Myth: You need to fast in order to detox your body.
Reality: Detoxification is a whole body process that requires a plentiful supply of nutrient dense foods.
Thinking about detoxing? This guide explains how to support your body’s natural detox systems using food, lifestyle, and supplements.
- Good gut health is key — include prebiotic-rich foods or a prebiotic powder
- A wide range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and plant nutrients helps your body “spring clean” at a cellular level
- How you eat, live, rest and play all influence how effectively your body detoxes
6 key supplements to support detoxification:
- Milk thistle
- B vitamins
- CoQ10
- Cysteine
- Chlorella or cilantro (coriander)
- Prebiotic powder (PHGG, FOS, GOS or inulin)
Supporting your body’s natural detoxification process
A whole-body detox at a cellular level can help to energise, improve mood and mental clarity and support healthy skin, hair and nails.
To prepare for a detox and renewal phase, it’s important to support optimal gut health and remove foods that feed inflammation, make digestion more difficult, or contribute to toxin build-up. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), wheat, gluten, dairy, alcohol, and sugar are the main culprits.
Make sure you’re eating plenty of fibre-rich foods, and consider taking a prebiotic supplement or including foods naturally rich in prebiotic fibre. (Refer to information about prebiotics, prebiotic foods and probiotics).
Although this may seem counterintuitive – since detoxing is often associated with fasting – you can support detoxification by flooding the body with organic, plant-based nutrition. Fresh juices and smoothies, nourishing soups, steamed vegetables, and a variety of nuts and seeds all provide valuable support.
Plant-based foods rich in chlorophyll, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals help deliver nutrients – and therefore energy – to your cells. This enables cells to release stored toxins while simultaneously replenishing themselves.
Time-restricted eating (such as 16:8 or 14:10) may also support cellular renewal by stimulating a natural process called autophagy, often described as the body’s internal “house-cleaning” mechanism.
Dry skin brushing can further support detoxification by promoting healthy skin, one of the body’s major organis of detoxification. It helps remove dead skin cells and may improve circulation and lymphatic drainage.
Key vitamins and minerals that support cellular energy production:
- Folate: Dark green leafy vegetables (such as turnip greens, spinach, romaine lettuce, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli), beans, sunflower seeds and fresh fruit.
- Magnesium: Greens, nuts, seeds, dried beans, avocado, bananas, and 100% dark chocolate (with no added sugar).
- B vitamins: Lentils and other pulses, mushrooms, asparagus, bananas, spinach, peas and well-washed brown rice (to remove toxins in the rice absorbed during the growing process).
- CoQ10: Spinach, cauliflower and broccoli, oranges and strawberries, legumes, soybeans and lentils, nuts and seeds.
- Vitamin B12: If you do not consume dairy, fish, or meat, supplementation is advisable.
Fruit and vegetables that provide additional support during detoxification:
- Dried fruits and figs can help gently cleanse the colon.
- Apples support antioxidant activity and energy production due to their malic acid content.
- Asparagus is rich in glutathione, known as the master antioxidant in the body.
- Carrots are also high in antioxidants and can support elimination through the lungs, colon, kidneys, liver, bladder, and skin.
- Ginger is another powerful antioxidant that fights free radical damage and also has antiviral, antibacterial, and antiparasitic properties.
- Warm water with lemon can further support the flushing of toxins from the body.
Supporting toxin elimination:
- As well as flooding your body with nutrients from plants it is also important to introduce a chelating (binding) agent into your regime. This helps ensure that toxins released from the cells are safely bound and eliminated from the body, rather than being reabsorbed.
- Chlorella, cilantro and barley grass juice are all rich in chlorophyll, a potent compound recognised for its role in supporting the body’s natural cleansing processes. Choosing organically grown sources is important to avoid adding to your toxin load.
- Maitake Mushrooms have also been shown to have chelating properties and may be particularly helpful for supporting the removal of mercury, promoting liver health, and providing antioxidant support.
- Bentonite/zeolite clay can be used in baths or foot baths to support the removal of heavy metals through the skin.
Rest, relaxation and lifestyle support
Rest and relaxation are essential components of detoxification and renewal. Mindfulness practices, gentle exercise, yoga, chi gong, breathing exercises and dry skin brushing to unclog pores can all support circulation and promote lymphatic drainage. Epsom salt baths or foot baths may also be beneficial, as Epsom salts contain sulphur,
which supports liver detoxification.
Supplements to support detoxification
- Milk Thistle, Cysteine, Dandelion and Artichoke can all support the liver. Being the main organ of detoxification in the body, it will be working overtime while your body reduces its toxic load.
- Alpha-lipoic acid is an integral part of any detoxification process. It is a powerful antioxidant with proven ability to support the liver and help the body reduce toxicity.
- Maitake Mushrooms for chelation and antioxidant activity.
- Chlorella can support with chelation and gut motility, it is also a rich source of nutrients.
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Glutathione is known as the master antioxidant in the body. Supplementation is recommended, with liposomal forms being best, as absorption can be challenging Alternatively, take N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a key building block of glutathione. A lack of NAC is often the main limiting factor that prevents the body from producing enough glutathione.
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CoQ10 is an antioxidant that supports mitochondrial energy production
Vitamin B12 has been shown to support with energy production.
- Magnesium has been shown to support many critical detox enzymes in the liver and is involved in energy production.
- B vitamins especially Folate (B9), riboflavin (B2) and Niacin (B3) support the liver and Phase 1 liver detoxification. B2 is involved in the production of glutathione and all B vitamins are involved in energy production.
If you’d like further information on supplements or nutrition, please speak to one of our qualified Health and Wellbeing Advisors.
Important: if you have a health condition or are taking medication it’s important to consult your GP before embarking on a cleanse/detox.
