Revitalize Your Life This Summer By Detoxifying Body, Mind & Soul

In today’s world, toxins come in many forms. Environmental pollutants affect the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat. Many of the products you use daily contain substances which can be detrimental to your health. Then there are the toxins produced within your own body as a result of medications, an unhealthy gut or the impaired ability of your own body to get rid of toxins naturally. Alone or in combination, these toxins can mount an attack on your physical and mental health. But what about your relationships, your work environment, and your own thought patterns? Toxicity in any of these areas can also negatively affect your well-being and limit the effectiveness of a metabolic detoxification program.

Your body has an elaborate detoxification system involving the liver, lungs, kidneys, skin, and gastro-intestinal tract, which, when healthy, eliminates toxins efficiently. While that held true for past generations, your body’s own system is no match for the health challenges posed by the modern industrial age. The world we now live and work in bombards us with toxic substances continuously at such a rate that they accumulate within our bodies overtime. Even if you are in good health and have normal liver and kidney function, the cumulative effects of these toxins can overwhelm your body’s systems, eventually leading to health problems.

Signs of Toxic Overload

The symptoms of toxicity are as varied as the organs that are affected. Here are some of the common symptoms associated with toxicity:

• Allergies
• Anxiety
• Brain fog
• Chronic fatigue
• Depression
• Digestive problems
• Diminished sense of joy
• Excess weight
• Fertility problems
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Joint pain
• Kidney dysfunction
• Lack of purpose
• Learning disorders
• Lethargy
• Memory loss
• Mineral imbalances
• Mood swings
• Multiple chemical sensitivities
• Panic attack
• Skin problems
• Tinnitus

Without taking steps to detoxify your body and reduce exposure to the toxins in your environment, the toxic burden can become too much for your body to handle. The result: chronic disease. Here are some of the chronic illnesses associated with exposure to toxins found in commonly used fast food packaging, personal care products, household cleaning products, cookware, dental fillings, and pesticides/insecticides:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Behaivioral disorders including ADD, ADHD
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS)
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Obesity
• Parkinson’s disease
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Schizophrenia
• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

If you think that toxicity is mostly a problem for older adults, you’re wrong. A report by the EPA states that between 1992 and 2009, cancer rates for children increased. In fact, a study published in Pediatrics last October found that children exposed to insecticides used in the home had a higher risk of developing cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

Detoxing Body, Mind & Soul

Restoring your health and staying healthy involve making detoxification a part of your lifestyle – one that includes good nutrition from organic whole foods, nutritional supplements, and regular, superivsed cleansing/detoxification. Depending upon your current state of health, detoxification may play a large or small role in your overall health care regimen. If you’re healthy, you may only need to a detoxify your body and environment periodically. If you’re suffering from chronic illness, you may need to go more slowly and follow a comprehensive detoxification program. After you have made progress in eliminating toxins from your body and life, however, detoxification can become a part of your health maintenance plan. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting on any cleansing or detoxification program.

Identifying the Sources of Toxicity in Your Life and Environment

The first step to ridding your body of toxins involves identifying the sources of toxicity in your life and environment. Here is an overview of what to look for:

• Foods: Pesticide residues on fruits & vegetables; processed foods; fast foods; food additives like MSG; hormones & antibiotics in animal products; artificial sweeteners; mercury & other pollutants in fish; aluminum cookware.
• Drinks: Poor quality water; soft drinks; non-organic coffee & wine.
• Medications: All medications carry side effects, so it’s important to check with your primary care physician to see if your symptoms could be related to the medications you are taking.
• Personal Care Products: Cosmetics containing diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamine (TEA), nitrosamines (these are just a few of the many toxic chemicals found in cosmetics); perfumes; shampoos; toothpastes; deodorants.
• Packaging: Plastic (take-out containers, bottles, food wraps), aluminum foil, Styrofoam products.
• Physical environment (home & work): Home cleaning products; synthetic carpets, solvents from dry cleaning; electromagnetic fields; house & garden pesticides; commercial air fresheners.
• Impaired detoxification systems in your body: genetic abnormalities; overburdened or compromised organs (including deficiencies in digestive enzymes & stomach acid)
• Toxic habits: smoking (cigarette, pipe & cigar); recreational drugs, excessive alcohol intake.
• Relationships & thought patterns: Areas of strife or old, unhealed wounds in your relationships; negative thought patterns that don’t reflect the truth about who you are as a person.
• Lack of sense of purpose in life: Loss of connection to your self-worth and purpose in life.
• Lack of a creative outlet: Lack of free-time; absence of a hobby or interest that brings you joy.
• Lack of time spent outdoors: Spending too much time indoors, whether at work or at home.
• Lack of exercise/movement on a regular basis

