How To Detox BPA and Other Plastics from the Body - And Why You Want To

What if your daily cup of coffee from the drive-thru or even your organic grass-fed steak is quietly sabotaging your health? Plastics and their toxic counterparts have invaded everything from our food to our homes, but the good news is, you’re not powerless to fight back. In this hard-hitting episode of Blasphemous Nutrition, Aimee takes on the pervasive problem of plastic contamination in our food and environment, breaking down the shocking ways BPA, BPS, phthalates, and other toxins wreak havoc on your health. From hormone disruption and infertility to insulin resistance and increased disease risk, the stakes are high—but so are the opportunities to take control.

You’ll learn:

• Why “BPA-free” isn’t the hero you think it is—and how alternatives like BPS and BPF might be even worse.
• The real health risks of phthalates hiding in everything from makeup to fast food.
• How chronic plastic exposure impacts fertility, metabolic health, and even your kids’ cognitive development.
• Why popular detox diets fall short and how to support your body’s natural detox pathways the right way, including the top detox-supporting foods.
• Why sweating, pooping, and hydrating are the detox heroes you never knew you needed.

Resources:

Find Research Citations and Transcript at Blasphemous Nutrition on Substack

Work with Aimee

Get on the Glorious Greens Waitlist for an Interactive Experience in March with Yours Truly! Click here.

Get access to the Greens Challenge now for a DIY experience (and bonus cookbook) Click here.

Episode 33: How Dehydration Hacks Your Health

Photography by: Dai Ross Photography

Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative

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Transcript

0:00

Hey Rebels, welcome to Blasphemous Nutrition. Consider this podcast your pantry full of clarity, perspective, and the nuance needed to counter the superficial health advice so freely given on the internet. I'm Aimee, the unapologetically candid host of Blasphemous Nutrition and a double degreed nutritionist with 20 years experience. I'm here to share a more nuanced take. On living and eating well to sustain and recover your health. If you've found most health advice to be so generic as to be meaningless, We're so extreme that it's unrealistic, and you don't mind the occasional F bomb. You've come to the right place. From dissecting the latest nutrition trends to breaking down published research and sharing my own clinical experiences, I'm on a mission to foster clarity amidst all the confusion and empower you to have the help you need to live a life you love. Now let's get started.

