Why Detoxify?

People frequently ask me if I believe in “detoxification”. My typical answer is “Yes, that’s why you have a liver”. Detoxification is not just something you do once every six months but an everyday function of your body that is primarily carried out by your liver. The liver is like the oil filter in your car; it filters toxins out of your blood. However, unlike your car’s filter, the liver acts like a self-cleaning filter. The toxins captured by the liver are excreted out of the body via the bile and eliminated with your bowel movement. This points up the absolute necessity of having a regular bowel movement. And by regular I don’t mean regularly every two or three days but EVERY day! Otherwise the toxins can reabsorb through the intestine and return to your blood system, causing all sorts of problems including headaches, fatigue, brain-fog, etc. Moreover, your body’s trillion or so cells can’t function properly if they are congested with toxins. Cells overburdened with toxic wastes suffer from early cell death. This is what we call…aging.

So where do these toxins come from? Our cells normally produce a wide array of toxins as a part of their metabolic processes. These are similar to the exhaust gasses that normally come out of the tailpipe of your car. And like your car, if you put in poor quality fuel, poor quality processed foods or foods that are laden with pesticides and other chemicals you will be burdened with an excessive amount of toxins. Your liver was designed to process and eliminate the level of toxins that result from living in a relatively clean environment and eating a relatively healthy diet. However, in this day and time we don’t live under these circumstances. Our food has been over processed and adulterated with chemicals while our air and water contain other vitality robbing substances. Consequently, we are suffering from maladies that can only be described as “civilization diseases.”

Few of us ever got an “owner’s manual” that instructs how to keep your body in in top operating condition. Most of us know more about taking care of our car than taking care of our body. We are all aware of the need to regularly change our car’s oil and filter. However, it wasn’t that long ago that humans living close to the land recognized the need to periodically take liver tonics. Spring tonics and other regularly ingested herbs and foods help the liver do its job more effectively. This is particularly important in today’s climate of increased toxicity if we want to maintain good health. In another post I will go deeper into how you can set up and maintain a practice of enhanced detoxification. Or if you would like to find out how a personalized detoxification program might directly benefit you please feel free to contact us. Until then my best advice is: Eat more beets!