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We live in an increasingly toxic world, where most people are not only regularly exposed to a host of environmental toxins, but the average American (and probably most other Westerners as well) are pumped full of a wide spectrum of toxins on a regular, if not daily basis - mostly by their own doing.
There is a great need - for the health and well being of humanity - to understand where these toxins are coming from so we can learn how to avoid them as best as possible. Once we stop habitually poisoning ourselves, it is also quite beneficial to undergo some sort of body detox effort to clean out our system. It is wise, even for those of us who live much healthier lifestyles, to focus on detoxing every so often, simply because it is impossible to completely avoid exposure to all toxins so prevalent throughout the entirety of the environment - pollution in the the air, and toxic chemicals which are so heavily used they have leached into soil, contaminating the earth her water supply all across the world.
In this post I’m going to do my best to shed a little light on this dilemma, share some tips on detoxing, and also a delicious smoothie recipe I concocted as a part of a detox regimen I was experimenting with a while back during a time when I was heavily focused on detoxing my body, after undergoing a diet change and making a number of other health-based changes in my life.
There’s many reasons one might decide to consciously focus on doing some sort of a detox, such as when quitting smoking or drinking, or upon the start of a new healthier diet; but it’s really not a bad idea to focus on detoxing ourselves every so often, as we live in a world where we are constantly being exposed to toxins, and it is practically impossible not to accumulate toxins throughout our body no matter how meticulously we try. From drug and alcohol use that is commonplace, to the pesticides and other chemicals sprayed on our food supply, to the fluoride in most municipal water supplies, to pollution in the air in big cities, heavy metals in vaccines, deodorants, and sea fish, countless toxins pumped into processed, fast foods, and the list just goes on and on and on and on...
The first and probably most important thing that anyone who is becoming more health-conscious or aware of the many environmental toxins they’ve been exposed to throughout their life can do, is to start consciously minimizing their exposure to these toxins, and in particular do their best to stop ingesting toxins on a regular basis. Otherwise, no amount of detoxing will do much of any long term good, plus it’s pretty much impossible to flush toxins out of your body that you are continuing to pump right back in at the very same time!
The following are just some guidelines on what to avoid, and are certainly not inclusive. Most of which are part of the societal norm and heavily advertised; avoidance of which may commonly be seen as strange, irregular and in some cases even ‘conspiratorial’. Such is the case in a society that has embraced a toxic lifestyle as relatively benign and completely normal, and many people get offended when you point out the truth about the toxicity of their lifestyle choices. But the truth doesn’t care about people’s feelings, and certainly doesn’t care about societal norms.
First off, getting off any drugs, alcohol, or tobacco is essential.
Alcohol is probably the top selling and most commonly used and abused poison in the West, by a long shot! It is socially acceptable, praised, encouraged, extremely heavily advertised, and an extremely lucrative corporate industry that thrives on peoples’ ignorance, pain, loneliness, fears, desire to fit in, and eventually life-long addiction. Besides acting as a dangerous physical toxin, it is also mentally toxic, highly addictive, destructive, and financially ruining to the poor.
Avoiding or at least cutting back on caffeine is good while attempting to detox, though so far I have personally only managed to cut down on my coffee drinking, which at one point was way out of control. Cut back on sugar too, as much as possible, and certainly avoid high fructose corn syrup! A big reason to avoid sugar and caffeine while detoxing, is so the body can focus all of its energy on flushing out built up toxins and as little energy as possible on flushing out the caffeine and sugar. Also, caffeine is acidic, and best to keep the body as alkaline as possible.
Stop eating fast food!
So-called ‘food’ from McDonald’s,and meals from any popular fast food joint for that matter, are not fit for human consumption, and are pumped full of so many toxic chemicals most people would not even believe it.
Please do yourself a favor, if you haven’t already, and just stop eating fast food! It is essential, as fast food joints are literally poisoning people by the millions on a daily basis.
Pharmaceuticals and the health care industry don’t mind, however, for they make billions on all the chronic diseases caused by McDeath & Co.
Cut out any processed foods as well
And processed food is just as bad as fast food; in reality processed junk foods are just another form of fast food, filled with toxins.
