What’s a “REAL detox”?

You may have heard about various cleanses, juices and other so-called detox programs that people – perhaps even you or some of your friends – are trying out. And you must be wondering, “Do these even work? What do they do? How do they work?”

Good questions. I had the same questions so I did some research to find the answers. But I didn’t stop there. I decided to take the plunge and enrolled in a 3-month detox program led by Dr. Daniel Pompa.

So not only have I done my research; but I’m also testing these things out on myself. And I want to share my findings with you – so that you can better understand why we all need to detox and so that you can learn (and hopefully take!) actionable steps to start detoxing your body today.

But first, you want to understand WHY detoxing your body is important…

You’re surrounded by toxins.

Our bodies are constantly bombarded with chemicals and toxins and unfortunately now, in our modern world, we are likely exposed to even more toxins than ever before.

What happens when you’re exposed to these toxins?

• Digestive Problems like Leaky gut
• Weight Loss Resistance
• Inability to Handle Stress
• Fatigue
• Muscle and Joint Pain
• Headaches
• Sleep Issues
• Mood Changes and Depression
• High or Low Blood Pressure
• Brain Fog
• Dizziness

If untreated, this can lead to more serious diagnoses, like:

• Cancer
• Eczema
• Celiac
• Colitis
• Crohn’s
• Diabetes
• Hashimoto’s
• IBS
• Lupus
• Arthritis

Where do these toxins come from?

• Your home
• Water and food
• Your medications and supplements
• Electronics

How do the toxins get inside us?

• Air we breathe into our bodies
• Food and liquids we consume
• Absorption through our skin
• Electric and magnetic fields (EMF radiation) passing through our bodies
• Toxins created within our bodies

What are these toxins?

• Mold – in your home
• Chemicals (like glyphosate) – in your water and on your food
• Antibiotics – taken prescriptively and in your food
• Preservatives, colors and additives – in your food
• Lead – in your water
• Mercury – in your food, teeth and electronics
• EMF Radiation – from your electronics
• And more: acrylamide, arsenic, phenols (like BPA), perchlorate, per-fluorinated chemicals, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

So, yes, the toxins in your environment are very real – and they are really very dangerous if you don’t take action to protect yourself. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found 212 chemicals in the average person’s blood or urine – and shockingly 75 of these had never been measured before in people in the US.

How do you know if you’re being exposed to these toxins?

Unfortunately, you probably don’t. That’s the challenging part. If you are exposing your body to toxins then it’s not enough to detox. You need to find the root of the problem so that you avoid exposure to the toxins in the first place. You need to do your best to minimize your exposure to things that damage your body.

But, regardless of how much we try, it’s impossible to avoid the toxins that we are exposed to every day. Of course many people often ask:

Doesn’t your body detox already?

Yes. Many people like to think that their bodies do a sufficient job of detoxing already – and claims abound that the idea of detoxing your body is simply a myth.

It’s true that our livers and kidneys do a lot of work to process many of the chemicals and toxins. However, with the amount of exposure to toxins in today’s environment, our bodies simply can’t handle it all – especially considering that many of these chemicals and toxins had never been seen before in our bodies.

As the CDC found, our bodies have an average at any one time 212 chemicals floating around. So, although our bodies do detox, what they’re doing is simply not enough.

Do those other cleanses and detoxes even work?

Yes and no. In most cases, they actually do help you detox. But it’s often not because of the special water or juice or mixture of lemon juice, cayenne and maple syrup or whatever it is that you’re taking that’s actually doing the detox.

The detox works most likely because you’re simply giving your  body a rest from all the things you normally stuff in it and you’re replacing it with something lighter – thus giving your body (your liver and kidneys) a chance to actually do their job.

The simplest (but certainly not the easiest) way to do this is to simply stop eating – or fast. That will certainly give your body some time to detox.

So again, you must be asking:

What’s the solution? What’s a “REAL detox”?

We know that your liver and kidneys need certain nutrients in order to effectively do their job and detox your body. Thus, at a very basic level, you need to support your body to do its job.

Additionally, you can take other supplements that will support the detoxification of your body by targeting your body and your brain. This is where we get into the true cellular detox.

Dr. Pompa’s True Cellular Detox outlines the “5 R’s of cellular healing”:

1. Removing the source of toxins. This means removing an individual from a toxic environment, removing the bioaccumulation of toxins in the tissues and cells of the body, or both. The core product we use in this process is called The Intracellular Detox System (IDS). There are other products that may be used depending on the toxin, but IDS is the core of every detox program because intracellular glutathione must be increased and maintained throughout the detox.
2. Regenerating the cell membrane. There are 3 main problems:
   (1) Inflammation blocks toxins from evacuating the cell.
   (2) Omega 3 and 6 levels are out of proportion – causing DNA damage if omega 3 is too high and inflammation if omega 6 is too high. The optimal ratio for regenerating the cell membrane is 4:1.
   (3) Hormone imbalances often from drugs and hormone therapy which are short-term fixes that can perpetuate and add to the problem in the long run because your body will stop producing these hormones on its own.
3. Restoring cellular energy. We use ingredients that have been shown to regenerate and even make more mitochondria – where energy is made in the cell – thereby increasing the energy needed to reduce inflammation and open cellular detox pathways.
4. Reduce cellular inflammation. Specifically, we are referring to inflammation of the cell membrane that affects the way the cell communicates, detoxes and ultimately changes gene expression. Ingredients used are shown in studies to raise intracellular glutathione thereby reducing inflammation and enabling detox.
5. Reestablish methylation*. Methylation is a biochemical process that affects many essential body functions including DNA repair, detox, fighting infections, removing toxins like lead and estrogen. It’s also needed to regulate stress hormones and, when unable to methylate, your body remains in constant stress.
   *Note that, unfortunately, here Dr Pompa doesn’t really seem to give a good explanation as to how his product helps in this regard; but rather tells a story about his product – alongside divine intervention of God – saving his wife.