MacBook Air Microphone-1: 1:04

Welcome back to blossom as nutrition. I'm your host, Aimee here to spill the green tea on toxicants because your liver deserves better than the daily dose of plastic. It is getting. 2024 ended with a Newsweek article, highlighting the prevalence of plastic in all of our foods. While, the most contaminated were to be expected. The fast food items from well-known chains as well as prepared meals like macaroni, and cheese. What we consider to be some of the healthiest choices, including organic and grass fed meat from whole foods in the bay area. Or even a bay area, local butcher. We're not free from contamination. Now the source data. That was used to write. This article does raise a lot of questions and it should not be taken as guidance on any specific company to avoid or to trust when it comes to contamination. But I think overall this study increases our awareness. And highlights the exposure, making it a valuable contribution to the conversation about the prevalence of plastic exposure in our day-to-day lives and the danger that some of these chemicals are known to have when mammals such as ourselves are exposed to them. Today, I'm going to highlight two main toxicants that come from plastic exposure. Bisphenols and fallates now. Most of us know about BPA. That is the most notorious of the bisphenol family. BPA was created in 1891. I had no idea it had been around that long until I started doing research for this episode. And ever since then, it has been used in an ever increasing amount of products from flame retardants to plastic, food, and drink packaging, kitchen, where the inner coatings of cans and jar lids, water bottles, electrical goods, electronics, as well as Marine and car coatings. Now safety issues and side effects of BPA didn't really become known to us until the late 1990s when it was found to leech out of plastics and into experimental animals, resulting in notable chromosomal changes in their offspring. BPA is shown to bind, to estrogen receptors, producing a response by the cell that mimics steroid hormones at levels that are much lower than to be expected. BPA is also associated with progesterone deficiency. It binds to the thyroid hormone receptor and inhibits activation of the thyroid hormone, as well as altering the expression of genes involved in making thyroid hormone. I mean, this leads me to wonder if all of the exposure that we have to plastics in our environment is part of the reason why so many people have hypothyroidism. I don't know to what degree anybody is even looking at that as a possible source. And in some ways it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to do human studies simply because plastic is so prevalent in the environment and having a plastic free control group. It's like impossible. Right? Animal studies also show that BPA causes oxidative stress. And generates really reactive, toxic compounds in the liver, kidney testes, and brain. Now BPA gets into our body via mouth, via air and through absorption and our skin, our main sources of BPA exposure, our food packaging, dust, dental materials, healthcare equipment. And the thermal paper from grocery receipts, as well as toys and other products for kids and infants. I mean that said much of our exposure comes from the foods that we eat and how these foods are processed, packaged, and stored by industry. Canned foods and heating foods in plastic containers does increase our exposure to BPA. Way back in 2004, the CDC stated that 93%. Of Americans age six and up have detectable amounts of BPA in their urine. So this is a prevalent problem that has been ongoing for multiple decades. Now, the studies that we have on humans are observational and therefore associative, right? We cannot say clearly that exposure to plastics in humans causes this or causes that. But what we see from these observational studies is that individuals who have higher levels of BPA in their urine, Also have greater likelihood. C O P D, which is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes. And elevated blood levels of liver enzymes that are associated with fatty liver disease. Hi, urine concentrations of BPA are also associated with increased pre-diabetes. Even when other confounding factors such as one's BMI or alcohol intake are taken into consideration. BPA directly blocks our insulin receptor sites and it distributes to fatty tissue where it is slowly released into the bloodstream leading to insulin resistance. Now this not only increases the likelihood of diabetes, but it also increases obesity risk as well as the accumulation of visceral fat. That is the more dangerous fat that crowds around our organ systems. Men who have higher concentrations of BPA in their semen are also documented to tend towards lower sperm concentration, decreased sperm, motility, and decreased total sperm count. For women elevated BPA levels are associated with recurrent miscarriages, chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus. And decreased number of eggs retrieved when undergoing IVF treatment. This is, um, terrifying. And again, even though we can't say that. BPA is a direct cause of declining fertility that we've been seeing over the last 20 to 30 years. It is a signal that. Is concerning and worth taking a closer look at. Now some studies show that a correlation between BPA exposure in children leads to ADHD behavior, and it may also be a contributing