7 phases of liver detoxification

Detoxing or cleansing is an increasingly popular way to lose weight, promote health, deal with specific ailments (such as GI issues) and remove toxins.

Detox is the process of supporting the liver, which is the body’s powerhouse purification organ. The liver does some of the following and more:

Filters the blood
Breaks down steroid hormones
Stores glucose for later use
Produces bile for excretion and fat digestion
Makes cholesterol

Supporting the liver in detoxification can range from a simple, one-step process to a multi-action approach. According to NIH, these include:

Fasting
Drinking only juices or similar beverages
Eating only certain foods
Using dietary supplements or other commercial products
Using herbs
Cleansing the colon (lower intestinal tract) with enemas, laxatives, or colon hydrotherapy (also called “colonic irrigation” or “colonics”)
Reducing environmental exposures
Using a sauna

Dr. Kevin Conners breaks down his strategy for detoxification in seven phases, beginning at the end–with elimination.

What is detoxification of the liver?

Most people think detox is a process to deal with poisons in your liver so that your liver can get back to doing its job. Dr. Kevin Conners defines detoxification as much more than the work of the liver. Detoxification is the process of removing any unused substance the skin absorbs, enters the lung or passes into the blood during digestion.

With so many pollutants, chemicals, pesticides, flame retardants, fragrances and detergents in products and in the environment today, there are a multitude of toxic sources a typical body encounters.

Americans are exposed to more toxins than some peer countries, including Canada. The European Union has banned over 1,300 different cancer-causing toxins used in skincare products that are legal to use in the United States.

Why liver detoxification is necessary

A typical American in today’s environment is exposed to many toxins, in the air, in food and through products applied to the skin. Some products that can contain toxic chemicals absorbed through the skin that then enter the bloodstream include the following:

Deodorant
Lotions and creams
Beauty supplies
Makeup

According to Conners, “These can wreak havoc in your body and overwhelm your liver.”

Detoxification of the liver supports the nervous system

To understand detoxification, it’s important to first understand the nervous system. Conners breaks it down like this:

The nervous system is split into two sides:

The voluntary nervous system allows you to intentionally move your limbs or body.
The involuntary nervous system, or autonomic nervous system, includes your heartbeat, digestion and elimination systems.

Any organ function that you don’t have to think about is part of your involuntary nervous system. Liver detoxification is part of the involuntary nervous system.

All your organ function that you don’t have to think of is a function of your autonomic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system is then separated into two different opposing categories, the sympathetics system and parasympathetics system. The sympathetics system includes the fight or flight or flee mechanism.

In the face of a threat, the sympathetic system kicks into action to do the following:

Increase blood pressure
Cause smooth muscles outside of arteries to contract to increase blood pressure and shunt blood to the extremities so you can run.
Eyes dilate
Bronchial tubes dilate to get oxygen in your tissues as fast as possible

The other side of the nervous system is called the parasympathetic system. This is the rest and relaxation side of the nervous system. It controls the immune function, detoxification pathways and sexual function.

The problem, says Conners, is that we live in a society where people are so stimulated with stressors that cause the sympathetic system to dominate. “Our sympathetic nervous system is stressed because of deadlines and lifestyle. We’re in a state of sympathetic dominance,” he says.

This is why detoxification is important. When people exist in a state that’s sympathetic dominant, the immune system and the body’s process of natural detoxification does not function as well.

“This is why we talk with our cancer patients so insistently that they need to deal with their anxiety in life,” says Conners.

Seven phases of detoxification of the liver

Conners divides detoxification into seven phases, ending at phase zero. He likes to start by focusing on the last phase, which he considers the most important.

Phase 6 of detoxification: elimination

Without proper elimination, Conners says the other phases of detoxification are ineffective. “If you’re not eliminating through your kidneys, urine and bowels properly, you’re going to be reabsorbing poisons,” he says.

While most people Conners works with assume elimination a few times a week or daily is enough, he considers this constipation. “It’s better to go two or three times a day.”

He also recommends paying attention to the amount of time it takes for the food you eat today to end up in your stool. “Ask yourself, if you ate corn today, would you see it in your stool tomorrow?”

A long intestinal transit time could mean that feces is backed up in the colon. “Even if you’re having a daily bowel movement, you are absorbing a lot of the poisons that your liver is trying to get out,” he says.