Avoid processed foods whenever possible, which are typically packed with saturated fats, loaded with sugars, and filled with a host of artificial flavors, colors, and variety of other toxins, while providing next to no essential nutrients. So ditch those sodas, candy, frozen dinners, baked goods from your local super-center, and anything that has an ingredient list longer than you have time to read, or that have things in the ingredients that don’t sound like food at all.
Stop drinking fluoridated water!
Find a fluoride-free water source, or filter your tap-water with a filter that will remove fluoride - reverse osmosis and steam distillation are both effective - as the fluoride put in our water supply - sodium fluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid - is highly toxic industrial waste being pushed on the public in the name of fighting tooth decay. It really is quite the scam, coincidentally born right around the same time as the rise of factory farming, fast food, the entire Big Food industry, and Television programming (all of which play key roles in our modern toxic world). See the short documentary below for more details on the suppressed truth about water fluoridation in America - Fluoride Deception:
Fluoride is a neurotoxin, has been shown to be damaging to the thyroid, and is a proven contributing factor to the calcification of the human pineal gland; a gland which is linked to a number of major bodily functions, primarily the regulation of our sleep-waking cycles and secretion of melatonin, but also involved in many more. It is also thought that the pineal and pituitary glands together form the physical center of the spiritual anatomy within us, linked to our highest energy centers (third eye and crown chakra).
Two major contributors to pineal gland calcification and thyroid disruption besides fluoride are chlorine and bromide. Along with fluoride, chlorine is conveniently also added to a majority of municipal water supplies in this country... Bromide is used in commercial fertilizers and can also be found in some baked goods.
Go Organic!
Studies have found that over 70% of nonorganic produce has pesticide residue on it! And those pesticides are chalk full of toxic chemicals that no one in their right mind who had the choice would ever knowingly ingest.
Eating organic as much as possible is absolutely crucial, for those wishing to avoid the regular intake of residues from the wide variety of toxic pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and other toxic chemicals sprayed on and even used in fertilizing the fruits, veggies and grains that form the core of our diet (or feed the animals whose meat in turn does).
The following excerpt from an article published in The Guardian, documenting a study on the effects of eating organic on the amount of pesticides in the human body, is particularly illuminating.
Andreina Febres, a mother of two living in Oakland, California, signed up for a study evaluating whether an organic diet could make a difference in the amount of pesticides found in her body, she didn’t know what researchers would find. But her family, and the three others across the country that participated, would discover that they all had detectable levels of the pesticides being tracked. They would also discover that after only six days on an organic diet, every single person would see significant drops in those pesticides, including several linked to increased risk of autism, cancer, Parkinson’s, infertility, and other significant impacts on health.
“It’s good to see that just after a week there was a dramatic drop,” Febres said after seeing the results. “I would love to get those pesticides out of my body and my family’s bodies.”
If you can’t afford to or don’t have access to organic produce, at least do your best to wash or peel any nonorganic produce to help avoid ingesting the toxic, cancer causing pesticide residues. This is also another great reason to grow your own garden if you don’t already! Learn to be more self sufficient, gain gardening knowledge & skills, and eat healthier at the same time... Plus homegrown produce always tastes far better than anything found in the story, no matter how fresh and organic it is.
Switch to a more plant-based oriented (vegetarian or vegan) diet
At the least, do your best to cut all red meat out of your diet, avoid sea fish for its high mercury content, and if you’re going to consume dairy products, make sure they’re organic and from grass fed cows. If you insist on eating meat, eat only organic, free range, grass fed - ideally wild game and wild caught fresh-water fish.
Studies have shown that the standard American diet saturated with red meat is a major cause of heart disease and cancer, leads to an increased risk of mortality, and has been linked to a variety of chronic diseases. Any nonorganic meat is going to have much higher concentrations of all the same toxic residues found in nonorganic produce sold at the grocery store, as all of these toxins build up in the animal’s body throughout its life just as they do in ours, plus they have likely also been exposed to additional toxic chemicals.
