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If you’re an average American between the ages of 58 and 92, new research shows your body is polluted with 700 synthetic chemicals as well as heavy metals like mercury, lead and arsenic.  And most likely, you’ve heard how important it is to detox your body of these chemicals and heavy metals.  These toxins are making you sick… and Natural Health doctors say they must come out.

5 Surprising Sources of Toxins

Surprising Source #1: Canned Food

85% of all food cans sold in the U.S. — even those containing organic food — are lined with a plastic coating containing the chemical bisphenol A (BPA).

According to researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, even low doses of BPA can lead to memory problems and brain aging.

Surprising Source #2: Airline Seats

The day I discovered this surprising source of toxins was a very sad day - as I travel so very much - visiting patients, lecturing, attending conferences.

The interiors of airplanes are drenched in a flame retarding chemical called PBDE. PBDEs are added to just about anything that burns — mattresses, carpets, plastic television casings, and more. Over time, PBDEs escape from these treated plastics and fabrics into the dust and air we breathe.

National Geographic Magazine recently paid to have one of its reporters tested for PBDEs as part of an investigation into chemical contamination. The reporter flies thousands of miles each year as part of his job. The reporter’s tests showed that his blood level of one particular PBDE was off the charts — higher than if he worked at a factory that manufactured the chemical!

PBDEs are associated with permanent and serious neurological damage in laboratory animals. Research shows that most Americans already have toxic levels of this chemical in their bodies.

Surprising Source #3: Your Car

The dashboard of your car is loaded with toxic chemicals called phthalates. Phthalates make plastic more pliable and soft. Over time, phthalates “sweat” out of the dashboard and into the air you breathe. That’s why in older cars, the dashboard becomes more brittle. (More of these chemicals escape as the interior of your car overheats - summer months more exaggerated issue.)

Phthalates interfere with testosterone production, causing testosterone levels to plummet. This leads to low sex drive, fatigue, reduced muscle mass and more.

Surprising Source #4: Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs

Over 55 commonly used medications — including antibiotics and antihistamines — can cause disorientation and weaken memory and impair brain function in older Americans. Not only that, but if you take 3 or more medications, you have an increased likelihood of suffering an overdose from these drugs. That’s because the “cocktail effect” makes these drugs more potent when used in combination and because your liver function declines with age, making it harder for your body to process a potentially toxic combination.

Surprising Source #5: Personal-Care Products

The FDA estimates that over 65% of cosmetics contain toxic ingredients. But that’s not all. Shampoos, aftershaves, deodorants, and antibacterial soaps contain over two hundred different synthetic chemicals. These chemicals include endocrine disrupters that can affect hormone levels.

Clearly, if you aren't concerned about the effects of toxins... you should be! The good news is you can safely and easily eliminate these dangerous toxins from your body before they can destroy your health... keep reading to find out how.

Glyphosate herbicide and toxic heavy metals act like "binary weapon" to destroy kidneys

Learn more: <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/051266_glyphosate_heavy_metals_kidney_damage.html#ixzz3mgWYv1Qb">http://www.naturalnews.com/051266_glyphosate_heavy_metals_kidney_damage.html#ixzz3mgWYv1Qb</a>

Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health carefully researched data on kids who developed leukemia or lymphoma.

And it turns out that children who had been exposed to any indoor insecticides were 47 percent more likely to come down with leukemia. And for lymphoma, the risk jumped by a heartbreaking 43 percent.

People are beginning to understand that the quality of their food impacts the quality of their lives awakening to the dangers in many of the foods and drinks that comprise our modern diet. However, this knowledge, while it helps form the foundation of a better way of eating, doesn’t go far enough.

It’s not enough to simply avoid fast food and other clearly “unhealthy” foods. We must be vigilant about what we are consuming and where it came from to truly find the balance we need within our diets. In the upcoming chapters, I’ll cover several aspects of the health dangers in our food and water. Here, I’ll explore the toxic invaders in our food and water supply that are crippling modern health.

Lurking in the Water

Few doubt the positive impact that water treatment has brought to the modern world. In developed areas, with access to clean water, diseases such as cholera and dysentery are a thing of the past—an accomplishment of great importance for sure! Yet this development owes much of its success to chemicals that are posing an entirely new threat to modern society.

