How to complete
an Herbal Cleansing
and Detoxification Program
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Alternative physicians know that removing
toxins from the body is an essential phase in restoring their
patients to health and vitality. Each year, people are exposed
to thousands of toxic chemicals and pollutants (from our
air, food, water and soil). People today carry within their
bodies a 'chemical cocktail' made up of industrial chemicals,
pesticides, food additives, heavy metals, and the residue of
conventional pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco and caffeine.
Today people are exposed to chemicals in far greater concentrations
than previous generations. For example, over 70 million
North Americans live in areas that exceed smog standards; most
municipal drinking water contains over 700 chemicals, including
excessive levels of lead. Some 3,000 chemicals are added to
the food supply, and as many as 10,000 chemicals - in the form
of solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives - are used in food
processing and storage. These substances can remain in the
body for many years.
To make matters worse, food and product labels do not always
list every ingredient. When people consume these foods -
especially meat, poultry, and seafood - they ingest all the
chemicals and pesticides that have remained as accumulated contaminants
in the food chain. These pollutants lodge in the body -
loading it up with foreign substances - and can manifest in
a variety of symptoms, including decreased
immune function, nerve cell toxicity, hormonal
dysfunction and psychological disturbances.
Increasingly, toxicity is being identified as the predisposing
factor in a long list of acute and chronic illnesses, including
environmental illness and chronic
fatigue, degenerative diseases and cancer.
'The current supply and the indoor and outdoor environment has
lowered our threshold of resistance to disease and has altered
our body's metabolism,
causing enzyme dysfunction,
nutritional deficiencies, and hormonal imbalances,' says Marshall
Mandell, M.D., a pioneer of environmental medicine based in
Norwalk, Connecticut.
Where do all the toxins come from? Toxins come from a polluted
environment (air, water and food), lack of water, over consumption
of food, a faulty and
nutritionally inadequate diet, lack of exercise, accumulated
stress, excess antibiotic use and poor
elimination.
Bioaccumulation (a buildup in the body of foreign substances)
seriously compromises physiological and psychological health.
Since 1945, toxins have accumulated in the human system faster
than they can be naturally eliminated, which means the
body now needs assistance in its detoxification processes.
In addition, intestinal toxicity is intimately related to immune
dysfunction. The small and large intestines are actually part
of the immune
system. In fact, 'the intestinal mucosa and some of its
submucosal structures constitute the largest immunological system
of the body', states Dr. Serafina Corsello, director of the
Corsello Centers for Nutritional Complementary Medicine in New
York City and Huntington, New York. The intestines' mucous
layers trap debris and pathogens and represent the active front
of immune function. 'The small and large intestines - at
25 feet long, they are the body's largest internal organ - together
represent a key part of the body's immune system', says Dr.
Corsello, 'accounting for perhaps 80% of our body's lymphatic
- immune resources. The digestive system is one of the first
screening systems against the daily load of contact with bacteria,
viruses, and parasites, that,
if left unchecked, would constitute a grave threat to our entire
immune system.' A healthy intestine is immunologically vigilant
against undesirable pathogens and toxins.
The intestines consist of a complex and delicately balanced
population of mixed microflora in which the friendly
beneficial bacteria should outnumber the harmful ones. But
this ecology is easily upset, says Dr. Corsello, leading to
a condition of imbalance called dysbiosis. 'At the Center, we
have observed an almost immediate relationship between stressful
events and the exponential growth of dysbiotic organisms such
as Candida albicans
and other pathogens.' Another factor that upsets intestinal
ecology is parasites. 'There
is and overwhelming lack of awareness of this by Western physicians,
especially North American - trained physicians, who refuse to
acknowledge that parasitosis (parasite
infestation) is a major factor in systemic illness.'
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control divide the causes of
illness into these categories: heredity 18%, environment
19%, medical intervention 10%, and lifestyle 53%. This means
that 82% of the causes of disease are within your control:
improving your environment, avoiding medical interventions,
and changing how you live.
A body with a healthy immune system, efficient
organs of elimination and detoxification, and sound circulatory
and nervous systems can handle a great deal of unwanted toxins
in the body.
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One of the body's natural
means of staying healthy is its ability to detoxify itself.
Many of the harmful substances we absorb, inhale or create
are rendered harmless and expelled from the body. The
organs of detoxification are the bowels,
liver, kidney,
lungs, and skin. Avoiding
harmful substances as well as supporting
the organs in their detoxifying action is vital in maintaining
and restoring health. Sufficient fluid
intake (filtered water) supports the eliminating function
of the kidneys, the bowel, and the skin.
Healthy circulatory and lymphatic
systems support detoxification. When these become sluggish,
many waste products are left behind in the tissues.