The form of calcium found in cow’s milk is calcium phosphate, which tends to build up in the human body and contributes to the calcification of the pineal gland among other things. Calcium carbonate, a calcium supplement commonly found in almond milk and other vegan milk, is no better, or even worse. Best to get our calcium naturally from plants high in calcium. We are taught that calcium is such an important nutrient to keep the bones strong, thus we need to drink milk, and that those who go vegan will be calcium deficient, but scientific studies actually disagree.The truth is that we do not need much calcium, and that human cells should be high in magnesium while low in calcium. The high calcium western diet, particularly these forms of calcium the body struggles to utilize, leads to a buildup of calcium deposits throughout the body, and to a highly calcified pineal gland. We don’t need milk to have strong bones; just look at horses, buffalo, and cows, which eat only grass! Not to mention it’s not nearly as healthy or essential as its touted up to be, and in some cases can even be bad for your health...
Becoming a vegetarian or even switching entirely to a well balanced plant-based vegan diet is not a bad idea, it avoids the many health risks of meat consumption and the high concentration of toxic chemicals found in most meat and dairy products, withdraws support from the cruel factory farming industry and the unsustainable beef and dairy industry, plus it’s great for the environment. I first became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but noticed the health benefits later when I actually began eating a healthy and well balanced vegetarian diet, instead of pizza all the time :) Now, besides honey, and very occasionally cheese or butter, I eat an almost entirely plant-based vegan diet and feel great, healthy, and have plenty of energy.
Avoid intake of heavy metals
Besides tuna and other seafood being high in mercury, vaccines are loaded with toxic heavy metals, so you may wish to look further into that and potentially choose to avoid getting yourself or your children vaccinated, at least with the majority of vaccines being pushed these days. You may also wish to switch from an aluminum-based deodorant to a natural alternative as well, to avoid the aluminum leaching into your skin.
You may also want to try to avoid using commercial chemical-based household cleaners and disinfectants, most of which contain highly toxic cancer-causing chemicals; and instead opt for a natural alternative. I cold go on and on, but that covers the major sources of toxins, at least those that we can control whether or not we put them into our body.
Unplug from the TV
One might wonder why, with all the abundant information regarding toxicity and major health problems caused by alcohol, fast food, nonorganic produce and the like, why exactly so many Americans continue to slowly kill themselves with their diets and drinking habits. When one realizes that the television is literally programming the people to live this sort of incredibly toxic lifestyle, through the almost nonstop corporate advertising and the news and entertainment, it becomes easier to see just why people continue literally stuffing their faces with poison day in and day out.
The average American watches around 7 hours of TV each day, almost as long as the average 8 hour work day! It is therefore incredibly difficult to actually take the necessary steps towards living a healthier lifestyle and gravitating towards a relatively toxin-free diet so long as one is plugged into the TV, particularly for hours each day.
For those who are truly seeking to live a healthier lifestyle and to detox their bodies, unplugging from the TV is a most necessary and beneficial step, no only to make the transition away from fast food and TV dinners, but also away from toxic thought processes.
The Television is constantly programming its viewers, doing its best to keep us in a constant state of fear, anger and division amongst one another; flooding our minds with negativity, violence, sex, and a steady stream of materialistic/consumerist programming. None of this makes for a healthy mind, emotional state, or spiritual environment. But it does make good little consumerist debt slaves bound to get sick from their toxic lifestyles, who will then go on to feed the Big Pharma/Medical Industry’s greedy pockets.
So if you’re serious about detoxing, ridding yourself of toxic thoughts goes hand in hand with detoxing the body, and unplugging from the TV is a great first place to start. Then, begin working on reducing stress, ridding yourself of fears and negativity, forgiving yourself and others, and letting go of any guilt, worry, and anxieties you may have.
No amount of detoxing your body will do any good if you live in a toxic mental/emotional/spiritual state. Stress is a top killer in this country, literally proven to be a leading cause of disease in busy stress-filled western society. Toxic thoughts cause disease, even more so than physical toxins do. Tonic thoughts, on the other hand, are probably the most potent natural healing agent out there. So as you take steps to detox your body, make a conscious effort to also detox your mind so to speak, and flush out as many of the toxic thought patterns as you can identify Meditation can be a wonderful aid in this process, and in reducing stress. For more information on the incredible documented power of thoughts and beliefs and their affect on physical healing - the science of miracles so to speak - see my in depth post on the subject and check out the eye-opening documentary Heal.
