BINDERS

Common questions I get in my inbox constantly:

• Do I need binders to get better?

• Which binder should I start with?

• How do I know if I’m ready for binders?

• Since I feel worse on binders, is that a good thing?

I want to address all of this, because this area is very confusing so I want to provide as much support here as possible. Let’s first talk about the purpose of binders.

Binders are substances that attach to toxins in the gut or bloodstream and help remove them from the body through digestion or excretion. In mold detox, they can help “bind” mycotoxins and reduce their recirculation.

How they recirculate? Through Enterohepatic circulation, which is a recycling loop between your liver, bile, intestines, and bloodstream. It works by:

• Your liver filters blood and removes things like bile acids, cholesterol, hormones, drugs, and toxins (including mycotoxins).

• Bile, from the gallbladder, helps digest fats and carries those waste products into your gut.

• Instead of leaving the body, certain bile acids and fat-soluble toxins can be reabsorbed through the intestinal wall back into the bloodstream.

• These reabsorbed compounds travel back to the liver through the portal vein, where the cycle repeats — sometimes many times a day.

Where do I start?

First, you need to make sure your body is ready to start binders, this looks like regular bowel movements, mast cell stabilized (if needed), ensuring good liver support/function, lymphatic support if needed, etc

Before starting, remember: a binder should either make you feel better or nothing at all, you should not feel worse.

Typically, I like to start with FIBER: insoluble fiber which looks like ground flax, chia, or psyllium husk. This is just a great way to introduce gentle binding, to help bind the bile where a lot of mycotoxins are hanging out.

A study showed that 2 cups of steamed kale daily was 13% as effective as cholestyramine.

Not only do we get binding benefits from these foods, but they also support our gut.

But what if you can’t tolerate extra fiber? You can try for something even gentler with the seeds that don’t affect SIBO, like pumpkin or sesame seeds. And the kale is a great option too, especially when well steamed. If there’s an oxalate issue, choose dino kale.

If you are unable to tolerate any food based binders, either of these need addressing:

• supports for gut, rebuild the terrain

• immune system modulation

• move on to slowly implementing other binders

Key point while moving forward into stronger binders: each mycotoxin preferentially leaves the body differently. Even though many mycotoxins through their fat solubility leave through the liver/bile/gut path, many like to be excreted through the urine.

A wonderful support to help start to clear mycotoxins faster is actually eating a diet rich in polyphenols, fiber, colors and diversity. In other words: bioflavonoids!

This helps to move these mycotoxins fast through the body, take strain off the liver, and flush through the kidneys.

My favorite support? Color Guard, you can look at this supplement here and use code STEPHANIEP.

Food based binders

This is when we can move into deeper detox supports prior to mold. Important things to consider: bioflavonoids, gallbladder/liver, gut motility and healthy fat supports, any nutrient/mineral repletion.

Precision binding

Another option toward binding.

Some experts to discuss precision mycotoxin binding, with reviewing someone’s urine mycotoxin panel we can properly align binders toward them. A key thing to note is that some binders like chlorella, charcoal and clays can be very nutrient depleting. So it’s important to monitor symptoms and not be on these extremely long term.

It’s also important to note that these studies were done on animal feed models.

Other binders like we have discussed like okra, beets, fiber and looking below to certain probiotics can be a great way to also bind and reduce nutrient depletion.

It really all depends where that individual is at and what they can tolerate.

Bentonite clay

Mechanism: These are clays with high surface areas and cation-exchange capacities, capable of adsorbing certain mycotoxins in vitro

Probiotics 

Saccharomyces boulardii and certain Lactobacillus strains

Mechanism: Some evidence that certain probiotic strains may bind or help degrade mycotoxins in the gut

Chlorella

Mechanism: A green algae often used for heavy metal binding

Glucomannan

Mechanism: A soluble dietary fiber that may bind certain mycotoxins (aflatoxin, ochratoxin) in vitro

Humic/Fulvic acids

Humic and fulvic acids are types of organic substances formed during the breakdown (humification) of plant and animal matter in soils, peat, and sediment.

These are very re mineralizing to the body, which can help be supportive since mold toxicity is so depleting.

Fungal colonization:

To be clear, not everyone exposed to mold will be “colonized”. When seeing gliotoxin on a mycotoxin urine panel, that tells me two things:

1) Possible current exposure

2) Gliotoxin opens the pathway for fungal colonization, so I will consider this possibility when seeing this on a lab

In this case, starting anti fungal herbs and nasal sprays is important (after a binder has been implemented) to support reducing the body’s colonization and production of further mycotoxins internally.

It’s almost always important to implement nasal sprays: as our body’s primary way of exposure to mycotoxins is through inhalation. In some instances it will be important to check for MARCoNS through nasal swab test,

MARCoNS (Multiple Antibiotic Resistant Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci) are antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can colonize the nasal passages, often seen in people with mold illness or chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). They form biofilms that make them hard to eradicate and may contribute to ongoing inflammation and toxin sensitivity. Treatment typically involves addressing underlying mold exposure, using targeted nasal therapies, and supporting immune function and detox pathways.

PODCAST

Brain retraining

We can’t talk about mold detoxification without discussing limbic system retraining and nervous system regulation!

The body needs to feel safe to be able to tolerate any detox. Not everyone is going to need brain retraining, but everyone will need vagus nerve work.

Listen to my newest podcast episode with Dr. Cathleen King, founder of Primal Trust, to learn more about how important it is to allow the body to feel that sense of safety, which it was led to feel unsafe, and hat we can do about it.

What to do?

After all this information, where to start when you’re ready to onboard binders:

Always remember you should be feeling better as time goes on. Gut symptoms are typically one of the last to start to feel better, which is unfortunate because it is one of the more pressing ones. It’s also a marathon, not a sprint, working through detox takes at least a year for most people, and longer for more sensitive individuals.

Steps after preparing for detox:

• binders

  • important to note: charcoals, clays, chlorella are depleting too; even when timing correctly around meals/supplements. these should be taken for a short while, whereas probiotics, humic/fulvic, aloe, food based binders can be taken longer term

• anti fungals: swapping these every few months is important in supporting clearance of colonization

• possible biofilm disrupter: not everyone will need this, and when implementing it’s important to make sure the body is ready for it, as it’s starting to disrupt the protective home those fungi have created around themselves

The possibility of healing is there, always. It takes time, but the body has the blueprint to do so.

If you are looking to work 1:1 with me, you can add yourself to the waitlist or email us here at [email protected].

Until next time,

Happiness and health

Dr. Steph