And, if you want to do even more above and beyond the supplement protocol, you can ensure that you are treating your body well overall – with a healthy and clean diet, regular exercise, good sleep and low stress.

Testing your toxicity

Before you start a detox it’s a good idea to see where you stand in terms of toxicity. As part of the True Cellular Detox program I’m following, there are 3 different tests:

1. VCS – Visual Contrast Sensitivity

This tests your ability to see details at low contrast levels and is strongly correlated to your overall brain function.

If your test shows a contrast sensitivity deficit, that means a number of things could be negatively impacting your brain function, such as nutritional deficiencies, alcohol, drug/medication, exposure to neurotoxins or biotoxins (like those mentioned above).

You can learn more and take the VCS test online at vcstest.com.

See my VCS test results here.

2. Meta-Oxy

This is considered to be the best way to test for inflammation at the cellular level using a very simple urine analysis you can do in the privacy of your home. It’s been shown to be 50 times more accurate than a blood test in observing cellular inflammation.

It looks like they no longer sell these tests a la carte. But you can see it here on their website.

See my Meta-Oxy results here:

3. Neurotoxic Questionnaire

As the name implies, this is a form that you fill out. It’s a simple and effective way to determine neurotoxicity and mark your progress. The test contains a series of questions that relate to heavy metal toxicity, biotoxic illness, and general toxicity issues.

You can see my results here: Neurotoxic Questionnaire Results

Month 1 – Your basic detox nutrients

As mentioned above, you need to get the right nutrients in your body to support your liver and kidneys. Thus we start there:

• B-vitamins
• Flavonoids
• Vitamins A, C and E
• Glutathione
• Branch chain amino acids
• Phospholipids
• Indole-3-carbinol
• Limonene
• Fish oil
• Amino acids from protein

This is the “Prep Phase” of the detox program that I’m following. You can see in the link the list of ingredients in the various supplements that I’m taking.

True Cellular Detox Prep Phase (1)

Month 2 – Detoxing your body

Once you have the right nutrients going into your body to support your natural detox after one month, you move to the actual detox for your body while continuing with the supplements to support your liver and kidneys. The key ingredient for detoxing your cells during this phase is zeolite as a means to absorb toxins in your cells. And we add to that another “binder” that adsorbs toxins in your gut that contains activated charcoal.

Here’s the list of ingredients:

True Cellular Detox Body Phase (2)

Month 3 – Detoxing your brain

The final phase of the detox targets the brain. In this phase we continue with much of the same from the body phase (including the cyto-detox with zeolite) and throw in a “brain detox” that contains:

• Alpha lipoic acid
• D-biotin
• Ginkgo Biloba

Here’s the brain detox:

True Cellular Detox Brain Phase (3)

Those are the three phases. Each phase lasts about 4 weeks – so the entire detox program takes almost 3 months to complete.

Extra-curricular Detox Activities

That summarizes the basics of the True Cellular Detox program offered by Dr Pompa. But wait! There’s more…

For the program I’m following, Dr Pompa partnered with Ben Greenfield to offer a more complete detox program that adds all kinds of activities in addition to simply popping pills and drops.

These activities include:

• Sauna
• Cold thermogenesis – Cold shower / ice bath / cold plunge
• Gymnastics
• Rebounding
• Dry skin brushing
• Foundation core training
• Intermittent fasting
• Teas and broths
• Strength training
• Oil pulling
• Cardio training
• 24 hour fasting
• Coffee enema
• Meditation

Some of these I’ve been following religiously – as prescribed by Ben Greenfield – and I’ve at least tried all of them. Since we could dive deep on all of these topics, I’ll leave it to you to ask me questions if you’re interested in knowing what I’ve tried and found with each of these activities. I will let you know that I was surprised that I actually tried out the coffee enema. That was an interesting experience!

How do I feel after diving in to this True Cellular Detox?
(plus crazy activities recommended by Ben Greenfield)

It’s hard for me to say whether or not it’s working. The mid-detox tests show that I still have high cellular inflammation and my VCS test results still show that I potentially have some kind of nutrient deficiency. Those are the real quantifiable objective things.

As for my experience, I have noticed that I have less energy and I’ve been awaking tired in the mornings. I’ve also noticed some stomach upset off and on. But… I don’t know if they really has anything to do with the detox.

I would venture to guess that many of the confounding factors during my detox include all of the activities that I’ve added to my routine that were suggested by Ben Greenfield. I’ve probably more than doubled the amount of exercise I do and added heat exposure by way of dry saunas.

These activities will certainly have an effect. The upside is that I’ve put on some weight and I’m stronger than when I started. And I feel good about being more active. But, if this is leading to me waking up tired, I have to decide if it’s really worth it.

Anyway, as always, there’s a lot to experiment with in terms of my supplementation, diet, exercise, etc. I’m going to finish up the detox in the next few weeks and will report back with my findings…

Update upon completing the detox

I’ve completed the detox and want to give a more complete update. I retook the VCS test and I scored better meaning that I have NO identifiable deficiencies:

Final VCS Test Report

I also completed my last Meta Oxy test and saw only a slight improvement. Unfortunately it still shows high (perhaps toxic) levels of aldehydes indicating potentially high levels of inflammation in my cells:

I’m still waking up tired and don’t have as much energy or focus as I’d like – although I’m sure this has much more to do with the food choices I’ve been making. I haven’t been holding back from partaking in food offered at wedding parties and holiday celebrations – especially when there’s carrot cake!

What do you think?

Have you tried detoxes or cleanses? Or are you interested in trying? Or have questions for me?