The word “detox” has a negative connotation thanks to products like extreme teas or eating regimens that are marketed to “cleanse” the body but can end up being unhelpful and yield undesirable results.
However, “detox” simply refers to ridding the body of toxins and other unwanted compounds. It’s not supposed to be a negative or isolated process. On the contrary, according to Alisa Vitti, the founder of hormonal health center FLO Living, functional nutritionist, and women’s hormone expert, a proper detox is meant to be a means of support.
“Detox is really about supporting the pathways of elimination of the body through the skin, lymph, liver, and large intestine through the use of food, supplements, and specialty treatments,”* Vitti explains. She goes on to say there are three main categories of toxins—environmental (think dry cleaning chemicals, mold, heavy metals, and even endocrine disrupters in makeup), hormonal, and medicinal—all of which can be disruptive to your body’s functionality.
“They can disrupt your metabolism, your adrenal response, your immune response, and your endocrine system,” Vitti stresses. “So, it’s important that your body has the building blocks it needs daily to do the detoxification it needs to do continuously.”
