Resonance – Episode 31
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
Today's episode I'm gonna throw quite a lot at you. Not many people know this, but your body is actually a detoxing machine. Unfortunately, in our modern-day and world we have so many stimuli and toxins etcetera that we encounter. They don't even have to include weird green juices, unless you want them to. But the thing is like in a super simple nutshell detoxing.
Alright. Have you ever heard the word detox and thought, oh dear, nope — not for me, not interested, that is too intense? Okay, today we will debunk the myths behind detox, what it means, and we will introduce you to some simple practices that will get you feeling fresh and energised post the holiday festivities. Look, this episode will meet you where you are, whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced practitioner. Let's dive in.
Welcome to Resonance, a podcast for ambitious, heart-led humans craving more balance, depth and aliveness in their lives. I'm your host Vik — health coach, yoga teacher, facilitator and fellow high achiever learning to live in tune with my nervous system not against it. In this space is here to remind you that you can have it all: the career, the success, the fulfillment, all aligned with your truth. Through honest conversations, expert insights and practical tools we'll explore how to work with your body, mind, emotions and spirit not against them. And the best part, you don't have to stay stuck in survival mode to get there, because true well-being is not about being perfect, it's about being in resonance. Let's dive in.
Welcome, welcome. This is it everyone — we are back. We're post the peak of the silly season for most of us. It's probably our second or third week back to work depending on our schedule. And you know what, here in New Zealand we are in peak summer so like life is thriving, everything is happening and I'm probably gonna anticipate that at this point you're also kind of into full swing with your New Year's resolutions right, whatever that might have looked like. There's just something in the air about this time of year that makes people want to set new goals, set new habits etcetera. But the thing is I often find that these are quite unsustainable because we've just got to meet ourselves where we are. And so rather than trying to force something, what I felt would be really valuable to you at this time of the year is to hand you some really simple, practical detox insights and tips that you can literally take with you and implement today that'll help you come out of this post holiday slump that many of us tend to feel around this time of year.
And what it kind of inspired this episode is that lately I really got into intermittent fasting, which I'll talk to you in a little bit, um, you know. I myself personally do a structured detox every season around like the spring and autumn equinoxes or the summer winter solstices and I find that works really well for me. But there's just been something recently specifically where I got into such a good rhythm, um, where I felt quite inspired to give back to you, to our community here because the better it gets, the better it gets. And like as soon as you start to feel and live and breathe with more energy and more a life force and more vitality you realize that all of this is in your control. It is in your sphere of influence. These are all things that you can do literally starting today. They don't have to cost you any money, yes they will cost you effort and maybe time, but on the other side of that time and effort investment is the life of your wildest dreams.
So give you a super quick overview of what we're gonna kind of dive into is, you know, off the back of the overindulgence that happens around this time of year, we're going to go through specific pillars of your health and well-being and under each pillar I'll give like a super simple detox tip that will increase your energy, increase your health and overall wellness which don't equal deprivation, complexity or, you know, they don't even have to include weird green juices unless you want them to. Um, we'll also debunk detox and kind of close off with your personalised action plan so you are in for a goody. I have been waiting to share this at the right time and it's finally coming through so I really look forward to it. Let's dive in.
First things first, what is detox? Right, you might think of like really intense diets and cleanses and whatever else, but the thing is like in a super simple nutshell detoxing or detoxification is the full word — is the process of removing harmful or toxic chemicals from your body, mind, spirit etcetera. It doesn't just have to be chemicals; it can be any kind of matter, thoughts, habits, behaviors etcetera. Basically in its core essence detoxifying supports your health and well-being by either reducing or completely removing your exposure to things that are not good for you whether they are physical or habitual or in the energetic realm, in the thought realm etcetera, and it's adding in ones that support your health. So it's always about that, um, ongoing playful balance of removing, introducing, removing, introducing, so it's sort of the seesaw effect.
Not many people know this but your body is actually a detoxing machine. Like we are literally like you listening to this episode right now, you are detoxing. Your body goes through this cycle nonstop, day and night, everything you do and it is so cool. Like your body is such a powerful vessel that does this automatically. However, unfortunately in our modern-day and world we have so many stimuli and toxins etc that we encounter that our body gets overloaded and this is why we've got so many issues and diseases and chronic health, you know, syndromes all over the place. So the body needs help and so through actively detoxifying you're actually supporting it as well.
