How to Reduce Your Toxic Burden

Regardless of where you live, you will almost certainly be carrying around a “Body Burden” of toxic chemicals. 

Every day, environmental exposures to the quality of our food supply, air pollutants, microorganisms, toxic metals, pesticides, plastics, aldehydes, drugs, personal care products and a plethora of other chemicals, influence our genes in ways we are still discovering.

It is becoming more apparent that an increasing number of chronic health problems are being correlated with environmental exposure to many kinds of toxic substances, accompanied by a reduced ability to clear the toxins.

If you would like to reduce your toxic body burden, read on to follow these simple steps to a toxin free body and environment.

1. Reduce Toxin Exposure

We are exposed to a multitude of chemicals everyday in our food and water and air, yet also in the most unlikely places.

Here are a few common contenders we should avoid:

• Bisphenol A (BPA): It makes plastics hard and is also used as a liner in aluminium cans. Canada recently added BPA to its list of toxic substances. It is still widely used in Australia.

• Heavy Metals: Lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium — Cause lowered IQ, developmental delays, behavioral disorders and cancer at doses found in the environment.

• Parabens: This group of synthetic chemicals are widely used as preservatives in foods, cosmetic and pharmaceuticals.  Scientists are concerned that long-term exposure to parabens may play a role in the development of breast cancer, as well as negatively affect the functionality of the male hormonal and reproductive systems.

• Perfluorochemicals (PFCs): They make things “non-stick”, but they may also be carcinogenic (i.e. cancer-causing). You’ll find them in non-stick cookware, and they’re used in stain resistant or slippery fabrics and fast food containers.

• Phthalates: Called “plasticisers,” are a group of industrial chemicals used to make plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) more flexible or resilient. Phthalates have been found to disrupt the endocrine system – causing reduced sperm count and infertility, deformity of male reproductive organs  (which indicates increased risk for testicular cancer later in life), and has shown indications of feminization.

• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs): They make items flame-retardant. While newer furniture and electronics are often PBDE-free, older items still contain the chemical in fabrics, foam and electrical components.

2. Eliminate all Household Cleaning Products

Let’s look at some safer alternatives to a clean and green home. Here is a list of over 6 excellent natural and organic cleaners, disinfectants, scouring powders, etc. to stock the cleaning cupboard.

They are inexpensive, non-toxic and effective.

Vinegar: For centuries peoples around the globe have known about the amazing properties of common white vinegar. The acids in vinegar can cut grease and remove the most stubborn dirt and grime. Vinegar makes an excellent floor, oven and window cleaner. Vinegar can replace the toxic fumes and propellants of floor polish, ammonia and oven cleaners. Use vinegar straight for heavy grease. Dilute it for window cleaning and lighter work.

Baking Soda: Baking soda is one of the seven wonders of the cleaner world. It neutralizes and removes odors, purifies, absorbs moisture, scours and scrubs, polishes, disinfects and cleans. Mixed with vinegar baking soda will create a foaming, effervescent action that will clean drains. Say goodbye to poisonous, lethal, explosive, corrosive drain cleaners.

Lemons: The acid in a fresh cut lemon will remove stains from metal pans, flatware, stoves, bakeware, countertops, appliances, etc. Sprinkle some salt on the lemon for added abrasive cleaning for baked on foods in the oven, on the stovetop and on cookware, flatware and bakeware. Oven cleaners are among the most toxic of the household chemicals. They are harmful to skin and if inhaled. Using lemon and salt may take a bit more elbow grease, but it pays off by not having to wear a gas mask when cleaning the oven or suffering from lung damage.

Olive Oil: Olive oil is a perfect wood preservative and polish. Olive oil protects and preserves wood and is much safer than glazes, polishes and varnishes.

Eucalyptus Oil: The proven disinfectant and antiseptic properties of Eucalyptus Oil make it a natural, environmentally friendly cleaner with numerous household uses. Thursday Plantation Eucalyptus oil can be used in the kitchen, bathroom and is ideal for cleaning hard surface floors.

Tea Tree Oil: Tea Tree oil turns out to be one of the most useful of all essential oils, especially as an antiseptic. The antiseptic, germicidal, antifungal, antibacterial immune-boosting qualities of Tea Tree oil make it applicable to a wide range of health conditions. In addition, the antiseptic benefits of the oil allow its use as a natural cleaner and disinfectant within the household environment.

Click here for Emed’s Best Household Cleaning Products. If you would like to find out more about exposing the health hazards in your home, Healthy Home Healthy Family is the place to start.

3.  Enhance Detoxification Pathways

Detoxification of chemicals is critical in order to reduce your toxic burden.

