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Do you know how many toxins you are exposed to on a daily basis? The possibilities are almost endless for the average person: pesticides and herbicides from different produce, antibiotics and growth hormones in conventional meats and dairy, sodium fluoride and who-knows-what-else in the water, preservatives in refined and processed foods, noxious cleaning products, and - depending on where you live - varying levels of smog/air pollution. I am amazed that our bodies can take all of this and still function! Our good friend (best friend, really) the Liver has the arduous job of helping these toxins (and more) from affecting the rest of our body but despite that, are there times when it could use some help?

Enter the detox

Detoxing is a popular word these days; you could almost call it a fad diet in a way. We see products on TV and on the internet all the time that purport to detoxify our body. With foot pads, body wraps, teas, powders, and pills being hawked at us, it's a dizzying mess. But is there more to detoxing than gimmicky items and bold advertisements? There certainly is! Detoxing has been a part of human culture for probably thousands of years. In her book Digestive Wellness, Elizabeth Lipski (Ph.D., C.C.N.) writes:

Throughout time and in various cultures, people have seen the need for periodic internal cleansing. Native Americans and Mexicans use sweat lodges. Ancient Roman bathhouses had rooms for bathing in steam, warm water and cold water. Jewish women have used ritual mikva baths to cleanse both body and spirit. Most Swedish people have home saunas, and our own health clubs have saunas, steambaths, and jacuzzis. People "take the waters" in Europe and parts of the United States. Hawaiians use steam and a form of massage called lomi lomi, where they scrub people clean with the red Hawaiian dirt and sea salt. In fact, mud and clay have been used worldwide to draw toxins from the body while simultaneously providing essential nutrients.

Dr. Lipski continues on with mentioning how fasting is an important part of many religious holidays and customs. Both Jesus and John the Baptist fasted to gain mental and spiritual clarity. During Ramadan, an important Muslim holiday, people fast during daylight hours for a month. Jewish people fast on Yom Kippur. Also, indigenous people of many cultures use fasting as a way to clarify thought and provoke visions.

While there are many mainstream doctors that are skeptical of detoxing, I must agree heartily with Dr. Lipski when she writes in her book that:

Removal of waste material - detoxification - is essential to the healthy functioning of our bodies. This is shown in the many different ways the body cleanses itself. Skin is our body's largest organ. In addition to being a protective organ, it is also an organ of elimination through perspiration. Sneezes clear out sinuses. Lungs breathe out carbon dioxide, and even the breath allows for removal of some wastes. Kidneys filter wastes from the bloodstream. Stool is the residue from the digestive process. The liver filters the substances that are absorbed through the digestive barrier into the blood stream. White blood cells gobble up bacteria and foreign substances, and the lymphatic system clears the debris from circulation. During a cleansing program, your body more rapidly recycles materials to build new cells, take apart aged cells, and repair damaged cells.

So how do you go about detoxing?

Previously I spoke of the infamous specialty products we've all seen on TV and maybe even in health food stores. While I doubt the quality of these products, I don't know enough about them to make a proper review of their claims. Instead, what I propose are methods that I feel will rejuvenate your body much more than any patentable product. I firmly believe that in a majority of cases, nature already has the best solution for us. With detoxing, nature certainly has some already existing options for us. Paul Pitchford writes in Healing With Whole Foods:

Chinese medicine recognizes certain common foods as toxin neutralizers: tofu, millet, mung beans, aduki beans, black soybeans, Swiss chard, radishes, turnips, and figs. These can be used freely in the diet during a transition and especially during healing reactions (if food is tolerated at all).

Salt and vinegar are also detoxifying, and are commonly used in both the West and East for this purpose. They are strong substances, however, and should be taken with care and primarily for digestive problems. One does not normally take straight salt, even medicinally; it should be diluted in foods or water, or taken in salt plum products. Apple cider vinegar is mixed a teaspoon at a time in 1/3 cup of water (take undiluted for food poisoning). We do not recommend the habitual use of salt and vinegar for digestive imbalances; it is better to overcome poor dietary practices instead.

