There is a growing trend when it comes to fasting and detoxing. The ancient practice of fasting has been found to have an array of health benefits, including supporting the detoxification process.
But that doesn’t mean you should take on just any fasting or detoxing program. If you have Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS), you’ll want to be extra careful with fasting and cellular detox. In fact, you may want to avoid them altogether, depending on which stage of AFS you’re in.
AFS is a condition that results from chronic stress. That can lead to a host of health problems, not the least of which is the worsening of adrenal fatigue. What happens when your body faces chronic stress is that your adrenal glands have to work overtime to produce cortisol. Cortisol is your body’s main anti-stress hormone. And too much or too little of it in your system creates the symptoms of AFS.
These symptoms include fatigue, insomnia, weight gain, hair loss, dry skin, low libido, PMS, infertility, lowered immunity, brain fog, anxiety, mild depression, an inability to handle stress, hypoglycemia, salt and sugar cravings, food and drug sensitivities, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, and lightheadedness, to name a few.
The reason the symptoms are so varied is that your adrenals are only one component of one of the six circuits of your NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response. And when they dysregulate, they affect the rest of your NEM.
How Fasting and Cellular Detox Affect Your NEM
Your NEM is your body’s global response to stress. Its six circuits are the Hormone, the Bioenergetics, the Neuroaffect, the Cardionomic, the Inflammation, and the Detoxification circuits. The adrenals are part of the Hormone circuit, and they are the NEM’s first line of defense against stress.
The three main types of stress that can affect your NEM, and your entire body, are physical, chemical, and emotional.
Physical stressors include things like:
Eating an unhealthy diet
Leading a sedentary lifestyle
Overconsumption of alcohol
Overeating
Overconsumption of sugar
Dehydration
Recurring infections
Chronic illnesses
Chemical stressors include things like:
Heavy metal poisoning, such as lead or mercury
Pesticides in food
Mold exposure
Chemicals in home cleaning and beauty products
Taking certain medications
Living in a polluted city
Psychological stressors include things like:
Pressure at work
Family of origin issues
Financial distress
Toxic relationships
Anxiety over health problems
That’s not a full list, but what you need to know is that for most people, these three types of stressors combine to create the perfect storm. Then, at that point, this storm switches on some genes that then set into motion the beginning of serious chronic conditions.
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But even just one of these stressors can overwork your NEM and adrenal glands. That’s because your body is only meant to handle acute stress. And most of these stressors are recurring and eventually become chronic if you don’t put a stop to them.
In addition, stressors can affect your gut microbiome. This is a really important link, as we will show in more detail below, especially when it comes to fasting and cellular detox.
Each NEM circuit can benefit from fasting and cellular detox in some way. But each can be disrupted by the wrong kind of fasting and cellular detox as well. That’s why it’s really important that you don’t just try any kind of fasting or detox program. You need to do these under the supervision of a health professional experienced in AFS and NEM dysregulation.
Let’s take a look at some of the circuits most affected by fasting and cellular detox, starting with the Hormone circuit.
Toxicity and Your Hormone Circuit
Your adrenal glands, thyroid, and gonads – the three components of your Hormone circuit – are regulated by the control center in your brain: your hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Although these downstream organs can dysregulate without being an issue in your brain, in some cases, the problem lies with the control center itself.
When you’ve got heavy metal poisoning, such as lead or mercury, these heavy metals can sometimes be absorbed by the cells in your brain. They can then disrupt the function of the control center, as well as other brain regions. If they affect your hypothalamus and pituitary gland, you can get symptoms of AFS without your adrenals being the problem. You can also get thyroid issues without your thyroid being the originator of these issues.
A Note on Heavy Metal Poisoning
Something that could be increasing the toxic load in your brain cells is if you have amalgam fillings leaking out mercury over time. And then if you get these fillings removed but it's not done properly, they can leak out mercury even more.
The thing is, there’s a difference between acute and chronic mercury poisoning. With acute poisoning, you can see it in your bloodwork. But chronic mercury poisoning is harder to detect. And mercury in the brain is even harder to detect.
The most common cause of lead poisoning is actually getting it in utero. During pregnancy, women lose bone density. And because lead is stored in bones generationally, when the bone starts to dissolve, it releases some of that lead. The fetus is then exposed.
These are just some ways you could be exposed to heavy metals without really knowing it.
Fasting and Cellular Detox for the Neuroaffect Circuit
Because we’re talking about mercury and lead poisoning in the brain, it’s important to understand how they can affect your Neuroaffect circuit. Your Neuroaffect circuit is composed of your brain, autonomic nervous system, and microbiome. Your microbiome is the eco-system of flora in your gut, and it is at its healthiest when it has a diverse collection of bacteria. The gram-positive, or “good,” bacteria help keep the gram-negative, or “bad,” bacteria in check.
