[Angela Foster] (0:14 - 1:40)
Hi friends, in today's episode, I'm sitting down with my friend and fellow podcast host Adam Parker. Adam is an executive wellness and performance coach, speaker and host of the top rated Ideal Day podcast. And today we're diving into the world of detoxification, what that actually means in the modern world and how supporting our detox pathways on a daily basis through things like hydration, minerals, micronutrients, fibre, movement, and heat exposure can make a real difference.

As with many areas of health and performance, approaches can vary and what's appropriate depends on the individual, their health history and context. So just to say this conversation is not medical advice. It's really intended to explore ideas, mechanisms, and lived experience, not to replace personalised care.

So if you are considering any form of detox or intensive intervention, particularly if you have a medical condition or you're taking any medication, please speak to a qualified healthcare professional first. Really, my role here is to ask the questions and challenge assumptions and really just help you think critically about what really supports health and long-term resiliency. And part of that is daily detoxification.

So without further delay, let's dive in. It's a pleasure to be back, Angela. Absolutely.

It's great to have you back. It's great to have you here. Let's dive straight in because we're going to be talking about detoxification.

We all need some help, I think, detoxifying in the modern world. Why don't we start with what is detox?

[Adam Parker] (1:42 - 2:26)
So detox is really important today. We live in a very interesting time, a lot of toxins in the environment. It's very clear to see that we're exposed to a lot today, even compared to even 10 years ago.

So detox, quite simply, it's a natural process that the body does already. It's always detoxing, but it's a way of removing certain compounds and man-made chemicals, heavy metals. There's a lot of stuff we can talk that we need to get rid of.

It's a way of proactively letting it get out of the body. Now again, the body's naturally doing it, but when we live in a very toxic environment, if there's more toxins coming in than leaving, it's good to give it a bit of support there.

[Angela Foster] (2:28 - 2:35)
Yeah. And when we're looking at detoxification, how would somebody know that they needed to go on a detox?

[Adam Parker] (2:35 - 4:04)
Yeah. What's really interesting is a lot of the everyday symptoms, we don't put towards it may being a toxicity issue with my body. So honestly, it can be a whole host of things.

When the body is imbalanced, the manifestation of symptoms is normally the wake-up call, as in, right, I need to do something. So one of the first things that everyone will experience is digestive issues. So when the digestive system starts to get compromised, usually that's the kind of domino effect for everything else.

So with digestion, it could be gas, bloating, all the way from constipation, diarrhoea, or I just react to a certain food. I used to be able to eat eggs, and now I just flare up, I get a really weird reaction. So things like that.

And what people normally do is, oh, I can't eat that food anymore, must be an intolerance or allergy, and I'll just avoid that food. And we make these mitigation strategies where we start to just reduct things from our lifestyles. So digestion is a big one there.

Other ones can be brain fog, fatigue is another one as well, where you just don't have the energy that you used to have, and you're reliant on coffee. Detox is a pillar, one pillar of many pillars when it comes to being healthy. And the reason I'm so passionate about it is because it's a pillar that nobody really has a lot of education on, and there's so much misconception around what it is.

[Angela Foster] (4:05 - 4:29)
And is it fair to say that, I mean, this is a daily process, right? Our bodies are detoxifying daily on an ongoing basis, and that's important, but there are extra things that we can do to help. Many people in the medical community, for example, will say that you don't need to go on a detox because your body is detoxifying.

What would you say about that?

[Adam Parker] (4:30 - 6:50)
I agree. Absolutely. They are, to one part, our bodies are always detoxifying.

Our bodies are constantly trying to find homeostasis and balance. So we are detoxifying all the time through our breath, through peeing and pooping, through sweating. We're constantly detoxifying, absolutely.

Now that begs the question, well, why is detoxing needed, right? We live in a very different environment to, I mean, not even 20 years ago, I mean, I look at our hunter-gatherer ancestors, right? Completely different environment.

Genetically, we're pretty much the same. We live in really an alien world now where we're exposed to all these different things, heavy metals, chemicals, and we'll jump into the main ones and each kind of compound within them. And that is putting a lot of stress and pressure on our systems.

So it's a real simple math equation. If there's more toxins coming into the body, then the body is naturally able to get rid of, we're going to create a positive or a negative delta of toxins building up. And we're seeing a high level of, especially man-made chemicals and heavy metals, getting trapped in the body, getting trapped in lipophilic fat tissue.

So toxins are fat-attracted lipophilic. So when we ingest these toxins, the body will want to push them out of circulation because that's a danger in regards to our survival. So we end up storing these toxins in our fat tissue.

And we can see when people who are looking to lose weight, there's a huge detox process going there because the fat has encapsulated a huge amount of these toxins, and that's getting released into the system so they can get flu-like symptoms or headaches or just feeling really, really bad because those toxins are now being released and have to be exposed out of the body. So yes, we are always detoxing, but the environment we're now living in means that if we're proactive, and again, detoxing, we'll jump into what we can do, it doesn't have to be, you don't have to change your life. It can be simple daily practises that most likely a lot of your audience are already doing that help aid in the detoxification process.