And look, I'm gonna try and keep things like as simple as possible for those of us particularly that are in the beginner realm. I will include some more advanced things for those of us that are interested in it, but really I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for you to meet yourself where you are. Like today's episode I'm gonna throw quite a lot at you so I'm gonna put that disclaimer in there — now there's a lot of content, a lot of information that I have to share. You don't have to do it all. You don't have to do any of it. Like just let yourself absorb, sit with the insight, sit with the wisdom and let whatever your next right step is come naturally. But please don't get into that paradigm of I have to tick all the boxes and do all the things and I've got to be perfect because that's not gonna get you anywhere OK.
And what I'm sharing with you today is like just a tiny sliver as well — like there is so much more to this. So why I'm so passionate about it is that detoxifying increases your health so well like on the physical, on the mental emotional, spiritual level and it also can decrease things like chronic pain, inflammation, stress, anxiety. It can improve your brain health — like your focus and your mental clarity, sleep, energy, digestion, gut health, your weight, your skin health. Like there are so many things that are touched by these really potent yet simple practices.
And I'm gonna preface this with just because it sounds simple doesn't mean it's easy. So for some of you listening today some of the things that I will share you'll be like, oh yeah of course I know that, I know I should be doing this. And there is that little gremlin of I should — well, you're not are you? Or maybe it could be better because at the end of the day we are all humans, myself included. I am not perfect, I am no saint either. I go through the same chitter chatter in my mind as every single one of you, okay. So just meet yourself where you are, take it one step at a time.
And let's dive into those simple detox tips that will help you recoup post the holiday festivities. So the first one — and I cannot stress this enough — is water. My dear friends, if you are in the beginning stages of your detox journey and your overall health journey it would just be, please, drink more water, okay. Like as humans we are up to 70% water and you need to be drinking at least like roughly 2 to 3 liters depending on where you are, your size, female, male etcetera, but like probably more than what you're drinking right now is the headline. And I understand it's a habit like just like anything else. Drinking water is a habit and some people are like I don't like the taste of it, it's so boring, I keep forgetting it. So a few tips to get you drinking your recommended water intake is, um, first of all just carry a water bottle with you. Like I don't go anywhere without a water bottle unless like I know I have a source of water gonna be really handy like say if I'm going out somewhere and like it's a cafe or something, um, and if it's the flavour that you've got the issue with, like add some lemon, add some cucumber, add some mint, um. You can play with like little water additives — these days there's so many like electrolytes and supplements and things that you can put into your water as well. Just drink more water. I — you will never forget. I — and I think I've spoken about this on the podcast before but like one of my clients, um, was complaining of a headache and, uh, of course the first question I asked was, you know, how much water have you had today? And the answer was none. I had a coffee this morning and at that point it was like post midday, um. So really like please my friends, before you start to search for really complicated answers to your problems, go back to these basics and check where they're at.
Now if you're already like drinking your 2 to 3 liters of water, you're kind of more in that intermediate space around your detox journey. Um, I highly recommend that you filter your water. Unfortunately even in the cleanest of countries our tap water has got so many impurities. There's so many chemicals that basically the water gets quote unquote cleaned with, but then there's also all this residue and it's just oh my God guys it's yuck. I'm not gonna go down that path, just trust me on this — the filters are really affordable. Like of course you could go all fancy and like get a, get one installed on your tap, but like what I have at home is just like a big Brita filter jug and I think it's got like activated charcoal in it and whatever and, um, just filter your water, keep it simple.
Um, what I'll do as well is I'll just include a list of probably just the names of the products that I mention in the show notes for your reference. Just cause I'm gonna be mentioning quite a lot so you can kind of go back and do your research and see what works for you. So filter your water is my detox tip for my intermediate practitioners.
And for those of you that are in the advanced space and want to kind of dig into things a little bit deeper, I've got two avenues down which you can go, or both, um, which I highly recommend. The first one is, if available to you and aligns with your beliefs and values, I highly recommend that you drink alkaline water. So what alkaline water is, is actually like water that, um, we used to drink back when, you know, we were scavengers and foragers. So water that's naturally alkaline is available from things like, uh, springs and streams, right. So what happens, what makes it alkaline is when it passes over rocks, and as it passes over rocks through these streams it picks up minerals etcetera. And if you were to go and research this you'll see that it's a hotly debated topic because there's limited research, blah blah blah — it's like the typical debate that you have where science says something isn't real until they have had 50 million studies that show that it could potentially be real.
