Archived News of the Week

Detoxification

Most of you already know how I feel about detoxification; detoxification is a no brainer, we need to detox and until there are no toxic indicators left. In fact, if you recall, your first visit with me was a rather lengthy process of muscle testing many of my mysterious vials just to discover which variety of abnormal flora or food was affecting your health. That was the easy part. The hard part for you and for me is always the blood, sweat and tears of detoxification. Some of us will have detox reactions which are uncomfortable for a short period of time. Please read the handout called Detoxification on my website, www.drbea.com/Handouts/Detoxification for more detailed information.

We are all aware that we are living in a very toxic world, so I won't beat that boring drum anymore. Rather, since our toxic world is a given, what should we do to protect ourselves? We have to keep ourselves as free of toxins as possible, and that means first of all, to detox what we are already lugging around in our bodies even before we go out to get more. So, a baseline detox is primary.

Secondly, we need to keep our bodies' detoxification capabilities as amped up as possible so that we can deflect - like Wonder Woman - all the toxins that fly at us every day. This means keeping our sensitivities at a safe level, our bugs at bay and our liver and kidneys healthy and chugging along.

Here's how it works: "The better our bodies are able to process and eliminate the various toxins we accumulate, the better our bodies will function, and the stronger and more resistant to disease we will be." Dr. Daniel H. Chong, N.D.

We just can't have bad bugs compromising the function of our bodies. In fact, so much literature and research material has been written in both naturopathic and conventional publications on the dangers of a compromised body that if we ignore it, we live on the Planet of LaLa: For example, fungus, yeast and molds have been implicated in many precancerous and ultimately cancerous conditions, undiagnosed parasites have been found in 70% of autopsied bodies, undiagnosed food allergies can wreak havoc on someone's quality of life, esp. children whose worried parents then become immediate prey to Big Pharma and its mind altering Ritalin for hyperactivity, SSRI's for mopiness or antibiotics for chronic ear infections that are actually the expression of a milk allergy How about this much safer alternative?

Bring those children to me. Let me test them for food allergies, sensitivities to food dyes, take them off sugar, get rid of the parasites and yeast in their bodies. Exert your parental control, no matter how painful it is or how many tantrums you must endure (One study reported that you need to say "no" 27 times before your child gives up.) Sooner or later, your efforts and patience will have paid off and you will have a different, calmer child and ultimately you will be very happy you went through the detox.

Take your hyperactive child off of Wheat. Or Dairy. Or Food Colorings. And esp. Sugar. Do whatever it takes to calm them down in a drug-free manner. I really have a lot of compassion for these kids. Hyperactivity is not a comfortable state. I know, because I was one of those kids. Wheat was my particular poison. I will, still, to this day, become anxious and restless if I eat too much wheat.

I remember in grade school feeling out of control and didn't know why. I was restless, fidgety, anxious, couldn't pay attention, I was thrown out of kindergarten for doing the hula at the blackboard, I got report cards with "Needs to pay attention" and "Talks too much in class". This was not good. Today, I would have been put on Ritalin by my well-meaning parents, then maybe had a serious drug problem later because my brain was permanently altered and "craved" stimulation. When I reached my teenage years, I would have been drawn to experiment with the speedy drugs like crack cocaine or crystal meth.

Doesn't it make more sense to find out what is making us feel speedy? Or unable to remember things? Or crazy? Or tired? Or unable to cope? Instead of covering up the symptoms with a drug, like conventional medicine is so prone to do, let us heed the symptoms - because they are given to us for a reason. The body speaks to us through our symptoms - its cries for help are there for us to listen to, not to disregard. And as for mental/emotional symptoms? The brain can't get a rash, or diarrhea or the flu. So, the brain speaks to us through our behavior and our emotional comfort or discomfort. In fact, many of us on some sort of mind-altering drug are not "crazy", just toxic.

Back to detoxification: After I find what it is you are sensitive to, I will ask that you eliminate those foods from your diet for a period of time. I will probably have also found some dysbiosis (abnormal flora or "dysfunctional biology") and will suggest one or two products to eliminate these. Then, later, I may ask you to go on a cleanse for a week or two, do some hydrotherapy, castor oil packs, some daily dry skin brushing, saunas if available, epsom salt baths, enemas. I will ask you to be sure to drink lots of water which is important because "dilution is the solution to pollution." I may ask you to ozonate your toxic home or car and take a nice long walk every day which will stimulate your lymph to dump toxins. All the above is very manageable and not anything you should be afraid to do.

I want to direct you to a couple of sites on my website. Go to drbea.com, click on handouts and read the cleanse I have there, called The 19 Day Cleanse for Health. Then, click on Hot News and scroll down to Get Ready! A 2004 Cleanse for a New You. The latter is the one I do a couple of times a year, in the fall and the spring. It's pretty easy, and I find that I comply. When I am doing this particular cleanse, I may also take parts of the one in the handouts section which describes enemas, dry brushing, etc. and do some of that as well.

I am a chiropractor by license, even though I act more like a naturopath, i.e. my feeling that detoxification is paramount, keeping clean bodies, eating the right foods etc. But as a chiropractor, I deal with misalignments of the spine and the extremities, and as many of you have experienced, you can ruin a perfectly fine day with a sore neck or a rib that's out or a sacrum that's stuck. So Structure, the third of the Six Foundations of Health is also important.

Not only does misalignment hurt, but it can also cause blockages in blood and nerve flow to various parts of the body and viscera and therefore, can slow down any healing process. So, I will often investigate whether or not a structural problem is contributing to pain, discomfort, bad digestion, heartburn, foggy thinking and a bunch of other symptoms that could be exacerbated by a structural misalignment.

Last time we discussed Food and Nutrition, the first foundation of Health, today Detoxification and Structure, numbers 2 and 3. The remaining three Foundations of health will be addressed next time: We have left, Genetics, Thoughts and Emotions and Spiritual Health.

Have a great day and remember to BREATHE!

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