Maintaining Good Health and Ideal Weight By Detoxifying the Body: The Path to Improved Health

Detoxification is often neglected, overlooked or underestimated in the healing arts, despite the fact that all health professionals realize that a sick body is a toxic body.

Toxic acids are normal products of cell catabolism, and we also assimilate varying amounts of toxic material from the air we breathe, the food we eat and other environmental sources. When these can be eliminated from the body, there is no problem. But when toxins are being assimilated or created in the body faster than they can be gotten rid of, or when one or more of the eliminative systems are underactive, trouble lies ahead. I am convinced that toxic accumulations in the body create the necessary preconditions for disease to develop.

Developing a Toxic Colon

I believe that when the bowel is underactive, toxic wastes are more likely to be absorbed through the bowel wall and into the bloodstream, from which they become deposited in the tissues. If any eliminative system is underactive, more wastes are retained in the body. As toxins accumulate in the tissues, increasing degrees of cell destruction take place. The digestion becomes poor and partially digested material adds to the problem, because the body cannot make good tissues out of half-digested nutrients. Proper function is slowed in all body tissues in which toxins have settled. When anyone has reached the degenerative disease stage, it is a sign that toxic settlements have taken over the body. This is the time when we have to consider detoxification--the cleansing of body tissues.

Our bodies can be overwhelmed by toxic accumulations as a consequence of fatigue, poor circulation and improper diet. I want to emphasize that an underactive body burdened with toxic wastes does not have the capability of throwing off those toxins. As a body becomes increasingly toxic, proper oxidation cannot take place in the tissues. Without oxygenation, we lack energy, and a tired body continues the downward spiral. Sick people are always tired people.

Another way to speak of this is that the body's chemicals and white blood cells are set up to attack foreign objects and substances as invasive to a healthy body. Therefore, every time something toxic is placed in it, the body goes into an "attack mode." So the more toxins going into one's system, the more constant the immune system is having to respond. This allows insufficient time for the glands and other parts of the body to rebuild their stores of defensive chemicals and white blood cells. The body begins to suffer a breakdown because the immune system becomes compromised, and too weak to do an adequate job when there is a real disease or other health and life-threatening attack on the body.

According to some natural medical people, years of incorrect eating habits, can cause plaque-like layers to build up along the inside walls of the colon. This happens because of foods that don't digest well, such as red meats, which take as much as eight hours to digest, and white flours and other processed foods that have had many nutrients and fibre removed. This build-up adds unnecessary weight to the villae that are so important to moving foods along the digestive track in a timely way (peristalsis). Such weight eventually flattens these "fingers" so that they cannot carry through the process of peristalsis adequately. This can cause (1) diarrhea because the material moves too quickly through the intestine; (2) constipation because the material moves too slowly, allowing too much liquid to be absorbed; (3) poisonous gases to develop from undigested food that backs up in the intestine instead of moving out of the body; and other discomfort and health problems.

So What Needs to be Done?

The idea of detoxification, or cleansing, of the body is not new. Most of the world's spiritual traditions have included some form of fasting or bodily purification, the purpose being to cleanse the body so that it could function as a more perfect vehicle for Spirit.

Here are some of the ways you can build a healthier body and its digestive system:

1. Have colon therapy done at a naturopathic clinic, in which old feces is moved out of the body, the plaque is removed from the walls of the intestine, and the villae are allowed to come back into position.

2. Without becoming fanatic or fearful about it, prevent as many toxins from entering your body, as is reasonable:

? Become a label-reader on products. If it contains too many chemical-sounding words, you might want to reconsider buying it.
? Take in as few additives as you can, including food colorings and MSG (monosodiumglutenate)
? Get off the "fast-food" track as quickly as possible. Many foods in such "restaurants" are filled with additives for preserving crispness or more salt and sugar than the body can feel is safe.
? Do without the junk foods. Find other ways to satisfy your snacking needs. Most junk food is filled with additives and other harmful chemicals, let alone the significant amount of salt or sugar.

3. Eat more fibre, including fresh or frozen vegetables and fruit. Fibre, non-digestible food material, acts as a scrub brush in the colon. Move to more natural products, instead of processed ones, which have so many nutrients taken from them in the processing. If you feel you can't get enough fibre through those means, add fibre supplements (available in any nutrition store). Increasing fibre content has other side benefits such as less possibility of hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and colon cancer.

4. Occasional fasting or single-food plans (watermelon or brown rice or fruit, etc.) for two day on one's own, or, under doctor's supervision, if longer, can be helpful in giving the digestive system a rest, and providing regular cleansing of the body's blood and intestinal systems. Some people like to fast once a week to allow their digestive system to rest.

5. If you smoke or use drugs, you are continuously compromising your immune system by adding poison to your body. Also, you are breaking down your body 's ability to defend itself or adequately heal from illness or surgery. Such substances also "eat up" your nutrients, which means that your body isn't getting adequately fed, and therefore, becomes unhealthy. So STOP NOW! Get a good hypnotherapist and acupuncturist to work together to help you kick the habit.

6. Sweating through such methods as saunas, steam baths, hot tubs and sweat lodges allow the body to eliminate toxins through the pores of the skin. These methods are helpful, but are recommended only in limited amounts of time.

7. Massage, exercise, yoga and other forms of bodywork and movement assist the lymph system (which has no organ to pump it) to move toxic wastes out of the body more quickly, and to assist the blood circulation system to oxygenate the cells. By doing so, the cells expel wastes more quickly.

8. Up your intake of water, not only as a daily healthy regimen, but to assist in any of the above when cleansing. Water dilutes the effects of the release and movement of toxins through your systems before passing out of the body. Of course, if you have any chronic health problems, and haven't checked them out with your doctor - allopathic or naturopathic - be sure to take care of them before starting any kind of intensive cleansing program. Also, it's wise to have a naturopathic or homeopathic doctor guide you through such a program. Their medical studies make them particularly skilled at assisting in this.

This article is a blending of works by Drs. Ulmann and Reichenberg, Del Morrill, and an anonymous author.