So don't get me wrong — like obviously I've done a postgraduate nutrition, I know how important science is and like this research is critical, and of course you don't wanna be taken advantage of by like marketing fads etcetera, but like just use your brain. And if alkaline water was good for our ancestors then it's probably good for us right. Like sometimes it just takes science 100 years to catch up with what we've known for millennia. And the thing is like the argument here is, and that's what resonated with me, is our body does a great job of balancing our pH levels, right — so kind of the balance between acidity and alkalinity. However, things like stress, things like oxidative stress, right, so eating junk foods or pollution, dust, all all these things — they increase the acidity in our body. And so alkalinity on the other hand tends to balance these things out. And the research so far says that, you know, there's insufficient evidence and it's the water intake isn't enough to change the alkaline levels in the bloodstream, which I understand. And at the same time we're up to 70% water — like it can't hurt, um. I've been drinking alkaline water most of the time and feeling great and at this point I'm actually so particular with my water that I can taste when it's unfiltered and when it's like it's almost like flat it's like yuck. Oh my gosh. So anyways, basically what I'm trying to say is have a look into the quality of your water. If you can go down the more alkaline route, highly recommend it.
And the second little kind of avenue that I encourage you to go down is Essential Minerals. So we as humans need essential minerals, some of which — well actually sorry — none of which we can produce ourselves. So we need to get them from the food and water and that we consume into in our bodies. And so especially if you live in a hot climate, or it's summer for right now, or if you drink a lot of water, it's even more so important for you to have essential minerals in your water because otherwise you could risk hypernatremia, which is where you dilute the mineral, um, balance in your body too much. So I especially in the summer tend to supplement my water with a little bit of trace minerals, um, and I also do it when I'm fasting and sometimes when I just feel like I need it.
So, um, in terms of my recommendations for the water itself I personally drink ararimu which I get from my local Common Sense store, um, and then for the electrolytes I recommend just going down like the traditional basic boring route because those will actually be the ones that give you the most bang for your buck and return on investment in terms of the minerals you get — like they deliver — versus like if you go too far down the supplement route and try and get too fancy with flavors etcetera you're basically just putting sugar in your water and you may as well just have a Coke then. Um, so just choose wisely, choose for yourself. I'll include the name of the electrolyte brand that I use — I can't remember it because it's not a fancy brand — it's just like Pure Trace Minerals hahaha.
Up next for our detox we have got alcohol. And I know you probably have just come out of a really heavy drinking season, so for my beginners or people who are earlier on in their, um, detox journey, right — so this isn't also about labels or judgment or anything like just because I use the word beginner doesn't mean that you are any different from someone who's advanced. I'm just kind of trying to create these distinctions so that we can all meet ourselves where we're at. So if you are earlier on in this journey aka beginner, just drink less. I'm not gonna lie — there is no safe level of alcohol intake from a health perspective, so I'll let you do what you wanna do with that information, but just drink less than what you have been.
Um, as soon as you drink alcohol your liver deprioritizes any other detox activities that it has been doing and it goes straight to break down the alcohol first because alcohol is poison. You are literally poisoning your body. I will leave it at that. You can make an informed decision. If you are more on the intermediate route and you're like yes okay I'm ready for more I would really encourage you to have an honest self-assessment whether perhaps you might have binge drinking tendencies.
Now I say this with Grace and with care and with utmost compassion for you because I have been there and I vividly remember when I was scrolling down the — I can't remember the name of the website — but it's like the drink safe or something New Zealand and I did their little quiz and I was like oh Sheesh. I think this isn't normal, um, and that can be quite confronting and I didn't want to accept that for a really long time because my view of what was normal was very different to what I was being told. So just hear me out here and just let this simmer and if it's not resonating right now you can let it go and come back to it.
But if you are female ideally you're not having any more than two standard drinks a day and a maximum of 10 standard drinks a week. Maximum. And this is to lower the risk of injury — would be no more than four standard drinks a day for a female, if you are male on the other hand it's a little bit more but not that much more — no more than three standard drinks a day, up to 15 a week, and to lower the risk of injury no more than five. So I don't know about you but the country that I live in which is New Zealand has a really heavy binge drinking culture these days, especially like the RTDs that are being popularized out here are like more than a standard drink in a can to start with, and many people who I know will go through a box of these in a night, have a massive night. So unfortunately places like New Zealand and many other countries in the world have a really bad binge drinking problem. I had a really bad binge drinking problem and I'm just gonna invite you to start to question yourself as to whether you have a binge drinking problem as well. This is not judgement this is simply awareness and if you feel ready to look at this a little bit more from an advanced lens right, going back to the detox components, if you are with me I highly recommend that you just quit alcohol in general — just trust me on this. Like life gets so much better once you are sober.