factor in increased childhood obesity. But this would be a little bit hard to tease out, right? Because BPA exposure is highest in hyper processed foods and hyper processed foods are more strongly correlated with an increased risk of obesity. So is it the BPA? Is it the very nature of high pro hyper processed foods and how they impact our biology? Is it both does one compound. The other, those would be really, really interesting pieces of research for our researchers to take a look at. On a completely other system of the body. There was an interesting study that came out of Taiwan that noticed that children with higher BPA levels in their urine I also had greater likelihood of asthma between the ages of three and six years of age. So understandably when this information first started coming out in the late 1990s, especially the potential harms to our kids. There was strong backlash and an industry response to the pressure that we put on them to eliminate BPA. And so now you see all sorts of plastics labeled BPA free and canned foods that are labeled BPA free. Are these better? Unfortunately, no. In the place of BPA companies have started using other BIS phenal analogs, like BPS and BPF. These are the two most common substitutions that are used in BPA free products. Now BPS and BPF are found in body lotions, face creams, liquid foundation, paper products, like those grocery store receipts. I mentioned as well as magazines, newspapers. And of course our food supply. Several animals studies have shown that endocrine disrupting effects of BPS and BPF are similar or sometimes even worse than those associated with BPA exposure. And this includes alterations of sex organs, changes in estrogen and testosterone levels, decreased egg production, and decreased sperm count in studied animals. BPF has been shown to alter the uterus testes and thyroids of animals. And animal studies show that. Those who are exposed to BP S in utero have an increased risk of obesity via negative alterations in their lipid and glucose metabolism. So if this was not enough also pose a serious problem from plastic and personal care products. Phthalates make plastics more flexible and resilient. And they're often used in fragrances as well as health and beauty products. So here you want to think about shower, curtains, raincoats toys, polyvinyl chloride flooring furniture, Polish plastic food wrap. Any perfumes or fragrances that you use to make your home smell nice or make your body smell nice. Shower, gels, lotions, shampoos, nail Polish, and so on. Phthalates are released from these products into the environment where they contaminate the dust in our home or office and are inhaled directly through the sprays, which contain them or through skin, via lotions and perfumes that we apply. Phthalates have been found in significantly higher levels in men who are in fertile and they act directly on the mitochondria, which is the energy organelle of the cell, reducing energy production by up to 20%. Now that study that showed reduced energy production was done on cells and not human cells, rat cells. So I have no expectations that that's going to directly translate to humans at all. That said in clinical practice, I have seen individuals who have chemical sensitivities that experience severe fatigue as one of their side effects to exposure. So, what we may be observing here is a possible means by which their energy levels are inhibited, but it's certainly not definitive as such at this point in time. And I don't want you to necessarily take that as an absolute. Cause or effect. Phthalates are also shown to block insulin receptor sites. They impair glucose transporters. And induce these epigenetic changes in ourselves that disrupt blood sugar regulation. And the utilization of glucose for energy. So maybe that's another way they impact energy levels. These effects begin in utero. And so. When a mother is exposed to plastic or consumes a lot of plastic through the diet. The changes begin as the fetus is developing. The effects are then compounded while nursing from mothers who are exposed to Phthalates. And they tend to accumulate in animals with lifelong exposure. So basically BPA B P S P P F. And other plastic derived chemicals are known endocrine disruptors. They interfere with our hormone production as well as hormone signaling the health consequences of chronic exposure are pretty far reaching. We've got hormone balance through the blocking of estrogen and testosterone. And in some cases, the mimicking of the steroid hormones, leading to reproductive issues and possible developmental disorders. Again, we see this mostly in animals, right? And we observe a correlation in humans. There's the increased risk of chronic disease from long-term exposure, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions. And there are definitely some developmental concerns with the association with cognitive and behavioral issues in children as well as a potential increase in asthma. So emerging research has found that we have microplastics in our blood. In our Oregon's. In sweat and feces, which highlights the multitudes of ways that these compounds get into our system. And the cumulative effect of such immersive exposure, definitely demand. Attention and action. But I also want to highlight that the fact that we find these in our sweat and our feces. And our urine means that we can eliminate them. Now the first