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Did you know the average women is exposed to over 200 chemicals before she leaves the house in the morning?
(Jaw drop)
Yes! How scary is that??
We are surrounded by and exposed to thousands of toxins every single day, and this list grows larger each year.
Does it then come as a surprise to you that links have been found between toxic exposures and many medical conditions?
That was me.
I have ADHD and discovered (through my training in functional medicine) that my toxic load was pretty high. I was exposing myself to a variety of toxins just by going through my normal, day-to-day routine and I had no idea.
Over several months, I started to eliminate as many of these toxins as I could. As I went through the process, I started noticing I could concentrate for longer periods of time, didn’t feel as dependent on caffeine to get going in the morning, and even noticed a difference in my skin!
A year later, I’m still going strong and am now planning to start an organic garden in my backyard.
Reducing my toxin exposure has helped improve my productivity, relationships, and overall quality of life, and I know it can do the same for you.
Today, I’m going to share with you everything I’ve learned about toxins and how to reduce your toxic load.
Let’s dive in!
The Problem with Toxins
Our bodies handle so many things without us even noticing, its not even funny. However, our bodies don’t have unlimited resources.
The process of “handling” things mainly involves a series of reactions that make the thing less toxic, puts a handle on it, and drags it out of the body. Each of those reactions requires many ingredients that can be depleted if used too much.
So, the problem with toxins is not that they exist individually. Its that they occur together, bombarding the body at the same time, exhausting its resources.
Eventually, the body can’t run the reactions needed to get the toxins out, so they build up and wreak havoc.
The amount of toxins that are overloading your body is called your Total Toxic Load. This is what you want to keep as low as possible, and I’ll explain why two sections from now.
In the meantime, let’s get a grasp on what counts as a toxin.
Types of Toxins
There are three main types of toxins – chemical, biological, and physical.
Chemical toxins are just that, chemicals. Think anything that humans made, from medications to cleaning products to artificial sweeteners and preservatives that go in our food. All of these things are chemicals.
Now take a minute to think of how many chemicals you’re exposing your body to every day. Chilling isn’t it?
Heavy metals also fall into this category.
Biological toxins are those that come from living things. This could be toxins from the mold in your house or overgrowth of bad bugs in your gut. They can also come from your own body responding to a particular threat by making toxins.
Physical toxins are things such as radiation, whether from the sun, your phone, or that cell tower you live by.
How Toxins Affect the Body
If your total toxic load is high, your detoxification processes can get overwhelmed. They run out of resources and don’t work well anymore. This is known as dysfunction.
That’s not only a problem because the toxins stay in your body, but those toxins are not the only things that those processes work on.
If not corrected, the dysfunction spreads to other processes as well and can end up turning into a serious medical condition, or at the very least making you look and feel years older.
Toxins have been tied to all of the following:
- Alzheimer’s, cognitive decline, or other form dementia
- Anxiety
- Depression
- ADHD
- Autism
- OCD
- Parkinson’s disease
- IBS
- Fibromyalgia
- Autoimmune conditions
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Metabolic syndrome
- Eczema
- Cancer
If you have one or more of these, toxins may be a big issue for you. If you’re lucky enough not to experience any of those medical conditions, let’s explore how you might know if you are toxic.
How to Know if You Are Toxic
There are tests available to know whether you are toxic and even identify what those toxins are. If this is something you’re interested in, click here to check out how I can help and here to schedule a free call to talk about how to get started.
However, a great starting point is to simply look back into your own life history for potential exposure to high levels of toxic substances, especially since there are so many toxins that can contribute to declining health and brain function.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Have you had general anesthesia? If so, how many times?
- Do you eat fish with high mercury content such as tuna, swordfish, or shark? How often?
- Do you eat processed or non-organic foods?
- Note that if it has a label, it’s processed.
- Have you had tick bites?
- Do you take any medications? How many and for how long?
- Specifically, do you take proton pump inhibitors such as Nexium, Prilosec, or Protonix for acid reflux?
- Do you use makeup, hair spray, or anti-perspirant?
- How much alcohol do you drink?
- How often to you sweat?
- Are you constipated?
- Do you drink at least 32 ounces of purified water every day?
- Do you get a good night’s sleep every night?
- Do you smoke?
- Do you have any food sensitivities, allergies, or intolerances?
Are you starting to think you might be toxic? Let’s explore how to change that.
How to Reduce Your Toxic Load
1. Eat detoxifying food
These plants sequester and eliminate toxins through your urine, stool, and sweat. They include:
- Cilantro
- Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and more)
- Avocados
- Artichokes
- Beets
- Dandelions
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Grapefruit (ask your doctor or pharmacist before eating or drinking the juice because it can interact with many different medications)
- Lemons
- Olive oil
- Seaweed
2. Drink plenty of purified water
Water is needed for many of the detoxifying reactions I mentioned earlier. Staying hydrated also allows your kidneys to work properly to get those toxins out.
I recommend no less than 32 ounces of purified water a day, and ideally your body weight in kilograms.
