The Importance of a Pre-Pregnancy Detox

The term “detox” is often used in reference to a juice cleanse or quick weight loss fix. But, in reality, a detox is so much more than that.

Detoxification involves the process of eliminating toxins from the body as well as reducing your exposure to them in the first place.

While there are various seasons and circumstances when a detox is appropriate, the time period before conception and becoming pregnant is at the top of my list.

The preconception, or pre-pregnancy (Before the Bump) time period is such a crucial window that allows us to optimize our body, mind, soul, home, and environment so that our future children are set up for optimal health from the beginning!

Optimizing our health during this time also supports our hormones and egg and sperm quality, ultimately affecting our ability to conceive, maintain a pregnancy, and have healthy babies!

What is a Pre-Pregnancy Detox?

A pre-pregnancy, or preconception, detox consists of three phases:

1. Understanding Toxins

   Toxins play a huge role in our world today. They exist indoors and outdoors, entering our bodies in multiple ways, many are being made by our own bodies, and we are exposed to mental/emotional toxins from the content we consume on a daily basis. It’s important to understand what toxins are and how they affect our bodies.

   
   
   

2. Reducing Toxin Exposure

   Given our toxic environment, we need to better understand how to limit our exposure to toxins. In my analogy of the detox faucet and drain, which you can read about more here, this is how we decrease the flow of the water coming in. There are many ways we can do so, including the foods we eat, water we drink, cosmetics and products we use, and items we choose to purchase and bring into our homes.

   
   
   

3. Removing Toxins

   Once toxin exposure is reduced, eliminating toxins from the body is the next essential step. This is where we actually support the body, from the liver to the organs of elimination: bowels, kidneys, lungs, lymph, and skin. The key is to do this in the correct order, because we don’t want to push detoxification upstream if the downstream areas are blocked or not working correctly.

Why a Preconception Detox Matters

Toxins and Female Fertility

Toxins impact fertility in big ways. Given the increase in toxins over the last several decades, it’s no wonder infertility rates are higher than ever before. So, how do toxins inhibit fertility?

When it comes to the female body, toxins create inflammation, leading to damage to the reproductive system and imbalances such as endometriosis. Many toxins are endocrine disruptors, meaning they impact your hormones. As a result, women may experience hormonal imbalances that affect ovulation and their ability to conceive. Toxins are also oxidants that cause damage to a woman’s eggs, resulting in poorer egg quality, a key piece to a healthy pregnancy and baby.

Toxins and Male Fertility

However, it doesn't stop there. Men are also greatly at risk of contributing to infertility issues due to toxin exposure. Surprisingly, 40% of infertility cases are male-factor. In the male body, toxins lead to low testosterone, affecting sperm production. Toxins damage DNA in sperm, leading to low sperm count and poor sperm quality. These impact a couple’s ability to conceive.

On top of that, we are now finding that low sperm quality resulting in low embryo quality is a common cause of miscarriages.

For these reasons, I recommend both partners participate in a preconception detox.

TOXINS & BABy

Once a woman becomes pregnant, her toxic burden is passed down to her baby. These toxins travel through the placenta and eventually through breast milk. Some studies show that at the time of birth, many babies have over 300 different environmental chemicals in their blood. Many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer and are toxic to the brain and nervous system. In babies, this high toxic burden can lead to unfavorable epigenetic expressions and contribute to chronic conditions such as allergies, autoimmune diseases, eczema, asthma, and autism. 

Consider this: 40% of pregnancies are unplanned. So, regardless if you’re trying to conceive or not, it’s essential to lead a healthy lifestyle. Your future baby’s life and health depends on it! If you are planning to conceive within the next 3-12 months, it is especially important that you become aware of how to reduce toxic exposure and eliminate the toxins you already carry.  Not only is it necessary for your own health, but also for the health of your future little ones. 

For these reasons and more, I encourage all of my soon-to-be mothers and fathers to do a preconception detox before conception, or before the bump!

Want to get started?

Download my free Baby Seeds™ Before the Bump Detox Guide

For the first 5 steps to take to begin the journey of detoxing prior to pregnancy!

What Are Toxins, Exactly?

Toxins are a general term for chemicals and substances that can be made internally in our body, are found naturally in nature, or are artificial or man-made. A substance is considered a toxin when it brings harm to our body for some reason.

Toxins are all around us -- in the water we drink, the air we breathe, the foods we eat, the medications we take. They can be in our gardens, our furniture, our kitchens, our homes, our relationships, and our minds. We make internal toxins as a natural process of living that our bodies need to deal with on a daily basis. AND because of the industrial revolution, byproducts from the toxic warfare from the last two world wars, and from being a product of the past century of the “life made better through chemistry” era, we have more artificial and incredibly damaging toxins in our environment than ever before. We have to be more cautious and diligent about our exposure and detox-ability than any of our ancestors ever had to before us.

SOURCES OF TOXINS:

Toxins can be found in nature, but today, the majority of toxins occur as a result of the industrial, agricultural, and consumer product industries. They come from our environment and our lifestyle choices.

As you can see, toxins surround us. They are a part of our everyday lives, which is why we must become more aware of these health-compromising chemicals and learn to optimize our ability to detox and get rid of them, especially prior to pregnancy.

Want to get started?

Download my free Baby Seeds™ Before the Bump Detox Guide

For the first 5 steps to take to begin the journey of detoxing prior to pregnancy!