Detoxification for health

Several levels of protection from toxins and detoxification are possible. They are: living a clean lifestyle, doing periodic detoxification procedures, and following a comprehensive program to deeply remove all types of toxins from the body.

by Dr. Larry Wilson — 

Detoxification is the removal of waste matter from the body. Most of the waste matter is comprised of toxic chemicals and toxic metals, although other kinds of toxins are also eliminated. Detoxification is a critical bodily function that occurs 24 hours a day. You would soon die if anything went wrong with the process.

Today many people’s bodies are not eliminating waste products as well as they should, which can be caused by both physical and mental illness. This article outlines how you can improve your body’s ability to eliminate toxins of all kinds.

A toxic world 

Levels of toxic metals in our water and food are as much as 1,000 times greater than ever before in history. Toxic chemical exposure is also higher than it has ever been. Findings from hair mineral tests on babies reveal that almost all babies born today are already poisoned with toxic metals before they even sample any adult food.

The babies are born toxic because their mothers’ bodies are toxic. This congenital toxicity (meaning present at birth) is responsible for some cases of autism, ADD, delayed development, birth defects and many other infant and childhood problems. This is how bad the situation has become.

To make matters worse, toxins can remain in the body for decades. This means that toxicity tends to be cumulative and becomes an important factor in aging and the diseases associated with it. I know this because when a person begins a nutritional-balancing program, many odors are emitted from the body as the toxins are expelled, i.e., prescription drugs, residual toxic chemicals, etc..

This is called a healing or purification reaction, which occurs during any detoxification program if it is a powerful one. It is to be expected, although it can be an unpleasant experience.

Another hidden source of toxicity in people is called autointoxication. It refers to toxins generated inside the body. For example, indols, skatols and cadaverine, which are toxic products of the rotting of protein foods in the intestines, are produced due to improper diet, impaired digestion or a hurried lifestyle.

Alcohol, acetaldehyde and other potent poisons are produced when sugars and other carbohydrates ferment in the intestines. These toxins are common sources of liver toxicity and general poisoning of the body. A foul-smelling stool should make you question what toxins are being produced in your intestines.

Another critical group of toxins produced in the body are those caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites that live inside the body. They are called endotoxins and exotoxins. These may cause few or even no symptoms as they slowly poison the blood stream. Cancers also produce toxins that circulate throughout the body, regardless of the primary tumor site. Carbon dioxide, lactic acid and other chemicals are also quite toxic and are produced within the body.

Toxins cause disease

The idea that toxins cause disease is very old. Greek and Roman medical texts mention it. Ancient Chinese medical books speak of “harmful chi” and contain other references to toxins that cause illness. Herbal medicine and natural healing methods have emphasized toxin removal for thousands of years. Baths, enemas, poultices, emetics, laxatives, skin brushing, cleansing diets, sweating and other methods of eliminating poisons are integral parts of these sciences.

Conventional medical care emphasizes biological toxins such as bacteria and viruses as the primary causes of disease. However, it overlooks and often derides the broader idea of toxins as a cause of illness. Sadly, all medical drugs, vaccines and surgeries are themselves toxic and can easily contribute to ill health. This is critical to understand so you can take precautions to protect your health.

Protecting yourself from toxicity

Several levels of protection from toxins and detoxification are possible. They are: (1) living a clean lifestyle, (2) doing periodic detoxification procedures, and (3) following a comprehensive program to deeply remove all types of toxins from the body. Let us discuss each of these in more detail.

Levels of toxic metals in our water and food are as much as 1,000 times greater than ever before in history.

1. Following a healthful lifestyle. This means avoiding toxins as much as possible in your food, water, air and whatever touches your body in any way. Eat organic food as much as possible. Drink spring water or carbon-filtered tap water. Be careful of most designer waters, as many are just reverse osmosis water, which is not good. Although reverse osmosis water and distilled water are clean, they are devoid of minerals. This is harmful, because most people are already extremely mineral-deficient due to our depleted food supply.

When the body is low in vital minerals, it automatically absorbs more toxic ones from the environment. So keep up your intake of vital minerals. To do this, I suggest a diet high in cooked — not raw — vegetables, as these are the richest source of minerals on our planet.

Kelp is a wonderful and inexpensive mineral supplement. I would avoid most other mineral supplements as, in my perspective, they are unbalanced and therefore can unbalance your body.

Breathe pure air if possible, do not smoke anything and do not use any drugs — over-the-counter drugs, recreational drugs or prescription drugs — unless absolutely necessary. Also, do not have surgery unless absolutely needed.

Use the least toxic skin care products you can find. Jason, Kiss My Face, Avalon and a few other brands are quite good. Be careful with hair dyes, cosmetics and even common soaps and lotions. Avoid nail polish, which is one of the worst poisons. Reduce chemical usage in your home, yard and elsewhere. If you must be around toxic chemicals or metals, use extreme care. Wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly.

Replace mercury amalgam dental fillings as soon as possible with composite resin fillings, which are much better. If possible, avoid all metallic dental wires, as they usually contain nickel. That includes metal braces. This is very important for teenagers.

While all this may seem like a lot of work, it is not that hard once you get used to it and commit to it.

2. Detoxification procedures. Various detoxification procedures can be extremely beneficial. These include colon cleansing, saunas, castor oil packs, liver-gall bladder flushes, fasting, fruit diets, parasite cleanses, homeopathy, foot baths and others.

