How to Stay Healthy in a Toxic World

 

Over the past decade or two I've noticed disturbing changes in our world, mainly that cancer has become an epidemic. I think, by now, most of us realize that the causes are largely due to the changes in our world. We have become a society dependant on chemicals. We not only deal with smog and pollution and car exhaust; but everything we eat or touch has been made to look better, feel better, smell better, taste better, grow better and last longer - with chemicals. This is true not only with our household cleaners, detergents, soaps and pesticides, lotions, perfumes, makeup, hair dyes and deodorants; but it has also crept into our food supply. We are toxic.

 

Changes have occurred slowly over years to accommodate the needs of our fast-paced society. More and more families not only need both parents (or the only parent) to work outside the home; but we live in the fast lane with multiple activities for ourselves and each of our children; which means there's not enough time to cook. So food companies have stepped up and provided more convenient foods to meet the need. Families are thankful and relieved. Over time, however, this convenience went from occasional to routine. What was meant to lighten the load once or twice a week has become the daily norm. What we're left with is processed packaged food that sits on shelves - in boxes, tubes, cans, jars, and bags - with weakened nutrients being ingested three times a day and loaded with hydrogenated fats, salt, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives - all chemicals, much of which our bodies do not recognize. These chemicals have created an acidic monster; one which needs to be dealt with if we are ever to recover from "chronicity".

 

After years of this abuse, our bodies get their fill and the revolt begins - we become chronically ill. So we go to doctors and they prescribe, you guessed it, more chemicals. Unfortunately because so many of the illnesses are deemed chronic, pills don't actually cure anything, they relieve symptoms. And nine times out of ten, they cause side effects which require another prescription. And so on it goes. "According to the Kaiser Family Foundation...the number of prescriptions filled each year increased by 39% between 1999 and 2009...The average American fills 12 prescriptions each year." http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/31/med.nation.too.many.meds/index.html.  We're overdosing on toxic chemicals and our bodies can't keep up.

 

So what can we do?

For one thing, we can become more informed.
A year ago when my chronic pain led the doctors to prescribe drugs and surgery, I opted to find an alternative solution. I started researching. Books such as "Clean", by Dr. Alejandro Junger; www.cleanprogram.com  "The Blood Sugar Solution", by Dr. Mark Hyman www.bloodsugarsolution.com ; "Minding My Midochondria", by Dr. Terry Wahls http://www.terrywahls.com/eating-the-wahls-way; and "The Gerson Miracle", by Charlotte Gerson www.gersoninstitute.com were invaluable.

I also started watching all the food documentaries I could get my hands on; such movies as "Hungry For Change" http://www.hungryforchange.tv/, "Forks Over Knives" www.forksoverknives.com, "The Gerson Miracle" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbIixJI_oa4, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/, and "Food Matters" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4DOQ6Xhqss, to name a few. Ingesting this kind of information began to open my eyes and I began to realize that I was the cause of my own illness. My body had been accumulating toxins for decades. The good news was, if I could cause the problem then I could also bring about the solution.

The second thing we can do to bring about change is to start making different choices wherever we can. After reading these books and watching these movies I knew I couldn't continue with the status quo. I had to make changes. I began by detoxing my body with the "Clean" diet (Junger). Because I was experiencing such amazing results after 21 days, I decided to continue with the diet a couple more months. During that time I learned, through the elimination diet, that I was gluten intolerant and dairy intolerant. This caused me to drastically change my eating habits which helped me drop 50 pounds. Because I wanted the changes to be permanent I investigated different places I could go out to eat which met my new standards. A few I found were, Six Main in Chester,  CT www.sixmain.com; GZen in Branford, CT www.g-zen.com; Claire's Corner Copia in New Haven, CT www.clairescornercopia.com ; Nature's Grocer and Cafe in Vernon, CT www.naturesgrocervernon.com ; and Fire and Spice in Hartford, CT www.firenspiceveganrestaurant.com . As you can see, one healthy change leads to another and another. But you must take that first step.

The last thing you can do to stay healthy in a toxic world is to begin where you are. Everyone is in a different place on this health journey. Don't look at someone else and say, "I could never do that". Find out what you can do, and start there. For you, maybe it means cutting out all high fructose corn syrup, or cutting down desserts to once a week, or maybe substituting cows milk with almond milk. Perhaps for you it means dusting off that elliptical or finding a walking buddy. No matter where you are on your health journey, it's important to keep moving forward. Don't let the busyness of life swallow up your health. You're worth taking care of.