We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We're just trying to aid in the process the body is naturally doing to get those toxins out faster.

[Angela Foster] (6:51 - 8:03)
It's interesting what you say there around them being lipophilic, these toxins, and you know, they go into body fat because we know that, for example, obesity is a high risk for certain types of cancer. When we look at someone who's lean then, right, who's athletic, I mean, there's so many things now that are going to come into play though because the person who is exercising a lot, that's also helping detoxification, but if we just sort of compare a side-by-side then of somebody who is lean and muscular has lower body fat compared to somebody who is maybe less muscular has higher body fat, then it would stand to reason, would it, that the person that has higher body fat may have a higher stored toxic load within their body if those two people are in the same environment. So does that mean then that even if that is the case, if two people are exposed to the same things, a body that is kind of leaner and maybe metabolically healthier should be clearing or at least there's nothing for those toxins to, well, there is some because everyone has the body fat, but there's not as much for those toxins to be drawn into and kind of take their hold within the body.

Is that true?

[Adam Parker] (8:04 - 10:13)
That is true. And there's so many different areas I can touch on here. So, yes, if someone is more metabolically flexible, they're healthier, they exercise more, they've got a good diet, they have a stronger terrain, right?

So I follow the terrain philosophy in terms of the body. We're only as susceptible to disease as good as our terrain is. So if we have a good internal terrain, we have less toxicity, we have less body fat, we eat well, we're nourished, that's going to create a condition where if person A and person B are exposed to the same toxin, most likely that person A who's the healthier version is going to be fine.

But there's so many other areas to consider here. Also, there's a genetic component as well. Some people genetically have certain SNPs that can be challenging when it comes to detoxification.

The comp gene, MTHFR gene as well, there's that. There's also something I call your constitution. And I got this from Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride of the GAPS diet. And she talks about your constitution essentially coming from firstly, when you're born and you only get your microbiome is as good as your mother's. And it gets passed on. So if the mother has a good microbiome, you'll get a good microbiome.

And then how were you raised? Were you breastfed? How much antibiotics were you exposed to as a kid?

What food did you eat as a kid? So that creates, and there's all these different elements that create your constitution of how robust you are. What food were you eating?

You know, Dr. Kate Shanahan talks about certain foods that are needed at certain ages to build a good, robust foundation. So there's many different kind of facets of that. But essentially, if you've got less body fat, you're healthy, you look after yourself, you're going to be less susceptible to, if you do get exposed to toxins, not storing them, and the body will detoxify them, you know, more naturally versus someone who doesn't exercise and, you know, doesn't have a good diet, doesn't have that metabolic flexibility.

And it all comes down to the terrain of the individual, how healthy that manifests and how healthy they are and how they react to these exposures.

[Angela Foster] (10:14 - 10:54)
It's interesting, isn't it? Because really what you're describing there is almost like, I suppose, somebody who has good management of their nervous system, they're allowed to clear thought, they can clear thoughts more easily, right? They don't hold on to emotions quite as well.

And it's the same, right? If you're metabolically healthy, you're not going to hold on to these things maybe in quite the same way. You mentioned genetics there.

There's also, I think, the GSTM1, is it, and GSTT1 genes that impact glutathione, for example, a lot of people are familiar with glutathione because they take it liposomally or they might take its precursor, NAC, for example. Are there certain supplements that you think can be supportive of our detox pathways?

[Adam Parker] (10:54 - 13:58)
Oh, there's plenty. There's absolutely plenty. So again, it's where do you want to start in terms of, there's so many different types of supplements that do different things in the detoxification process.

So for example, if we look at the detox pathway, so that's how toxins are eliminated out of the body. So the bottom of the funnel is the colon. Then you move up to the liver and the gallbladder, up to lymph, up to the organs, and then finally in the cells.

So at which level or which stage do you want to look to optimise? Now, I would always say you've got to look to optimise the colon because the bottom of the drain is funnel. And if we are constipated that, I mean, constipation can cause, can wreck people's lives.

You know, it can, it dictates your day. It impacts your energy levels, your mood, everything. So if we're looking there, you could take things like a magnesium oxide supplement that will help break the faecal matter off the colon and intestinal walls and get you going regular.

That's really important because if we're, if we can do all the detoxing we like, but if we're constipated, everything will just recirculate and then we'll basically, uh, you know, continue to essentially have these toxins going around our system. So colon, absolutely. We can do things like magnesium oxide.

There's loads of other things we can do. Supplementation is just one element of detox. There's protocols you can do in the comfort of your own home.

There's things, there's so much you can do. If we're looking just at supplements, you would have, I would say for colon, we would have that. Then with liver, there's plenty.

We can look at milk thistle, dandelion is amazing for, uh, liver stagnation and really getting the bile flow going through the liver. A big challenge that we have today, and it's not talked about is liver stagnation and most more specifically bile, sluggish bile, stagnant bile. Uh, bile is needed for so many things, digestion, um, uh, absorption of fat, soluble minerals and vitamins.

