Unblock your internal drainage pathways for effective detox & more energy

Do you fall prey to this popular health myth?

That the first step to healing is to detox your body.

If that’s what you believe, you’re actually missing out on a critical step: opening up your internal drainage pathways…which is a pre-detox process.

Think of it this way…

A mob breaks into a building. 

They trash the place, steal valuables, bust pipes, and spray graffiti.

The police jump in and try to pull them out… but the doors are blocked, so no one can get out. 

So the mess gets bigger and bigger inside the building.

Now picture this: the construction crew shows up and jumps into the fray, trying to clean and repair while the police and mob wrestle, causing more and more chaos inside the building.

Sounds like a disaster, right?

Well, that’s essentially what’s happening when you try to detox and repair your cells without first opening your internal drainage system.

In the mob analogy, the construction crew would never try to repair the building until the police vacated the place. Similar scenario: why would you try to detox your body without first opening up the pathways? 

The obvious solution is to unblock the doors (internal drainage system) first, so the police (natural detox protocols) can escort the mob (toxins, bacteria, parasites, and pathogens) out of the building. Then, the construction crew (dietary supplements, nutrients, lifestyle changes) can come in to repair the damage, making the building (your body) mob-proof.

The Internal Drainage Pathway

Each of us has an internal drainage pathway – organs inside our body that process information (such as food, air, liquids, or experiences), pull out and save what’s needed, then extract waste, pushing it toward an exit.

The pathways actually mimic a funnel inside your body. 

Toxins are poured into the top of the funnel and hopefully, make it out to the bottom. The problem is, often toxins are pouring into the top of the funnel faster than they are coming out of the bottom, which results in “overflow” to your organs, tissues, and cells. 

This overflow creates problems like body-wide inflammation, mitochondria dysfunction, and leaky gut/dysbiosis, resulting in low energy.

With a clear pathway, you’re able to experience more physical energy, mental clarity, healthy weight, a flatter belly, and radiant skin (just to name a few) as waste gets processed effectively and your internal systems begin functioning properly.

The first place to start building back your energy is by supporting the 8 organs of detoxification. 

 The 8 Organs of Detoxification

The 8 organs of detoxification are the liver, intestines/colon, skin, lungs, gallbladder, kidneys, lymphatics, and glymphatics.

These pathways must be open and clear so toxins can escape the body easily.

When they are blocked or stagnant, the toxic waste naturally produced by these organs recirculates—causing more damage rather than leaving the body as intended.

Therefore, the first step to detoxing effectively so you can have better digestive health, clear your skin, generate more immune cells, repopulate good bacteria, and increase your healthy lifespan…is to open your internal drainage system. 

The Open–Clear–Rebuild™ System

There are three aspects to this natural detox system:

Step 1: Open – this involves preparing the body to expel toxins out of your body by opening and clearing your internal drainage systems. Think of this like the pre-detox phase. 

Step 2: Clear – gut detox protocols to pull toxins caused by infections, parasites, bad bacteria, and environmental causes (i.e. chemicals, pollutants, heavy metals,) out of your cells, run them through your organs of detoxification, and eliminate them from your system.

Step 3: Rebuild – introducing interventions to repair the damage done by toxins to your digestive system and cells so you can heal, regenerate energy, restore good bacteria growth in your digestive system, strengthen your immune system, and eliminate common health concerns such as headaches, arthritis, skin conditions, brain fog, anxiety, and depression (just to name a few).

If you jump to Stage 2 (which most people do), it’s going to be impossible to see the results you desire. That’s why I always coach my clients to focus on opening their internal drainage pathways first.

How to Open Your Internal Drainage Pathways

The Open phase is absolutely critical for long-term gut health. Not only are you priming your organs of detoxification to expel waste, but you’re also nourishing them to stay strong and resilient.

Waste products include urine, feces, and sweat. Baseline activities to support the creation and elimination of those products include:

• Drinking sufficient water each day (a good rule of thumb is 8-12 cups of water per day; this equals 64 to 96 oz)
• Daily exercise (moving your body helps spur your internal systems into action, so if you experience digestive problems, mental health challenges, lackluster skin, poor sleep, and chronic stress, you’d likely benefit from an increase in daily movement)
• High-quality fiber (ideally from plant sources such as  soaked/sprouted beans and legumes, nuts, seeds, and produce)

Let’s explore additional ways you can support opening your internal drainage pathways and improve your natural detox processes:

Eat your herbs – support your liver by ingesting herbs like milk thistle, cayenne, dandelion root, turmeric, burdock root, artichoke leaf, fennel seed, red clover, ginger, ginseng, and green tea. Bring them into your meals or consume them in herbal tea form.

Gallbladder supplements – the gallbladder is a holding tank for bile, which is made in the liver and is a critical part of breaking down and processing food. You can support the gallbladder with dietary supplements including Tudca, milk thistle, vitamin B5, acetyl-L-carnitine, bitters, phosphatidylcholine, ox bile, and malic acid. 

Breathe deep – deep breathing helps exhale out toxins and bring oxygen to the cells in every part of your body. It also helps stimulate the vagus nerve, a key component in the parasympathetic nervous system which is in charge of our “rest and digest” functions. There are many breathing techniques available, like alternate nostril breathing, yoga breathing, and Wim Hof breathing, all of which help your lungs become an open internal drainage pathway.

Dry brushing – support your skin pathway with dry brushing. It helps remove toxins, opens up pores, and improves circulation. Make sure you dry brush properly to avoid damage and encourage lymphatic flow.

Eat more greens – bitter leafy greens (dandelion, arugula), broccoli, and brussels sprouts are incredibly good for your liver. Green apples have malic acid that supports your gallbladder.  Try putting them in a healthy smoothie. 

“Shock” your skin – there’s bad stress… and there’s good stress. Short intervals in saunas and cold plunges are “good” stress for your skin, putting them into a mild form of shock that helps release toxins from the skin, among many other health benefits. In fact, a recent study showed cold showers may have therapeutic benefits for depression.

Get more sleep – stimulate your glymphatic system (the brain’s lymphatic system) and detoxify the brain by getting enough sleep. When you sleep, the brain shrinks in size and releases toxins into the rest of the body via the internal drainage pathways. 

Eliminate your bowels 1-2 times per day – open up your intestinal drainage pathway by increasing the number and quality of your bowel movements. You’ll be able to remove solid waste more effectively by increasing daily fiber intake, exercising, and staying hydrated. This is my favorite non-habit forming product to assist you in having 1-3 eliminations per day. 

Bind and release toxins with dietary supplements – the Open Protocol is a curated bundle of supplements that support the complete Open–Clear–Rebuild™ system. It’s designed to open and nurture your internal drainage pathways, nourish your gut microbiome, extract toxins, bind them, and flush them out. It supports a healthy immune system, metabolism, digestive and mitochondrial function, promotes cellular renewal, and improves cognitive function, mental clarity, and focus.

It can be easy to look at this list of support aids and lifestyle recommendations and think, “This seems simple enough. I can do this on my own.”

And of course, many people try. 

But the truth is, everyone is different. And without knowing exactly what’s going on in your unique system, blindly employing these solutions is taking shots in the dark.

You may even be doing more harm than good trying to DIY your health.

When you work with a functional health practitioner (like me!), you turn on the light so you can actually see what you’re doing. Not only does this path save you time and stress, but it can also save you money, as you aren’t buying products you don’t really need.

If you think back to our mob analogy, functional health experts are like a digestive system SWAT team—we help you unblock doors quickly, move the toxic mob out, and fast-track repairs, so your body is as good as new in no time.

Let’s see if we’re a good fit – take your first step here.

Take Good Care,