub on our skin and into our scalp.  Dr. Joe keeps his skin toxin free using this really cool app called Think Dirty that lets users scan the barcode of beauty products to find any toxic ingredients. How cool is that?

There is no way to live a completely toxin free life, unless you live in a bubble, but you can do what you can to reduce the amount of toxins that enter your body. Your body does so much for you, it deserves love back.

I had an incredible time during this podcast. I felt like I was in school again and loved learning all this good and in-depth information.  Let me know what you think!

With love,

Zlata