Detoxing
Now as far as flushing out any toxins that have built up over time, one of quickest and most effective ways to do so, that I never motivated myself to try, however, is to do a three-day water fast. Ingesting nothing but water, or a combination of water and organic fruit juices for three days is not only guaranteed to quickly detox your body, but has been shown by studies to reset your immune system as well, so fasting has a dual physical purpose as well as being a spiritual practice.
For those like me who do no wish to engage in a fast, the next best and important thing to do is to begin drinking more water than our body needs, for this alone will begin flushing toxins out. Also starting the morning with a glass of lemon juice is a good practice as well, as lemons help to detox and alkaline the body.
Working up a sweat with aerobic exercise, and/or with a sweat bath will help flush the toxins out quicker.
Then just start eating a healthy diet full of foods that will help detox the body more quickly and fully. And that is where my tasty strawberry-kiwi-banana smoothie comes into play. I devised this smoothie specifically as a detoxifying breakfast.
Strawberry-Banana-Kiwi Detox Smoothie
I start with a banana, strawberries (about a cup) and a couple of kiwis, mainly because I love the flavor combination of banana-strawberry-kiwi, plus they are all packed with nutrients. Bananas also have a decent amount of boron, which is a good detox aid as well. Then add a handful of blueberries or your choice of other berries or cherries, for additional antioxidants and flavor. Berries, particularly blueberries, are high in antioxidants, which are essential in neutralizing free radicals (which build up in the body over time and will otherwise lead to bodily ailments if not neutralized).
Add a lemon, an avocado, a decent amount of ginger root, and optionally a little turmeric - all of which are major detoxifiers, the avocado chosen for its high boron content.
Next, 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1 tablespoon of flax seeds, and 1 tablespoon of raw organic cacao. The raw cacao is full of antioxidants and other nutrients that are absent from alkalized cocoa powder, and can also help aid in detoxification. Flax seeds are packed with omega-3s, and along with the chia seeds are packed with protein. Both are highly nutritious.
Then I added a teaspoon of spirulina, and a tablespoon of organic green superfood (dried powder) - which is basically just a combination of a variety of grasses, fruits, nuts, roots and veggies - formulated specifically as an alkalizer and detoxifier, with additions such as lemon, ginger, fennel, chlorella and other natural detoxifiers. If you don’t have access to such a product, you could just add some wheatgrass and chlorella, or a combination of wheat and oat grass or whatever you can get your hands on, as grasses are also naturally great detoxifiers, along with chlorella and spirulina, all three of which are nutrient-packed superfoods as well.
Don’t forget the milk to make it a smoothie, either coconut or almond milk, or both - particularly coconut but also almonds are supposed to be a good detoxifier as well. Avoid commercial nut milk with calcium carbonate and other additives like carrigean if you can; homemade almond milk is really easy to make, and coconuts are naturally filled with milk - no effort needed! Then just blend it up into a smoothie, and enjoy; it should make at least two medium to fairly large smoothies.
It’s been a while now, since I’ve been on the road for months and haven’t been making smoothies, but I think I remembered everything. You can of course add or subtract anything you wish, to make it more to your liking, or if you discover other natural detoxifiers you have access to that I didn’t use.
A few healthy additions to help detox the body are garlic, green tea, raw organic apple cider vinegar and seaweed. Turmeric is excellent for this purpose, so use as much as possible in a variety of dishes. Garlic is quite healthy, medicinal, and will help clear out your system really well. Same goes for green tea. Seaweed is packed with iodine, a necessary nutrient which is also a great natural detoxifying agent not naturally found in many places. Kelp is also high in iodine, and a good substitute for seaweed. One may wish to use iodized salt during a detox if they aren’t already. Iodine works by displacing and helping to flush out harmful Halides (fluoride, chlorine, bromide) built up throughout your body.
Besides all that, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially fruits high in Vitamin C and dark green veggies such as broccoli and spinach; don’t forget to drink lots and lots of water, work up a sweat on a regular basis, and your body should be flushed of toxins in no time.
I hope readers enjoy the recipe, tips on detoxing, and all the info on toxins most people regularly expose themselves to.