Once you’ve determined you have mold illness through lab tests, you need to detox mold from your body. However, you need to detox with caution because detoxing those mold mycotoxins can cause a lot of problems, too. Essentially, if you stir them up and try to eliminate them more quickly than your already-compromised body can handle, you can make yourself worse.
Following are the specific organs and places in your body that you need to support as you begin to detox and begin your healing process. You don’t need anything terribly expensive – some nutritious, organic food, a binder and lifestyle changes will get you off to a great start to detox those mold mycotoxins out of your body.
How to Detox Mold From Your Body: 6 Areas and Remedies to Support Each
Your detoxification organs and systems include your liver, kidneys, colon, lungs, lymph, and skin. Because your body detoxifies every day, these areas need to be functioning properly.
3 Organs Known to Help You Detox
Colon
Because your colon is the end of your drainage funnel, it should be opened first. I know now that a clogged colon was probably the main reason I could not get well because I struggled with constant constipation and occasional bouts of diarrhea most of my life. You need to be pooping 2 to 3 times per day to get rid of the toxins.
Foods
Eat plenty of fiber-rich fresh vegetables – ideally organic so as not to add to your toxin load. Eat as many green leafy vegetables, carrots and cabbage as you can every day. These will provide you with the minerals and vitamins you need for all your other bodily processes, too.
High doses of vitamin C can also help you poop more. Try to find one that is not made from corn or other ingredients prone to contain mold.
Herbs
If you are having trouble pooping, some really great gentle, non-addictive herbs are Cascara sagrada bark, Aloe leaf, Rhubarb Root, Barberry root, Black Walnut hull (great for killing fungus also), and Senna leaf (be careful not to take too much of this one).
Liver
Your liver is your main detoxification organ. It cleans out your blood, which is where your body deposits its toxins to be removed.
Lower Toxin Load
With mold illness, it’s important to reduce your toxic load on your liver – your primary organ of elimination. Avoid additional exposure to mold, mycotoxins, plastics, and chemicals. Take a long break from foods that feed the fungus in your body, such as sugar (carbohydrates).
Herbs
Next, help your liver do its job by protecting it from toxins. Milk thistle protects cells of your liver.
Bitters such as dandelion root, gentian, goldenseal, and chicory will help flush out the toxins still in your liver. So using a combination of milk thistle and bitters is ideal.
You’ll find many preparations of milk thistle and bitters, but liquid is best. Take the milk thistle and bitters 20 minutes before meals. Then eat your high-fiber vegetables first, so they will catch the toxins as your liver and gallbladder flush them out.
Also, because your liver does most of its work while you sleep, you can take your bitters 20 minutes before bedtime, followed by a binder like a good, clean zeolite. The binder binds with the toxins so they travel out of your body instead of recirculating. You will also find many types of binders available, but certain ones such as bentonite clay can actually constipate you and make your symptoms worse.
Foods
Choose to eat foods that help your liver detoxify – such as dandelion greens, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, beets, salad greens, and lemon juice. Eat as much of these as you can every day, in whole form rather than juice. (These foods contain a lot of carbs, and even more when juiced!) These fiber-rich foods will catch the mycotoxins in your body and escort them out.
Kidneys
Your kidneys filter about a half cup of blood per minute, escorting out toxins and any excess water when you pee.
Water
Drinking plenty of clean water is essential for all of your detoxification pathways, but is by far the most-needed helper for your kidneys. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water every day, and more if you are sweating.
Herbs
Herbal that help protect and support your kidneys include marshmallow root, parsley, collinsonia root, uva ursi, hydrangea paniculata, cranberry, nettle, and juniper berry (affiliate link).
Foods
Eat parsley, cilantro, green tea, and alfalfa to support your kidneys.
Lastly, since your kidneys receive their “cleaning assignment” from your liver, the support you give your liver will also help your kidneys.
3 Less Obvious Areas of Your Body That Help You Detox
Lungs
Your lungs filter out airborne toxins like CO2, fumes, mold, and allergens.
Breathing
As simple as it sounds, you naturally detox your lungs by inhaling and exhaling deeply because oxygen is a great detoxifier of mold and mycotoxins. I even set a reminder and alarm on my phone to go out into the fresh air daily (generally, inside air is more toxic than outside air) and take 10 deep slow breaths. Make sure you are belly breathing, filling your belly full and slowly exhaling it all out. Do this as many times per day as you can.
Foods
Foods with spicy or pungent flavors and slippery or soothing textures are best for lung detoxification. Turnip, radish, mustard, horseradish, garlic, onions, and cayenne (if you can eat nightshades) make great choices.
Herbs
Pleurisy root, peppermint, mullein, thyme, and lobelia support your lungs best. I have found that Alvita mullein tea works wonders for lung congestion.
Lymph
Your body’s “sewer system” removes products of infection, bacteria, virus, and other pathogens from your circulation. Lymphatic congestion is a major contributor to inflammation and disease. In mold illness, your lymph system is already clogged up by mold mycotoxins that your cells are trying to get rid of.
The problem is, while your circulatory system has a pump (your heart), your lymphatic system does not have a pump to keep toxins flowing out. But that’s ok because we are fearfully and wonderfully made – and can do several things to help your lymph system clean your body well.
Herbs
Herbal teas such as red clover, mullein, goldenseal, ginger, sarsaparilla (which binds endotoxins), goldenseal, cleavers, and olive leaf support your lymph system.
Foods
Fresh leafy greens and other produce, garlic, ginger, and turmeric will improve your lymphatic circulation. Also, water, water, water!
Activites
inversion table (helps flush out the built up toxins and clear the lactic acid that can cause pain)
lymph massage
dry brushing your skin
alternating hot and cold in the shower
moving of your body
deep breathing
Clothing
Wear loose-fitting clothing, especially while you sleep. Also consider wearing a bralette instead of a tighter fitting bra. Your breasts are a common area for lymph circulation to get blocked, which can lead to inflammation and even disease – like cancer.
For more on your lymph system, read my blog, specific to taking care of your body’s sewer system.
Skin
Your skin is your largest eliminative organ, and its job is to sweat out toxins.
Foods
Foods that are great for your skin include sunflower seeds or sun butter, walnuts, purple cabbage, beets, oat straw, and the herb nettle.
Activities
exercise that makes you sweat
drinking enough water to replace the sweating you do
saunas
Epsom salt baths
dry brushing to get the dead skin cells off
As you can see, you’ve got a lot of living parts involved in your body’s natural detoxification process. Each needs to be supported and working properly. If one area is struggling, the other areas either try to compensate or suffer as a result, or both.
Because your colon serves as your primary detox organ, it’s best to start with it, making sure you are pooping 2 or 3 times a day. Otherwise, you’re helping the rest of your body detox, only to get clogged at your colon. Later, as you work your way up your other detox areas, your skin should improve too. If deciding the right next steps to detox mold from your body seems daunting, especially if you have other medical conditions to consider, Click here to set up a complimentary Breakthrough call to see if we could work together.