step to reducing exposure is focusing on what you can control and what is the easiest way possible for you to reduce your contact with plastic? And what I'm going to share here is by no means an exhaustive list. Nor will it totally eliminate your exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. But less routes of exposure will reduce your total body burden on your system. And I'm also going to talk about how you can increase and boost your body's ability to detoxify these compounds so that you're really attacking. The plastics burden on your body from both ends by reducing exposure, as well as increasing your body's ability to detoxify and eliminate that, which you cannot help, but be exposed to. Now, when it comes to reducing exposure. Obviously the first thing that you want to do is reduce the amount of plastic that you come in contact with. Bring your own coffee cup to the coffee shop. Or a drive-through because plastic is in the lining of those takeout coffee cups, as well as the lids. And we know that he and acid increase the amount of plastic available to be consumed by glassware to store food in or reuse glass jars for leftovers. If you don't want to spend the money buying a set of fancy glassware. Find reusable alternatives to plastic wraps such as cloth, silicone sandwich bags, or cloth sandwich bags. You want to look for plastic free alternatives, not just BPA free ones. And I will know when looking for these, it can be really difficult to ascertain whether or not something is free of plastic. Companies will proudly advertise that they are. BPA free, but that does not mean that they are plastic free. So you want to look for something that has absolutely no plastic in it. If at all possible. Next choose whole foods, which are not stored in plastic bags, wherever you can. Bring your own bags to the grocery store or don't use any, if you don't need to. Not all of our produce has to be put in those plastic bags to get to the checkout counter. We're going to be washing them anyway. So. If it's something like three or four apples, don't bother putting it in a plastic bag. Just put it in the shopping cart and put it on the conveyor belt without any plastic wrapped around it. You also will want to reduce your reliance on hyper processed foods as best you can limiting consumption from restaurants, which rely on these products as well. Fast food consumption is also positively associated with increased levels of urinary thalates. And those who consume the most processed diets tend to have the highest amounts of these chemicals in their urine. So that is one way where you can definitely reduce your exposure. Next avoid microwaving, anything that is stored in plastic. Heat. The fat content of that food and the acid content of that food can increase the amount of these compounds that make it into the food that you eat. Finally, take a look at your body care products, your household products, your makeup, synthetic fragrances, cleaning products, and any other non-edible routes of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals like BPA and thalates and seek alternatives whenever possible. So next we want to support our body's ability to detoxify these compounds as well as so many other compounds that we are exposed to. Now, when we think of detoxification, we usually think of the liver, right? And the liver gets all of the glory. It does this amazing. Transformation. The liver is like a magician in some ways, in that it takes these toxic compounds and transforms them into something that is less damaging to the body so that it can be eliminated without wreaking havoc on the way out. I know the liver is often referred to as a filter for the body. And that really is not an accurate analogy. Because when we think of filters, we think of like our air filters in our car, right. And that accumulates a bunch of gunk and needs to be replaced every so often. Our liver is not like that. The liver doesn't become a storage site for toxins or accumulate toxic residue as it's detoxifying from the body. It is a transformational, Oregon..It alters the structure of toxicants and toxins that it comes into contact with to prepare them to be eliminated from the body without causing additional damage on the way out. And so you don't really need to worry about your liver being burdened with toxins. When the liver is burdened, it's really more that it's just kind of struggling to keep up with the amount that it has to deal with, or it doesn't have the nutrients. And enzyme availability that it needs to performance job. Well, but it's not accumulating a bunch of gunk. Like the air filter in your car would. So while the liver gets all that glory. Through its transformation of harmful chemicals into less harmful ones. The role of our elimination system via kidneys, the skin, and the intestines is equally important. So first I want to talk about the way that we eliminate toxins that we're exposed to and how to support these processes. And then I'll dive into how you can support your liver into having what it needs to best tackle the chemicals, that it is exposed to. Our pollutants are eliminated primarily by sweat. Urine and feces. Now, most of these compounds do have to go through the liver first to be altered before elimination. And this is why the liver is the focus of detoxification, but without the ability to eliminate, the liver has to deal with those same compounds over and