Greetings Empowered YOU! Let me ask you a few questions today about your next empowerment step. This is concerning toxins:
- Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Am I toxic?”
- When you are putting something in your mouth, do you ever wonder, “How was this grown?
- As you’re washing your hair, hands, or brushing your teeth, do you ever think, “What is this [insert some long word you can’t pronounce] ingredient?”
- When you are driving down the road, does your mind wander to your most recent conversation and you think, “Were my words toxic?”
- As you are going through your day sluggish, tired, and feeling “blah” has your mind ever considered WHY you feel that way all of the sudden?!
If these questions sound like I’m in your brain…it’s because I am!
“Detoxes” are all the rage these days, but why? And, are all “detoxes” created equal?
Detoxes have become a common household word because we are all surrounded by toxins ALL the time, and often don’t even KNOW it! Those secret toxins are interfering with your optimal living and mucking up your journey to vibrancy. It’s time to Detox Your LIFE!
First of all, what is a “toxin?” Simply stated, toxins are chemicals, and other forms of “junk” that get into our cells and therefore into our organs, systems, and bodies! Toxins cause a variety of problems and have been linked to a host of health challenges. For ease, let’s break down toxins into five main categories:
- Environmental Toxins (including two sub-sets):
- Chemicals – Man made ingredients including artificial fragrances, colors, flavors, and foods. Chemicals also include “true” chemicals such as long words we cannot pronounce, pesticides, herbicides, bleach, parabens, phthalates, plastics, and many many more “ingredients.”
- Toxic Metals – Metals that invade our bodies and cause problems. Some examples are aluminum, lead, mercury, and others. There are about 20 different metals that I generally test for when working with individuals.
- Natural Toxins (I generally refer to these as “bio-toxins” although technically “Bio-toxins” are only from fungus) – These are toxins produced from living organisms like mold, fungus, parasites, viruses, and bacteria. The toxins that these living organisms produce are not trouble to THEM…but sure are to us! Some examples of these living organisms that could be running around in our bodies and cells include mold, parasites, fungus, virus, and bacteria such as lyme.
- Electromagnetic Toxins – All the unseen waves in our air that make our digital devices work without wires as well as “dirty electricity.” Believe it or not, these are being linked to a variety of health challenges and cellular problems.
- Emotional or Social Toxins – Could your thoughts, words, and actions be toxic? Sometimes our own thoughts, words, and deeds toward our self or others can be toxic. Fear, unemployment, inadequate safety, lack of education, humiliation, and self-doubt may be a toxin that you need to shed.
Second of all, why should you care? Because your body does not know what to do with these “toxins.” They trick your cells and take up space on cellular receptors that should be used for real nutrients! Many chemicals look just like (mimic) micro-nutrients or hormones. Even though they LOOK like the nutrient, they aren’t, and our cells don’t know the difference until the toxin doesn’t perform the way the real micro-nutrient or hormone is supposed to. Our cells only have a few ways to notify us that there is a problem. We know that as “symptoms” (health issues/health challenges)…better known as PROBLEMS!
Now, let’s talk about this buzz around “detoxes.” De-tox is a way of removing toxins from our life, however, as mentioned above, not all detoxes are created equal.
You can detox by removing toxic exposure from your life. Let’s say that you are eating a fair amount of pre-packaged meals and you move to shopping at the local farmer’s market and cooking from home more often. Congratulations! You have just participated in a form of detox.
Or you discover that you have lead in your water source, either from old pipes or bad water. You invest in a good quality water filter and stop drinking from the tap. Way to go! You’re detoxing!
Maybe you decide to give your digestive tract a rest and participate in a “3-day juice cleanse.” Fabulous! You have experienced a form of a detox.
You get a Groupon for an Infrared Sauna session or Colon Hydrotherapy – way to go! Both are forms of specific detoxing.
When I work with individuals, we engage in many forms of detox. We begin to evaluate all products in their world. We evaluate food and water, and we often need to take a deep dive into the health of their cells to begin detoxing the cells of the liver, kidney, brain, and rest of the body.
So, as you consider detoxing your life, I encourage you to start small. Choose one area or product and just focus on that for a week or two. Here are a couple of suggestions:
- Plastic Free Day – Try going 24 hours without using plastic of any form. You’ll be surprised at all the places plastic shows up when we don’t even recognize it. I’d love to hear how you did!
- Processed Food Free Day – For one day do not eat any processed foods. Buy whole foods and fix your own meals.
- Investigate all products in your bathroom – Well, maybe not ALL products, just pick the 5-10 that you use every day. You know, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, toothpaste, hair products, make-up – those kind of products. What’s in them and is it something you should put in/on your body?
After you complete one of these challenges – post in the comments of this article how you did and what you learned! Way to go! You are on your way to Detoxing Your LIFE!
If you’d like to download my list of the Top Ten Toxic Ingredients you can join my private Facebook group “Cracking TheCodeOfYOU” and become a part of my wellness community online.
If you have more questions about toxins or DEtoxing – I’d love to help!
To your best you!
Deniece
your Next Generation Nutrition Coach