The link between environmental pollutants and disease is no longer hypothetical. It’s our future fate. So when you want to to a “spring detox”, it had better pull out some of those chemicals that are building up in our bodies putting us in harms way with respect to disease.
There are over 80,000 industrial chemicals in use in North America and it is no longer a question of if these chemicals are in our bodies but rather are they causing illnesses or obstacles to recovery. I talked to a fireman the other day and he informed me that most firefighters die of cancer due to their work related exposure everyday items that are now made with more toxic chemicals. Of course most of us aren’t firefighters exposures to toxins in smoke form but even low amounts of exposure are making health impacts.
The majority of these chemicals are not in a factory or even outside…they are inside our homes, and in our house hold products.
Southern Ontario has been named North America’s 3rd most polluted area sue to exposure to Chicago trade winds, Sudbury smokestack and steel companies. So if you are going to do a detox, which should be done 4 times a year on the season change. It had better get he junk out of your body.
So what should you do? Make it count. Toxins reside in our fat cells and tissue, so weight loss or elimination of toxins at a cellular level is key….and of course complicated.
First we need a clear path out of the body. No sense pulling toxins out of your tissue if you can’t get then out of the main exit in the body. The bowel. We need at least 1-3 bowel movements a day while detoxing or we are just pushing toxins around to resettle later.
Food should be fresh, organic if possible. Food should be free of chemical preservatives and additives and processed or cane sugar. And the main guidelines are no grains and no dairy. Foods to eat
2 tablespoons of ground flax seed is an insoluble fiber that binds toxic load in the digestive system.
Acidophilus or probiotics help regulate the digestive system and allow the most aggressive elimination system work at maximum capacity. The acidophilus should be derived from human strains.
You need some nutrients to make sure all 10 detoxification pathways (broken down to phase 1and 2)are working effectively. Many of us are low in these nutrients because we have been busy dealing with the toxins we come into contact with on a daily basis. These key nutrients are:
NAC N-acetly-cysteine
Magnesium bisglycinate
B vitamins that are methylated such as AOR
Selenium from 1-2 Brazil nuts
Chromium
Vitamin C
And lastly, herbs are a wonderful way to push toxins out of the body. Chorella is a great blood and lymphatic cleanser and is safe to take for those on medication. Herbs work in pairs to detoxify to both phase 1 and 2 liver detoxification pathways include schizandra and milk thistle, rosemary and ginseng. My favourite liver detox formula is LivCo from Mediherb.
Red clover and Chelidonium are great blood and liver cleaning herbs.
A detoxification program should last 2-4 weeks and should be as strict as possible. Make it worth it and dump the junk!
Good luck!
Dr. Carissa Doherty, Natural Care Clinic
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