And I don't say sober in the way of like that you have had to have a drinking problem to be sober — like you can just choose to be sober. And I have so much compassion for you because I remember the process that I went through. In my mind were like my body, mind and spirit were already telling me okay I don't want to drink anymore and yet there was this social stigma and like worries of what that would mean for my social life and my relationships and my friendships and who I am and I was having this whole identity crisis etcetera. So like I understand the gravity of this and the peer pressure that comes around it.
But the level of clarity and awareness and aliveness and life that became available to me after I stopped drinking — it's like I became a different human, a much better human, a much kinder human, a much healthier human. And if it's FOMO that is like your biggest concern there is so many alcohol-free brands out there these days — like my personal favourite is Ultra Ego because they have some bioactive compounds like maca and ginseng and L-theanine that, um, make you feel more social just because of the way that they, uh, stimulate energy in your body, but they're like not poisoning your body. So, um, yeah.
Alter Ego is definitely my favourite, um, and even then it's so funny because I'll only have like one or two, um, just because of the sugar, um, it gives me a headache the next day — like that's how sensitive I am these days to just sugary drinks. I can, I don't have them. I just stick to the waters and the cacao.
Speaking of cacao, alright, our next pillar is caffeine. Most of us are addicted to caffeine. Most of us are drinking way too much caffeine and, um, I'm mostly talking to this from a coffee perspective because that tends to have the highest concentration of caffeine and like what most people are addicted to, but just know that caffeine is also included in black teas and green teas and matcha etcetera etcetera. There's just different ways that the caffeine reacts with your brain and your body.
So if you are quite early on in your detox journey when it comes to caffeine I just again, um, recommend that you cut back and drink less. Um, one of the reasons why is especially for women, um, caffeine stops iron absorption or it gets in the way of iron absorption and like as women we already struggle with this like we don't need even more of that. On top of that it increases anxiety, agitation, it can mess with your circadian rhythm and your sleep patterns — like there's just it's not necessary, um, is all I'm trying to say. But just drink less to start with.
And if that already feels quite achievable and you're kind of on the journey with me and you're in that intermediate realm I would invite you to consider alternatives. So maybe things like matcha or cacao — and again don't get me wrong they do contain caffeine as well however depending on the type of cacao that you have there is a compound called theobromine which has it's, it's like a cousin of caffeine, it works in a different way but gives you a similar stimulating effect without the negatives, uh, that caffeine does. Um, and certain types of cacao will still have caffeine in them but again it very much safer much lower doses and quantities.
Um, again personally I am a huge fan and supporter of Seleno Health — they are fully organic ceremonially grown, harvested in Peru, like it is just incredible. And actually I drink it not so much for the energy but more the ritual — like I love the taste, I love I love cacao, it's amazing, it's a heart opener, it connects me to myself my body and source. And so yeah that's just something for you to explore if that sounds interesting.
Um, and if you're in the advanced realm hey, maybe you just let go of coffee and caffeine completely. Um, I personally don't drink coffee — um, I can't remember the last time I had a coffee many many years ago, um. No energy drinks either by the way, please don't do that that's just silly. Um, but I simply I'm so ridiculously sensitive to caffeine honestly at this point I don't even drink green and black tea. It would be very rare if I did — like very very rare — and that is because I've just become so sensitive to, you know, the sweaty palms, the anxiety, the tremors. The I already have so much life force energy emanating up and through me like I don't need more stimulants — I would just not shut up hahaha.
Um, so yeah that's all I've got to say on caffeine.
Now let's move into food and nutrition because you know I am a foodie. I've done a postgrad in human nutrition — this is like my passion. And so when it comes to food and detoxifying I just want to preface this with like diet culture has set us up for failure here, um. You really don't need to be that rigid. I'm not even gonna talk about like weight management or anything right now — we are just gonna look at quality because chances are and this is what the holidays are for right, like we only live once of course please indulge I indulge all the time I love my treats.