So people have sluggish bile due to the, the liver being just overburdened with toxins and just promoting bile flow is a game changer. So this is not really a supplement. I actually, um, did an Instagram story about it this week.

Swedish bitters are absolute game changers, the old school in a bottle. Um, there's loads of really good kind of, uh, really that kind of look really old, these brands, and that absolutely works wonders with, you know, just before you have a meal, uh, before you go to bed, a little, um, teaspoon of, uh, Swedish bitters as well, because the liver goes into a big cleansing process at night. If people wake up around two or three in the morning, it's usually there's some liver stagnation.

If you look at the Chinese, um, body clock, you can just Google it. You see at certain times of the day, certain organs are really firing up and around two or three in the morning. It is the liver.

So that's what you can use when it comes to the liver. I mean, there's, there's, there's endless supplements that you can use.

[Angela Foster] (14:01 - 15:24)
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[Adam Parker] (15:26 - 15:47)
So it really depends. Yes. Things like glutathione are great because that essentially is the, our master antioxidant.

And we need, we need it to detox. But what we can also do is promote glutathione naturally, you know, through the foods we eat and through certain protocols. Um, I don't know if your audience will be familiar with things like coffee.

[Angela Foster] (15:47 - 16:23)
It's interesting when you, I just want to pause on the, on the coffee animal, right, because I've had different views on this in terms of on the podcast. For example, I think when I spoke to, um, Dr. Megan Rossi, the gut health, um, doctor, she's very like, uh, cautious about something like a coffee animal, because you're putting something in your body, inside your body, right. Uh, that it's not really designed as a cleanliness issue.

There's bacteria there and a microbial, a composition, if you like, that we don't want to disturb and things like that. So I know that like, um, there seem to be differing opinions on this as to whether it is or isn't good.

[Adam Parker] (16:23 - 17:31)
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, here's the thing I think in the world we live in, um, you're never going to get one clear view on something. Absolutely.

Uh, at least on anything on any diet, there's always going to be opposing views. And I welcome them because it forces people to think and make the best decision for them. What I can tell you from my experience and my experience in practise, I mean, I've been doing coffee animals for 10 years, I do them once a week and, um, I wouldn't miss them.

Now, in terms of my perspective, they are backed. I think there's been a hundred years of, of, since coffee animals started and they were documented again. You know, I don't necessarily agree with everything the therapy process involves.

It's a lot of juicing, et cetera. Um, but again, they use coffee animals because they're trying to stimulate the liver, um, to dump bile and bile is, is essentially what stores toxins. So, uh, the liver breaks down toxins from phase one to phase two, and that gets pushed into the bile.

And if our bile is sluggish and stagnant, it's not going to move. So I get it.

[Angela Foster] (17:31 - 17:39)
Mechanism then. So you're into putting coffee in through an enema and that, how is that then affecting the liver?

[Adam Parker] (17:39 - 20:36)
Yeah. So firstly, so firstly, going back to the original point, absolutely. If you're going to try anything like coffee enema, do your research, seek guidance, if you feel you need to.

Uh, this is not just, you know, getting some Starbucks coffee type situation. So, uh, you firstly, you've got to firstly have a, an enema bag that is, um, either steel or silicone, and then you would source the right coffee. So you wouldn't source normal coffee.

You'd source coffee, enema coffee, which if you look at it, it's very light roasted. You wouldn't, you wouldn't drink it. It's very high in palmatic acid and caffeine specifically.

It's, it's roasted specifically for this purpose. You brew the coffee, make sure it's a nice temperature, right? Because you don't want to burn yourself.

So what it does when, when you, when you retain a coffee in a coffee and it's a retention enema, so you would insert it and relax for about 10 up to 20 minutes. So what it does, the high caffeine and the, uh, palmatic acid stimulates something called the hepatic portal vein, which is the vein that goes through your digestive system. And it's at the, it's a certain point in your large intestine.

So when the coffee, um, basically in comes in contact with that vein, it stimulates that vein to basically communicate up to the liver to start getting the liver and bile to excrete the liver and gallbladder to excrete bile. So you'll be, you will, you'll insert the coffee and you rely on it. I would ideally say your left-hand side and you'll hear your gallbladder making gurgling noises, and that's the gallbladder basically releasing a bile, which, which happens normally when you are eating a fatty meal, if you're having a steak or something like that, that's, that's the liver and gallbladder's job to release bile.

That will help break down those fats. As I said, bile does many things. It also helps remove, pulls toxins out of the liver as well.

So that's the mechanism. And then after 20 minutes, you get up and then release, uh, what's there into the toilet. But I get it.

There's this conflicting opinions is always going to be. And ultimately it depends on the individual and how they feel about the said protocol or whatever it is. So some people who don't drink coffee and are sensitive to caffeine are fine.

It actually, uh, stimulates your rest and digest, uh, side of your nervous system. And, uh, you know, puts you into parasympathetic and it's very relaxing. So again, it's, it's interesting until you've done it.

It's, it's hard to, I get it coming from. If you've not done it, you're like, what I would do that. No way.