Dr. Clark’s research raised my awareness to the presence of certain chemicals in water that are flooding our bodies with new, toxic invaders. The addition of chlorine and other chemicals to most public water supplies puts five immunosuppressants directly into our bodies. These toxins—azo dyes, asbestos, benzene, heavy metals, and PCBs—were found in every one of her cancer patients. To avoid these toxins, you need to know a little more about

them and how they end up in our food and water supplies.

As I touched in a previous chapter, heavy metals include substances such as mercury, cadmium, lead, and nickel, along with a few other toxic lighter metals like aluminum and titanium. These make a regular appearance in our drinking water. Additionally, they commonly appear in soft drinks, toothpastes, and even in dental fillings and cutlery. Consumption of these immunosuppressants is common for most of us unless we take specific care to avoid them.

Azo dyes, although carcinogenic, are also frequently found in our water supply due to the chlorination process. In addition, they are included in pesticides, and therefore regularly ride along on commercially sprayed vegetables.

Although we have been told that asbestos has been removed from our environment, that is far from the truth. This substance is still frequently used in conveyor and packaging machinery, where this carcinogen can fly right into our water or onto our food during production.

While benzene is a chemical that our bodies can handle in small amounts, it nonetheless wreaks havoc on our systems when we take in too much of it. Benzene is present in coffee, petroleum jellies, lubricants, and even untested supplements. Since it impedes blood cell development, its impact on our health and ability to heal is self-evident.

Least surprising of all is the presence of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in chlorinated water, as the chlorination process directly adds these toxins to the water. It is also found in most water bottles as a part of the plastic itself.

Unless plastic packaging specifically notes that it is made of “high density polyethylene 2 (HDPE 2),” it is filled with this carcinogenic toxin. Dr. Clark’s research showed her that there were different types of chlorine present in her cancer patients and her non-cancer patients alike. The chlorine approved by the US National Science Foundation contains ferricyanide, which has been shown by Dr. Clark’s research to cause other serious diseases, but not cancer.

Yet the chlorine that Dr. Clark says develops cancer does contain potassium ferrocyanide. The difference between these two chemicals may look minor, but that single letter of difference between the two names has dangerous repercussions. People often get confused when presented with safety.

From: The Hidden Dangers Lurking In Your Food

information on these toxins; ferrocyanide and ferricyanide are two different components, even though they both cause serious diseases. Where you live is a determining factor in how much toxicity these chlorines contain. For example, in Europe, cancer sufferers have higher amounts of polonium from chlorine, but they also have lower quantities of benzene and

PCBs than those living elsewhere.

Dr. Clark says that all of the chlorines used have traces of polonium and cerium (a lathanide element), which are the first two components to forming cancer. The third component, which she says determines who will suffer from cancer, is whether it contains ferrocyanide or ferricyanide. She also discovered alpha radiation, antimony, arsenic, asbestos, azo dyes, barium, benzene, boron, and cadmium in the carcinogenic chlorine.

Are You Using Toxic Water?

Even if you are using mineral waters instead of commercially cleaned and supplied water, there are still risks to your safety and the proper function of your immune system that you need to be aware of.

During processing, mineral waters are introduced to toxins. Dr. Clark conducted examinations with a device she invented called the Syncrometer. Using this Syncrometer, a variety of water brands were tested, and it was found that immunosuppressants were present in many of them. In other words, even when the water itself is not dangerous, the bottling machines or

the bottles themselves can be.

Water that is sold distilled can contain the same toxins as bottled mineral water and should also be avoided. As it is distilled, the water loses its toxins and passes through a charcoal filter that converts it into pure water containing no inorganic minerals. Because our bodies can’t absorb these toxins, distilling water prevents them from depositing themselves on the walls of our intestines, arteries, joints, kidneys, etc.

Heavy metals are a big part of the problem when it comes to toxic foods, mostly because they can be so pervasive in our water and food supply. That said, according to Dr. Clark, there are several steps you can take to eliminate your exposure to heavy metals.

Your best bet is to distill your water yourself. If you must buy plastic packaging, Dr. Clark advises using an HDPE 2 plastic—mentioned above as the only safe form of plastic packaging—to avoid contamination. A glass container is also a safe and viable option.

