The best and most effective health care plan is a healthy lifestyle. Preventive health care begins with being aware of what you eat, breathe, and otherwise ingest. Chemical pollutants, large and small, permeate our life. How your body handles these pollutants affects your health, energy level, weight, mood, and longevity -- more than you may know. The key to a long and healthy life is locked in the internal condition of our body. A clean body is a healthy body.

If you've tried all these, and are being very good about the diet (that means, no alcohol, caffeine, wheat, sugar, processed or deep fried foods, no dairy and no beef,  lots of complex carbohydrates, fresh fruits, raw or lightly steamed vegetables and very little if any fish or chicken and yes, we know that's difficult) and you're still feeling very fatigued, the areas you need to further investigate are allergies, your personal stress management systems, possible unresolved emotional trauma (if this rings a bell for you, it's probably true) or a systemic yeast infection, possibly caused by a dose of antibiotics.  You need to find a holistically oriented, licensed health care practitioner to help you with more detective work. 

Detoxification and Disease Prevention

Improving the body's ability to handle toxic substances, whether those substances originate outside the body or are the result of natural processes of metabolism, strengthens the immune system, which not only keeps us healthy, but assists in recovering from illness and infection. Avoiding toxins can be part of the answer and improved detoxification processes will affect better health. But, complete avoidance of offending allergens or toxins is really quite impossible. Good nutrition, regular exercise, healthy habits, and a regular detoxification program are essential to maintaining optimal health. Detoxification, if done well and safely, can be an important part of smart preventative health care.

Here are some startling statistics:

• Over 80% of all diseases are related to environmental and lifestyle conditions, according to the United States Center for Disease Control.
• A recent medical study determined that over 160 man-made toxic substances can be found in our bodies at any time.
• Commercial food producers use nearly 10 lb (4.5 kg) of pesticides per person on our food supply every year.
• Our meat products contain toxic chemicals: the pesticides and herbicides used on pork and cattle feed are absorbed and stored in their fatty tissue; in addition, these animals are routinely injected with synthetic hormones and antibiotics.

Those who have studied toxicity levels in our foods, personal care products, cleaning products, air and water refer to this extraordinary build up of toxins bioaccumulation. Over time, the bioaccumulation of toxic substances in our everyday life is responsible for dozens of diseases, particlarly two that have been increasing at alarming rates -- asthma and cancer. Detoxification necessarily begins with reducing the amount of toxins we are exposed to, but for most of us, that is no longer enough.

Medical research is showing that most diseases can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle that includes nutrient-rich unprocessed foods, moderate exercise, good sleeping habits and regular relaxation. Stress itself sets off chemical processes in the body that in turn produce toxins. The greatest source of toxic substances that accumulate in our bodies, however, comes from the food we eat and the air we breathe.

Doctors and researchers have discovered that at the basis of many illnesses is a condition of inflammation or infection. Chronic inflammation is often caused by toxcity in our cells, tissue (such as gum tissue in the mouth), or an entire organ system (such as an ulcer in the stomach). Longevity studies reveal that aside from genetic factors, a person's level of stress, the quality of their diet and the absense of the ingestion of poisons, like cigarettes, all contribute significantly to a longer life with less disease. Likewise, there is a staggering amount of documentated cases in which a pollutant in a city or community (chemical toxins in drinking water) leads to extremely high rates of diseases, including cancer.

Detoxification and the Treatment of Illness

Detoxification can be a helpful adjunct in the treatment of many chronic illnesses, including:

• allergies
• arthritis
• asthma
• chronic colds
• depression
• diabetes
• digestive disorders
• fatigue
• fibromyalgia
• heart disease
• high chloresterol
• insomnia
• irritable bowel syndrome
• obesity
  
  

Detoxification and Your Doctor

Medical doctors are quick to denounce a wide number of detox products or detox diets, BUT they heartily recommend drinking more water, improving circulation through exercise, taking baths, supplementing with probiotics, reducing intake of processed foods and eating more fruits and vegetables. Detoxification can be as simple as a lifestyle overhaul. While there is still little medical research to support or refute the actual benefits of detoxification, naturopathic doctors and a surprising number of general practitioners recognize the wisdom of educating their patients about the effects of ingesting toxins. There is wide agreement that the chemical-laden, highly processed foods and beverages that are so widely available today should be curtailed if not avoided altogether. This is true as well for chemical products. Hundreds of toxic products have been pulled from the market in the last three decades.

Detoxification has become more predominant in the last decade, and unfortunately this is due to a rapid rise in various detoxification products on the market. It is very important to distinguish natural, safe and responsible detox methods from detox products and detox diets that promise quick results or contain potentially harmful ingredients or combinations of ingredients. Detoxification is really about assisting the body to perform its natural detoxification processes.

Relation information on detoxification and your health:

How to Detox
A detox program is nothing more than providing support for the body's natural detoxification function.

Health Empowerment
Whether for detox-related conditions or other health issues, more people are actively participating in their health care.

Toxicity in Everyday Life
Exposure to toxins is unavoidable, but what you do know can help you.

Symptoms of Toxicity
Low-level toxicity from many sources can be very difficult if not impossible to detect. It's essential to recognize symptoms early.

Why We Need to Detox
Increasingly, life on planet earth is tough on the body. An in depth look at the onset of toxicity.