Take this quizz to see if you need to shift attention to your digestion, detoxification and elimination systems.

This is the time of year where our body needs extra love and care, in preparation of the holiday fun, greater consumption of rich foods and alcohol, the year-end deadlines, virus and common cold, cooler and darker days that make us want to be more sedentary, less sun exposure, and the microbiome seasonal mutation. Caring for your digestive system and your detoxification system are, in my opinion, the two most critical factors to keep you healthy  and feeling your very best. Any dysfunction will take your edge of greatness. So I have prepared a little series to help you detox and rejuvenate on your own.

QUIZZ: Do you Detox Systems need love?
Do you experience any of the following? If so your detoxification system needs some support.

• Fluid retention (your lymphatic system may be congested)
• Skin breakouts and congestion (Your skin is stepping in to do the filtering and elimination job of the urinary system and bowels, which may not operate optimally)
• Sore, red, or stinging eyes
• Waking up consistently between 2-4AM, especially hot. (Sign that your liver is congested)
• Lumpy breasts that swell during your cycle
• PMS
• Feeling like you could eat your arm off
• Not hungry for breakfast, and craving coffee in the morning (it can be several things, including digestion from last night dinner is not finished and bowels need coffee to help elimination process. meaning the whole detoxification system needs support)
• Digestive problems such as gas, constipation, IBS
• Increase in body fat (indicative of liver malfunction, which is also a cause for hormonal imbalance)
• Cellulite (when the body cannot detox bad substances, they stay in the blood, circulating and can cause harm to brain or vital organs located in the abdomen, so the body may deposit fat on thighs to store the toxins away from vital organs)
• Poor energy
• Short temper, easily angered (in Traditional Chinese Medicine the liver is the seat of anger)

In addition, if you do not pee every 2h and poop twice a day, or once at a minimum, your detoxification system need help. We’ll discuss how everything works next week.

For now I have a little experiment for you, ahead of next week’s knowledge:
If you consume alcohol, can you carve out, at the very least, two days a week, every week, to be alcohol free to help your liver catch up on its detoxification duties?

If you do not consume alcohol, can you try to reduce your total caffeine consumption to no more than one or two drinks/intake a day (that includes coffee, black and green tea, chocolate, energy drinks, colas, etc.)? When it comes to coffee, only one shot of espresso…

Next week we’ll discuss your digestion and the two-step liver detox process.

Until then, be well!

Love, Emma