Have you ever felt like you are doing everything right but still can’t seem to get out of that mental fog? Maybe you are exercising and eating a “balanced diet” but still can’t shed the weight?

Even with proper diet and exercise, supplements and “all natural” consumer products, we are still faced with environmental toxins that are absorbed into our bodies, built to reek havoc on our system. We may feel like we are living a “normal” life in today’s society, however our daily comforts and conveniences may be the downfalls of our health.

Let’s quickly breakdown the amount of toxins we encounter in our morning routine:

You wake up and shuffle to the kitchen, fill your coffee pot with water from your sink (containing heavy metals, chlorine, and fluoride) then pour it into your coffee machine to brew your daily cup of Jo (allowing the plastic material to slowly break down into your brown liquidy gold). Unless your coffee is perfectly sourced, it most likely contains mold toxins, genetically modified organisms, and pesticides. Off to a great start!

 

Heading into the shower, you allow the hot water to rain over you while you are literally dousing your body with more heavy metals, chlorine, and fluoride, ready to be absorbed into your fresh open pores. Your shampoo, conditioner, and body wash likely contains endocrine disrupting chemicals you can’t pronounce as you scrub it into your head and skin. Did you know your skin is the largest organ of the human body?

 

Once showered, you put on all your makeup, lotion, and perfume/cologne feeling fresh (while your skin and lungs are trying to breathe). You brush your teeth with your Colgate Total Whitening toothpaste (that’s right, brush in all those endocrine disruptors into your gums and mouth). You put on a fresh shirt from the dryer smelling so flowery, you forget that the scents your inhaling are straight chemicals from a lab.

 

Stepping outside, your face and lungs begin collecting the fresh air toxins of our great society’s carbon footprint. Drive to work with the air on recycle and breathe in that fresh new car smell! Mmmm chemicals. Before heading into the office, you grab a breakfast sandwich with some cheese, a nice runny egg, and bacon (probably not organic and most likely cooked on tephlon) and another GMO coffee (please don’t let it be in plastic) before heading into the office.

I hope you’re getting the point.

While it may seem like a stretch to blame our morning coffee on our chronic illnesses or injuries, it is true that the accumulation of our environmental toxins are clouding our bodies natural defense mechanisms from properly healing. When we encounter injury or illness, our bodies know how to fight back and we trust them to do it quickly so we can get on with our lives. But if we are blocking our bodies ability to do it’s regular maintenance so we can, you know, survive, then we are just suffocating ourselves slowly into dispair and pain.

Environmental Toxins

Heavy Metals

• Unfiltered Water: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead and mercury
• Dental Amalgams: mercury
• Flu Shots: mercury, aluminum, thimerosal, FORMALDEHYDE
• Eating Fish: mercury

Pesticides/Herbicides/Fungicides

• Non-Organic and/or Processed Food and Beverages
• Weed Killer

Endocrine Disruptors

• Industrial chemicals and pesticides 
• Consumer Products: fabrics treated with flame retardants, cosmetics, lotions, products with fragrance, and anti-bacterial soaps
• Non-Organic and/or Processed Food and Beverages
• Soy-Based Products contain phytoestrogens, which are chemicals produced by plants that mimic estrogen
• Household Dust can contain lead, flame retardants, and PCBs from weathering construction material
• Furniture: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and Dioxins
• Children’s Toys: Lead, Phthalates, Cadmium
• Plastics and Food Storage Materials: Bisphenol A (BPA), Phthalates, Phenol
• Electronics and Building Materials: Brominated Flame Retardants, PCBs
• Personal Care Products, Medical Tubing, Suncreen: Phthalates, Parabeans, UV Filters
• Anti-Bacterial Soaps, Colgate Total: Triclosan
• Textiles, Clothing, Non-Stick Food Wrappers, Mircowave Popcorn Bags, Old Teflon Cookware: Perfluorochemicals

Let’s get scientific for a second:

These are NEUROTOXINS in our environment that tend to accumulate in the brain because of its high lipid content. A number of commonly encountered neurotoxic metals, especially aluminum and mercury, have also been shown to activate microglia chronically. Because many accumulate within the brain and can remain for a lifetime, they can become major triggers for both priming and chronic microglial activation. Interestingly, systemic immune activation has been shown to worsen neurodegeneration associated with some metals and pesticides.