You should also stay away from swordfish, tuna, bonito, shellfish, sea bass, eel, halibut, monkfish, salmon, sea bream, manta ray, and grouper. Dr. Clark advises sticking with varieties of fish that have a lower amount of mercury, like hake, whiting, blue whiting, sardine, herring, anchovy, and trout. These varieties give your body the much-needed nutrition without the high levels of heavy metal toxicity.

Antacids that contain aluminum hydroxide should be avoided, as should tobacco, which is a dangerous source of cadmium. In the kitchen, dishes made out of clay and aluminum should be avoided, as should aluminum foil or tin. Relating to aluminum, pay attention to the packaging as well. Chocolate bars, chocolate eggs, and any food packaged in aluminum often can have unseen particles of aluminum attached to it.

Dr. Clark also cautions against vaccinations, as they are high in mercury and, though often recommended for various populations of people for different things (i.e., flu shots for the elderly, tetanus shots for farm workers), she says they are “frankly harmful.” Like all things, this is an area where we must strive for balance. Be aware of what is in the vaccinations, seek out all the necessary information, and come to an informed decision weighing the risks and benefits.

Put Your Body to Work

As you’ve seen from the frightening information above, fully avoiding toxins can be difficult—if not impossible—in today’s world. The good news, however, is that our bodies contain several mechanisms to deal with certain levels of toxins in a healthy way. Namely, our white blood cells are the body’s natural way of battling invaders.

But is conventional medicine right about the way white blood cells really work? A familiar saying goes, “quality not quantity.” That’s true of our white blood cells. It’s not how many white blood cells we have that’s important. Rather, it’s how well those cells are functioning that really matters when we look at health from the perspective of balance.

Just because our white blood cell count is within a normal range doesn’t necessarily mean that the cells are functioning as they should in a natural state of homeostasis. For the many victims of disease, their white blood cell count isn’t an issue, but the state of the cells is. Traditional medicine has the ability to count our white blood cells, but not to evaluate their toxicity. This problem was remedied by Dr. Clark, who—as much discussed in this and previous chapters—is the author of several wellknown books on the topic of self-health. Dr. Clark also used her Syncrometer device, discussed in one of the above sections, to see what she called “the five basic immunosuppressants” in her patients’ white blood cells.

The “five basics” are not the only threatening toxins we consume, but according to Dr. Clark, they are the most relevant to our immune systems, as they are found in each and every person with degenerative diseases and infectious conditions. These immunosuppressants are PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), benzene, asbestos, azo dyes, and heavy metals, all of which we covered earlier in this chapter.

In a healthy state, our white blood cells can identify and react to invaders and disease. When they are “under the influence” of toxins, however, they are unable to perform primary functions like detecting and eliminating pathogens and toxins in the organs. The white blood cells are suddenly south polarized, rather than north polarized as they should be, thanks to the transportation of things like heavy metals for elimination.

Dr. Clark says that, because of this, when they can’t eliminate toxins, white blood cells are not able to function, disrupting homeostasis in our bodies. The obvious fix, then, is to detoxify the white blood cells so that our immune systems can work properly. Our white blood cells need to be prepared to release toxins into the bladder and excrete them through urine. In order to do this, Dr. Clark says we need to get our immune system strong so that it can eliminate any toxins that enter the body altogether.

To go up against pathogens and toxins, our white blood cells need one important thing from us: non-toxic nourishment, a critical part of creating homeostasis in our diet.

Detoxify Your Diet

Small and simple changes can have a significant effect on your body’s ability to rid itself of toxins and return to a state of homeostasis. The foods you eat and the water you drink are two simple dietary needs you can control with minimal effort and maximum effect. In order to cleanse our bodies of toxins, we need to have white blood cells that are doing their job for us. Eliminating heavy metals from our lives and making educated choices when it comes to the food we eat and the water we use will help our bodies complete their natural toxin-fighting duties, restoring balance and returning us to the Wellness Model of Health™.

But toxic foods aren’t the only things we need to be on the lookout for when it comes to our diets. Next, I’ll show you how you may be consuming mold without knowing it, and how you can eliminate it from your food intake to improve your health.