over again, with additional ones coming in, because we're never really free from toxin or toxicant exposure either externally from our environment or just from some of the biological processes that are normal and natural and the human body. Over time and with improper nutrition and fiber things can become less efficient and effective and problems can arise, which. Is what we would typically call the burden of the liver or perhaps a stagnant liver which is a term that is often used in, um, traditional Chinese or Eastern medicine practices. So to support elimination. We want to focus on hydration, sweat, and getting regular quality poops. Staying hydrated is crucial to supporting elimination of water soluble, endocrine disruptors. Through our urine and our sweat. So consume enough water that your urine is pale yellow. Using electrolytes if needed. You can refer to my episode on hydration to learn more about electrolytes and decide if it's something that you want to include in your hydration habit. And I have the link to that in the show notes. Additionally, sweat via saunas and good old fashioned exercise is a great way to help your body detoxify. And it's been shown to be an effective means of elimination. BPA and Can be eliminated in sweat and multiple studies show that individuals and populations that habitually engage in saunas regularly do have reduced cardiovascular disease and greater longevity. So saunas in general are a great way to support. A longer and higher quality of life as you age. That said heat exposure can be a tricky thing. So you'll definitely want to check with your healthcare provider before beginning, any sauna therapies to see if there's any contra-indications for you based upon your own personal health history. Or any medication that you may be taking? And I cannot emphasize how important good quality regular poops are for our elimination and detoxification strategy. Taking care of your gut has a huge benefit in reducing the burden that the liver has to carry as constipation and incomplete elimination does increase the chance that those unwanted chemicals, hormones, and other compounds become reabsorbed into the bloodstream. And have to go through the liver. Uh, second time or third time or a fourth time or ongoing. A diet high in fiber from lots of vegetables and to focus on starchy vegetables and whole grains over refined grains is the best way to do this. And it also has the additional benefit of supplying your body with the nutrients that it needs to keep all processes, not just detoxification and elimination. In good working order. Additionally consuming a high fiber diet supports a very diverse and robust microbiome. And this also directly supports our detoxification through some of these microbes, mainly the bacillus species, as well as lactobacillus plantarum. As these strains and species have been shown to break down BPA in the gut, all on their own. Now, this is super fantastic news. And it highlights again, the value of gut health in our overall health. As well as reducing the impact of environmental contaminants that we come into contact with. Daily. Now, when it comes to the liver, there are two phases that the liver goes through. As it transforms these harmful substances into something that can be eliminated by the body. The first phase is called bioactivation and in this phase pollutants and toxicants are metabolized by the liver enzymes, primarily the cytochrome P four 50 family into what is called an intermediate compound. So if environmental pollutants are considered to be villains or criminals, this would be akin to like the cornering of these nefarious compounds. While it is a necessary step. The intermediates that are created in the bioactivation phase are often more reactive and more harmful than the original toxin that entered the liver. It's like when the bad guy gets caught and he starts screaming and raging and thrashing about, or turns against law enforcement and starts attacking them now, this is an intermediate phase, right? And so we want to make sure that our phase two system is in good place, but without phase one, phase two, isn't going to happen. So the foods that support the apprehension of our environmental criminals, if you will, are leafy greens, whole grains, eggs, and believe it or not, liver as these contain a lot of B vitamins, which are essential cofactors for enzyme activity that is needed for detoxification. Additionally antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E from citrus fruits, Kiwis, bell peppers, nuts and seeds. Neutralize. The oxidative stress that can be created in this phase when that compound is more reactive. So it's important to note though, that grapefruit, which is a citrus fruit can inhibit some of those cytochrome p four 50 enzymes that I mentioned. So you want to choose other citrus fruit over grapefruit for your vitamin C. Additionally flavonoids. From berries, green tea, as well as citrus fruits, support enzyme function and protect our body against damage from those highly reactive chemicals. Next we have phase two, which is called conjugation. And in phase two, those highly reactive intermediates that were created in phase one are altered again, through a process that's called conjugation and that utilizes molecules like gludethyon sulfate and amino acids, making these compounds, water, soluble, and easier to eliminate from the system. In phase two in our conjugation