However, once or twice a year, a full-blown detox program is suggested and these programs are numerous. I've seen coconut detoxes, lemonade detoxes, juice detoxes, fruit detoxes, 3 day detoxes, and even month long detoxes. Whether one method is better than another is a matter between you and your body. Detoxes always involve a very restrictive diet for a period of time and this can be very difficult for the individual who has a very stressful job that they can not take time off of during this cleansing period, and likewise some people are already in need of eliminating improper foods from their diet and so constantly being around these foods may be too much of a challenge as well.

To improve your likelihood of success, I encourage you to make your first detox a short one (a few days to a week long) so that you will be better able to finish what you started. If you can, try to do this during a time when you don't have to work and the stresses of your life are at a minimum. Also, spring is said to be the best time to start a detox. Dr. Maoshing Ni writes on Acupuncture.com:

Human cultures through the ages have instinctively cleansed themselves and their living environment upon the arrival of spring each year. The reasons are well founded from two perspectives. First, there is the natural need to cast off winter blues and feel renewed and second, according to Chinese medicine, and confirmed by the science of Chronobiology, the liver is most active in detoxification process during spring.

Detoxing Considerations

There are many, many different types of detoxes one can go through, and to list them appropriately would fill a book. Detoxing can be a difficult process for those who are used to eating less than efficiently (and also, even for those that are already health conscious). I very strongly suggest that you plan ahead appropriately for your detox because you will likely find it challenging since all detoxes require some sort of restrictions (namely, the vices of most people: Sugar and Caffeine).

If followed correctly for the appropriate amount of time, a detox program will yield wonderful results. The most common result I have noticed from my clients is an increase in energy. This is no surprise; if you read my article on coffee, you'll know that the lack of caffeine for a week will replenish the adrenal glands and fill coffee addicts with natural energy!

Because there are numerous detoxification methods, it's important to seek out a Holistic Health Counselor (such as myself), Acupuncturist, Herbalist, Holistic Doctor, or some other type of holistic health professional who can work with you and help you decide what method is right for you.

Eating healthily can present a lot of challenges these days. The price of gas is going up, and in turn the price of food is going up, and to top it off, most of the healthy food costs more because it's not filled to the gills with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives that make the cost of food go down since it saves giant corporations lots of money. Likewise, the biggest healthy chain of supermarkets in the US - Whole Foods Market - could really do a lot more to bring their prices down. So here, we have an issue of money. But where does the food we buy come from? If we buy healthy food, usually then these products come from small organic farms (that could - I would assume - make a lot more money if they went the conventional route and didn't give a care about what they do to their food or land with all sorts of chemicals). Most people don't understand where their food comes from, amazingly. Whether it says that their tomatoes are from 3 states away, all the way on the other side of the country, the other side of the world, or right next door, this makes very little difference to most consumers and they don't understand the economic, ecological, and even nutritional impact of their choices.

Keep Farmer John on the farm

In a report entitled Losing Ground: Colorado's Vanishing Agricultural Landscape, by the Colorado Forest Project found that between 1997 - 2002 Colorado lost an average of 690 acres of prime agricultural land per day to residential development! Growing up in the (once) small, sleepy town of Yardley in Pennsylvania, I saw this happen a lot. There was once a lot of open land and a small number of local farms that were less than a mile from my home. Gradually, many of these farms disappeared and in their place popped up giant new residential developments. Is it any wonder, since most of the food you buy at the supermarket barely goes back to the farms that provided us with this food? In 1992 a report was presented to the Joint Economic Committee Symposium which showed that out of every dollar, only 9¢ goes back to the farm that the food came from; the other 91¢ goes to everyone else.. Buying from a farmers market (whether a community one or directly from the farm itself) helps to give more profit to the farmers and helps to ensure that they will be able to provide you with fresh, delicious food products for a time to come.