6k) Inflamation and Autoimmune reaction - Everyday Foods that Fan the Flames of Inflammation

I spent a lot of time in the last chapter giving you the rundown of what dangerous things may be coming along with your food. But if you’re like most people, some of the foods you eat may be harmful for your health in and of themselves.

In today’s fad diet world, it’s probably no surprise to hear that what you eat is important to creating homeostasis in the Wellness Model of Health™. The food you consume has far more of an impact on you than just the weight it may add to your frame. Beyond the obvious, certain foods can create an excess of inflammation within the body, triggering pain and ill-health.

The impact of inflammation on the body is enormous. For example, inflammation in joints causes stiffness and pain. Inflammation in the back and muscles results in trigger points. Arterial inflammation is associated with heart disease, and fascia-related inflammation is linked strongly to fibromyalgia. In fact, multiple studies have proven that inflammation is connected to nearly every major disease we suffer from today. And it starts with the food you eat every single day—the third cornerstone of the Complete Healing Formula™,

your diet.

By now, you know that diet has an impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. No matter what kind of pain or illness you’re suffering from, you’re going to make your whole situation and state of homeostasis better by improving your diet. There are specific conditions that many people suffer from—like chronic joint pain—that can be alleviated by following simple

dietary guidelines.

An obvious example, as Dr. Mark Wiley cites in his book, Arthritis Reversed, is that if you are carrying around excess weight, it places a compressive load on your joints that is three times the actual weight. That means for every fifteen pounds you are overweight, your hips and knees are under stress to move a forty-five-pound load. If you are thirty to forty pounds or more overweight,the effects can be staggering.

Changing the way you eat to reduce your level of chronic inflammation will most likely lead to weight loss, which will in turn result in the relief of excess pressure on your body. And this is only one superficial way that inflammation impacts our larger health ecosystem.

In addition to eating well, there are specific foods you can avoid and others you can consume to preserve and improve your body’s defense against inflammation, your natural state of homeostasis, and consequently, your health conditions.

This chapter will review how food causes pain and inflammation, which foods affect inflammation, and how you can ease pain and discomfort with a diet of healthy whole foods.

How Food Causes Pain and Inflammation

When it comes to pain and inflammation, the food you consume plays a key role. Food is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to controlling energydraining health symptoms.

Unfortunately, the typical American diet consists of excess fat, tons of sugar, loads of factory-farmed red meat, and a frightening amount of processed foods. Is it any wonder there are so many people suffering from chronic pain and illness? These foods cause inflammation, block the bowels, drain the immune system, and deplete the blood of dense nutrients.

“Bad” Foods

When it comes to pain and illness, several categories of food should be avoided, including nightshades, dairy-based products, and high-fructose corn syrup. Dr. Wiley covers a number of these in his book.

Excess nightshade fruits and vegetables are particularly troublesome for those suffering from conditions like chronic joint pain. This family of food includes white potatoes, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, tamarillos, pepinos, pimentos, goji berries, ground cherries, Cape gooseberries, garden huckleberries, and paprika.

These foods can cause calcification, bone spurs, and inflammation. Such side effects are harmful to those suffering pain and illness because they amplify the existing inflammation and joint problems rather than alleviating them.

In cases of people who are sensitive or allergic to nightshades, they can evencause nerve damage, muscle tremors, and impeded digestion. Excess dairy products are also troublesome for those suffering from chronic ailments. They are often high in cholesterol and saturated fat, and can contribute to obesity. And as we learned, being overweight by even fifteen pounds can have disastrous effects on arthritic joints. But the problem with dairy goes a lot deeper than weight issues.

Products like milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, cottage cheese, and various sauces can contribute to an increase in phlegm-rheum. Phlegm-rheum is a classification of thick, sticky fluids in the body that include mucus. These thick and sticky fluids pool around joints and collect toxins and bacteria, and become either damp or hot, depending on other factors. This increases inflammation, swelling, bone degeneration, loss of range of motion, and pain.

The sweetener known as high-fructose corn syrup (HFC) has been called the main culprit in the rise in youth obesity in the United States, and obesity is one of the key risks for chronic health issues. High-fructose corn syrup is corn syrup that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose. This fructose has then been mixed with regular corn syrup, which is 100 percent glucose, and the result is a sweet liquid known as high-fructose.

