Modern life and technology creates many substances which are harmful to our bodies and brains. Sometimes we expose ourselves to toxic substances on purpose (e.g. medications, smoking, alcohol, breast implants) but even more often we are not aware of our exposure (e.g. poor air quality, toxins in our food, mold inside buildings). Toxins will get inside cells and damage them or otherwise affect their ability to function. The longer you live, the more toxins you are exposed to. An important part of feeling better not older is cleansing the body of toxins!
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Wellness Lifestyle Approach: Detoxification as Preventative Medicine
When enough cells in an organ are damaged by toxins, your body shuts down that organ (or parts of it) in order to protect it. If this is your liver, you can no longer process sugars well which often leads to a diabetes diagnosis. If part of your brain shuts down, you may lose memory (Alzheimer’s) or motor control (Parkinson’s). If mold mycotoxins are attacking the mitochondria in your cells, your entire body is affected with low energy, pain, and poor functioning. If the mercury in your teeth’s fillings or in the air from a nearby coal burning plant get stuck in your brain, your entire brain is at risk of poor or suspended functioning.
Many chronic diseases and medical conditions can be traced back to toxins building up in the body and brain. Instead of waiting for an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or taking pharmaceuticals to deal with fibromyalgia and chronic pain, Zen and Vitality is here to help you take steps to encourage your body get rid of the things harming you from the inside.
Step 1: Reduce your exposure to toxins by assessing and making changes to the air you breath, the water you drink, what you put in your body, and what you put on your body.
Step 2: Actively work to remove toxins from your body being careful to go slow enough so that you feel as good as you can while detoxing and you do not overload your body with work.
Step 3: Go global to protect yourself, your children, and all living things on Earth from the devastating effects of toxic chemicals – you can shop local, use solar energy, and so much more!
10 Holistic Therapies to Reduce Your Body’s Toxic Load
Every body carries a toxic load. The questions are: how heavy is your load and how much load are you strong enough to carry and for how long? Many times, we hear of someone who lived a “healthy life” and “did all the right things” and still got cancer or some other disease or diagnosis. Our personal choices are only part of the calculation of our toxic load. We have to account for both what we put into and onto our bodies and what our environment gives us.
- Enjoy an Ionic Detox Foot Bath to Move Toxins Out of your Cells
- Rebounder to Improve Lymph Fluid Flow
- Homeopathic Remedies to Stimulate Your Body’s Detox Organs
- Eat Primarily Organic, Local, Sustainably Grown Food
- Infrared Sauna to Stimulate Sweat and Circulation
- Drink to Support a Healthy Gut Microbiome
- Supplement with Minerals that Carry Toxins Away From Cells
- Participate in Zoa’s Guided 2 Month Cleanse
- Check the Outdoor Air Quality Before You Open your Windows
- Measure the Indoor Air Quality of your Home or Workplace
#1: Ionic Detox Foot Bath to Move Toxins Out of Your Cells
Many toxic substances get stored in your cells because your body does not know what else to do with them. As long as they are residing inside your cells, your lymphatic system has to work very hard to get them out of the cells and then out of your body. The Ionic Detox Foot Bath coaxes the positively charged toxins out of the cells and into the extracellular spaces where your lymph system can locate them and mobilize their removal.
The Ionic Detox Foot Bath’s encouragement is like priming a pump or planting a seed and watering it. Once that initial step has occurred, the detox process can operate smoothly. Your body still has a lot of work to do on its own, but the Ionic Detox Foot Bath is a great tool to boost the effectiveness of your detox protocol.
#2: Rebounder to Improve Lymph Fluid Flow
Your lymphatic system is your body’s trash removal system. There are lymph vessels, lymph fluid, and lymph nodes, and supporting organs. There is however no pump to push the lymph fluid around the body like the heart does for your blood. Your whole body movement is the driving force to getting the lymph fluid all around the body to flow towards the center of the body for processing and removal of things that may harm you.
One gentle way to get whole body movement for lymphatic system stimulation is to come to the Everyday Self-Care Room in La Plata, MD and use the Rebounder for a Gentle Health Bounce. To get started, keep both feet on the trampoline (and perhaps your hands on the walls for comfort) then just gently bend your knees and ankles or lift and lower your heels to get a little movement. This is enough to stimulate your lymph flow to detoxify your body. Start with 2 minutes and work up to perhaps 10 minutes a session. When you engage in the Gentle Health Bounce, there is no impact to your joints or spine since your feet never leave the trampoline!
#3: Homeopathic Remedies to Stimulate Your Body’s Detox Organs
Homeopathy is a time honored healing tool used world-wide. It is gentle but incredibly effective when the chosen remedy matches your body and its needs.
#4: Eat Primarily Local, Organic, Sustainably Grown Food
Organic has been a buzz word for a while now but does it guarantee that your food is non-toxic? There are no guarantees in life but having relationships with the farmers that grow your food makes a big difference.
My farmers are Heinz, Gabrielle, and their daughters at Next Step Produce. If you live near La Plata, MD, they can be your farmers too – with easy pickup of your produce and more twice a week at Zen and Vitality.
Non-toxic food is important for your health. Choose food that is:
- pesticide-free, artificial hormone-free, endocrine disruptor-free and herbicide free
- grown in soil tested for mineral content and regenerated through sustainable farming practices
- close to its natural form
- grown as close to your mouth as possible
- cooked in ways that do not add harmful components
- shown to have more health benefits than potential risks
Where does your non-toxic food come from?
#5: Infrared Sauna to Stimulate Sweat and Circulation
An Infrared Sauna session provides the right kind of heat directly to cells inside your body to give you an internal temperature rise.
