Detox Diets For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

The range and amount of environmental toxins that people are faced with today have exceeded the capability of many people’s bodies to carry out detoxification without any help. The result? Widespread disease.

Environmental toxins like heavy metals and chemicals can be disastrous for your immune system, and you need to prioritize limiting your exposure to these substances and acting quickly to detoxify your body if you need to.

Heavy metals harm health

Everyone needs to avoid heavy metals whenever possible, but it’s absolutely imperative that children, pregnant women, and women who plan on getting pregnant do whatever they can to avoid and remove heavy metals.

Here's a helpful list of the most harmful heavy metals, along with the places you can encounter them if you’re not careful:

  • Aluminum: A common metal found in some vaccines, antacids, cookware, and antiperspirant.

  • Antimony: Found in fire-retardant textiles like bedding.

  • Arsenic: Present in some foods (chicken is a top offender), wood preservatives, fuel oils, fertilizers, and weed killer.

  • Barium: Often present in some ceramics, plastics, textiles, and fuel.

  • Beryllium: Found in neon signs, bicycle wheels, and fishing rods.

  • Bisthmuth: Present in many medicines used to treat stomach aches.

  • Bromine: Often used as a disinfectant for swimming pools and hot tubs.

  • Cadmium: Present in cigarettes, batteries, and refined foods.

  • Lead: Found in old paint, tin cans, pewter, dust, ceramics, and insecticides.

  • Manganese: Sources include welding equipment and supplies.

  • Mercury: Sources include amalgam fillings, fish and other types of seafood, flu vaccines, and high fructose corn syrup.

  • Nickel: Present in tobacco, auto exhaust, fertilizer, and baking powder.

  • Thallium: Found in metal alloys, rodenticides, and fireworks.

Stay clear of toxic chemicals

Chemical toxins harm and kill many of our bodies’ cells, and the dynamic cells that make up your immune system are especially fragile and prone to being killed or rendered useless by chemical toxins. Here are a few tips for cutting toxic chemicals out of your life:

  • Don’t use toxic cleaning products in your home. Plenty of non-toxic options are available online and at your local health food store, and they will get your house just as clean as their harsh chemical counterparts. Vodka in a spray bottle is a good option (one spray for the countertop and one for the tonsils!).

  • Avoid using products with fragrances. These include room sprays, dryer sheets, carpet deodorizing powders, and even some candles.

    Many candles have wicks that contain lead. If you use candles in your home, be sure to choose lead-free options when buying.

  • Reduce your exposure to fumes. If you’re working with substances that produce fumes, make sure you’re doing so for only short periods of time and in a well-ventilated space. This includes paint!

  • Wash all your fruits and vegetables thoroughly. Your best bet is to do so as soon as you bring them home from the store.

  • Purify your air. Invest in a good HEPA air purifier to cut down on the airborne toxins that you inhale while indoors.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

Dr. Gerald Don Wootan, DO, M.Ed., is a board-certified osteopathic physician and the medical director of Jenks Health Team, a medical practice that specializes in integrative medicine with an emphasis on natural detoxification and nutritional supplementation. M. Brittain Phillips is a freelance writer.

This article can be found in the category: