Episode 3: Supercharge Your Breakfast and Increase Your Energy Levels with May Tom, RD

Feeling drained, struggling to heal, or sensing that your health isn’t where it could be? Your body is not a simple machine that runs on calories—it’s a living web of interdependent systems, running thousands of chemical reactions every second. Every muscle you move, every toxin you clear, every hormone you make, every enzyme that converts food to energy requires a steady supply of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and healthy fats. Nutrient insufficiencies can lead to low stomach acid and poorer absorption of nutrients from food, sluggish detoxification, disrupted immune balance, unstable blood sugar, and even increased risk for autoimmunity. Replenishing missing nutrients can begin to restore your energy, support healing, and promote long-term health and longevity.

Eating a wide variety of whole foods can calm inflammation, rebalance the gut, and liberate your healing journey. A diverse microbiome—a thriving ecosystem of beneficial microbes that live in and on your body—is foundational to gut health. It helps prevent the overgrowth of yeast and opportunistic pathogens, supports gut barrier integrity, and reduces inflammation by producing short-chain fatty acids like butyrate. It also generates compounds that influence mood, hormone metabolism, detoxification, and immune regulation—linking gut health to nearly every system in the body. Microbes love variety. They thrive on colorful plant foods, bitter greens, resistant starches, and prebiotic fibers. When your diet is narrow and repetitive, your microbiome begins to reflect that. You lose diversity, and with it, resilience.

Healing is a process of subtraction and addition. We begin by removing what's harmful—ultra-processed foods, hidden food sensitivities, and environmental toxins that burden our detox pathways. And then we rebuild—gently, intentionally, and from the inside out. At the heart of this restoration is your gut microbiome—a dynamic, intelligent ecosystem that not only helps digest food, but also regulates immunity, calms inflammation, supports detoxification, balances mood, influences metabolism, and supports natural weight regulation. And the simplest way to nourish this system is through prebiotics—compounds that feed your beneficial bacteria and restore the internal terrain of your body.

You've probably heard of sauerkraut, kimchi, and sour dill pickles, right? These are all examples of lacto-fermented vegetables—a traditional form of food preservation that has supported human health for centuries. Before refrigeration, lacto-fermentation was a primary method for preserving the harvest through the winter. If you find yourself with a garden full of cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, or beets, consider transforming them into a few jars of tangy, probiotic-rich vegetables. When stored properly, these fermented foods can last for months—if they don’t get devoured first! Beyond preservation, they nurture your gut microbiome—your inner garden of health and healing.

Every day, your body works to break down and eliminate toxins. But with modern exposures—like pesticides, plastics, and chronic stress—those systems can become overburdened or impaired. The most sustainable way to support them? Food. This post reveals 11 of the most powerful detox-supportive foods—each one backed by science, along with simple ways to incorporate them into everyday meals. From cruciferous vegetables to citrus to turmeric, these everyday ingredients help your body cleanse, repair, and return to balance. Let food become your medicine—supporting your body’s natural ability to restore itself, one nourishing bite at a time.

When we think of detox, we often picture green juices, infrared saunas, or herbal protocols. Daily detoxification certainly relies on many foundational elements such as phytonutrients from cruciferous vegetables, fiber to bind and eliminate toxins, and hydration to flush them through. However, at the foundation of effective detoxification is magnesium—a key mineral that supports many of the body’s detox pathways. Magnesium is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body and a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions. It supports liver detoxification, hormonal balance, energy production, digestion, sleep, and nervous system regulation. Yet it’s also one of the most depleted nutrients in modern life.