Detoxification

Detoxification, or "detox" is a general term referring to any procedure which rids the body of toxins. Exogenous toxins are those molecular structures that enter the body from the environment for which the body has no use and which may also cause damage. Endogenous toxins are products of metabolism of which the body must rid itself.

Exogenous Toxins

Exogenous toxins are primarily products of the petrochemical and industrial ages. Industry has brought with it high exposure to toxic heavy metals, namely aluminum, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, platinum, silver, thallium, thorium, tin, and uranium. In the pre-industrial age man had almost no exposure these elements except perhaps for silver and lead. In our evolution the exposure has been so meager that human biochemistry has made no use of these metals. Therefore when they enter the human body the only thing they can do is replace the nutritional metals (such as manganese, magnesium, etc.) in enzyme systems. As replacements toxic heavy metals stop the function of the enzymes with which they are associated and this is their toxic effect. Mercury is on of the most toxic off the heavy metals. Amalgam dental fillings are composed of around 50% mercury and are routinely used to fill dental cavities in the U.S. although the practice is banned in many European countries. Removed amalgam fillings must even be legally disposed of as toxic waste.

Other toxins we are exposed to are the halogens. The body can make use of only one halogen: iodine which is used to make thyroid hormone. The other halogens, e.g. fluorine and chlorine, are worse than useless to the body. Using biased studies, the aluminum industry has persuaded the American public that its very own waste byproduct , fluorine (as fluoride), should be painted onto and brushed into teeth, and swallowed with every drink of water. Epidemiological studies show that fluoride intake is directly linked with cancer. (And, by the way, it does not make stronger teeth.) Likewise chlorine which is dumped wholesale into most water supplies.

From the 1890s until the 1940s, organic chemicals were produced by the fractional distillation of coal and tar. No new chemicals were produced, only those already present in coal and tar were isolated. The petrochemical era was born in the 1940s. In 1940, by using new technology, synthetic chemicals were created which had never existed before. With the advent of thermal and catalytic cracking, it became possible to take petroleum, fractionate it, isolate particular chemicals and then, with a process of molecular splicing and recombination to produce any chemical you wanted to produce.

In 1940, we produced about one billion pounds of new synthetic chemicals. By 1950, the figure had reached fifty billion pounds, and by the late 1980s, it became 500 billion pounds, including a wide range of toxic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic and other chemicals. Most of these chemicals have never been tested for toxic, carcinogenic or environmental effects. We have been able to identify around 600 of these chemicals which are carcinogenic.

While some readers may find this hard to believe, cooking food produces many toxic substances. As confirmed by hundreds of researches cited in the prestigious National Academy of Sciences National Research Council's book, Diet, Nutrition and Cancer, "all cooking quickly generates mutagens and carcinogens in foods".

Heated fats are especially damaging because they are altered to form acroleins, free radicals and other mutagens and carcinogens as confirmed in Diet, Nutrition and Cancer.

Minerals quickly lose their organic context and are returned to their native state as they occur in soil, sea water and rocks, metals and so on. In such a state they are unusable and the body often shunts them aside where they may combine with saturated fats and cholesterol in the circulatory system, thus clogging it up with cement-like plaque.

Proteins begin coagulating and deaminating at temperatures commonly applied in cooking, rendering them devoid of nutritive value and incompatible with the body's chemistry.

Endogenous Toxins

So, by man's ingenuity we have been increasing the load of toxins almost daily — as if we needed more toxins. The body has all it can do to detoxify itself from the waste products of its own metabolism. To this end it devotes the largest organs in the body: the skin, kidneys, liver and colon. The body is designed to detox quite well if given enough pure water and fiber. However, the cultural norm is to drink very little (if any) pure water and to eat little fiber. In the place of pure water we have: tap water, mineral water, soda pop, coffee, tea, milk, juice, etc. (Distilled water is the only pure water.) In the place of fiber is meat (and yes that includes fish and fowl), breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, corn chips, milk — you know, the Standard American Diet (SAD).

When you add together the exogenous toxins and the endogenous toxins, practically the entire population is toxic. You can detect this by simply noticing the number of people with foul breath. Foul breath is almost always due to the presence of toxins, particularly when concentrated I the colon.

In American culture, there is a kind of taboo about the colon. This overworked organ is doing all it can to rid your body of toxins and if you are typical you haven't even thought about it, much less thanked it or gave it some help.

Detoxification

Considering all of the above, the most important thing a person can do for his or her general health is to begin immediately on a program of detoxification. This program should include: intake of distilled water, changing the diet to include at least 80% raw fresh fruits and vegetables, proper removal of amalgam (silver colored) dental fillings, bed rest and deep sleep,  colon cleansing, silymarin (milk thistle extract) to help detox the liver, juice fasting, and saunas to name a few.

Note from Pete at NaturalHealthWay.com : Its also important to note that deficiencies of vitamins and minerals will seriously impair the body's ability to carry out its natural detoxification functions! The liver for example absolutely requires B vitamins, certain sulfur-aminos  like taurine and cysteine, etc in order to clear toxins from the body.

Many people have made great progress with very hard to treat illnesses through detoxification. In fact, if you are ill, and you are not in a detoxification program, probably whatever else you are doing is not going to work as well or at all.