Toxic Bodies, Toxic Minds

A suddenly major interest among health-conscious people is detoxification. The fact that we are toxifying our bodies in the first place is a subject worth serious consideration and is usually skipped over in the conversation about detoxing. Why should detoxification be necessary at all? Why do we have to "clean up after ourselves"? What are we putting into our bodies in the first place?

What is a toxin? In general, the word toxin refers to something chemical, not considered food or nourishment, and which does not belong in our bodies. Toxins can be chemicals in the air, water, beauty products, and food which we ingest or which are absorbed through the skin. Toxins are, in part, stored in the tissues and lymph fluid.

Toxins are not stored intentionally--why doesn't the body just get rid of them? The body does get rid of plenty of junk we ingest, however, not everything can be eliminated easily. The way that toxins end up stuck in the tissues and lymph is due to a simple process of diffusion. Immediately after eating cooked food, the blood becomes thick. This is the reason one cannot eat 8 hours before surgery: the blood is too thick for surgeons to safely operate. Due to this thickness, toxins diffuse into the lymph which is thin and light in comparison. When fasting or eating raw food, the blood becomes thin and toxins naturally diffuse out of the lymph fluid and into the bloodstream. Then they are eliminated.

More complicated than that, however, is toxic residue. Toxic residue is basically a layer of junk lining the intestinal tract. This junk inhibits proper absorption of nutrients, which is the purpose of the intestines. This reduces the nutrition we can get from our food, even when we are eating what we should in the first place. Where does this come from? Cooked food, especially animal products, which are difficult to digest and do not "burn" cleanly. Toxic residue keeps us out of touch with our bodies. Many people believe food cravings are messages from the body, and sometimes they are, but often we are just craving what we are addicted to. This layer of junk is a barrier between the real messages of our body and our awareness, and our bodies cannot communicate through it. Until you have detoxified, you will not hear very well your body's real messages.

This junk stuck in the intestinal wall can actually ferment by being stuck in the gut for too long, hence becoming toxic. This buildup does also leak continuously into the bloodstream and cause problems, however, as illustrated by Gabriel Cousens, MD in his book Conscious Eating:

"Many people think that the phrase 'toxins in the body' is just some jargon of food faddists. Research over the last 100 years shows that these bowel toxins actually exist. Not only do they exist, but they also have a tremendous negative impact on mental and physical well-being. Toxins usually come from a process called 'intestinal toxemia,' an overgrowth of putrefactive intestinal bacteria in the small and large intestines. These toxins are then released into the blood stream and from there affect both our mental and physical functioning. Intestinal toxemia is predominately caused by a high-protein and low complex carbohydrate diet. Intestinal toxemia not only has been associated with severe mental symptoms such as psychosis, but with a variety of mental imbalances.

As early as 1917, Drs. Satterlee and Eldridge presented 518 cases at an American Medical Association conference that had mental symptoms which were cured by removing the intestinal toxemia. The reported symptoms of intestinal toxemia which are familiar to many people: mental sluggishness, dullness, and stupidity; loss of concentration and/or memory; mental incoordination, irritability, lack of confidence, and excessive and useless worry; exaggerated introspection, hypochondrias, and phobias; depression and melancholy; obsessions and delusions; and hallucinations, suicidal tendencies, delirium, and stupor. Senility symptoms are also common with intestinal toxemia."

Gee, does anyone here know any Americans that seem excessively anxious, stupid, or sluggish??

I'm going to make the bold statement that toxemia is rampant in this country. I do believe that our food HAS made us dumb and complacent, quite easily managed and manageable by the so-called powers that be.

The long-term solution is to eat more raw food and less cooked food, especially less animal products. Eat lots of raw leafy greens and fruit which contain fiber. For a more sudden and possibly slightly painful detox process, you can do a fast which will rather quickly and dramatically release toxins into the bloodstream and then out of the system. This might put you through some unpleasant symptoms as all this garbage comes out from its hiding place. It can be mild to severe, from a headache or a little crankiness to getting a cold or major aches and pains in the body. However, I have heard of wonderful benefits to doing this such as lasting weight loss, disappearance of minor health problems, especially digestive problems, among other things.

The question in my mind is: if we are meant to eat meat and cooked food, why does it leave us with a ton of toxic buildup that causes mental disorders and requires a dramatic fast to get rid of? And then, as popular raw food author, Shazzie, points out: "detox to retox?" because it sounds good to do these fasts or detox diets for anywhere from 3-30 days, but if you're going to go back to your old diet again...? Well, still way better to do a twice yearly fast than none at all.