Based on my 33 years in practice, the most beneficial procedures are sauna therapy, coffee enemas and colonic irrigation. Skin brushing is safe but not as powerful. Milk thistle and dandelion root for the liver are also safe when taken in reasonable doses. Steam baths and ozone treatments are OK. Other procedures are less recommended. While they may make you feel better, they are much less effective and can even be harmful.

For safety, I would avoid the following detoxification methods, as I have seen too many problems with them.

Avoid all fasts, especially those lasting more than two to three days. Fasts are quite unsafe, in my view. Having worked as the medical director at a natural hygiene fasting spa for several years, I found that people’s bodies were so toxic, yin and depleted that any past “truths” about fasting from even 50 years ago no longer apply. Clients who have consulted me after fasting were often more depleted and worse off than before their fasts, even if some of their symptoms improved.

Be very careful with herbs and herbal cleanses. Among the products that can be somewhat toxic are cloves, wormwood, black walnut, yellow dock, bugleweed and other commonly used herbs. Even safe herbs can contain small amounts of toxic metals and other impurities that are hard to trace but eventually cause problems if used continuously for more than a few weeks.

Avoid putting salt of any kind into drinking water. While salt removes some toxins, it also unbalances the macrominerals and causes subtle mineral losses that may take months to notice and are difficult to correct.

Cleansing diets and other cleanses are not needed with nutritional balancing and actually slow a person’s progress in almost all cases. Fruit diets and juice fasts, for example, are OK for a few days but are incomplete and cause additional nutritional deficiencies. Additionally, like fasting, they are too yin and slow down the metabolic rate in most cases. If you must do these kinds of fasts, limit them to a few days at the most.

Some doctors recommend clay baths. However, clay is high in aluminum and other toxic metals. Once in a while they are fine and will pull certain toxins from the body, but definitely avoid long-term use. Preferably use other methods.

Ionic foot baths such as the Q2, Bio-Cleanse and others are harmful and should be avoided altogether. They may be OK for those who are over 75, but no one else. They definitely remove some toxins but also appear to cause subtle damage to the body’s energy field.

Avoid all alkaline water. While some people may experience symptomatic improvement with it, I have been contacted by several people who, over time, have developed severe metal poisoning from this type of water. Read the article “Water for Drinking” at www.drlwilson.com for more about drinking water.

The Ayurvedic method of swishing oil in the mouth was great when the world was not as polluted as it is now. Unfortunately, it does little for modern mankind, as it is simply not powerful enough to combat people’s toxic overload today.

Detox foot pads from Japan are an older herbal detoxification method. They are fine but not very powerful.

Chelation is a popular way to remove toxic metals. However, all chelators remove beneficial minerals along with the toxic ones, and other problems exist with chelation. I find it is never needed, because there are simply better ways to remove toxic metals.

3. A comprehensive way to rebuild and detoxify the body. In my experience, the best and safest method of detoxification is a program based on nutritional-balancing science. It gently and safely removes most toxic metals, as well as hundreds of toxic chemicals. It also slowly eliminates biological toxins, such as bacteria and viruses. Nutritional balancing reduces autointoxication caused by poor digestion and other factors. In addition, mental and emotional toxins are slowly brought to the surface of the mind for processing and elimination. It does this better than any other method.

Nutritional balancing works by combining many methods in an integrated and coordinated way. It includes a diet for one’s metabolic type, about eight to 10 nutritional supplements, proper drinking water type and amount, as well as five additional procedures that work together to assist detoxification through the skin, liver, colon, lungs and kidneys. It is not too costly and is very safe because it depends on balancing body chemistry. This greatly enhances the body’s adaptive energy, allowing far more natural detoxification to take place. It requires plenty of rest and sleep, which further enables the body to detoxify quickly and effectively.

Nutritional balancing also balances the autonomic nervous system. This is critical because parasympathetic activity is required for effective detoxification. Most people are what I call sympathetic dominant, meaning they have too much fight-or-flight activity, which slows or stops effective detoxification no matter what kind of diet, herbs or other methods they use. The program also balances the qualities of yin and yang in the body. This greatly strengthens the body and forces out many toxins.

To begin a nutritional-balancing program, you must work with an approved practitioner who understands the program well. A list of them can be found at www.drlwilson.com.

Having less toxic children

This article would not be complete without discussing how we can produce children who are not born with as many toxic metals and toxic chemicals. This requires preventive prenatal care beyond the prenatal care that is offered today, which is far too little and far too late.

The health of a baby depends almost entirely on the health of the mother. In today’s society, instead of preparing young women for child bearing, teenage girls and young women are permitted to stay out too late and live on poor quality food. Furthermore, many have contracted STDs and have other serious physical and emotional problems.

Most females use a bevy of toxic body care products and many use medical drugs that are toxic, as well. It is no wonder that birth defects, delayed development, ADD, autism and childhood cancers are on the rise.

Once again, nutritional-balancing science is the best way I know of to prepare for pregnancy. In studying more than 400 pregnancies, women who follow a nutritional-balancing program have much healthier, happier and less toxic children than with any other health or prenatal program that I have encountered in my three decades of practice.

Dr. Lawrence Wilson has a medical degree and has been in the health field for more than 30 years. His books include Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis, Legal Guidelines for Unlicensed Practitioners, Healing Ourselves and Manual of Sauna Therapy and The Real Self. He also co-authored Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease and contributed to The Dangers of Socialized Medicine. www.drlwilson.com or 928-445-7690.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 32, Number 1, February/March 2013.