But there is a delicate balance between overindulging and indulging and emotional eating versus conscious eating all these things. So in order to help you get back to centre when it comes to nutrition and, uh, detoxifying for someone who's just starting on this journey I would just invite you to eat more real food. Food — what do I mean by real food? I mean food that grew in the soil or is somehow was at some point alive isn't manufactured by someone or chemically engineered and in a box. So what I'm saying by that is foods that effectively by their nature have a shorter shelf life. There are foods that by their nature you will mostly find in the perimeter of the supermarket — like vegetables, fruits, root vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains, um, lean proteins etcetera. Just more real food less chemically engineered nonsense is where I would begin.
Um, and then if you're already like yeah I've got this I eat lots of nutrient dense foods — if you're in that intermediate realm I highly recommend for you to begin to experiment with some of the more nuanced that specific nutrients might be having on your body. I'm not saying cut them out, I'm not saying any elimination diets or anything like that, but just begin to tune into how you feel when you eat and when you don't eat certain foods.
So for example the first thing I'm gonna talk to is dairy. Um, I don't eat dairy — uh, it just happened as I was kind of going through my own healing journey and I was also playing with these alternative lifestyle measures and I cut out dairy. I've been feeling so great I've never wanted to go back since. And you see dairy is actually highly inflammatory and as humans we are the only species on the planet that drinks the milk of another species — like voluntarily, um. Those of you that give milk to your cats, look that is, uh, your choice but it's it's not, it's against our nature effectively is what I'm trying to say.
And, um, the other piece that you can look into is your gluten sensitivity. So a lot of people are actually I'm sensitive to wheat and gluten ut they don't know it, and you'd be surprised — gluten is found in so many. So again, it's something you can play with. Again, I'm not gluten free, but I am really conscious of my gluten intake, and I really feel great when I don't eat gluten. So I can tell what it does is like gluten is just like this sticky protein, and so imagine there's just like this kind of sticky substance in your digestive tract just kind of, you know, pulling things around etcetera. And when you don't have it, everything can just work really nicely and smoothly. So I'll leave you to experiment with that on your own.
Um, and the third thing to, uh, experiment with would be the impact of meat on your digestion, especially red meat, because that can take a really long time to digest. And again, it's not until I became more conscious of what I was putting into my body and really tuning into how I felt internally that I noticed things like when I eat red meat, um, it — if I feel really bloated I get constipated; my body just doesn't respond to it that well. Um, pork I can — I mostly choose not to, and like my partner knows this and like why. Lean proteins like chicken or turkey I can eat all day every day, but when it comes to red meat I now choose to be really choosy, um, because that's just my body's individual response.
And this is what I wanna really highlight when it comes to detox, when it comes to any lifestyle measures: remember to honor your bio-individuality, because what works for you might not work for me and might not work for someone else. You are incredibly unique. You have your own genetic makeup. You have the unique specific ways that your body is designed to thrive. But you've got to experiment, and sometimes that means finding what doesn't work so that you can sift that to the side and nail the thing that is gonna work for you for once and for all.
Now when it comes to nutrition, I am such a nerd — I couldn't leave it just one thing. For my intermediate, so there's of course you can experiment with the impact of the different, um, compounds I've just shared with you on your digestion. But the other piece I would invite you to experiment with is to bring more awareness, and if possible action, to eating more organic whole foods if possible.
Why? Because the pesticides that our food is sprayed with is increasing the toxic load in your body. So if you're trying to detox and you're eating more whole foods, that's great — like don't get me wrong. If you're like in the beginner area please start there, because, um, pesticide food is better than no real food. Um, however, the main ingredient of the pesticides, which is glyphosate, is literally the chemical warfare weapon that was being used in World War II, um. So do with that information what you wish, um. It is all I'm gonna say is organic is better for your health; it is better for your planet. And be careful with greenwashing and marketing because organic is not free range or grass fed or macro or natural or homegrown — none of that means organic, okay.
And like I see this first hand, because I'm really particular with my food, and when I'm not the one doing the grocery shop and I'm writing the list I'll be like really specific: only get this if it's organic, right? And like it was so cute — I sent Cam out to do the groceries and he was getting some chicken breast and I was like just the organic one, and he comes home and it's not organic but it's got a green Macro label on it, right, which is like, um, a brand, and I was like this isn't organic, like what do you mean, but it says free range — like this, not organic.
