Our Toxic World

by Hannah Albert, ND for Pure E-Magazine

Healing From Our Toxic World

Start healing from our toxic world. The beauty of the Pacific Northwest is legendary. Nature and all things “natural” seem to be a way of life here comparable to few other places in the country. Most of us take it for granted that everything that looks clean and beautiful is, well, clean and beautiful. Certainly, The Emerald City is just bursting with fresh air, clean water, nutritious food, and everything else that goes into our bodies….right?

 

Prozac in Our Water Supply

 

What many people don’t know is that there is Prozac in our water supply. Pthalates, organochlorines and fire retardants in waters we fish. Growth-promoting hormones in our meat and cheese, insecticides in our vegetables and fruits. Bleach with Dioxin from the paper-processing plants drift in our air. These chemicals enter our bodies through all routes, and lodge themselves in our fat cells. Yes, right there in your belly, breast, and thigh fat.

 

 

Art by Dr. Hannah Albert, ND

 

The Chemicals We Consume

We breathe and eat and drink these chemicals along with our food, air, and water and they lodge themselves in our fat cells. They are there in our belly, our breasts, our thighs. Some compounds enter brain tissue if they are small enough to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Pesticides designed to be neurotoxic to insects have a similar effect on our own minds. Every American alive today, including infants, placental cord blood studies show, lives with multiple toxic chemicals in our bodies.

 

Pollution in Our World

 

So much for the idea that all green is good. Our little corner of the world is not that different after all. It’s polluted too, much like the other, less pretty places. These substances are known to be toxic to the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. So what can we do about it?

 

Additionally, some habits can make us more sensitive to the toxins in our environment.

 

Stress On The Body

 

Severe stress impacts the adrenal glands, making stressed-out people more susceptible to implantation to toxic compounds. People often manage stress by drinking alcohol, using drugs, and eating junk food; behaviors that hurt our bodies ability to handle the toxins in the world around us. Use of antibiotics depletes the healthy gut flora, decreasing immune function and the absorption of nutrition from foods. Other common habits that increase the rise of toxicity include dehydration or not drinking enough water, inappropriate diet; lack of restful sleep; inadequate exercise, and the overuse of pharmaceuticals.

 

Other things we might introduce toxins to our life. Smoking, wearing nail polish, gardening with chemicals, and using plastic in the microwave all introduce toxins to our bodies.

Toxins Around Us

Some expose workers to higher levels of toxins. Painting, printing, beautician work, carpet and furniture manufacturing jobs all put workers at risk. Living in prefabricated houses also contributes to the problem.

 

Eliminating Toxins

 

Depending on how you treat it, your body can lose its ability to eliminate waste products effectively and efficiently, holding in toxins to produce myriad of symptoms. Additionally, some people are constitutionally (genetically) “poor eliminators.” Additionally, some people are constitutionally “poor eliminators.” These individuals have difficulty producing the natural types of discharges associated with cleansing, such as through the bowel, kidneys, skin, and lungs Symptoms that may be related to toxicity might include constipation (fewer than one bowel movement a day); chronic headaches; adverse reactions to drugs or caffeine; decreased tolerance for alcohol and fumes such as paints, perfumes, gasoline; increased allergic reactions, asthma, rashes; signs of neuro-toxicity. Such as tics, mood swings, headaches, numbness, and insomnia. We can also help our bodies to better cope with the toxin that inevitably does enter our lives

 

What We Can Do

Exercise

Exercise at least three times a week for 30 minutes helps maintain your current health. Additionally, exercise helps release toxins through sweating and increased breathing as well as to re-set the adrenal gland by discharging stress. Many people do not exercise enough and chronic cortisol and epinephrine secretion can eventually impair adrenal, thyroid reproductive organ, neuronal and immune system function.

 

Diet

Eat fresh organic vegetables and fruits high in antioxidants daily. Avoid animal foods that are commercially raised using growth hormones and antibiotics. Drink spring or filtered water. Learn what kinds of feed are healthy for your body specifically. Develop a budget that favors food as your best medicine.

 

Environment

Limit exposure to known environmental toxins. Get outside and go into the woods/mountains. Educate yourself about toxic hazards through classes, seminars, and also news sources. Many online newspapers offer keyword article notification and will send you alerts to current relevant articles.

 

Emotional

Express yourself! Get counseling my friends, do art therapy, dance, cry, scream, journal… Do whatever it takes for you to clear out the stuff that doesn’t need to be there. It’s only going to find a nook to hide in that will slow down the flow of energy and create problems later down the road. Acquire some sort of stress management technique that involves quieting the mind, such as meditation, yoga, qi gong, or prayer. Most importantly, practice regularly.

 

Naturopathic Health Care

Investigate cleansing, detoxification, and other therapeutic programs offered by educated, qualified professionals. However, if you are already toxic, seek qualified assistance. Get evaluated or toxicity before beginning any kind of serious cleansing or “detox” program.

 

Biotherapeutic Drainage

 

Biotherapeutic Drainage is a treatment aimed at supporting the body’s natural routes of elimination and also enhancing the intra-cellular function of organs and tissues throughout the body. It is powerfully effective at helping the body recover from chronic illness and discomfort, and can allow profound, deep healing to occur. Drainage is distinctly different from “detoxification,” which refers to the removal of extracellular waster products from the liver and colon. Detoxification doesn’t address intra-cellular toxins that can accumulate in these and other areas of the body. Drainage alone is effective in permanent removal of toxins, and simultaneously works to improve the functioning of weakened systems of the body.

 

Toxins may also come from within your body, the byproducts of yeast, bacteria or viruses living in your body, or from the accumulation of heavy metals such as mercury. The human body has a limited capacity to breakdown and excrete these products. When that limit is surpassed the liver is no longer able to prevent harmful substances from entering your bloodstream and affecting the rest of the body. Even your own hormones and natural metabolic wastes such as carbon dioxide can promote inflammation in your nervous system, joints, gastrointestinal system, and other systems. Biotherapeutic drainage helps the body eliminate these waste products.

 

Elimination

 

Elimination occurs through the breath, kidneys, intestines and also skin. If these primary routes of elimination are not functioning well they will overload and create secondary routes of elimination, which typically involve the mucus membrane of the body. This can also cause inflammation that may lead to heartburn or gas, eczema, asthma and genital-urinary tract problems. Additionally, elimination needs to be balanced and continuous to prevent a build-up of toxins. In chronic disease may result from one or more systems of elimination being blocked or sluggish and overloading other systems.

 

Restoring Your Body

 

For example, muscle aches or fibromyalgia may indicate that the musculoskeletal system is overloaded. Tension, anxiety and insomnia may point to an overloaded nervous system. The goal in biotherapeutic drainage and naturopathic medicine in general, is to assist the body towards a higher state of balance. Reducing your toxic burden may reduce pain, increase3 energy, improve digestion, and eliminate allergies. Skin and hair also respond by looking healthier. However, as your body is restored to a less toxic state and balance is achieved, you may find your mind is more effective and you get sick less often.

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