How To Build YOUR Resilience?

Is your body and mind strong enough to help support you when you hit setbacks?

Resilience has been shown to positively influence overall well-being and can also lower depression levels.

In my podcast conversation with Paul Demeda, he provides scientific explanations on how to build your resiliency with nutrition and detoxification for better mental health.

What Nutrients Do We Need To Build Resilience For Better Mental Health?

Resiliency is a point where we are able to take some stressors from time to time. Paul believes that it’s important for our body to build resiliency by exposing ourselves to some negative stimuli like unhealthy foods, occasionally, so that we can build that resiliency.

Did you know that there are 42 essential nutrients in the body and those 42 nutrients are present in over 10 million places?

If we are deficient in one nutrient only, it will show up negatively in 10 million divided by 42 places. Paul shares with us some nutrients that are important for the brain. He argues that protein, essential fatty acids and cholesterol are very important for the brain. I founds super interesting that Cholesterol is required to make oxytocin receptors work. And oxytocin is the pair bonding hormone needed in order to feel connection to other people, which I believe a lot of us are lacking lately.

Minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, iodine, iron and B vitamins like B12, B6, folate, are essential too. The brain does numerous methylation reactions with these nutrients to remain functional and normal. The other important vitamins are antioxidants like Vitamin C, Vitamin E and glutathione that we can get from food, but we can also make them using other nutrients.

What Are The Top Toxins That Affect The Brain?

Mental dysfunction is not a mental health issue, it’s usually a brain health issue. When your brain works right, then your mind works right. From a holistic perspective, mental dysfunction is caused by inadequacies, which are changes in brain composition, structure, and immune system chemistry.

To address top brain toxins, Paul recommends starting with the GUT. Out of Paul’s 750 clients, only five of them did not have current gut issues, and three of those five had them in the past and were still dealing with the side effects. Listen to my podcast episode #3 or read my blog post on 7 Ways to Take Back Control of Your Mental Health with Your Gut.

The gut is supposed to process our food and break it down, and then allow the food components into the bloodstream. Stress is a big driver of low stomach acid, which is required for the whole process. When the gut is not functioning, we get too many bad bacteria, yeast, mold and fungus which can damage the intestinal lining called leaky gut, which is microscopic holes, either in the cells or the stitching between the cells. We leak toxins or food particles that haven’t been prepared properly. The immune system identifies them as allergens or pathogens, and then kills them, and then proceeds to kill them in the rest of the body, including the brain, where we get inflammatory reactions and damage to cells. We have an unhealthy gut, we develop cramping and bloating and 80{1e16acf445973e61fdbd53de1c132af7e84fd195cf15d57956db2b0426c8fa60} of the toxic load hitting the liver is coming from our self-generated toxins.

In many ways, a leaky gut also indicates a leaky brain.

When it comes to environmental toxins, Paul emphasizes that we need to worry about the heavy metals and pesticides which are everywhere, especially in our conventionally grown foods. Listen to the Self-Care Goddess podcast episode #22 here to learn more on the Top 10 Toxins Compromising Your Health & Wellbeing.

How Does Liver Detoxification Actually Work?

Among so many other important functions, the liver is the key detox organ with its liver cells called the hepatocytes. There are two types of toxins:

• Water soluble: If a water soluble toxin goes into the liver cell, enzymes work on it and send it into the blood so that it can be removed.
• Fat soluble: Most of our toxins are fat soluble, including heavy metals, pesticides and solvents. Fat soluble toxins don’t do well in a water environment, so they have to be altered. 

I’m always so amazed at how beautifully orchestrated our body performs its tasks to keep us healthy and alive and the detox process is no different. Ultimately, what happens is that we take in the toxins, convert them to waste products and then the body removes them, if everything is working properly. Paul has the following recommendations to help support healthy detoxification.

• Decrease the incoming toxins. Limit your exposure to toxins or remove toxic food from your diet.
• Create a nutrient base. The most important is quality protein. Paul believes that animal-based protein is better than plant-based protein for addressing chronic illness and detoxification as a protocol. However, plant-based protein like legumes and beans are good sources of protein because they also provide fiber and some methyl donating nutrients.
• Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage support liver detoxification.
• Citrus fruits as well, except for grapefruit. Grapefruit turns down the detox rate, but the other citrus fruits increase the rate.
• Flaxseeds also induce detoxification in a positive way.
• Dark leafy greens provide some methyl groups and B vitamins.

What Are Some Supplements For Detox?

Of course, before starting any supplementation protocol, I always recommend working with a certified professional practitioner, so that you can determine the root cause of your issue, get tested and implement a protocol accordingly.

• Vitamin C & Vitamin E are supporting antioxidants required to make glutathione the most important antioxidant in the body and in the brain. Paul recommends using Vitamin C crystal, pure ascorbate or ascorbic acid, dissolving it in water.
• Acetyl cysteine is an amino acid complex which builds memory, is required to make glutathione and has antioxidant properties on its own.
• Fish Oils are also beneficial for detox.
• B complex vitamins for energy.
• Milk thistle also helps regenerate liver tissue and regulates detoxification.

Expert Detox Tip: Take a half teaspoon of activated charcoal powder every night as the last thing before bed to collect toxins, residues and bacteria. Take the powder and put it in a 300 ml jar with water, shake it up and swish it around in the mouth first to grab some of the bacterial toxins in the mouth before you swallow it. Alternatively, if this is to messy, you can always take the capsules.

To Sum Up

• Resilience has been shown to positively influence overall well-being and can lower depression levels and help support you when you hit setbacks.
• There are several nutrients required for building resilience to boost your mental health.
• To address top brain toxins, start with the gut.
• Support what the body does for detoxification naturally because the liver is constantly detoxing, with lifestyle, nutrition and supplements.
• Decrease the incoming toxins, support what the body does for detoxification naturally, and ensure you are incorporating detox foods.  
• Always work with a certified practitioner before embarking on any detox journey.

For more details on how to build your resiliency for better mental health with nutrition and detoxification listen to the Self-Care goddess podcast episode #29 with Paul Demeda.

Contact me if you would like some guidance on how to begin your detox journey. Schedule your FREE Introduction Call here.