Simply stated, most chemicals are taken from the bloodstream through a 2-phase transformation that makes them progressively less toxic and more water-soluble for excretion from the body.

For successful detoxification, Phase 1 and Phase 2 must function in balance along with an intact gastrointestinal mucosal lining.

Phase 1 clears toxins from the blood. Here oxygen is needed to create a reactive site on the toxin by a group of at least 58 enzymes called the “cytochrome P450s.” It then becomes a bio-transformed “intermediate.”

The reactive intermediate may become a free radical, more dangerous than the original toxin, exerting harmful effects within the liver or the entire body if it is allowed to escape the liver cell.

Therefore, intermediates need to be promptly and efficiently moved into Phase 2 of detoxification, which reduces toxic activity in preparation for excretion.

Here a water-soluble carrier such as glutathione is added to the reactive site of the intermediate by a second series of enzymes called the “conjugases.”

While Phase 1 activity requires general nutritional support, the conjugation process consumes protein-derived amino acids such as taurine, glycine, glutamine, cysteine and methionine. The neutralised end-products of metabolism exit the body mainly through bile to the gastrointestinal tract or the bloodstream to urine.

The quality of you’re diet profoundly impacts detoxification. Food components affect gene expression including the genes that regulate detoxification. Poor diets contain more toxins and not enough nutrients to clear them.

Adequate dietary protein is critical for proper phase II clearance of chemicals, while high glycemic carbohydrate (sugar and starch) diets are known to down-regulate the P450 phase I enzymes thereby reducing the metabolism of drugs and hormones.

Plant nutrients, including fibre, have been found to enhance detoxification. Sufficient dietary fibre is important for the final phase of detoxification, which is sequestering toxins for their elimination through the stool.

Fibre also decreases stool transit time and supports the friendly microbial balance that protects gut permeability.

Free Gift to Emed Members

As a special gift to Emed members, we have put together a Detoxification E-Book, including some special extras, like:

• How to Detox the Healthy Way
• Natural Supplements to Achieve a Cleaner Body
• Weekly Meal Planner – Tasty Meals to Support Detoxification and Weight Loss
• Find out How Much Water you Should be Drinking

Please contact us for a free copy of the Emed Detoxification E-Book.pdf.

4. Exercise to Detox

Exercise makes you sweat and speeds up the blood circulation – both processes which help to flush toxins from your system.

Exercise also helps lymph fluids circulate the body, which removes toxins and other harmful materials. When exercising you breathe deeply and take in more oxygen, which helps all the cells to perform their jobs, including removing toxins.

At the same time you exhale carbon dioxide, which is a by-product of the various functions performed by the body. As you do aerobic exercise you build up a sweat and toxins are released through the pores of the skin.

Exercising also helps you to lose weight by reducing the amount of fatty tissues in the body. As the fatty tissues grow smaller the toxins stored in fat are released into the body.

5. Chlorella and Coriander – Nutrients for Toxin Removal

Coriander changes the electric charge on intracellular deposits of heavy metals to a neutral state, which relaxes their tight bond to body tissue, freeing them up to be flushed from the body.

Studies have shown that levels of mercury, lead, and aluminum in the urine increase significantly after consuming large amounts of coriander. Once the toxins are free, the next step is to actually facilitate the removal of the metals or chemicals from the body.

And here’s where super chlorella comes in, it is high in chlorophyll, giving it a rich green colour. Chlorella possesses the capacity to absorb heavy metals. This property has been exploited as a means for treating heavy metal toxicity like lead, mercury and cadmium.

In studies undertaken in Germany, high doses of chlorella have been found to be very effective in eliminating heavy metals from the body – from the brain, intestinal wall, muscles, ligaments, connective tissue, and bone.

Bio-Practica Matrix Phase Detox contains unique “Green Matrix Blend” including organic Broccoli sprouts, organic Barley grass, organic Chlorella (cracked), Coriander and Spirulina. This powder is designed to supply nutritional support during detoxification.

Final Word

Your toxic burden is metabolically expensive, costing energy and nutrient reserves that must be replenished daily. Being aware of your exposure to harmful toxins and chemicals is the first step to reducing your own body burden.

This can easily be determined from a sample of your own hair.

Hair mineral analysis can identify over-exposure to toxic metals such as aluminium, lead, arsenic, mercury, aluminium and cadmium. To find out more about Emed’s Hair Mineral Analysis, click here.

If you would like more information on reducing your toxic body burden, talk to your Emed Practitioner today.

References:

Klinghardt, D: Amalgam/Mercury Detox as a Treatment for Chronic Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Illnesses. Explore. Volume 1997;8, No 3