When your body warms in the Infrared Sauna, your circulation pattern changes. In order to cool you off, more blood comes to the surface – to the skin – than stays in your core. This blood moves nutrients and toxins alike to the skin.
The Infrared Sauna induced body heating activates your immune system so it can return you to a state of health. This temperature rise also stimulates sweating of your whole body. Sweat is known to carry with it heavy metal and other toxins from just under the skin to the outside for you to wipe off!
#6: Drink to Support a Healthy Gut Microbiome
Gut health is whole body health. Many toxins kill off the incredibly complex collection of bacteria friends that live in your gut and keep you healthy. When your gut microbiome is damaged, your ability to make energy, your body’s access to vitamins and minerals in your diet, your ability to regulate moods and blood sugar, and your immune function are also damaged.
Your digestive system also feeds one of your primary detox pathways – your poop. When your microbiome is off, so are your bathroom habits. You need a regular deposit into the toilet of healthy looking poo so that toxins leave before they have the chance to be reabsorbed through your intestinal wall.
When your intestinal flora, your gut bacteria, shifts to have more bad boys than good ones kombucha and other fermented foods to the rescue! Drink your way to more good bacteria in your large intestine and to healthy, daily bowel movements!
You might only be able to drink a shot glass full in a day as you get started, but kombucha has a long history of restoring your intestinal microbiome to a healthy state. You just want to go slow enough to not shock your system into a bad boy die off that makes you feel worse!
#7: Supplement with Minerals That Carry Toxins Away From Cells
Fulvic minerals are tiny, complex mineral structures that carry nutrients into your cells and toxins out and into the blood stream. Fulvic minerals help rejuvenate your cells.
Humic minerals are large mineral complexes that carry toxins through the blood stream to your detox organs – your liver and kidneys – for proper processing. Humic minerals improves the effectiveness of your body at getting rid of harmful things.
Both of these mineral types are particularly helpful when you have a chronic illness that affects your whole body and brain. I take both daily!
#8: Participate in Zoa’s Guided 2 Month Cleanse
Every so often, Zoa invites you to participate in her 2 month Guided Cleanse. Using small daily wellness oriented actions, together we will:
- Work to remove toxins from your environment
- Stimulate and encourage multiple detox pathways of your body
- Check in weekly about problems, progress, and tweaks to your personal detox protocol.
- Leave your body and mind feeling healthier and more energized
- Shift your lifestyle to one that better supports your wellness
#9: Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring
Air quality is crucial to feeling good in our bodies and the operation of our brains. The indoor air quality of our homes is under our direct control. Outdoor air quality has many complicated factors and is difficult for us to impact except when we work together for the goal of clean, breathable air. If you live with an existing breathing challenge, air quality directly impacts what you can do on a day-by-day basis.
As a public service to the La Plata, Maryland community, Zen and Vitality maintains (as of 12/10/20) a Purple Air outdoor air quality sensor. The information is publicly available and updated in real time. Check the outdoor air quality before you exercise outside or whenever you need!
#10: Indoor Air Quality Monitor Rental
The indoor air quality of our homes is under our direct control. Your cleansers of choice can smell fresh and clean and yet still contain toxic chemicals unless you read the labels prior to purchasing. Building materials and furnishings often come with warning labels that we ignore or are unaware of healthier alternatives. Our personal care products can negatively affect the indoor air quality of our homes even when the tops are on.
What is your indoor air quality? Rent a Purple Air Indoor Air Quality Monitor and see! You will be able to tell when someone is cooking and when the vacuum cleaner is running, but you can also tell the air quality in your bedroom while you are sleeping and other important places. View the current Indoor Air Quality Monitor in La Plata, Maryland at the Zen and Vitality Fortress or wherever the IAQM is right now!
My Blog Posts About Detoxification and Your Health
- 20 Ways to Prevent Raynaud’s Phenomenon
- 7 Fundamentals of Functional Wellness: Address the Root Cause not the Symptoms
- Avoid Osteoporisis by Building Bone Strength and Flexibility
- Brain Healing with The Wahls Protocol
- Fulvic and Humic Minerals: Wellness Benefits and Ways to Use
- Functional Mushroom Benefits: Are Fungii Your Key to Anti-Aging and Anti-Cancer?
- Healthy Electromagnetic Home
- Healthy Water and Hydration for Optimal Wellness and Longevity
- Homeopathic Remedies for Wellness and Detox
- Intermittent Fasting Basics: Benefits and How To Eat Less Often for Better Health
- Natural Skin Health: Create Glowing, Beautiful Skin From the Inside Out
- Natural Thyroid Remedies: The Science Behind Boosting Your Thyroid Hormones
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Your Key to a Healthy Brain and a Strong Heart
- Oxytocin and Orgasm: Your Natural Antidepressant and Anti-Aging Remedy
- Perimenopause and Menopause: How to Sparkle and Slide Through the Second Half of Life
- Phase 1 Liver Detox
- Phase 2 Liver Detox
- Preventing Alzheimer’s: How to Implement Dr. Dale Bredesen’s Lifestyle Interventions to Reverse Cognitive Decline
- Prime Your Brain and Body For Optimal Health: Why and How to Safely Detox Your Body
- Skin, Moles, and Melanoma Prevention: Lower Your Risk While Enjoying Sun Exposure
- Sweat Your Way to Health in an Infrared Sauna
- The Beauty of Hair: What Your Hair Tells You About Your Wellness
- Understanding Cancer with Dr Jason Fung: A Guide to Being a Horrible Host for Cancer Cells
- Understanding Your Hormones: Drug-Free Actions to Optimize Your Hormone Wellness