So yeah, especially when you're having animal products as well, it's probably even more pronounced, because the thing is like anything that the animal was eating or that was ingested with like hormones and antibiotics, which happens more often than you would like to know, is then gonna go into your body when you eat that animal, um. So just, yeah, um, eat organic if you can. I know that it's more expensive, so I do also want to acknowledge that obviously based on seasonality where you live, on your lifestyle and your budgets, that might not seem feasible.
So this is why I recommend starting with at least eliminating the Dirty Dozen. So the Dirty Dozen, if you're not familiar with what they are, it's The Environmental Working Group every year publishes a list of the highest pesticide levels in foods that are grown non-organically, um, which again if a food is on that list either buy organic or just don't buy it at all. So for example like I — it is very rare, very very rare, that I will eat like a tomato or a cucumber that's not organically grown unless like again I've got other detox practices, so I do do it when it's like out of season and it's only available non-organically, um, but I'm really conscious about it.
So the Dirty Dozen in 2024 — because the list does change every year — include strawberries, spinach, kale, grapes, peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, capsicums, cherries, blueberries and green beans. You can probably see quite a, uh, trend here. Basically like again I generally tend to keep a list of these on my phone so it's a really quick reference point. But think of it this way: if the fruit or vegetable bears — like you eat the skin of it — or if it's something like lettuce or spinach or kale, right, where it's like this is how it grows and that's directly sprayed and that's what you eat, you're gonna ingest a butt load of pesticides versus, say, the Clean 15.
So these are, um, fruit and vegetables that are safest to buy non-organic. Again, still organic is best, but if that's not accessible or not available to you then you're at least at risk of pesticides getting in or a lot of pesticides getting into you, um. There are generally things with more thick skin, so think things like avocados, um, pineapple, bananas, um, that sort of thing. So you can dig into that yourself, but, uh, that's definitely an addition for my intermediate people.
And if you're in the advanced category and you're like yeah I already do all this, this is like super, I know all this — don't, don't worry about me — um, well in that case I would invite you to experiment with intermittent fasting or, and fasting, um. So I love, love, love Dr. Mindy Pelz's work, um. She wrote many books; one of my favorites is Fast Like a Girl which I literally follow her recommendations and I feel freaking amazing, so I'll link that up in the show notes. And really I highly recommend that you include some kind of fast or cleanse or detox when it comes to your nutrition at least seasonally if not monthly.
So at this point I've actually gotten to a rhythm where I, um, do a cleanse on a monthly basis; it's a more intense cleanse on a quarterly basis. But the thing is, um, when you stop eating for a specific amount of time you begin to stimulate autophagy, which is like your cells are gonna start eating themselves and they're gonna eat and remove like dead or damaged cells. And then you get to a specific point a little bit further down the track where you begin to produce stem cells which is like these super powered cells that elite athletes pay thousands and thousands and thousands to get injected into their body so they can heal and regenerate faster.
So, um, yeah. I'm not gonna nerd out too much down on this avenue. If this is something that's interesting to you I highly recommend that you kind of go down this route and do your research and also, um, I would invite you to look into juicing and kind of boosting your nutrient intake through cold-pressed juices specifically. There are some additional points that you can look into and again this is for my advanced folks, so this is why I'm just kind of like throwing all this your way assuming that you're already a nutrition and health nerd just like me, and so like you will go and do your own research.
So some of the other, um, pathways that you could go down could be either considering cutting out or reducing vegetable oils and other unhealthy oils, um, sugars and making more of your foods at home rather than store-bought. So a great example of this is like hummus for example, which I cannot find a hummus in the supermarket that is not made with vegetable or canola oil. And without going too much down that rabbit hole, like there are many toxic oils that include that increase, um, oxidative stress in your body. So I'm like I don't wanna eat that — I just make my own hummus.
Now it's easier than it seems, guys — like it might seem really hard and overwhelming in the beginning. That's because it's new. That's because you haven't formed those neural synapses in your brain yet; that's just how change works. But then once you've done it once and twice and three times you actually realize, okay, it's actually so much easier than I thought.
Um, and lastly for my advanced folks, when it comes to your nutrition and food I also recommend that you start looking into supplementation, um.