And I get a lot of clients who I work with are hesitant. And once they've done one, they're, they're sold. They're like this, this absolutely has value.

And just another pointer, a little pro tip. If you ever do a coffee and make sure you take a binder afterwards, because you're dumping a lot into the system and you want to make sure you bind onto those toxins that again, are carried through into the, uh, small, large intestine via the vial.

[Angela Foster] (20:37 - 20:43)
Okay. So you need a binder in terms of what, something like activated charcoal or what type of binder?

[Adam Parker] (20:43 - 21:25)
Yeah. Activated charcoal, uh, zeolites. I would personally take it just before just so it's, it's already in the system.

Um, and again, I would say that even if you're doing a sauna, because when you're doing any active detox, you're either detoxing through your sweat or primarily the body likes to detox into the digestive system. So that means what happens if these toxins are stored in the fat tissue or in organs get released into the system, which is the blood and then the digestive system, it can cause, you know, stomach upset or a bit nausea, you know, things that they're kind of entry-level symptoms of detox. So you want to make sure you just bind onto those toxins as they get released.

[Angela Foster] (21:25 - 21:39)
Is the coffee enema itself stimulating the release of those toxins or it's more stimulating the bowel flow and the liver? So if you've got, if you've got toxins in your body, is it going to pull them? Like, is it best combined with a sauna or something like that?

[Adam Parker] (21:39 - 22:18)
It's stimulating the, primarily the liver and the gallbladder to release bile. So it's not, so here's the thing, everything works together. So yes, it's probably going to have a knock-on effect because as the body starts to lower its toxin load, it's going to automatically start to stimulate other things to work.

Again, you can't, that's more of an intuition than a science-backed claim. But for coffee enemas specifically, it is stimulating the liver and gallbladder to dump bile into the system. And bile is what stores the toxins that come out of the liver.

That's the rationale around coffee enemas.

[Angela Foster] (22:18 - 22:52)
So when we're looking at going in the, in the sauna, a lot of people use this for detoxification. And there's many benefits for sauna, although recent research is now coming out that actually hot, hot tubs are better even potentially than sauna. It's quite interesting.

Um, so when we're looking at heat, we're going to dissipate some of this, as you mentioned earlier through the skin. Um, but what's happening, you mentioned about taking a binder there as well. Um, now that saunas is like so accessible for sauna blankets, things like this.

I'd love you to explain more about it.

[Adam Parker] (22:52 - 26:45)
Saunas are amazing. They are fantastic. If you just look at the data on saunas, it's incredible.

I think the, I'm sure you've heard of this study already, but it blows my mind. There was a study done in Finland over 25 years, and they basically, uh, did the study on men, I think between 40 and 60 and the ones that saunas five days a week had, uh, the risk of all cause mortality was reduced by 50%, just by sauna, you know, not looking at any other factors. So sauna is super powerful.

And again, it's steeped into many different, um, cultures, traditions, uh, primarily, uh, Finland. And it's, it's great. If you ever go there, they've got, they've got more saunas than people.

It's fantastic. So sauna is really a real big tool in the detox game. And yes, you can absolutely really get ahead in releasing a lot of, especially heavy metals through, through sauna.

Yeah. With, you always get again, conflicting opinions on sometimes you hear saunas, that, you know, I hear recently with men, it's like, don't sauna too much. Cause it's bad for your fertility.

Like there's all, there's always these contradicting angles. And I think with anything it caught it, we should take pause on getting into the research and making the decision for ourselves and what resonates with us, but also understanding that everything has a level of moderation to it. So, um, obviously five times a week, saunering reduced all cause mortality.

You could say that's excessive, but those were the stats. So saunas is fantastic for, uh, not only removing heavy metals, but man-made, uh, chemicals, uh, that can be really hard to remove, um, beyond sauna. So it's really beneficial.

Now you could definitely take a binders going in. I would recommend that every time there's a really good, um, protocol called the niacin, um, sauna protocol, which I've tried again, that that's kind of more advanced stuff. We take niacin, uh, before you go in and you exercise before to get more toxins coming out.

But in general, you don't need to do that on the flush, right? Well, it, it, it does create a flush effects, but it's not the flush effects. Um, that actually causes it, um, it causes a rebound effect in your body kicking in and burning, burning fat.

So when you take niacin, your body stops fat burning or lipolysis, it stops it for about, uh, I think about an hour, but when it comes back, it kind of, it's like a springback effect. So then it will start, um, basically kicking in, um, kicking lipolysis in even more. So when you, you kind of time it to go in at that point.

So then as you sweat, you'll, you'll sweat more toxins. That's the rationale behind it behind. It's not actually the flushing that they've discovered.

That's this, that's one thing you can do. You don't need to do that. I've done it.

It's very powerful. Uh, but taking binders is, is, is essential going into a sauna, making sure you're hydrated going into a sauna, because you don't want to be dehydrated going in because you can feel faint and it can have a load of knock on effects for the rest of your day. But saunering is something that I recommend all of my clients do.

And as you said, it's so accessible today. You can, you can have sauna blankets. I've currently got a sauna blanket.