These things cause CANCER, disrupt growth and development, affect reproductive health, interfere with metabolism, weakens the immune system, etc.

How to Avoid Environmental Toxins?

Here are some great tips provided by hormone.org:

FOOD AND WATER

1. Consult local guides regarding which sport fish are safe to consume.
2. Trim fat from meat and the skin from fish and cook using a rack to allow fat to drain.
3. Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables before consuming them.
4. Don’t microwave plastic food containers or use them for storing hot liquids.
5. Avoid plastic containers designated #3, #6, and #7.
6. Reduce consumption of canned and processed foods.
7. Use glass, porcelain, or stainless-steel containers when possible, especially for hot food and drinks.
8. Prepare more meals at home and emphasize fresh ingredients.
9. Consider using a water filter.
10. If possible, purchase organic produce, meat, and dairy products.
11. Replace older non-stick pans with newer ceramic-coated pans.
12. Eat a diversified diet with plenty of variety.

EXERCISE AND ACTIVITY

1. Check air quality in your area [https://airnow.gov].
2. Avoid outdoor exercise when pollution levels are high.
3. Avoid exercise near high traffic areas. Choose routes away from busy roads and vehicles

PERSONAL CARE

1. Get your dental amalgams removed!
2. Read labels and avoid products containing phthalates.
3. Choose products labeled “Phthalate-Free”, “BPA-Free”, and “Parabean-Free”.
4. Avoid fragrances and opt for cosmetics labeled “no synthetic fragrance”, “scented only with essential oils”.
5. Wash your hands often, especially before preparing and eating food.
6. Minimize handling of receipts and thermal paper.

AROUND THE HOME

1. For those with a submersible pump in their well who notice an oily film or fuel odor in their well water, check to see if the pump has failed and, if so, replace it. Contact your local Department of Public Health for information on how to clean the well.
2. Replace and discard safely old fluorescent bulbs and deteriorating construction materials from older buildings.
3. Minimize burning wood or trash.
4. Use hand-powered or electric lawn care equipment instead of gas-powered alternatives.
5. Forbid smoking indoors and advocate for measures to make public spaces tobacco-free.
6. Clean your floors regularly and remove dust from your home.
7. Plant trees, which filter out airborne gases and particulate matter.
8. Use a vinegar/water/alcohol solution for cleaning.

FOR CHILDREN

1. Avoid hand-me-down plastic toys.
2. Use infant formula bottles and toys that are labeled “BPA-Free”.

TRANSPORTATION

1. Choose transportation options and transit routes that limit time sitting in traffic.
2. Encourage your child’s school to reduce school bus emissions, including reducing idling.

Detoxing

Simply avoiding these toxins will not rid your body from the years of destruction you have done to yourself. An intensive detox regimen overseen by a holistic doctor may be necessary if you are failing to get better.

Step 1: Mobilize

Along with diet and exercise, certain supplements and detoxification methods “unlock” heavy metals and toxins where they are accumulating (usually in fat) and get them moving.

1. Glutathione
2. Alpah-Lipoic Acid
3. Citrus Pectin
4. Vitamin C
5. B-Vitamins
6. Trace Minerals
7. Activated charcoal

However, releasing heavy metals can cause even worse problems without Step 2:

Step 2: Bind and Eliminate

This second step grabs on to heavy metals and toxins and ensures they exit the body as quickly as possible!

1. Chelation IVs
2. Coffee Enemas
3. Ozone and Infrared Saunas
4. Ozone IVs
5. Organic Foods: cilantro, garlic, wild blueberries, lemon water, chlorella, etc.
6. Colon Hydrotherapy

Conclusion

The toxins from our environment could be the reason why you are not healing. Heavy metals and hormone disruptors are known neurotoxins found in our food, water, house and body products, plastics, and even our dental amalgams. When these toxins enter our body, they negatively effect our normal bodily processes and don’t allow proper healing to take place. It is therefore important to remove them from our environment while also continuously detoxing by keeping up with a good healthy regimen of organic non-processed foods, exercise, and nutritional supplementation.