This liquid is the sweetener found in just about every cold beverage in your local convenience store, including iced tea, sodas, and energy drinks. Not only that, but it is also found in so-called healthy foods like tomato soup and yogurt, as well as less healthful items such as salad dressings and cookies.

The FDA did a thirty-year study and found a correlation between HFC and obesity, stating that it is worse for your health than plain sugar—which isn’t good for those with pain and inflammation either. Worst of all, even as the public begins to awaken to the dangers of HFC, the food industry is now peddling equally dangerous chemical sugar substitutes and all the additional toxins that come with them.

Excess processed or refined grains are also to be avoided. These are found in flour, cereals, breads, baked goods, and snack foods. Usually they’re listed as “enriched” flour or anything other than “whole” grains. In essence, refined grains have been broken down for you, so your body doesn’t have to do the work.

Since the grain then breaks down too quickly in the body and the intestines, it releases hormones that promote inflammation. Even eating “whole” grains can still be problematic for many people. Not only are those whole grains still processed, but many grains—especially wheat—trigger inflammatory responses in the body.

Acidic Foods

Other foods that negatively affect our health include those that are acidic. As strange as it may sound, your body, its fluids, and your blood can become excessively acidic. Just as acidic fruits like lemons can “eat” the enamel off your teeth, and acid can corrode a battery casing, your body can become overly acidic when your natural pH is off kilter.

Even the conventional medical community agrees that the human body was not designed to withstand chronic acidic states. When the body is off-kilter long enough, out of its natural state of homeostasis, it starts to break down. Signs and symptoms of an excessively acidic body can be seen and/ or felt externally, with the onset of headaches, body pain, and skin rashes.

In the acidic range, the immune system is compromised, leading to easily contracted sinus infections, allergies, colds, and the flu, and placing you at risk for progressing autoimmune diseases and rheumatoid arthritis.

Moreover, an excessively acidic interior environment can lead to muscle contraction that can restrict the free flow of blood and inhibit the exchange of nutrients and waste products from muscle cells. This can cause soreness, cramping, fatigue, degenerative cellular diseases, and even cellular death. Dr. Wiley offers a pH balance guide in his book, reproduced here.

Chart 12.1: pH Balance Guide

Acid

0 Battery Acid

1 Stomach Acid

2 Lemon Juice, Vinegar

3 Orange Juice, Soda

4 Tomato Juice, Beer

5 Black Coffee

6 Saliva, Cow’s Milk

Neutral 7 Pure Water

Alkaline

8 Sea Water

9 Baking Soda

10 Antacid

11 Ammonia

12 Soapy Water

13 Bleach, Oven Cleaner

14 Drain Cleaner

Chronic pain is related to pH imbalance and the accumulation of acid deposits in the joints of the neck, hips, wrists, and hands. It is this accumulated acid that damages cartilage. When the cells that produce lubricating synovial fluids and bursa fluids are acidic, this condition causes a dryness that irritates and swells the joints. When uric acid builds up, it tends to deposit in the form of crystals that can feel like broken glass in the feet, hands, knees, and back.

Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about this when your body is kept within the alkaline range of 7.0 - 7.4. In fact, while in this range it is impossible for disease to sustain itself, because the immune system is strong and the acidic environment necessary for diseases like cancer, gout, and arthritis no longer exists. Chart 12.1 will help you see just how the foods you eat and the beverages you drink contribute to an unhealthy internal environment.

Acidity and Stress

An imbalanced pH or acid/alkaline interior environment is one of the hidden causes of disease and one of the states that makes our existing health symptoms worse. So how does the body become too acidic (and thus, unhealthy) and place you at risk for negative health symptoms? Well, excess stress is a big one.

As I discussed in chapter 2, stress, or the effects of being in the “fight or flight” response for too long a period of time, releases stress hormones into the body, flooding the blood stream with protective chemicals. These chemicals, like cortisol, were necessary during the times of our ancestors who had to run for their lives from wild beasts or rival tribes.