I now live in Portugal when I lived in London. Uh, I have a infrared sauna in my home. I'm looking to get one here in Portugal.

So I do it at least at least once a week, maybe, you know, depending on the schedule. Uh, but it's very beneficial for removing those man-made, uh, chemicals and heavy metals, uh, into the sweat. And it's very important that when you're in a sauna to get the best out of it, you want to be constantly wiping down your body.

So you're creating your body to produce more sweat. So as, so people sometimes get credit cards and they kind of whisk the credit cards, I will just take like a, you can't do this if you're in a sauna blanket, but if you're in a sauna, just take like a flannel and just be constantly just wiping yourself down because then you're just drawing more sweat out.

[Angela Foster] (26:46 - 26:49)
So the more you take the sweat off, the more your body will produce more sweat.

[Adam Parker] (26:49 - 27:59)
Absolutely. Yeah. Cause the body, the body, again, when you're in a sauna, the body is trying to rebalance.

It's like, oh, this is really hot. I must sweat to cool down. So as you are just like wiping the sweat off of you, the body will just keep producing more and more and more.

So that's a really good way to get more and effective. The art, the other thing you want to do, and I got this from the nice and protocol, you want to get your heart rate up before going in. So for example, if you've ever, you know, if you have a sauna in your gym, it's perfect because you've just worked out your heart rates up and then going to the sauna, your body's already at a certain level where you're going to sweat a lot quicker, the heart rate's already up.

Things are moving. Whereas if you go in cold, right? So you just like, you just, you've been relaxing, you go into a sauna.

It normally takes you a lot longer to get a swell. So working out prior to sauna is again, another bang for buck that you can get. So working out before having a flannel or a credit card, and then making sure, you know, I would ideally take a binder before and after just to make sure.

Um, but that, that's a really good setup for the sauna.

[Angela Foster] (28:00 - 28:12)
So when we're talking about the binder here, because obviously with the heat, we're releasing toxins through the skin. This is because it's stimulating overall detoxification pathways into the gut as well. Is that the purpose of the binder?

[Adam Parker] (28:13 - 29:35)
Yeah. So when, so when you, when you, when you detox, so when you're sweating, you're going to be sweating out the skin, but you're also going to be releasing toxins into the digestive system as well. Because again, the body ideally prefers pushing toxins into the gut.

So yes, if you were to collect your sweat, I wouldn't recommend it. And then get that tested. You would see certain levels of heavy metals and chemicals coming out.

Absolutely. But it's also, it's not, it's not just one way it's being pushed also into your digestive system. So we just want to make sure that we grab them, grab onto them.

Now, listen, if you don't do a binder, it's not the end of the world. You know, most people might always feel fine, but it can do again, if you're, it depends on how big the, how long you're in the sauna and all that sort of stuff. The worst you'll get is maybe a bit of an upset stomach or maybe nothing.

But for me, I'm like, how do we get these toxins out so they don't recirculate? And the easiest way is just make sure we take a binder. It can be, I love zeolites.

I think they're great. You can do an activated charcoal, bentonite clay. There's, there's so many binders.

I mean, there's all these different blends, you know, I, I don't have an, uh, I don't have a certain, like a leaning towards any particular binder. Um, but it's really important that you take one, um, because it's just going to mitigate any, maybe stomach upset afterwards. And also you're grabbing onto everything that you're releasing.

[Angela Foster] (29:36 - 29:38)
Or maybe a headache even, right?

[Adam Parker] (29:38 - 29:51)
Headache. Yeah. I mean, whole host of things, digestive issues, headache, tiredness, fatigue.

Maybe I can't focus. Maybe I'm not, my brain's not switching on. Can be many things of mild kind of detox symptoms.

[Angela Foster] (29:52 - 30:05)
What about, um, minerals? So obviously that's going to be important as well, right? If you're sweating a lot, um, in terms of, and then protecting against, uh, things like headaches.

But what about like fulvic and humic minerals? These can also help with detoxification.

[Adam Parker] (30:05 - 33:07)
Absolutely. Really important. So that is, I talk about, there's a, there's a lot of things that you can do that promote detox that isn't what we would think is detox.

So I talk about having daily detox disciplines, things you do every single day, and one of them is taking minerals. This is so important. Um, I love fulvic humic minerals and they're great.

I love the guys at beam. Um, they're fantastic. It's a great brand.

And the reality is even if we eat really well and we're doing all the supplements, we're most likely going to have some mineral deficiencies. Now, the reason being is twofold. Firstly, there are more heavy metals in the environment than ever before.

They're in our air, water, absolutely everywhere. And what you find is heavy metals and minerals. They have a bit of a war going on within our bodies for binding to our cell receptors.

So in the absence of minerals, the body will uptake heavy metals and use them. So for example, if you don't have enough zinc, the body will use cadmium, which we find in secondhand smoke and vaping, et cetera. So there's a constant war going on between minerals and heavy metals.

Alongside that the food we now eat, even if we're going to the farmer's market and we're doing all the right things, the nutritional content of our food isn't what it once was. And there's plenty of studies to back this up. They've, they've tested, uh, certain vegetables from 20 years ago to now.

