I’m all about health, wellness, and beauty. How am I talking about menopause and detoxes now? Is that what my life has become? I’m blaming menopause for most of my recent challenges, but the fact of the matter is, the medical community doesn’t really know how to attribute things.
I’ve tried everything (hormones, dietary changes, supplements, stress reduction, changes to workout routines, medications) to address health issues that coincided with my medical menopause. My working theory is that I threw my body into such a state that everything came to the surface. I’ve decided to just re-focus on my core health and rebuild from there.
To jumpstart this “new” journey (I’m calling it new only because the same old things weren’t working anymore) I engaged a functional doctor who would/could look at my health holistically instead of as separate systems (which is the common approach in western medicine). It felt like we did every test known to man to slice and dice my health statistics in as many ways as possible.
We found I had high levels of lead, mercury, molds, and other signs of sluggish systems. Here’s the thing we forget – our outsides reflect the state of our insides. I know this but I didn’t KNOW this, ya know? With nothing else to lose except dis-ease and weight, I asked “what now?”
Detox. Plain and simple; get the bad stuff out + put the good stuff in = improved health
and oh by the way improved skin, hair, complexion, weight, vitality – those things I AM all about!
I’m in!
I have a bunch of regimes to address different aspects of these multi-layered detoxes but for now I’ll focus on just one – my liver detox.
I actually requested this as everyone was approaching their “dry January”. Most people take a break from alcohol to give their bodies (liver) a break after the heaviness of the holidays. In my new detox mindset I decided I wanted to go one step further. Why not try to turn back and improve my liver health?
Spoiler: I’m so glad I did!
I was intrigued by a couple of products I discovered during my internet research so I reached out to my functional doctor and got the greenlight. I decided to do two different protocols and overlap them.
Protocol 1: Biocol Labs 3 Week Liver Detox
Biocol Labs was founded in 1977 in Lisbon Portugal. They tout themselves a post-chemical pharmacy focused on leveraging nature and science to create and maintain health. The Liver Detox comes in the form of ampoules (liquid) that you break into a cup and take with water. One a day, no pills. My kind of protocol. Even better, the blend tastes nice. Nothing gross or disgusting – which makes it easy to do.
The key ingredients are all focused on promoting and maintaining healthy liver function:
- Artichoke Leaf Extract – shown in clinical trials to reduce inflammation and protect the liver.
- Fennel Fruit Extract – the compound in the oils of this extract are kind of amazing. They exhibit antioxidant, anti‐diabetic, cardioprotective, anti‐inflammatory, anti‐cancer, and estrogenic effects. Treatments including them can decrease blood glucose levels, increase insulin levels, and improve carbohydrate metabolic enzymes in the liver and kidneys. Basically it can help protect your liver.
- Choline – helps support the cellular structure of the liver and supplementation (overseen by a physician) can have positive impacts per clinical research.
Protocol 2: 1MD Nutrition Liver MD
1MD Nutrition is a US-based company out of Burbank, California. Like Biocol, they are focused on using advanced science and nature to help us live longer and healthier lives. All of their products are manufactured in the US.
Their key ingredients include:
- TocoGaia™ – a formulated super charged vitamin E (an antioxidant) improves bio markers related to liver inflammation
- Siliphos® Bioavailable Silybin® – a scientifically enhanced form of milk thistle extract supports liver health can help protect the liver from toxins
- Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) – an antioxidant which helps neutralize free radicals which can damage the liver and improves mitochondrial functions necessary for liver metabolism (so it can do its job!)
- N-Acetyl (NAC) – an antioxidant (to reduce damage in the liver), hepaprotective (helps protect the liver from toxin injury), and a precursor to glutathione (which aids in detoxification (helping neutralize and eliminate toxins like heavy metals, medications, and free radicals), cell repair and regeneration, regulation of liver enzymes involved in detoxification and metabolism)
- Zinc – helps the detox process and supports liver regeneration
- Selenium Amino Acid Chelate – detoxifying aid that helps with antioxidant protection, liver metabolism, and is also a component of glutathione production
When I offered both protocols up to my doctor, she looked at their ingredient lists and said they aren’t equivalent but they could support one another. I decided to do a 90-day regime with both – the Biocol in the morning and the 1MD Nutrition Liver MD in the afternoon.
What I Think 90 Days Later
I feel like I can commit to anything for a moderate period of time. A mere 90-days was do-able for me. I did make a point to not drink alcohol (why make it any harder on my liver?). It became routine without being burdensome. I like that it was split into two separate things.
The Biocol lab ampoules were…fun. There IS something satisfying about breaking the ampoule into the glass. The taste is nice (sort of a mild apple flavor) which made it enjoyable to take first thing in the morning. I liked it. But, I was always paranoid about glass getting into the drink (it never did) and I had one slip out of my hand into the sink where it shattered (bummer). They are challenging to travel with under the best of circumstances. I wrote to the company to tell them that I didn’t love the ampoules solely for fragility. They said they are actively testing other delivery methods as they have received similar feedback from other customers.
I didn’t have any noticeable reaction to taking the 1MD Nutrition pills. I am not a fan of pills. These are average sized, neither large nor small. No indigestion or other impacts from taking them.
Bottom line is I think it worked. Since I combined them, I can’t really say that one was better than the other. I’d say the biggest boon for me was that I stopped craving alcohol. I don’t drink much anymore but I found that post detox my body is very sensitive to alcohol (read: I only need one drink to feel tipsy). Almost like when I had a teenage liver! In any case, I found that I was generally feeling more energized and healthier. I have NOT done the blood tests yet to see the numbers, but I expect them to look better. I like how I feel well enough to start another cycle with my doctor’s approval, in another month or so.
Is this something you would try? Do you have any detox stories and recommendations? Please share them in the comment section.