Conners recommends considering the following to help with elimination:

Using magnesium and vitamin C before bed
Cape aloe to increase peristaltic waves
Senna
Increasing fiber intake with prune juice or fig or plum
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Coffee enemas

Phase 5: Helpful binding for detoxification

The next phase in detoxification is intestinal binders. Intestinal binders are a kind of a class of nutraceuticals that bind to toxins so that they can be passed through the digestive tract and be eliminated. The binders ensure there is no trace of toxins behind that could be reabsorbed into the body from a leaky gut.

Fiber in your diet would qualify as an intestinal binder. It grabs onto the contents in the digestive tract so that you don’t reabsorb them into the blood.

Some nutraceutical intestinal binders for detoxification include the following:

Humic and fulvic acid
Zeolite
Bentonite clays and other different clays
Activated Charcoal
Sodium Alginate
Chitosan
Aloe
Fiber

Phase 4 and 3: Bile flow and bile excretion for detoxification

Bile is a digestive liquid essential for digesting fats and for eliminating worn-out red blood cells and certain toxins from your body. It’s produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder.

The purpose of bile is to carry toxins from the liver into the small intestine.

The second purpose of bile is to function as an emulsifier for fat by breaking down fats that you consume. It also carries with it poisons that your liver filters out from the blood.

Following are some ways Conners suggestions supporting bile flow and bile excretion for detoxification:

Phosphatidylcholine
Artichoke Leaf
Ginger
Dandelion
Taurine and Glycine
Hot Packs
Castor Oil Packs
Coffee Enemas
Liver/GB Flushes

Phase 2: Conjugation for detoxification

Phase two of detoxification is conjugation. This is a process where the liver attaches another molecule to the intermediate toxin to render it less harmful. Some examples of conjugation that takes place in this phase include the following:

Sulfation helps your body clear various drugs, excess hormones, food additives and endotoxins from bacteria
Glucuronidation transforms certain drugs, hormones, mold toxins, PCBs, and many other cancer-causing toxins into water soluble products for your body to rid
Glutathione is considered a primary intracellular antioxidant
Amino acid conjugation adds an amino acid, most commonly glycine, to rid toxins
In acetylation, the liver adds a molecule called Acetyl-Co-A to a toxin to help make a more inert substance ready to expel.
Methylation converts toxins from insoluble or fat soluble compounds into water-soluble compounds by adding a methyl (CO3) group

Conners recommends the following products for those who need more support with phase two of conjugation:

Look at genetics
Pomegranate
Quercetin
Astaxanthin
Dandelion
Milk thistle
Schisandra berry
Fennel
Artichoke
Berberine
Curcumin
Hot Packs/Castor oil
Coffee enemas
Parasympathetic Stimulation

Phase 1: The P450s

Phase one detoxification is controlled by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system. There are specific genes, including the P450s and PON1 genes, that are essential to the process of making the enzymes for phase one and phase two liver function.

P450 contributes to the metabolism and elimination of a variety of exogenous and endogenous compounds. This system is composed of a group of more than 50 enzymes delicately constructed under the control of the many cytochrome P450 genes.

A person who has defects on genes in these gene families is predisposed to slower phase-one liver function. They may be more sensitive to toxins and need more support with detoxification.

Phase 0: Cleaning tissue for detoxification

Phase zero, according to Conners, is the process of pulling toxins out of tissue using chelators. Chelation is a type of chemical detoxification procedure, for removing toxic metals from the body.

According to Conners, “A chelator is simply a nutrient that tends to grab onto toxins and escorts them back to the blood where they can circulate to the liver and start Phase 1.”

Limit exposure to toxins prevent detoxification

Finally, Conners recommends limiting exposure to toxins to maximize health. He offers the following ways to prevent having to do detoxification in the first place:

Decrease exposure to toxins as much as possible
Fast or time-restricted eating
Eat organic as much as possible
Eliminate GMO foods
Use clean products in the home
Stop using poisonous personal care products

Personal choice matters especially when so many chemicals used in the United States are banned in the European Union because they’re cancer-causing. “Just making different purchasing choices and lifestyle choices are going to be the most beneficial for people,” says Conners.

Detoxification is a lifetime commitment to limiting exposure to toxins and then supporting the body in the process of cleansing when necessary. Conners says, “This is a lifestyle. You have to be working on this constantly.”

Dr. Kevin Conners is the Clinic Director at Conners Clinic, an Alternative Cancer Treatment center. His books, “Stop Fighting Cancer and Start Treating the Cause” and “The 7 Phases of Detoxification,” are available as a free download.

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The 7 Phases of Detoxification