phase of liver detoxification, this is where we're able to apprehend and detain that environmental pollutant so that it ceases to harm the surrounding environment. Now the supporting nutrients and foods that you want for this phase are Glutathione precursors because gludethyon is one of the primary components for the conjugation phase. N-Acetyl cystine is a supplement that you can purchase that would support the conjugation phase of liver detoxification. And you can also get gludethyon through really common, easily accessible and affordable foods that are rich in sulfur compounds, like garlic, onions, and cruciferous veggies. These glutathione precursors in these foods attached to those harmful compounds that are made in phase one. Again, making them easier to eliminate and water-soluble so that they can be excreted through sweat and urine. Or bile, and this process is called sulfation. Additionally phase two detoxification needs amino acids. So consuming protein, rich foods like meat, fish, and beans are critical for conjugation pathways. And this is where I have a lot of beef with most detox diets, because they tend to avoid protein foods and this can lead to significant problems and an increase in side effects and negative symptoms for some individuals doing detox, diets and juice cleanses. And this is actually the primary reason why I advise against most detox diets and juice cleanses that are available on the market is because they are protein. Avoid. Avoidant, and this is deeply, deeply problematic when it comes to liver detoxification capabilities. Additionally magnesium is super important because it activates the enzymes that are needed. And that sulfation pathway that I talked about. And you can find a magnesium in dark leafy greens as well as nuts and seeds. So once the liver does all of this magnificent transformation. We then need to get those toxins out of the liver. Once they're water soluble, they're transported out of the liver and then are able to be excreted through bile, urine, and feces. And this is the phase of detoxification where we remove our criminal pollutants from polite society. So again, in order to support proper excretion, we want to have a high fiber diet because that fiber not only supports gut health, but fibers also bind to these toxicants in the gut preparing them for elimination. We want to stay hydrated to support urinary excretion that is frequent and robust as well as supporting our kidney function and then including probiotic, rich foods is also a way that we can enhance our gut health and help break down. Some of those compounds that are taken in via mouth before they reach the liver, therefore reducing the potential of reabsorbing, those toxins in the first place. I do want to make a side note on the importance of sleep when it comes to detoxification. Sleep is where repair and regeneration happens. And if you're struggling with quality sleep, I really want to encourage you this year to seek support from sleep specialists or consider some hormone support. If you're a female above the age of 35, and you're starting to show signs of peri-menopause. Because all those fluctuating hormones during that time of life can really have a negative impact on sleep. I know I don't need to tell you ladies that cause you're living it. But it's worth emphasizing. Reducing your stress levels also goes a very long way to improving your sleep quality and supporting a healthy body all around. I know that's easier said than done, but again, I feel like we really can't emphasize this enough. So stay attuned to the situations that lead to the greatest stress in your day-to-day life. And look for strategies to mitigate that stress. Even if you cannot eliminate it entirely. There are some situations that we just have no control over. Right. But what we do have control over is how we respond to those situations and how we can protect ourselves from some of the impact of those situations. So do what you can there and seek support. However you can, while actively letting go of the things that you do have control over. Now, finally, we want to look at consuming. The kind of diet every day of the year that supports our healthy detox pathways. Not just do a detox or a reset plan one to three times a year to feel better. And then slowly return to our long-held habits that bring us to that place of feeling crummy in the first place. Think of it this way. If you're exposed to these chemicals daily, then you want to have daily mitigation strategies in place to reduce the impact of exposure. Can you imagine if trash collectors only came once a month or once a quarter to take out the trash? That would lead to a lot of problems. So you don't want to. Resort to these extreme quarterly or bi-annually or once a year detox, cleanses and resets. When you're exposed to chemicals on a daily basis. And that said. Many of the popular plans that are out there neglect very important factors needed for proper detoxification, such as protein intake, and they are in and of themselves extreme enough that they're not sustainable for the long-term. So it effectively reduces the probability that you're actually going to have what you need. For your detoxification pathways for the ongoing future. So let's talk food. We eat multiple times a day. And what we put on our plate can be a massive contributor to how well or not our body is able to eliminate BPA Falaise and other