Removing the Toxins from Your Body, Mind & Soul:

• 10-Day or 28-Day Clear Change Program: The Clear Change Program is designed to enhance your body’s natural detoxification process while providing adequate nutritional support for both the cleansing and your daily activities. And unlike other detoxification or fasting regimens, you won’t be hungry. The Clear Change program has no calorie restrictions and uses a simple eating plan that allows you to choose from a wide range of foods. The video above provides an overview of this program.
• Take time during your cleanse to examine how you spend your days in order to see where you can make changes that will make your body, mind, and soul less vulnerable to toxins.

Rebuilding Your Body’s Detoxification Systems:

Once you have eliminated toxins from your body, it’s important to build up your immune and detoxification systems in a variety of way. Consulting with your healthcare practitioner will help you identify the areas in your life and health that need to most support. Here are several steps that can aid you in this process:

• Add probiotics your daily regimen.
• Find out if you need digestive support(enzymes & hydrochloric acid).
• Eat a diet rich in organic fruits & vegetables; consume animal products (including dairy) that are grass fed and free of hormones & antibiotics.
• Drink high quality water.
• Consider targeted nutritional supplements.
• Get a good night’s sleep every night by improving the quality and quantity of your sleep. See our blog on transforming stress for more information.
• Get moving! Sitting is the new smoking, so make it one of your chief goals to increase your level of physical activity. Be sure to consult with your healthcare practitioner before starting a new exercise program.
• Spend quality time with the people in your life who matter most to you.
• Take the time to rebuild meaning & purpose in your life.
• Help others, especially those less fortunate than you and experience the joy of giving.
• Find & give forgiveness, including to yourself.
• Rediscover a hobby; develop a new hobby or interest.
• Cultivate gratitude & thankfulness in your life.
• Reduce stress. See our blog on transforming stress.

The key to success in detoxifying your body is not to neglect the mind-body-soul connection. Your thoughts and emotions affect your physical health and vice versa. Taking the time to look at the health of your relationships, your thought patterns, and your feelings is a vital first step toward removing toxins from your life. So is bringing balance into your home, work, and social life.

You’re unique and the best approach to detoxifying your mind and spirit will be particular to your set of circumstances. You may find that just taking more time to talk with your spouse, family members or close friends helps immensely to improve relationships and reduce stress and negative thoughts. Depending upon your beliefs, you may find that meditating or spending time with other members of your faith brings new vitality into your life. Or you might want to pursue a hobby, play an instrument, or do yoga or Tai chi.

As a type of natural therapy, homeopathy stands out as powerful way to heal on multiple levels. Homeopathy has been healing people for centuries by helping the body, mind and soul heal. By looking at the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of your life, a qualified homeopath is able to build a complete picture of you which — after careful consideration involving an extensive database search — is matched to the remedy that best resembles you and the factors that lead up to your current state of health. The principles underlying the specialty of homeopathy have been systematically proven throughout two centuries of practice and validated by over 200 scientific studies meeting the modern criteria of acceptability.

There’s No Time Like Summertime to Revitalize Your Life

Summer is a great time to detoxify your life. You tend to be more active, spend more time outdoors, eat more fruits and vegetables, and sweat (a great form of detoxification). Your work may also be less hectic, allowing you more time and energy to rid your body, mind, and soul of toxins. If you would like more information on how you can best detoxify your life, please contact us today. Your life is meant to be a flowing river, not a dead sea – let us help you rediscover vitality this summer!

References

Chen M. et al. Residential Exposure to Pesticides During Childhood and Childhood Cancers. Pediatrics 2015 Oct;136(4):719-29.

Fitzgerald, P. The Detox Solution. Santa Monica: Illumination Press, 2001

Gray, Bill. Homeopathy: Science or Myth? North Atlantic Books, Berkley. 2000.

Metagenics. Metabolic Detoxification: A Review of the Scientific Literature on Its Application to Clinical Practice. 2016

Metagenics. The Role of Detoxification in the Maintenance of Health. 2016

Minnich, D. Whole Detox.New York: Harper Collins, 2016

The contents of this blog are intended for educational purposes only. The information presented here is not a substitute for proper medical attention, diagnosis, or treatment by a qualified healthcare professional. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider before starting or making any changes to an existing treatment plan, exercise program or dietary regimen and before using nutritional supplements.