There's a definite decline and the decline is happening due to modern farming practises and monocropping. There's a whole host of things, even the way, um, vegetables and food is stored and packaged, getting to the market. Like a lot of them are picked early and there's a whole process on making it profitable and a great system to getting things to the supermarket that don't necessarily benefit the nutritional value of the products.

So we, we, we struggle to get minerals. So for me, having minerals every single day is really a foundational piece of detox because it will absolutely help you detox as you have more minerals. It will help push the heavy metals out gently out of the body.

So minerals can come in all forms. It can come in trace minerals, can come in fulvic and humic acids. It can come in unrefined sea salts.

It can come in making bone broths, um, just eating more organic foods. Many ways, but we have to, I think it's really important that we always are having some form of minerals in our, in our drinking water every day, whether that's salt or, you know, it could be fulvic or humic, it could be apple cider vinegar, it doesn't really matter what, whatever's the personal preference for the individual, but minerals are the sparkplug of our metabolism and we don't have enough minerals, we don't have really the fuel to detox and the final point as, as when we're in a sauna, as we're releasing metals, we're also releasing minerals in that process as well.

So we have to make sure we are dialled in on our minerals as a daily habit.

[Angela Foster] (33:08 - 34:51)
Yeah. A hundred percent. I've noticed that as well.

I think in high output people, they've burned through minerals as well, quite a bit faster. And I think that's something to think about, isn't it? It's not always just the, um, the, the sweat from exercise, but also the stress of life, um, is yeah, putting extra pressure also like caffeine consumption reduces minerals, um, particularly sodium.

Um, it's interesting when, um, one other day, one other compound that I'm interested in, in terms of detoxification is some of the research around removal of plastics and looking at sulforaphane and the beta glucans that are in oats. Um, for example, but that mechanism again, I mean that, and you'll be able to explain this as the detox expert deeper, but that mechanism is again through the gut. So what we're looking at then, right.

If you've done something, let's say for example, someone said, okay, I'm going to make sure that I either take sulforaphane or I'm going to eat lots of broccoli and cruciferous vegetables. I'm going to eat oats for breakfast, for example, that's going to basically help flush through whatever's there at the time that you're eating it or shortly afterwards. Right.

So is there, it's not going to necessarily have an effect 12, 12 hours later. Do you see what I mean? Um, is that, is that correct?

So it's more looking at what's there. So a little bit like when you were talking about sauna and taking some binders and things, then it could be good, like to follow, say, for example, you've done an exercise session, like a zone two workout, and then you've been in the sauna and you've stimulated a lot of these, and then maybe you're going to refuel with some oats. Would that be a good practise for example?

[Adam Parker] (34:51 - 37:25)
So if we, if we zoom out and look at how toxins are stored in the body, I think that might, it will lead in. So toxins. So the, the body is constantly trying to stay safe, survive.

We'd rather survive and thrive. So as we accumulate toxins over time, what happens is toxins will get stored into fat tissue. And over time it gets stored into organs.

The area of the body where it doesn't want to be stored in is, uh, in the blood and the digestive system. That's where it kind of wants to stay out of. So when we're taking, you know, you know, these sulforaphane or oats or whatever, um, to help aid in the process of, of detox, yes, it's going to be help clearing that kind of that entry level point, which will be the blood and the digestive system.

However, like when we take binders, most binders, you get some nano binders, but most of them you drink. And what they'll do is they'll go in and they'll clean house in the digestive system. But what happens, the more you take, it then starts to, so it's like, it's like layers of, of think of osmosis, three different layers.

So as you clear one layer, the, the, the, the, the next layer of toxins will start to come into, into the, the next layer above. So as, as you are doing this process more and more and more, making sure toxins aren't coming in, the body will then start releasing these toxins to then be removed out of the body. Because if you think I've got to do a detox, but these toxins are in my fat tissue, you know, I'm overweight, et cetera.

When you start losing weight, those toxins come out of storage and into circulation. So when, when you're doing all these different, um, daily practises, yes, it's removing the kind of toxins that are there in the moment, but if it's a daily practise, and as I said, we're not reintroducing toxins in and a big part of any detox is just looking at your external environment. Uh, then it will start to just start cleaning house over time.

Cause you're not, you're not going to, you know, detoxing is a process like getting on well as a process healing as a process. So when we do these daily practises, similar with minerals, and we're not having toxins coming in, the ones that are stored will eventually start coming to the surface and being cleared out. That's the best way I can describe it.

Cause it's, it, you know, it doesn't mean, Oh, if I take these oats and it's not worth doing, it is worth doing because it's gonna, it's keeping the, the, the body's ability of detox being ramped up at a high level. So it's more about layers of storage and bringing them out of storage to then get them out of the body. That makes sense.

[Angela Foster] (37:25 - 37:53)
It's reducing the load, right? Cause it's detoxing what servers there at the time. But also I guess if you've done like, if you've done a workout that mobilises fatty acids, whether or not you gain or lose weight is going to be determined by whether over that course of that week, you end up in a calorie deficit.