environmental pollutants. So here are my top foods to include in your diet in order to enhance detoxification pathways on a daily basis. Number one. Cruciferous veggies. Oh, my gosh. I cannot tell you. How amazing cruciferous veggies are and how much I love them. Especially when it comes to liver health. And the ability to balance our hormones through supporting the liver. So examples of cruciferous veggies are broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage. Cruciferous veggies are very, very rich and glucose scintillates which support that phase two detoxification of making. The highly reactive compounds into something more water soluble so that it can be excreted. You want to consume these daily aiming for one to two cups, either raw or cooked. I'm not picky, but just aim for one to two fistfuls of cruciferous veggies daily. Next, the allium vegetables. This is garlic onions, leeks scallions, and these contain sulfur compounds that boost our production of glutathione. Glutathione is a key antioxidant that is necessary to detoxify BPA as well as valets. So consume these foods regularly every day, get a little garlic, get some onions in there and get some leaks and aim for kind of a combined total of one to two cups each day. Next is leafy greens. If there is anything that rivals cruciferous vegetables for my heart. It is leafy greens and. I do actually think that, you know, I know, I can't say that I was going to say leafy greens. I think Trump, the cruciferous veggies, but the reality is so many of our cruciferous veggies. Are also leafy greens that it's all just kind of mixed up in my mind and I love them all. But leafy greens hold a very special place in my heart because they have such a profound impact on the entire body. When it comes to liver detoxification, our leafy greens, like spinach, a rugala collards, kale, chard and watercress are high in chlorophyll and chlorophyll helps bind to toxicants in the gut for elimination and also supports our liver detoxification pathways. So you want to consume leafy greens daily? I can't emphasize this enough, probably because leafy greens are like the lowest on the totem pole when it comes to what. Americans and British and Canadian and Australian., Population consumes on a day-to-day basis. So really focus on the leafy greens, get two to four cups raw, or one to three cups cooked every day, if at all possible and work up to getting them in every day. If you're not already. And if you're like 98% of the population. You're not getting them daily. No harm, no foul. I get it. I live in the real world too. Now, if you really struggle with leafy greens, I strongly encourage you to get on the wait list to join my free glorious greens challenge that I'll be launching March 1st. I'm going to include the link to that in the show notes. If you are impatient and you want all the goods now I will also include the link to get immediate access to that challenge for a small fee and that includes a cookbook. In the show notes below. No, our crucifers and our Allianz and our leafy greens also contain a lot of fiber. And as I've mentioned, several times, fiber is super, super important, but you don't need to limit your fiber content from those foods alone. Other high fiber foods, such as sweet potatoes, beans, chia seeds, flax seeds, and raspberries. Believe it or not are, are outrageously high in fiber. We'll also help to bind these toxicants in the digestive track, promoting excretion and reducing the likelihood that they will be reabsorbed into circulation and have to go through the liver again. So make sure to focus on high fiber foods, whether they're coming from your veggies or they're coming from beans or sweet potatoes or seeds. And consume one to three servings of high fiber foods each day. Some other really special foods that you'll want to include to support detoxification are citrus fruits. Berries and probiotic, rich foods. Because of the unique roles that they have in protecting our body, citrus fruits contain a compound called D Limona. Oh, gosh. Called D. Limiting. I think that's how it's pronounced and that supports phase one and phase two detoxification enzymes. So the enzymes are responsible for the biotransformation phase that happens in the liver and we want those enzymes to be doing their job. And so this is where our citrus fruits come in. Again, kind of shying away from grapefruits because of their impact on those. Cytochrome P four 50 enzymes. But having one citrus fruit a day is a great habit. You can also use citrus zest in salad, dressings in roasted vegetables, yogurt, smoothies, as well as sprinkled on a fruit plate as well. Our antioxidant, rich berries provide polyphenols and other antioxidants protecting ourselves from oxidative damage that is caused by those compounds in the original form, as well as what happens in that first phase of biotransformation, where they become more reactive. So consuming a serving of blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries most days of the week will really help in reducing some of that oxidative stress and damage that comes from just being alive in our world today with all of the things that we're exposed to that increase oxidative stress. Additionally, our probiotic, rich foods are of great support in creating a robust and diverse gut microbiota, which can help enhance BPA and valet breakdown in the digestive system. So sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, yogurt, any of those raw. Fermented foods are really, really important. When you are purchasing probiotic, rich foods, you want to make sure that they are in the refrigerator, that they are not on the shelf. If they are shelf stable, those probiotics are dead. So you want what you are purchasing to contain a live probiotics. It'll need to state that it is a raw food such as, you know, sauerkraut or kimchi. You can also make your own. It's actually easier than you would expect. and there are lots of recipes available on the internet to make your own sauerkraut or kimchi. If you're interested, you'll want to consume probiotic, rich foods and the dose of half a cup to a cup most days of the week. And if you find that your digestive system actually responds negatively to these foods, try working up very, very slowly. Uh, beginning with as little as a tablespoon of Keefer or kimchi. You may also find that some ferments like sauerkraut don't work for you at all while others like Kiefer are okay. So keep experimenting, but if it continues to be a struggle for you, reach out to a qualified nutritionist for support. A couple of other things also deserve, mention namely green tea and turmeric. Green tea contains catechins and polyphenols that support our detoxification enzymes and is really rich in antioxidants. So consuming green tea often, whenever you get the chance, you know, one to four cups daily, if you already like and enjoy green tea is a wonderful habit. To begin and maintain, especially through the winter months when it's kind of cold outside in the summer. I really love iced green tea with a little bit of citrus. And maybe some raspberries in there. If you put like frozen raspberries in cold green tea, you can do that instead of ice. And it adds more flavor rather than diluting the green tea flavor. As those berries thought out. And turmeric contains curcumin. Curcumin is an amazing compound. It does a lot of things. It's super duper anti-inflammatory, but it also enhances phase two detoxification. So you want to use turmeric in smoothies or stir fries or soups two to three times a week, but because it is so great at reducing inflammation, if you tend to be highly inflamed, go ahead and use turmeric. daily, there is no harm in that you can use up to a tablespoon of turmeric per dose of smoothie or whatever it is that you're consuming. And that can go a long way in supporting your gut health and reducing inflammation and in enhancing. Phase two detoxification. So even though plastic contamination in our food is an extremely pervasive and complicated issue. We're not powerless to stop it or the impact it has on our bodies. By making informed choices, advocating for. Less toxic food systems and supporting our body's natural detoxification mechanisms. We can mitigate the risk of our chronic exposure. You know, on that note, Thailand just announced this week that they are banning foreign imports of plastic waste due to concerns about toxic pollution. China banned plastic waste imports, from other countries back in, I think it was 2018. And Thailand picked up the slack, but now they are turning their back on trying to manage the rest of the world's waste through recycling. The guardian reported that plastic waste imports are often burned by factories instead of being recycled because they're so inundated and the quality control of what gets shipped over is so low that they just burn a great deal of it. And that is going to have very obvious negative impacts for the environment as well as for everybody who lives in Thailand. Now as more nations, refuse to deal with other people's trash, we're going to see increasing pressure to reduce our overall creation and use of plastic worldwide. I for one feel it cannot come soon enough. But we can begin today by reducing our personal use of plastic in our homes and choosing plastic free options whenever possible. While applying pressure to industries to change its ways. One of the ways that I've seen that work within the last 10 years is trader Joe's in the United States. Reducing the amount of plastic. That they use in their stores in response to consumer demand. So we have a lot of power as consumers, and most of the time, the way this works is it starts at the grassroots level pressuring companies and then the companies will change their ways. Very very rarely. Does it happen from the government level down. And even when it does happen from a federal level, it takes a lot more time for change to happen at the federal level than can happen when consumers get really pissed off and push back against what companies are doing as status quo policy. So I hope today's episode has not just scared the crap out of you, but. Has instead highlighted how you can take meaningful action to support your body in detoxifying known environmental pollutants in a sustainable and meaningful way. Without resorting to those quick fix detox, diets or juice cleanses. As always, if you found this episode useful rate and review blast, miss nutrition in your podcast app and share this episode with a friend who tends to go after those glamorous, but relatively extreme resets every January. Until next week, my blessed miss buddies. This is Aimee heading out for a lunch of green leafy crucifers vege and some cold water fish, all tossed up in a turmeric citrus vinegarette.

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