Now I will preface this with I highly recommend that you start with a naturopath — so get your bloods done, do your tests, um, speak with a professional who will be able to recommend and prescribe you exactly what you need for your unique circumstances. But off the top of my head, like some of the supplements that most of us need, um, no matter what your diet, no matter what your lifestyle is: things like essential fatty acids that most of us don't get enough of, um, so be that through fish oils or I personally use Udo's Oil which is an organic blend of like flax, chia and — flax, chia and sunflower seed I think — that's cold pressed anyways. I'll link that up. Um, magnesium, vitamin D, pre- and probiotics etcetera. So, um, again you can do your research, but honestly it's easier if you reach out to a naturopath. I highly recommend Taylor — she was my naturopath, um, she's been on the podcast before so have a look, see and see how that resonates with you.
Um, alright. We're on the home stretch team. If you are still with me we've only got a few more places to go and we'll begin to wrap things up. So hopefully at this point you're already beginning to figure out which areas resonate more with you than others as to how you wanna detoxify your body from the heavy toxic load that you may have accumulated over this festive season and even before that.
So we're gonna move away from like the physical tangible stuff and move into self-care now. Now look, if you are very much in the beginning of your detox journey, um, all I'm gonna share is that please invite more sleep and rest into your life. I'm pretty sure that most of us could do with more sleep and rest in our lives. The second thing is do something for you, for yourself, and the third thing would be maybe try asking for help rather than holding it all yourself and doing it all yourself.
So I'm sure this is already plenty for you to work with and these are ways for you to detox not just physically but also mentally and emotionally because yeah — detoxification isn't just physical stress and load. There is mental toxic load we accumulate. There is emotional stress that we accumulate. So hence the typical holistic approach that you can expect from me here.
Um, now for my more intermediate peeps I highly recommend additional self-care practices that you can play with such as Epsom salt baths — magnesium salts super great. I tend to do one like most nights. Um, maybe you play with like lymphatic drainage using a gua sha or, um, dry body brushing which is a really great way. Like when you dry body brush, which you literally like I just do it before I shower, um, you are helping remove dead skin cells from your body, and your skin is your largest organ. So when you detoxify, um, a lot of the toxins try and come out through your skin, so you're basically helping speed up the process and supporting the body in that process.
Something else you could do is a sauna. So again, sweating is a really great way to detoxify, especially infrared saunas. They're really great because the infrared light penetrates into your body rather than the standard heat saunas. Both saunas are great but infrared is better.
And then for my advanced peeps — hear me out here — I swear by coffee enemas. Oh my God, like I do one at least once a week. It helps your liver produce glutathione, which is your body's detox chemical, and it flushes out all the waste from your gut. You feel incredible afterwards. I swear by them. I was freaked out the first time I thought of doing a coffee enema, I'm not gonna lie. However, when I finally did my due diligence and did my research and got into it, I've never stopped since. So, um, the brand that I use — I love them — they're super cute, it's called Happy Bum Co. Again I'll, um, link them up. They're actually like on my wish list to bring onto the podcast, so we'll see — maybe you'll hear from the experts very soon.
Um, but yeah, I encourage you to dive into this. And another, um, detox support self-care activity could be to play with castor oil. So this one's actually something new for me because again I'm on this journey just as you are. I've just ordered my kit, um, and I have read and learned that castor oil can be really supportive when massaged, um, onto where your liver is on the abdomen and then like putting a little wheat pack over the top and in some heat for the oil to like absorb into the liver. So I'll report back on how that went, but again that's another thing that maybe my advanced practitioners can experiment with me at the same time.
And so to wrap things up into a pretty little bow, the last pillar I just really wanted to touch on is your mind. So I've spoken to this already — just as we accumulate physical stress in our physical body we accumulate stress in our mental and emotional body as well. And so if you are new to this, just one minute of stillness and quiet for my beginners or joyful movement — and I say joyful like something that actually brings you joy and isn't just a box to tick because you think you should be doing it — no, something that lights you up from the inside. Just joy, little moments of joy and connection that will help you detoxify the mind from chronic stress and toxic overload.
For my more intermediate practitioners I invite you to explore mindfulness more deeply. So if you haven't already, I highly, highly encourage you to dive into my complimentary online course — it is called Live in Presence: Eight Days of Mindfulness — which walks you through super simple daily practices. There are no more than like five; maybe the longest one is 10 minutes, but it effectively teaches you everything that I wish I had known when I first heard the word mindfulness. And that is something that you can play with and you can experiment with what works best for you.
Maybe more inclined in the active mental detox side of things you could play with things like colouring in or reading or music, you know, being outside and grounding your feet into the earth. All of this will help your mental health.