So you may not lose weight, but you have mobilised those fatty acids. And in doing so you are mobilising toxins. Right.

And so you can then help with these minerals and oats and all the things that you're talking about, right. Just sweep up as you go.

[Adam Parker] (37:53 - 39:24)
Absolutely. So all of these things count. There's, there's no, there is no one solution or one hack or one protocol that's going to fix years of toxin accumulation, because it's not like we knowingly been exposing ourselves to chemicals.

They're in it, you know, chemicals, heavy metals in everything. You know, this is part of daily life. And without our knowing we, we can accumulate these things, you know, for example, if I'm going out and I'm grabbing a takeout coffee, no, you know, I, if I'm, when I'm in the UK, I love a pretz, right.

If you have it, if you don't bring your own cup, you're going to have it in a takeout cup and that cups filled with a BPA, the plastic lining, grabbing receipts. As you go in a store that has BPA on it as well, getting takeout foods, takeout foods, fillet phthalates. Um, if we've got certain lotions and potions that we use can be full of parabens, all of these different chemicals, uh, forever chemicals are in everything, nonstick pans, they're in, um, certain clothing.

So we're exposed to these things every day. Just normal life exposes us to these chemicals. So we're not knowingly ingesting them, but they do get into the body and they start to store themselves.

So there's no one, I'll just do this thing. And it's going to get all of it out. It's a process.

So having these habits and behaviours, like sulforaphane, like oats, like sauna, like minerals, all of these things can just help the body process these things faster out of the body. Then if we weren't doing these things, they might just stay in storage.

[Angela Foster] (39:25 - 39:27)
And then you feel cleaner and lighter, right?

[Adam Parker] (39:28 - 40:11)
Oh yeah. And the knock-on effects are amazing. Like, you know, you sleep better.

Your brain function is sharper. You, you, you start, you age and you, you can reverse ageing. I remember when I went through my, my big detox process many years ago, uh, my hair got thicker.

Right. And just loads of random things that, again, I wasn't looking for that, but it happens. So there's loads of knock-on effects when you help the body detox.

And basically the body is just able to function as it wants to, you know, it wants to express itself, having loads of energy, sleeping well, having a better mood, you know, it's, it's how the body's designed to be. And we're just trying to really just bring it back to that place.

[Angela Foster] (40:12 - 40:37)
You and I were talking offline a little bit around the difference between healing and health optimisation. I think that it's very tempting, isn't it? To kind of dive in with sort of fancy biohacks and red light therapy and different things.

Um, you were, you were explaining to me how you really believe in, I think, in focussing on healing first. Um, what would be the order of that in terms of how you approach health optimisation?

[Adam Parker] (40:38 - 43:21)
Yeah. So, I mean, again, this comes from, um, personal experience and it also comes from just taking many people through this process over many years. When I was looking to fix my health, I was, I first kind of landed in this health optimisation kind of, uh, narrative and it's, it's an amazing place.

I mean, my goodness, it's benefited me so much, but I think. Coming from a place of real issues and a lot of metabolic problems, that wasn't a solution. And I think there's a, there's a distinction between what health on my health optimisation to me is when things are in a good place, getting it to the next level.

Like when you're like zero, getting it to like feeling five plus or 10 plus every day, which is absolutely doable with detox is normally, if you're feeling minus 10, I would say to you, health optimisation isn't going to get you there. Like I think detox would get you there. Now don't get me wrong.

If you optimise your sleep, that's definitely going to help. If you improve your diet, it's definitely going to help. So it's not as in this nuance in these things.

Um, but I would say detoxing can get you back to feeling kind of neutral very quickly versus the health health optimisation side of things. But again, it kind of blends in now, like sauna seen as a health optimisation now, right. Which I think is really beneficial.

Um, cold plunges are great, but again, if you're at minus 10 and your nervous system is fried, because normally when you, when you get unwell, your digestion fails, your nervous system, like everything's kind of not working. And I remember really clearly I couldn't do ice baths. I would, my brain, I would just go, I just couldn't do it.

My, my nervous system could not handle cold water. Um, whereas now it's fine. Obviously it's, it's uncomfortable getting in to do the breaths, but when my nervous system was dysregulated along with, you know, being toxic, I just couldn't handle it full stop.

So I think that distinction is important. Um, again, I think health optimisation is amazing. I, I value it.

I do, I have practise every single day, but I sometimes think people think that's, they get unwell and I think, oh, I need to sit in front of a red light. Um, which again can be beneficial, but is it going to solve the problem? Uh, so that, that's the distinction I make.

I think if you're coming from, I've detoxed and I'm feeling good, I think a really good place is sauna, uh, and, and, and cold plunges, I think are fantastic as well, there's, there's so many elements to health optimisation. I mean, there's so many different areas and I'm always pursuing different areas as well, because I want to, I'm, I'm about promoting health. So, because I'm in a position where I'm in a good spot, I'm trying to always improve it.

So, yeah, it's, it's an interesting distinction, but I think, you know, it's good to call out what the differences are between detoxing and health optimisation.

