Understanding Detox, Part 1: The Danger of Toxins

I’ve noticed quite a bit of confusion and misinformation about detoxification on television, online and among the general public. True detoxification is not a cleanse, and it’s not for everyone. Detoxification is for people who have been properly screened through blood tests, surveys and other testing to assess their level of toxification.

Detoxification is exactly what the word implies. A detoxification program is intended to detoxify the liver and lymphatic system. It’s like cleaning out your garage and putting everything back where it’s supposed to be.

Simply put, you need to give your liver a break. If your liver is toxic, it can’t detoxify the blood that passes through it. Toxins are then recirculated through our bodies, creating a toxic environment.

Now that we’ve clarified what detoxification is, it’s important to understand exactly what toxins are, the symptoms of toxins and the problems they cause.

We are in constant contact with environmental toxins – poisonous substances that come from outside of the body. These toxins are found in processed foods, food packaging, clothing, plastic products and other products we encounter every day.

Initial exposure to toxins actually begins while a baby is still in the womb. As a result, the question is no longer if we are toxic. The real question is, how toxic are we?

The types of toxins found in umbilical cord blood, and the blood and urine of most Americans, are rather shocking. They include pesticides, chemicals used as stain and oil repellants, dozens of flame retardants, and waste materials from burning coal, gasoline and garbage.

The majority of these toxins are known to cause cancer, are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and have been shown to cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal testing.

Symptom surveys are used to determine whether or not you need a detoxification program and track your progress during and after the program. Symptoms of excessive toxic burden – the total accumulation of toxins in the body – include:

• Fatigue
• Depression
• Headaches
• Muscle aches
• Cognitive problems such as brain fog and poor memory
• Neurological issues such as balance problems and tremors

Symptoms of heavy metal toxicity include:

• Irritability, headache
• Lethargy, fatigue, weakness
• Abdominal pain, tremors
• Kidney distress, elevated liver enzymes

Health conditions and diseases associated with excessive toxic burden include:

• Allergies and asthma
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Chemical sensitivity (any adverse physical, mental or emotional reaction to the presence of a chemical smell)
• Fibromyalgia
• Fertility problems and birth defects
• Parkinsonism
• Bone marrow cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma
• Chronic infections
• Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

When you think about what toxins are, what kind of toxins are in our bodies, how toxins make us feel and the problems they cause, it’s easy to see why the word “toxic” is used to describe such dysfunctional, negative environments in sports, business and entertainment. And how do you fix these toxic environments? Remove the toxic people.

The toxic environments inside our bodies can be helped in the same way. In Part 2 of this post, we’ll explain the body’s detoxification pathways and what is involved in a true detoxification program.

Dr. James Prood­ian is an accomplished chiropractic physician and health educator who founded Proodian Healthcare Family of Companies to help people feel better, function better, and live longer. His expertise for the past two decades has been in physical rehabilitation, and he has successfully established himself as a spinal specialist. In his practice, he advocates the science of functional medicine, which takes an integrative approach to treating patients by addressing their physical, nutritional, and psychological needs. Alarmed by the escalation of complex, chronic illness in our country, Dr. Proodian has been speaking to companies and organizations through his “Wellness at Work” program since 1994, motivating thousands of people to make positive lifestyle choices and lead healthier, more productive lives. He can be heard weekly on his radio program, “Proodian Healthcare By Design,” on Tandem Radio.