And then for my advanced practitioners I highly, highly, highly recommend that you find a regular daily sadhana, which is like a, um, practice that you return to every day. For me it's meditation. I do it every day twice a day, 15 minutes. It's been over a year now that I've been doing this and I swear by Emily Fletcher's Ziva technique — it has worked for me like nothing else. I'll include the link in the show notes below if this feels like if it's of interest to you. This is the time, guys, where I literally detox my mind from all the stress. I don't know who I would be without this practice now — like I need this practice to really navigate, um, all the toxins and all the stress of day-to-day life. So highly encourage you to look into that.
Now as I wrap this episode, I do also just want to leave you with a little word of warning that when you detoxify, especially in the physical space but also like in the mental space — so when I did, um, Ziva online, which is the meditation course where Emily taught me how to meditate, um, I went through a stress detox in the truest form of the word. Like, um, it was pretty intense and just so much — you can go through that detox symptom in the physical body which can manifest as like side effects and reactions because all that toxicity, all the stress, whatever toxic load that you have been carrying, it needs to come out somehow. And your biggest detox organs are your liver, your skin — there's kind of other organs as well — but just know that if you feel like, um, you've got a little bit of brain fog or bloating, constipation, you feel quite fatigued, headaches, a skin rash, nausea when you started detoxing, that is all completely normal. Like often it will get a little bit worse before it gets better. That is a good sign. It means you're getting the stuff up and out.
And like Emily in her course when I had the stress, um, well I guess the mindfulness and meditation practice that was flushing out all the stored stress from my system, she had this like really silly song that was like better out than in, better out than in, uh huh — and that just kept sticking in my brain.
Every time I was having a rough time and I was like, yeah, it's coming out — better out than in, uh huh. So if you're going through these symptoms, just know: better out than in — your body.
And I am not immune to this either, my friends. Even with my lifestyle that I have, to date in my regular fasts I have not been able to go beyond 36 hours of water fasting. That seems to be my cut off point at the moment. I'm now gradually working up but, um, that is the point where my body switches into like really intense detox mode where I kid you not the first time I felt this I was like, I now understand what people feel when they go through withdrawal of like drugs, because unless you felt this sensation you cannot put — it's hard to even put it into words — but it's just like an actual physical ache. Like I can feel the toxins leaving my body and that's just like sugar and fast food and pollution etc. Like I lead a pretty healthy lifestyle, um, and I have pretty high detox symptoms myself. So just be gentle, start small, be graceful with anything you may be experiencing, and if you ever need help or support of course I'm always always here.
But look, hearing all of this insight there's probably one thing I invite you to just choose one thing where you can acknowledge that that area of your life right now probably needs the most care and attention. What is that specific area? Start there, and then from that space ask yourself: where am I on my journey? Am I in the beginner realm — you know, like am I just getting started — or am I kind of intermediate, or am I ready to go all the way advanced? But don't go all the way advanced if you are just getting started because that is your recipe for failure. You're not going to implement sustainable lifestyle behaviour changes if you try and do too much too soon. Meet yourself where you are please. And I've been purposely reiterating that through this episode so that you can feel fresher and more energised and thrive and let go of that sluggishness and any overindulgence that has accumulated over this holiday season.
I really look forward to hearing how this resonates with you. Pick one thing. Just one thing. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. I'll see you next week. Bye for now — Vik.
If the word mindfulness has ever felt vague, overwhelming or just a little out of reach, I created something just for you. Live in Presence: 8 Days of Mindfulness is my free online course that gently walks you through everything I wish I had known when I first heard the word mindfulness. It is a soft, spacious introduction to presence — there's no jargon, no overwhelm and no pressure to do it right, quote unquote. So over 8 days you'll receive short grounded lessons and simple practices that you can weave into your real life even if you are busy, tired or feeling totally out of sync. The link is in the show notes below or through the link in my bios at LVNHealth — because presence isn't something you have to earn, it's something you get to return to.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or anyone working within the LVNHealth brand. This space welcomes a diversity of ideas, experiences and stories, and part of Resonance is learning to take what aligns and gently leaving the rest.
Also while I am a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply passionate about well-being, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational purposes only. Resonance does not substitute personalised medical, psychological or therapeutic advice. Always seek guidance from qualified professionals for any physical, emotional or mental health concerns.