Many of your neurotransmitters are made in your gut. And your microbiome-gut-brain axis is the pathway to your neurotransmitter pool. Your microbiome is also highly affected by chemical stressors, and it is one of the things that is most helped by fasting and cellular detox.
Fasting is a form of eustress, or good stress if done correctly. And it can help an imbalanced microbiome regain its balance and diversity. This is really important because dysbiosis can cause a lot of inflammation in your gut. And chronic inflammation in your gut can spread to your brain and nervous system, causing neurological symptoms there.
Heavy metals in your brain need to be removed in order to rebalance your Neuroaffect circuit and reduce neurological and psychiatric symptoms. But a cellular detox for your brain should be done incrementally. You’ll need to first prepare your body, then detox your body (the more downstream organs first), then end with detoxification of your brain cells. Otherwise, there is a risk that the heavy metals that are pulled from your brain cells just get redistributed rather than passing out of your system.
A Note on Chelation
Medical chelators are an important part of any cellular detox, but there are some precautions you should know about them. First of all, they are water-soluble. That’s great for testing for heavy metals, but not good for removing them from the system completely. After chelating the heavy metals from your brain, once you stop the process, the heavy metals will just redistribute and go back into your brain.
Herbal chelators have their own set of problems. First of all, they aren’t used correctly in many cases. And even if the correct herbal chelator is used, it is usually used without paying attention to its specific half-life. Some herbal chelators need to be repeated every four hours, some every eight hours, and some every ten hours. If you don’t repeat them till all the heavy metals are out of your system, the heavy metals will redistribute again.
This process can take a long time. And because it can be quite complex, you shouldn’t attempt it on your own. It needs proper guidance. This is especially the case if you have more advanced AFS. If you’re pulling out toxins from your cells and not getting them out of your system on time, they can raise toxicity levels and add pressure on your adrenals and NEM. This can lead to a worsening of symptoms and even an adrenal crash.
Fasting and the Inflammation Circuit
Inflammation almost always begins in the gut. It can then spread to other areas of your body. Inflammation that reaches your brain and nervous system can cause neurological and psychiatric symptoms. In fact, one of the theories on depression is that it is due to chronic low-grade inflammation. SSRIs also work because they are anti-inflammatory.
The reason inflammation begins in the gut is usually due to dysbiosis and leaky gut. When the tight junctions in your gut’s lining loosen up, particles pass through to the bloodstream that shouldn’t be there. That triggers an immediate immune response, part of which is inflammation. That’s why your Inflammation circuit is composed of your gut, microbiome, and immune system.
Fasting can help your microbiome regain balance and give your gut the break it needs to seal up its leaks. It also stops you from consuming the foods that trigger dysbiosis and leaky gut in the first place.
This is one reason fasting can be one of the best anti-aging tactics out there. Inflammation is a huge factor in the aging process, and it also underlies many chronic illnesses. Including those that come with age.
But for the Inflammation circuit to run smoothly, your Detoxification circuit has to also be running smoothly. That’s because inflammation is what rids the body of pathogens, toxins, and dead and damaged tissues. Once it has attacked those things, your Detoxification circuit kicks into gear to get them out of your system altogether.
Fasting and Cellular Detox in Your Detoxification Circuit
Your Detoxification circuit is composed of your liver, interstitium, and immune system. And, to a lesser extent, it also involves your kidneys, lungs, skin, and lymphatic system. Fasting and cellular detox can help clean out all of these organs. But remember, depending on what kind of toxicity you’re dealing with, these can all be the downstream organs rather than the root.
In order to ensure timely detoxification, your Detoxification circuit needs to be supported. You can do that through fasting and cellular detox if you’re doing so under guidance. When you fast, you are no longer ingesting the substances that may be clogging up your liver, for example. That gives it the time it needs to catch up with its workload without being put under too much pressure.
A cellular detox can also help cleanse your liver and other organs of detoxification. It’s like cleaning your filtration system. But, again, you must do these carefully in order not to get the opposite effect and actually overload them.
In Conclusion
There are many different types of fasting and cellular detox. For example, you can do a weekly fast, daily intermittent fasting, a monthly fast for a few days, dry fasting, water fasting, fasting-mimicking diet, or whatever other combination. With cellular detox, you can use chelators, herbs, cleanses, saunas, and special diets. Fasting and cellular detox work well together if you do them correctly and if they're individualized.
But you have to be careful with this if you have adrenal fatigue or NEM dysregulation. Your system is already under a lot of pressure and is depleted of its energy and nutrient stores. You might end up with an adrenal crash and worse symptoms. That’s why you should only try fasting and cellular detox if the conditions are ripe for them.
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