[Angela Foster] (43:23 - 43:29)
When someone goes on a detox, if you like a protocol, are there any dangers that people should be aware of?

[Adam Parker] (43:30 - 46:20)
Yeah. So with anything you need to know what you're doing. And I would always say, also be supervised or do your research.

When I went through my process, I, I didn't even know what I was doing. I was just kind of guessing as I went. And I always had the men, I still do have the mentality of, you know, I even had this with like health optimisation.

I'll take as much as I can to see what my kind of limit is. And, and I'd end up in bed sometimes feeling unwell because I detox too heavily. So the kind of risks are having a Herxheimer reaction, where basically if you think about, you know, your body is, has a bottleneck and if you release too many toxins at once and they can't get out, they're going to recirculate.

And I've had so many times where I would have literally flu like symptoms come up and would feel terrible. Um, and again, I didn't, I didn't come down with any sickness. I, it was just so many toxins coming up out of storage, trying to get out, not getting out and just recirculating.

Um, and that, that causes a real knock on effect. You just, you know, I've been in bed many times feeling unwell. So that's, that's the absolute worst that can happen.

But again, if you work with someone who knows what they're doing, you wouldn't get to that point. Because there's a way of doing detox in a sequenced way where you're not going to have any of those issues happen. Whereas if you, for example, we talked about glutathione earlier.

I had a Herxheimer reaction taking glutathione. I mean, many, many years ago. So I heard about it.

This is when I knew nothing. I heard about it and I was like, ah, this is it. And I, and I bought the supplement and it was like, take two tablets.

I took two tablets and it flattened me. Now, why is that? Because glutathione is the master antioxidant.

It's, it's part of the whole detox process. It helps with phase two liver detox. My body just unearthed a load of toxins, dumped it straight into my digestive system, and it couldn't get out because I hadn't primed my body for that.

And then I was in bed for two days. So again, that's, that's an extreme example. And I'm not saying that happens when you take glutathione, not at all.

It's just in my situation when I was trying to figure out my health and I wasn't well, then doing a high dose of something that was a knock on effect. So it's just doing it in a method where you, you start with like entry-level things, like taking minerals every day, making sure you're pooping every day, start to introduce a binder every day. These are like entry-level daily habits that prime your body for when you're doing the more heavier lifting.

And for me, it's always starting with the colon and making your way up. So then you might do some colon cleansing, liver cleansing. There's, there's, there's, there's a sequence to do it where you're not going to flatten yourself.

And again, that's, that's just, I'm just giving you the extreme example of having a Herxheimer reaction, but that's essentially it, like, as long as you know what you're doing and you're not having that reaction, you're not having toxins recirculate, that's the biggest thing that can happen.

[Angela Foster] (46:21 - 46:36)
Super interesting. And you obviously have, you have a process, right? That you take people to.

Um, this has been really interesting conversation, Adam. Thank you. Where can people find out more about you, your podcast, and also you run a, I think it's a four month detox programme, is that right?

[Adam Parker] (46:37 - 46:56)
Yeah. So they can find me a couple of places. Uh, my podcast, the Ideal Day podcast on all major channels.

I'm on YouTube at Ideal Day Adam and Instagram, same, same handle as well. And yes, I have a detox programme of detox blueprints, a four month programme. If they're interested in learning more, they can drop me a DM and I can fill them in.

[Angela Foster] (46:56 - 47:00)
Amazing. Thank you so much for coming on again. It's always, always good to talk to you.

[Adam Parker] (47:00 - 47:02)
It's been a pleasure. Thanks again.

[Angela Foster] (47:02 - 48:25)
I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey to vibrant health and high performance. Make sure you check out the show notes for a summary of all the important links to everything we talked about. And if you enjoyed this episode, hit the follow button and share it with a friend on social media.

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Angela takes a look at the essentials of daily detoxification with executive wellness coach and Ideal Day podcast host, Adam Parker. 
Moving beyond the hype of fad cleanses, Adam and Angela explore how our bodies naturally process modern environmental toxins, from heavy metals to microplastics, and why proactive support is vital in 2026. 

From the controversial benefits of coffee enemas to the science-backed power of sauna protocols, mineral replenishment, and binders, this conversation provides a roadmap for boosting metabolic flexibility, clearing brain fog, and reclaiming your cellular energy.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• Detox is a Continuous Process: The body is always detoxing through breath, sweat, and elimination; however, the modern toxic load often exceeds our natural capacity
• The Bottom-Up Protocol: Effective detoxification should follow a specific sequence starting at the colon (the bottom of the drainage funnel) and moving up to the liver, gallbladder, lymph, and finally the cells
• The Role of Lipophilic Toxins: Many modern man-made chemicals are fat-soluble (lipophilic) and store themselves in fat tissue. 
• Minerals as the "Spark Plugs": Heavy metals often compete with essential minerals for cell receptors. 
• Replenishing with fulvic and humic minerals or unrefined sea salt is a foundational daily habit to push out heavy metals and fuel metabolic pathways.