Why you need to detox
We’re all constantly exposed to toxins in our food, water and air. The rate of new toxins entering the environment is alarming. Approximately 2,000 new chemicals are released on the market each year, in addition to the thousands of chemicals that are already on the market. Many are not adequately tested for safety in humans, and even some that are tested and are unsafe are released anyway. If all that’s not bad enough, there are still chemicals like DDT that were banned years ago, but are still in the environment. In the last 50 years, our environment has become a very chemical-laden toxic place, and our bodies can’t deal with the overload. Have you noticed the drastic increase in chronic disease and cancer? Guess what’s causing a lot of it.
Consider just one chemical, dioxin. Dioxin is one of the most toxic chemicals in existence. It was a component of Agent Orange, which was used to defoliate the jungles in the Vietnam War. Dioxin is still produced today, as a byproduct of paper manufacturing and bleaching, mining and many manufacturing processes. See what the World Health Organization (WHO) says about the effects of dioxins on human health:
“Dioxins are a group of chemically-related compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants. Dioxins are found throughout the world in the environment and they accumulate in the food chain, mainly in the fatty tissue of animals. More than 90% of human exposure is through food, mainly meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish. Many national authorities have programmes in place to monitor the food supply. Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer. Due to the omnipresence of dioxins, all people have background exposure…”
That’s a direct quote from the WHO website. That’s just one chemical that we’re all exposed to. Granted, it’s one of the worst. Unfortunately, there are thousands more. Everyone is exposed. When the body can no longer eliminate enough toxins, they get stored in the body. Further overload of toxins can eventually lead to disease.
Those statistics scare the pants off me, and probably you, too. I think most of us want to stay healthy and do our best to avoid cancer. So I think limiting our toxic exposure as much as we can makes good sense. And we can also help our bodies make sure they’re eliminating toxins properly and staying in good working order.
What to do about it
1. The first step is to reduce your toxic exposure. Evaluate the foods you eat. All corn, wheat, soy and sugar beets, unless they’re organic, are genetically modified (GMO) so they can be sprayed with a very toxic weedkiller. The weedkiller is Monsanto’s Roundup, and the active chemical in Roundup is glyphosate. More and more research is coming out showing strong links between glyphosate and cancer. I recommend avoiding exposure to glyphosate. Don’t use Roundup in your garden. Eat as much organic food as you can, especially corn, wheat and soy.
2. When you use up your chemical detergents and cleaning products, switch to natural cleaning products. They work just as well, and are safer for you, your family and your pets. You don’t have to spend a fortune at Whole Foods. Even Target and Trader Joe’s now have affordable natural options. And be cautious about the word “natural”. There is no regulated meaning of the word natural, so anybody can claim anything is “natural”. Read the ingredient list on the label to see for yourself. Long chemical names that you can’t pronounce are a bad sign.
3. The next step is to do an internal detox. Normally, we get rid of toxins in the body through the skin, liver, lungs, lymphatic system, bladder and bowels. Wow! That’s a lot of organs involved in getting rid of toxins. It’s important that all of these organs function well to stay healthy. Some people take supplements like milk thistle to detoxify the liver, or get colonics to cleanse the bowels. That’s OK, but very limited, as you see there are a lot more organs involved in detoxifying the body than just those two. Most of the “cleanses” in the health food stores are just as limited. It’s important to make sure that every one of those organs are functioning well. It’s also very important to clean out toxins that are already stored in the body, and milk thistle, colon cleanses and health food store cleanses don’t do that. There are a few detox or cleansing kits available that stimulate the organs of detoxification to work better, AND pull stored toxins out of the body. You generally have to get the ones that work from a natural health care professional.
4. Finally, I only recommend detox in spring, summer, and early fall. It’s important to complete a detox every year to keep our systems clean and functioning well. In Chinese medicine, fall and winter are the times to rest, rejuvenate and store energy for the coming year. Please avoid detoxing, colon cleanses, etc. in winter. It’s too draining to your energy and can cause a lot of problems.
If you have any questions, please let me know. If you’d like my recommendation for an internal detox kit, call or email, and I’ll be happy to share the one I use and recommend.