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Coming Clean
Canada's Environment and the Implications it has on your Health by Tracy Malone, ND, Naturopathic Doctor Recently there has been a global focus on the state of our environment, global warming, and the impact of pollution on our planet. In a report that was released in 2006 by a Canadian Environmental Research group, Environmental Defense, Harmful chemicals have been found in the bodies of every child and parent tested in the first cross-Canada study of pollution in families. Environmental Defense tested five families from British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick for 68 toxic chemicals in their blood and urine. The family members tested included seven children (aged 10 to 15 years), five parents and one grandparent (aged 33 to 66 years). On average, 32 chemicals were detected in each parent volunteer, and 23 chemicals were detected in each child volunteer. The sample size of this study (13 people) is too small to be statistically significant; therefore the report’s findings are largely demonstrative. The results, however, are consistent with body burden studies conducted in the US and Europe, and the detection of so many chemicals in every volunteer is cause for concern and further analysis. The unsettling reality is that each and every Canadian is exposed to a brigade of chemicals daily, through the food we eat, air we breathe, and the water we drink. Chemicals are ubiquitous in our environment and impossible to avoid. Sources of Toxins: Exogenous meaning that it originates outside of the body. Examples of these types of toxins include: insecticides, herbicides and plastics. Naturally you can protect yourself from becoming overburdened with a little bit of knowledge surrounding the chemicals you use, and regular detoxification also referred to as 'cleansing' or 'fasting'. Know your Chemicals This can be a daunting task considering the amount of chemical release into our environment. A good place to start is in your own home. Household cleaning agents used in your residential environment, can be replaced with less harmful, equally effective alternative. Below are several links that may help to convert your home into a chemically reduced space[2]. Coming Clean- Detoxification practices Detoxification is not a new concept, evidence dates back to 400 BC of its practice. Hippocrates, the mythical Greek "Father of Medicine," seems to have prescribed total abstinence from food while a "disease" was on the increase, and especially at the critical period, and a spare diet on other occasions. In the strict dietary sense, fasting is the complete abstinence from all substances except pure water, in an environment of total rest. Juice fasting, a popular variation, is abstinence from all food and drink except water and fresh vegetable and fruit juices. A modified fast includes small amounts of solid food, usually raw fruits as well as raw and steamed vegetables. Other types of fasts sometimes include brown rice fast, whereby only brown rice is eaten for a week, accompanied by water. Detoxification is the foremost argument presented by advocates of fasting. Detoxification is a normal body process of eliminating or neutralizing the toxins resulting from biochemical functions through the colon, liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph nodes, and skin. Fasting precipitates this process because, when food no longer enters the body, the latter turns to its fat reserves for energy. Many of the chemicals found in our environment are 'fat soluble', meaning that once gaining entry into the human body, these chemicals are stored in your fat cells. When the fat reserves are used for energy during a fast, they release the stored chemicals from the fatty acids into the system and are then eliminated through the above mentioned organs. It is common practice to support the detoxification process with herbal products,and specific dietary practices that support the organs of elimination during the cleansing process. This helps reduce the side effects of releasing stored toxins. Before beginning any type of fast or cleansing diet it is advisable to consult a health care professional for supervision, and a custom protocol for your individual constitution, and circumstance. Cleanse your mind Above we have discussed many different types of exogenous toxins that come from an external source, the environment. Another class Endogenous toxins, refer to those toxins originating from within the body. These are normally metabolites of exogenous toxins, or a result of inappropriate metabolism of hormones, examples include: estrogen, homocysteine, and cortisol. Stress in our daily lives can contribute to the chemical burden that must be processed by our bodies. Cortisol one of our most commonly produced stress hormones needs to be processed by our liver for elimination. When the liver is overburdened, and has compromised function, increased circulating stress hormones can affect anxiety levels, blood sugar regulation, cardiovascular disease and immune function. Mental detoxification is also important. Relieving our minds of negative thought patterns and replacing them with positive ones helps in still greater mental clarity. Rest, respite, recreation, and meditation can contribute to overall wellness. Although there are many different types of stress, increasing focus on the connection between chronic mental/emotional stress and the manifestation of physical disease has never been more evident. Mind body medicine and emerging fields of medical psychoneuroimmunology offer biochemical explanations of how stress influences illness. Paralleling this, the ancient practice of meditation and its presence in virtually all civilizations, seems all the more necessary in today's fast paced world. Tracy Malone, ND [1] Polluted Children, Toxic Nation: A Report on Pollution in Canadian Families [2] http://www.lesstoxicguide.ca/index.asp?fetch=household |