If your body cannot remove toxins through normal excretion
(its first line of defense), it will take additional measures
to protect itself. This is when you begin to get the 'Itises',
(colitis,
sinusitis, gastritis, bronchitis, and appendicitis, to name
just a few. These terms generally denote an inflammation
of the part to which the 'Itis' is attached. Inflammation
is your body's second line of healing defense - a way of
healing itself by killing off foreign invaders such as germs
and allergens, diluting injurious substances such as toxins,
walling off a problem area to prevent it from spreading,
or simply stabilizing a weakened or injured area. When
your second line of defense is ineffective at expelling
waste, toxins begin to accumulate in your body in polyps,
cysts, and tumors, which can progress to cancer.
Autointoxication is the process of the body poisoning
itself with toxins from internal sources, that cannot
be processed by the body's elimination systems because they
are overloaded, undernourished, genetically compromised,
or diseased. If the organs of elimination are not functioning
properly the waste matter will not be eliminated and
the toxic residue will be reabsorbed into the bloodstream.
This can cause chronic poor health symptoms and effects.
A poorly functioning digestive tract can turn even the best
of foods into metabolic poisons in the form of acids, gases,
alcohol and carcinogens. This kind of digestive
trouble is becoming a major source of internal toxicity
in many North Americans. The fastest and surest way to
detoxify your system is through improving the quality of
your digestion.*
Food, which is meant to nourish us,
has become a significant source of internal pollution, some
by design and some by carelessness. Some 2,800 additives
are intentionally added to what we eat. According to
the book, 'Well Body, Well Earth', the average North American
consumes about 14 pounds of additives a year. As many
as 10,000 more additives or toxins find their way into food
indirectly as it is grown, processed, packaged and stored.
These chemicals include hormones and antibiotics fed
to animals, pesticides used on plants and crops (the
average person ingests up to one gallon pesticides a year),
residues from substances used to clean equipment, molecules
from plastic wrap and lead from soldered cans. The FDA
and Health Canada do not require that these dangerous chemicals
be listed on labels.
There is a phenomenon known as
'outgassing' of toxic vapors from material found in the
home and office.
Examples include:
formaldehyde (particleboard furniture), volatile organic
compounds - VOCs (stains and varnishes on wood items and
paint on the walls), resins (adhesives that hold furniture),
numerous compounds (plastic household, office items), cleaning
products, household pesticides, synthetic carpets, drapes
and upholstery.
Your greatest exposure to chlorine and other toxic compounds
is not just from drinking water, but from taking baths and
showers. Other personal concerns are root canals and mercury
amalgam fillings.
All body systems are connected and
influence each other. It is virtually impossible to escape
toxic substances. Air is circulated everywhere. Water
evaporates into the atmosphere, circulates and precipitates
onto the earth's surface, where it drains into streams,
rivers, and oceans. Strong air and water currents carry
pollution to the furthest reaches of the north and south
poles.
Humans eat at the top of the food
chain, which means eating other animals, birds and fish
as opposed to eating plants and algae exclusively. Like
humans, plants and animals store toxins in their fatty parts.
Toxins move up the food chain from plants, bugs, and algae
to small fish or mammal, which is then eaten by a large
fish or mammal, which is consumed by a human. Toxins are
also passed on to a newborn through mother's milk. At
each level of the food chain, the toxins become more concentrated.
Steve Hollanday, an immunotoxicologist
at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
states, 'We're probably all, and I mean the whole doggoned
planet, are immunosuppressed'. Immunosuppression is a
condition in which the body does not have the strength and
resilience to fight off bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
As a result, cells that have been damaged by pollution and
drugs will not be recognized and destroyed. If damaged cells
are not destroyed they may multiply and divide, reproducing
themselves as mutated cells, which may in turn develop into
cancer.
Men should pay particular attention
to the chemical effects that decrease male potency and cause
malformation of male sex organs. Sperm counts are dropping
for all species across the planet.
Often we hear news reports
about a new contamination problem in the water supplies
throughout North America. According to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), there are nearly 200,000 active
surface impoundments (ground level collection sites) of
which about 26,000 are unlined and may be leaking a wide
variety of toxic chemicals into underground water supplies.
John Skinner, a director of the EPA's office of Solid Waste
Programs, reported in a congressional hearing that ninety-five
percent of all operation surface impoundments are located
within a quarter (1/4) mile of drinking water supplies.
Once ground water has become contaminated, it is almost
impossible to purify.
We must strive to reduce the negative
effects these many different toxins have on our health.
The best courses of action are the maintenance of a healthy
diet, regular exercise to keep our immune
systems strong, as well as engaging in a yearly cleansing
program to promote the explusion of the unwanted toxins
that accumulate in our bodies.*
How to complete an Herbal
Cleansing and Detoxification Program
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