RejuvaDetox - What are Toxins?

You have been doing everything right - getting more exercise, limiting your serving sizes, eating plenty of salads, not eating fast foods and still you hold on to those extra pounds. When excess weight won't come off, it makes sense to start asking why.

Your body dilutes toxicity with fat

One reason the body holds on to excess weight is to dilute toxicity. The body will hold on to weight to store heavy metals or pesticides if there is not a mechanism for safely removing them. It may choose to hold onto extra water and fat to dilute the toxins it is storing. Some sources claim that 25% of the population suffers from toxic poisoning to some extent which are found in the form of pesticides, as well as from drugs, alcohol and food additives. They can also come from environmental contamination in the home or industry. The most common problematic heavy metals include lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, nickel, and aluminum. Common symptoms of heavy metal and pesticide toxicity include headaches, fatigue, muscle pains, indigestion, constipation, dizziness, and poor co-ordination. Toxic chemicals can collect in the brain, kidneys, and in fat cells, where they can disrupt normal function. These metals primarily affect the nervous system and give rise to symptoms such as headaches, depression, abnormal nerve reflexes as well as increased weight. Laboratory tests for heavy metals include blood tests, urine tests, and fat or hair analysis.

Food toxins trigger your body's defenses

Some foods are contaminated with, pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals (apples, pears etc may be sprayed up to 12 times before they are picked). Foods that carry toxic compounds can cause the body to hold on to extra pounds by starting an immune reaction that causes inflammation, or retention of excess water, in the body. When a food is contaminated, the body reacts to the chemicals in the food by making antibodies which cause the inflammation.

Another cause of food toxicity occurs because of incomplete digestion. Food that is digested well, is broken down in the stomach and intestines and absorbed into the bloodstream in small molecules. However, if the body lacks the enzymes (we start to loose the ability to create our natural enzymes over the age of 35) which it needs to break down foods properly, or if stomach acid is too low, larger food molecules are absorbed into the blood. This can cause an immune reaction. When food is incompletely digested, the liver has to work harder to process and eliminate the larger food particles. These act similarly to toxins in the body, causing inflammation. In addition, the liver isn't available to detoxify the blood efficiently because it is busy breaking down the larger food particles. An elimination/reintroduction diet or food sensitivity testing by means of Kinesiology can help identify the foods that the body is unable to digest properly. Digestive enzymes and supplements for intestinal repair are also helpful to improve digestion and decrease inflammation.

Another deterrent to good health is stress, which triggers your body to release stress hormones into your system. While these hormones can provide the "adrenaline rush" to win a race or meet a deadline, in large amounts they create toxins and slow down detoxification enzymes in the liver.

How Does Detoxification Work?

Basically, detoxification means cleaning the blood. It does this mainly by removing impurities from the blood in the liver, where toxins are processed for elimination. The body also eliminates toxins through the kidneys, intestines, lungs, lymph and skin. However, when this system is compromised, impurities aren't properly filtered and every cell in the body is adversely affected.

"Detoxification works because it addresses the needs of individual cells, the smallest units of human life."

Ways to Help Your Body

• Eliminate alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, refined sugars and saturated fats, all of which act as toxins in the body. Eat plenty of fibre, including brown rice and organically-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. Beets, radishes, artichokes, cabbage, broccoli, spirulina, chlorella, and seaweed are excellent detoxifying foods.

• Minimize the use of chemical based cleaners and personal health products (cleansers, shampoos, deodorants makeup and toothpastes), and substitute natural alternatives.
• You may wish to consider taking vitamin C, which helps the body produce glutathione, a liver compound that drives away toxins.
• Ensure that you drink 2 litres of still fresh water over the course of a day.
• Breathe deeply to allow oxygen to circulate more completely through your system.
• Work with visualizations and positive thoughts and emotions.
• Showers are more enlivening than hot baths due to the negative ions that the running water produces which are good for us.
• Steam rooms or saunas help your body eliminate wastes through perspiration. Dry-brushing your skin helps to remove toxins through your pores. Special brushes are available at natural products stores.
• Possibly the most important way to detoxify is a moderate type of exercise for 1 hour a day if possible. Yoga, swimming, tai chi, walking are all very good as they do not shock the body by stressing the cardiovascular system, as they promote the circulation of oxygen in the blood.

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