Think about your wallet

When you buy your food from local farmers, you are helping put money into the economy of your city and state (and thus country). I'm not much for economics (which is why I'm more fit to talk about eating apples than investing dollars), but I think it's a no-brainer that this is always a good thing. Now another wonderful thing about buying locally grown foods is that generally it's cheaper! This isn't always the case, but I would say that depending on the type of farm, and what they grow (or raise) there, most of what you will find is much cheaper than it is at the local supermarket.  The local farm I go to (Shady Brook Farm, right by my old neighborhood in Yardley!) has dirt cheap prices on all-natural produce and other goods. This past weekend, I bought a package of dried pineapple rings for less than $2 and they were delicious! Because of Shady Brook's low prices, I estimate that my grocery bill is cut in half (even though I pay a premium price for Raw Milk)!

Eat healthy, Be happy

If I live in New Jersey and the potatoes I buy are coming from a farm in Idaho, then that's quite a distance they need to travel; especially when you consider how long the potatoes may have been sitting on the shelf or the store's storage area. Is it no wonder that so many of the foods we buy are pumped full of artificial additives and - even more so - chemical preservatives to extend shelf life? From the time the food leaves the farm until the time it gets to your table, it gradually loses nutritional content and so that organic produce that was farmed in South America isn't going to have all the rich nutrients that organic produce is supposed to have. When you buy from local farms, you are helping to ensure that you get the freshest, healthiest foods that you can possibly buy.

How do you find the farms local to you?

Not everyone is fortunate enough to know of all the farms near them and their farming practices (conventional, all natural, organic).  But thankfully the internet has brought us a number of different ways to help find local farms and farmers' markets. For me, my first stop is always Local Harvest, which will show you - based on whom has registered an account with them - all the local farm stores and farmers' markets near your given zip code. The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service web page offers a search service so that you may find Farmers' Markets in your area (though the list is not 100% complete). The Eating Well Guide offers yet another search engine to help you in your pursuit of finding local, sustainable, and organic foods. One thing that I especially like about this web site is that a search will return for you not only information about local farms that you can purchase goods from, but they also list nearby health food stores, bakeries, organizations, and even Bed & Breakfasts'! Lastly, there is the option of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). A CSA is where individuals pay a fee directly to a farm and in exchange, they get a share of that farm's yield for the season; this is either delivered to one's home on a weekly basis, or an individual is expected to pick up their crate from the farm (if you're interested, you can read more about CSA's on Wikipedia). The USDA's National Agricultural Library offers a service much like the one I previously linked to that will help you find local CSA's, and of course Local Harvest's comprehensive site also offers the option to search for CSA's.

Some final thoughts

While the awareness of being healthy and buying true healthy foods (organics, and not stuff labeled as diet/low fat/low carb/low calorie) is growing considerably year by year, not everyone has a health food store near them and so this leaves an individual with the decision of whether or not to drive far out of the way to the nearest health food store or buy god-knows-what from a conventional grocery store.  Buying from local farms opens many options for everyone and is really a win-win situation. Farms profit, and the consumer gets healthy affordable food without having to go far from home!

You may find that not every farm, farmers' market, or CSA offers everything that you need. Unfortunately this is unavoidable since local bakeries, farms, and butcher shops have gradually been put out of business over the past century due to giant corporations building super centers (as an aside, watch the documentary WalMart: The High Cost of Low Prices to get the perfect picture). By buying locally, we - as health-conscious and sustainable-mined - are able to undo these drastic changes and help bring fresh and healthy foods to our local area because at least when you spend a dollar at a local farm, they make a dollar and not just a piddly 9¢.

Even if only ½ of your grocery list can be found from a local source, and the other ½ you need to go somewhere else to buy, I strongly urge you to do it anyway. What you do buy will be healthier, fresher, cheaper, and you'll be actively making an impact. One last site of interest I'll note is Food Routes which is a fantastic resource center all about buying local.  Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need more of those delicious dried pineapple rings!