Dr. Mark Hyman discusses how to personalize detox based on your genetics and exposure. He shares his own mercury poisoning recovery and covers practical steps like the Dirty Dozen produce list, glutathione support, and sauna use.
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Hold on to your hats. Where do we start? Because do we just stop eating tuna fish and we're done?
I mean, I'm on the board of a group called the Environmental Working Group, which is a really amazing organization that is research driven, data driven organization that uses existing databases and other resources to identify where we're getting our exposures to all sorts of environmental toxins. And they provide practical consumer guides for what to buy and what not to buy. So whether it's your household cleaning products or your skin care products or your sunblock, or what food you're eating, what vegetables you're eating, what meat you're eating, what fish you're eating, it basically provides really in depth consumer guides on how to reduce and avoid most of these toxins. So I find that really great. They have the Dirty Dozen, for example, which is the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables with pesticides and chemicals, and the clean 15, which are the least contaminated. So, you know, you could probably never eat a nectarine or strawberry if it's not organic, but you probably eat a banana or an avocado, right? So it's just like that. And things you might not think are bad. Like celery. Celery is terrible. So, you know, I think we really have to be very aware of, I mean, people are, for example, juicing non organic celery. It can be a harmful problem. So I think we can use those guys to really help us to reduce our overall exposures in our homes and in our environment. And we can also learn how to upregulate our own detoxification systems and do that in a way that's just sort of on a daily sustained basis, which I do because I've had mercury poisoning. I have a very sluggish detox system. I don't upregulate my glutathione, which is so important for detoxification. I have methylation problems, so I'm very proactive about personalizing my own detoxification biochemistry. And we can do that through some simple dietary inputs and supplements.
Mark, you just hit on something that I think is really critical and sort of the foundation of all functional medicine, which is that you need to know your data Tests don't guess right.
Yeah.
So you just referred to essentially some simple genetic testing and some simple evaluations that just really can give you great insight into. Oh, yeah, like, we're loyal to our toxins because of our genetics, but you can get rid of it.
Yes, absolutely. I think that's. That's important. Now, there are general principles that apply to everybody, and there's general approaches to detoxification, which is reduce your exposures. You know, include foods that upregulate detoxification, drink plenty of water, have regular bowel movements, try to get saunas in. Really simple things that I think are universal. But then there's, for example, for me, I need to make sure that I upregulate my glutathione. I take n. Acetylcysteine, I take lipoic acid, I make sure of selenium, and I have. Make sure that I'm eating crucifix vegetables every day, that I have garlic and onions, that I. That I'm very aware of this. And also take methylating support, and I take the right supplements. And so I think everybody is a little bit different, but. But there are some basic principles that work for everybody.
Yeah, it's like the common theme that runs through humanity. We all need D. Yeah.
Well, I mean, but the thing you're highlighting is we all are different. We all do need. We have similarities and we all have differences. And.
Yeah.
And knowledge is power. So getting to understand what. What's right for you is definitely not going to be the same that's right for your neighbor or anybody else. It's really important to keep that going.
Totally. So we have the bucket of reduce your exposures. We have the bucket of learn your individual needs by working with a functional medicine provider. Obviously, big plug for functional medicine. But when people start to clean things up, what do they notice? Like, what can they experience at not just pulling off the toxins, but really pulling out the toxins?
Well, different depending on the person. So, you know, we say if. If you don't have a headache and aspirin doesn't do much. Right. So I think if you're sick like I was, and you get rid of the heavy metals for mercury, then you will notice big difference over time. And for me, it went from basically being one step away from being on disability for the rest of my life to being recovered and highly functional, doing whatever I want. And I mean, I was riding my bike 100 miles a day, and literally the next day I couldn't walk up the stairs. Like, something just shifted in my system. And the heavy it was, you know, there's a philosophy of sort of this, this sort of overload syndrome. So your body can handle a certain amount until it, it can't. And then you fill up the, you fill up a glass until it overflows. And so the same thing with your body and toxins. Your body's able to sort of manage it and then boom, all of a sudden it can't, depending on you. And so some people who are symptomatic from problems with environmental toxins will have huge improvements in their health. I mean, whether it's, I just go through the list of patients in my head, whether it's reversing Alzheimer's, autism, eczema, chronic colitis, autoimmune diseases, just, just tremendous depression, you name it. When you start to work on people's detoxification and if they have high levels of these compounds in their body, they do see a big, big difference.
Yeah, I want to highlight, because we talk all about where the problems are and we want to really make sure to really concentrate on there. There is hope that people can get better. And there's a lot to do. You're not, look at me being sick.
I'm. I was so sick, I could literally not even read my daughter, who was a little kid, a story out loud and understand it. I had read it, I could read it out loud, but I wouldn't be able to kind of digest what it meant. And it was, that's how bad my brain was to having written, you know, 18 books since then.
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