Why should I detox?

“Lisa’s family moved to New Brighton when she was two and lived there for the past 20 years. In 1981, it was discovered New Brighton’s municipal water was contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals from a former Army Ammunition Plant in Arden Hills. One of the chemicals, TCE, was reported to still be 600 times higher than the federal standard in 2007. TCE is used mainly as a degreaser to clean metal parts. Health effects from TCE exposure include cancer, birth defects and genetic damage”

Story here

Or this one that made headlines all over
Arsenic in supermarket chicken

“One way farmers add arsenic to chicken feed is through drugs such as Pfizer’s Roxarsone. And the industry has (as with most of its worst practices) strenuously defended the use of such additives. While the USDA has by and large ignored the risks (mostly in the form of an unwillingness to look for arsenic in chicken), finally — astonishingly — the FDA has acted.

According to the Associated Press, the FDA has confirmed that chickens given the drug (frequently those destined for the low-cost supermarket shelf) do indeed test positive for inorganic arsenic — just as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found [PDF] back in 2006. Despite this earlier evidence, the industry had continued to steadfastly maintain that the arsenic could not and did not make it into the meat.”

Or what about High levels of BPA in canned soup

A new report from the Breast Cancer Fund reveals 12 canned soups and pastas found to contain BPA — an estrogen-like chemical raising concern among experts for its potential health effects in children, infants and fetuses.
Topping the list was Campbell’s Disney Princess Cool Shapes with 148 parts per billion. The average level across all 12 cans was 49 parts per billion.

In case you aren’t aware of the risks of BPA

Bisphenol-A can alter the expression of several hundred genes with effects varying among specific tissues and also depending upon the timing of exposure. More than 130 studies suggest that BPA exposure at very low doses is linked to a staggering number of health problems, including prostate and breast cancer, obesity, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, brain damage, altered immune system, lowered sperm counts, and early puberty.

Environment California

One of those genes is MTHFR. That is, those with a normal MTHFR gene can have it’s function altered by BPA so it is like they have this genetic mutation. See my blog post on MTHFR to understand this further.

Humans started out in a world with very few toxins. To be sure some toxins like heavy metals and arsenic are naturally occurring and have sickened and killed people who came in contact with them for all time. The big difference now is that we are coming into contact with so many more of them. Our bodies are bombarded with substances it needs to filter out constantly. And the things it can’t filter out in a timely manner it stores. Humans haven’t survived and thrived for millennia with faulty bodies. We can adapt in many ways but the modern exposure levels are pushing more and more people to the breaking point. Exposures that seem fine when you are young and have a low toxin load is a completely different story when you are older and have been taking in more toxins than you can excrete for many years.

Do you realize that anything you smell means that little particles of that thing are getting into your body via your nose? Not a happy thought when you are driving by a field freshly spread with manure. An even worse thought when you are sitting in a brand new car and smelling that “new car smell” or sniffing freshly laundered clothes breathing in an “fresh spring scent”. Those chemicals are entering your body and need to be filtered out and despite their scent being more pleasing to our bodies than fresh manure they are much more dangerous. Or what about the smell from a new mattress that you will lay on for 8+hours breathing deeply (if you are lucky) every night.

Then there is water. We think nothing is as pure and harmless as water. But most municipal water has fluoride, chlorine and other chemicals added to it “for our benefit”. It also may be contaminated with various pharmaceutical drugs, arsenic, and who knows what else. You can look up your water’s report card in most areas but they can only tell you about the things they test for and they don’t test for everything that can be harmful to humans. And like so many other things, they have a threshold that they consider safe. So many of those contaminants are still in the water, just at safe levels.

Ok how about air. Nothing like going outside on a spring morning and breathing deep of the fresh air to start your day. My city has a warning system in place for the summer months when it warns people with asthma and other respiratory issues to stay inside because the air is so contaminated that they can’t handle the extra filtering that their lungs will be asked to do.

Plastics are everywhere. In my home I have made a conscious effort to reduce our plastic usage and still it is everywhere. Our organic produce comes wrapped it it at times. The pastured chickens I got this fall came in individual plastic bags. Plastics contain toxins that we need to detoxify. They are soft and make a dust that pervades our homes so even if we aren’t heating plastic or cooking in it we are still consuming it. But not doing any food prep with plastic is beyond my knife skills. I use my Hamilton Beach Food Processor and Vitamix regularly to make my life easier. They don’t have BPA but they still have plastic and who knows if some unstudied substance in them is even worse for our health.

And I haven’t even mentioned things like dirty electricity and cell phones. Or those drugs and vaccines that we are encouraged to take “for our health” that contain “just a trace” of toxic metals, colors,binders etc. Just a trace really adds up over time.

I’m not saying that we should live in fear. It is easy to become overwhelmed by these stories and dangers and just throw up your hands and give up. Or spend your life in fear worried constantly that you or your family members will be overwhelmed by these toxins. Neither of those is a productive response. Instead you must look at your life honestly. Where are you getting toxins right now that you can easily decrease or eliminate. It can be as simple as switching brands of personal care items and cleaning products. Making soup from scratch instead of a can (it tastes so much better, has way more nutrition and is cheaper!) And choosing glass, cloth and ceramic containers for food storage and transport instead of plastic. Those of you who are following the GAPS healing protocol are already ahead of most Americans in the detox department but there is more you can do.

I’m going to be doing blog posts about the subject of detox and avoiding toxins over the next few months. My Detox Shower post was the start but there is much more to come. Stay tuned!