These days, this stress response is caused by different types of stressors, like emotional upset, physically demanding work, and overwhelming psychological issues that we deal with at home and at work. There are too many of these happening throughout the day. It is no wonder we are under chronic states of stress, are not well, and are in a constant acidic state. Our modern diet is also a huge contributor to our chronic acidic interior environment. When food reaches your digestive tract, it is broken down and either leaves an alkaline or an acidic residue behind. If you eat foods that are organic, whole, and fresh, and drink plenty of pure water, the body can easily maintain an alkaline state.

However, consuming excess sugar, refined grains, preservatives, pesticides, dairy products (like cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream), red meat, chocolate, coffee, soda and alcohol turns the body acidic. One of the main effects of a poor diet is inflammation, which is also the main symptom of chronic pain and illness.

Ph is a measure of the potential hydrogen or residue a food leaves behind, as being either alkaline or acidic. And this is not directly related to the acidic nature of a food before it is digested. Lemons, for example, are highly acidic.

If you squeeze the juice of a lemon on an open wound, it will burn. However, when ingested and digested, lemon is very alkalizing for the body, and lemon juice can help reduce acidic levels. A diet that is low in acidic foods and packed full of nutrient-dense alkalizing foods will make you healthier, while also reducing the symptoms of your chronic pain or illness.

If you have pain or chronic disease, you more than likely have a predisposition to infection, and it is likely that a pH imbalance is present in your body. To be sure, you can purchase pH testing strips or rolls in your local drug store.

These are thin paper items that gauge your pH level when dipped either into your saliva or urine stream, first thing in the morning before anything is eaten or drunk. You should strive to have your pH in in the alkaline range, and if you aren’t at that level, you should try to move closer to it each day.

Good Foods

Now for the good news. There are plenty of foods that you can add to your daily diet to make you strong and keep you in homeostatic balance. A diet high in fiber and whole foods, low in preservatives and unhealthy fat, and infused with blood-invigorating aromatic spices can help reduce pain and inflammation.

It is essential to any healthful diet that you consume as many fresh, organic, whole foods as possible. Eating foods in or close to their original state is one of the keys to being healthy, preventing self-induced diet-based inflammation, and reducing the inflammation you are experiencing as a result of your pain or illness.

Dr. Wiley’s book, Arthritis Reversed, gives a concise list of the best foods known to prevent and help reduce inflammation and pain. These should be eaten throughout the day as part of balanced wholesome meals.

<ul>

<li>Wild fish (example: Alaskan salmon)</li>

<li>Fresh whole fruits</li>

<li>Bright colored vegetables (except nightshades)</li>

<li>Green and white tea</li>

<li>Purified and distilled water</li>

<li>Healthy oils (coconut, olive, flax, hemp, safflower, hazelnut)</li>

<li>Beef and poultry that is certified organic, grass fed, soy free, and free range</li>

<li>Nuts, legumes, and seeds</li>

<li>Dark green leafy vegetables</li>

<li>Organic oatmeal (regular, not instant)</li>

<li>Aromatic spices (turmeric, ginger, cloves, garlic, onion, coriander,</li>

</ul>

and ground mustard seed)

I want to stress the importance of making sure your meat comes from animals that are grass fed, soy free, free range, and certified organic. It is a sad truth that a lot of the meat that is commercially available today comes from sick animals, who are kept in awful, unhealthy, and cruel conditions.

These animals are usually stuffed and packed into barns so tightly they can barely move and they get little to no natural light. They are also often given growth hormones and overfed with foods they wouldn’t eat normally, like corn for cows and, in some cases, even dead, sick animals. These conditions obviously make the animals sick, and then they need antibiotics. At the end of this cycle, the unhealthy, antibiotic-ridden, hormone-laced meat from a sick animal finds its way into our bodies. That’s why it’s so important to choose your meat with care.

As you can see, a diet high in whole foods and low in preservatives and unhealthy fat is an essential part of any pain and illness relief plan. Not only do the above-listed foods actually work to reduce pain and inflammation, but they also support proper nerve function, and muscle and bone health.

Remember, the acid/alkaline or pH level of your body (which can cause or prevent inflammation), is related to the foods you consume. Using the chart reproduced from Dr. Wiley’s Arthritis Reversed below, see how what you consume on a daily or monthly basis may be contributing to the worsening of your chronic health condition.