On a daily basis, you are exposed to toxins that inhibit your body’s ability to function optimally. These toxins are absorbed through the air, food and water you ingest and the hygiene products slathered on your body. “In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG.org) in collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.”(1) If these chemicals are being found in pregnant women, imagine what accumulates in your body day after day.
With this significant burden of chemicals, it is the liver that has the strenuous job of trying to eliminate these toxins from the body. As these toxins accumulate in the body, various symptoms slowly begin to appear. As toxic molecules circulate throughout the blood, they enter your brain and wreak havoc on your memory and concentration. Your joints fill with inflammation, leading to aches and pains. The skin tries to push these toxins out, resulting in blemishes, acne and body odor. Overall, as toxins take hold in the body, organs and glands struggle to keep up with their job and disease begins.
Most people don’t realize that more than 75 percent of the immune system is in your digestive tract. So to compound the body burden our immune system gets placed on high alert with poor food choices. This leads to inflammation in our gut, causing weight gain, gas, bloating and bowel problems. Long-term bowel problems affect our hormones and neurotransmitters (molecules that help our mood stay balanced), which will cause depression, anxiety and weight gain.
A naturopathically designed detoxification program begins by evaluating your health and tailoring a detox to safely meet your individual needs. It will provide you with the tools needed to package up and excrete your toxic load, which will relax and strengthen your immune system.
1. Environmental Working Group. Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns. July 14, 2005.
Source: Dr. Siobhan Hanlon, ND, of Inner Source Health. Devoted to helping people through her holistic approach, she continues to make huge strides at Inner Source Health, unifying science with natural complementary methodologies. Inner Source Health has offices in Huntington and New York City. For more information, call 631-421-1848 or visit InnerSourceHealth.com. See ad on page 15.