For instance, I weight 135 lbs (while I’m writing this). If I divide that by 2.2 (how many pounds are in a kilogram), I get my weight in kilograms – 61.36 kg. That means, ideally, I would be drinking about 60 ounces of water every day.
Why purified water?
If you’re trying to drink water to help you detoxify, why would you drink water that contains toxins? This includes bottled water. The plastic chemicals leach into the water within 2 minutes of the bottling process.
There are good, better, and the best filtration systems out there. What I recommend you start with is whatever is best for your budget.
- Good = Brita
- Better = Berkey
- Best = Rain Soft (for your entire house so even the water that’s absorbed from your skin is filtered)
As a side note, if you’d like more information about Rain Soft I can refer you to a specialist. Just email me and let me know if you’d like me to make that connection for you.
3. Make sure your gut is working
It doesn’t make sense to put a handle on a toxin but leave it in the body. Pooping is one of the most important ways your body gets rid of toxins. If you’re not pooping, you’re toxic.
One of the easiest ways to get your gut going is to increase fiber. I do not recommending increasing your fiber drastically over a short period of time, however. You’ll shock your gut and cause all kinds of gas and discomfort. No fun.
Instead, add a little bit more every day or so.
What are your options?
Ideally, you’d get your fiber from vegetables so you could increase by half a cup of veggies every few days.
Alternatively, or until you can increase your vegetable intake, you can take a fiber supplement. My favorite is FiberMend by Thorne. You can check it out for yourself here.
4. Sweat
Sweating is the third way your body gets rid of the toxins it has worked so hard to put handles on.
It’s best to sweat every day, but a few times a week is better than not sweating at all!
Easy ways to help you sweat include:
- Exercise
- Getting or going to a sauna
- Please note that not all saunas are created equal. Do your research before you go.
- You can also purchase a sauna blanket to help you sweat in the comfort of your own home! Click here to check out the one I recommend.
- Live in the South
- All kidding aside, just go outside in warmer weather. You’ll get your Vitamin D too!
5. Go plastic-free
We can absorb the chemicals from plastic, especially when in contact with our food and water. The easiest way to avoid these toxins is to get rid of as much plastic in your home as possible.
The first, and most important, place to get rid of plastic is in your kitchen. Replace any plastic storage containers with glass. Trade your teflon pans for stainless steel, ceramic, or cast iron. Invest in produce bags to take to the grocery store with you instead of using the plastic produce bags they provide.
Here’s a great place to get started, even if you start with one item – 100% ceramic cookware. These aren’t just coated in ceramic, the whole thing is ceramic. That means it’s non-toxic and lighter than cast iron (even though I love that stuff too). Click here to check out my favorite brand, Xtrema.
6. Avoid conventional cleaners
Hello, chemicals! Go ahead and just throw them in the trash. You won’t need them anymore.
You can clean just about anything with some combination of the following:
- Dish soap
- Baking soda
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Vinegar
- Lemon juice
If you use essential oils, this is a fantastic place to use them. Many reputable companies have their own cleaning concentrate that take out the guesswork for you. I use DoTerra, but I know Young Living is also fantastic. These are my preferred brands because I can vouch for their quality and safety.
Be on the lookout for a separate post on my favorite clean cleaning recipes, but in the meantime you can check out my Pinterest board for inspiration. You can check it out by clicking here.
7. Use clean cosmetics, nail polish, and fragrances
The thought process behind this recommendation is the same as for cleaners.
There are tons of clean companies out there including Honest and Burt’s Bees. I personally use Seint because it’s clean and super easy to use. Comment below if you’re interested in checking out Seint and I can introduce you to my artist.
8. Consider going organic whenever possible
Organic food is not necessarily toxin-free, but it does contain significantly less toxins than conventionally raised food. This is another easy way to reduce your total toxic load, but I know organic items can be pricey.
When choosing what to get organic and what not to get organic, I recommend prioritizing organic meat and dairy as well as the Dirty Dozen. These foods have the most potential to past major toxins on to you.
For clean poultry, I highly recommend Pasture Bird. They not only pasture raise their birds, but they move them around the farm daily to increase the amount of green forage and protein the birds consume. You are what your food eats, so this is really important. While they’re a little pricey, the investment in healthy food now costs way less than a hospital stay or hundreds of doctors visits. Click here to check them out.
The Environmental Working Group updates the Dirty Dozen list every year. You can check out their current list by clicking here.
While paying attention to lowering toxic exposures is important, please remember that you only need to worry about what you can control.
It’s about lowering your toxic load, not eliminating every chance of toxin exposure ever. You’d never get out of the house!
And if you’re here right now, you probably are looking for any way you can feel good and live your life again.
If I had to guess, I’d also say you’re probably experiencing some level of fatigue and brain fog. Am I right?
I thought so.
Many times it’s difficult to guess what toxins you’re being exposed to, even if you’re following my above suggestions perfectly.
That’s why I like to test, not guess.
If you’re interested in testing for toxins that may be adversely affecting your own health, let’s talk. Use the button below to schedule a free call with me so we can get to the bottom of it together.
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