Cleansing and Detoxifying
for Improved Health

The Importance of Cleansing

Today's world of technology, expedience, multi-tasking, stress, fast foods, and toxic environments can have an affect on every tissue and organ in our bodies.  The amount of pesticides, herbicides, fossil fuel emissions, hydrocarbons, and heavy metals that we are exposed to on a daily basis have reached record proportions. In fact, the United States Environmental Protection Agency states that traces of toxic chemicals can now be found in nearly every American.

What are Toxins?

A toxin is any compound that has a detrimental effect on cell function or structure.  Some toxins cause minimal negative effects, while others can cause death.  Toxins are often divided into four categories:

• Heavy Metals- Including lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, nickel, and aluminum.  Heavy metals tend to accumulate in vital organs, often disrupting their function.

• Liver Toxins – Including drugs, alcohol, solvents, formaldehyde, pesticides, herbicides, and food additives.  Our livers are usually overloaded with these toxins because they are so prevalent in our diet and in our environment.

• Microbial Compounds – Including toxins produced by bacteria and yeast in the digestive tract can be absorbed and transported throughout the body, significantly disrupting bodily functions.  These toxins can also include toxic amines, toxic derivatives of bile, various carcinogenic substances, and endotoxins and exotoxins from bacteria.

• By Products of Protein Metabolism – The kidneys are largely responsible for eliminating toxic waste products of protein metabolism, such as ammonia and urea.  Excessive protein consumption and lack of water can inhibit proper kidney function. 

There are toxic substances in our homes, in our workplaces, in our food, in our water and in the air we breathe.  Most of the technological advances associated with these chemicals are supposed to be improving our lives; in reality, some of these advances are creating unhealthy conditions within us. This influx of chemical products translates to billions upon billions of pounds of toxins being released into the environment, and some of these toxins will eventually find their way into our bodies.

Cleanse Your Body

We practice daily hygiene such as washing our hands, hair, faces, bodies, and brushing our teeth, but what about cleaning the inside of our bodies?  Imagine what the inside of a house would look like if you never cleaned it.  Dirt, toxins, and pathogens can begin to build up and create an unhealthy environment. 

A similar scenario can occur inside of us when the liver and other bodily systems responsible for the detoxification process become over-burdened with toxicity and are unable to handle it all.  When this happens, we can begin having problems with digestion, elimination, skin, weight gain, and so on.  

If you experience one or more of the following symptoms, then you may want to cleanse:

How often one cleanses can depend upon an individual’s state of health, and whether they have ever done any type of cleansing before.  The best thing to do is pay attention to your body.  If you are experiencing the symptoms associated with a toxic overload, as listed above, then you will want to consider cleansing to help relieve them.

Many people like to cleanse during the spring and summer months when they have access to an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Spring is an especially good time to cleanse for those who have over-indulged on food and drinks during the winter/holiday months.  Many of us have also been forced inside due to cold weather, which exposes us to household cleaning products and other toxicities within the home.

Important:  When cleansing, please be sure that you are having regular (daily) bowel movements that can help your body eliminate toxic substances from the gastrointestinal tract so they are less likely to be reabsorbed into the blood stream.  It is also important to drink plenty of water to flush toxins from the kidneys. 

The Detoxification Process

Polluted air, modern diets, and drinking water all carry potential carcinogens.  Although we bathe and cleanse the outside of our bodies daily, all of us can still be toxic if we never cleanse on the inside. Any substance which is not useful for energy or building tissues is dumped by detoxification before it can harm the body. However, the body must be able to properly detoxify in order to protect itself. When it is overloaded with toxins, it cannot properly detoxify.

Detoxification is a process in which potentially harmful compounds are excreted.  The lungs, skin, kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract, are all responsible for this detox process, while the liver is considered to be the major organ of detoxification.  Within the liver cells there are a number of intricate mechanisms involved in the breakdown of toxic substances. Chemicals that enter our bodies, including drugs, pesticides, herbicides, and hormones are broken down by liver cells. If the liver is over-burdened, it has a difficult time performing these necessary functions.

The detoxifying organs work vigorously on a daily basis to rid the body of toxicities and maintain the health of trillions of cells.  Unfortunately, the excessive amount of toxins in the environment has placed such a burden on these systems that they can no longer function optimally. Therefore, we can all benefit from cleansing the inside of our bodies for renewal and to improve our health.

Symptoms of Detoxification:
As the liver begins to become more effective in its efforts to detox, most peoples’ store of toxins will begin to be processed and moved out. Some of the normal and expected symptoms of detoxification can include:

• A feeling of dizziness
• Heart palpitations
• Lack of appetite
• Fatigue
• General malaise
• Nausea
• Headache
• Increased body odor
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Hives, rashes, or mild skin outbreaks

Phase I and Phase II of the Detoxification Pathways

During Phase I of the detoxification process, toxic, fat soluble chemicals are converted into less harmful chemicals by a variety of reactions within the liver. During this phase free radicals are naturally formed.  Free radicals are unstable particles that can damage the body’s cells if there is an excess of them.  To help get rid of or reduce these free radicals, we need to take antioxidants.  If antioxidants are in short supply, exposure to toxic chemicals can become far more dangerous during this phase by being converted from relatively harmless substances into potentially carcinogenic ones.  

During Phase II, toxic chemicals, drugs, and used hormones are bound to water soluble substances, which makes them less harmful so they can be easily eliminated from the body rather than re-circulated in the blood stream and deposited into fatty tissue. This process is also known as glucoronidation.  Calcium D-Glucarate is a natural dietary supplement that has been shown to support this vital process by inhibiting an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase that can break bonds between toxins and used hormones allowing them to be re-circulated rather than excreted.

If either one of these pathways becomes overloaded toxins can build up in the body.  Many of these toxins are fat soluble and can incorporate themselves into fatty parts of the body, such as the brain and hormonal glands where they can remain for years, if not indefinitely. 

The two major routes of detoxification:

Phase I: Toxic and fat-soluble chemicals (which can only dissolve in oily solutions, not water) are neutralized and the process of making these chemicals water soluble and more chemically active begins.

Phase II: Chemicals are combined with minerals, amino acids, and other endogenous compounds.  This process, known as conjugation, makes the entire molecule water soluble, thus allowing excretion via urine or bile.

Maintaining Your Improved Health

Due to the constant toxic assaults on our bodies, it is important to commit to improved eating and lifestyle habits.  The following is a list of changes that can help one sustain their improved health status after detoxing:

• Reduce/Eliminate your exposure to toxins
• Maintain a healthy diet with plenty of fiber
• Take an Organic Superfood supplement regularly
• Maintain a healthy digestive system
• Take a quality Probiotic daily
• Cleanse your colon once or twice per year
• Have regular (daily) bowel movements
• Continue to drink plenty of pure filtered water
• Get plenty of rest and sleep
• Eat organic, non-processed whole foods
• Exercise moderately on a daily

Cleansing your body can lead to a variety of different health benefits and a reduction in many symptoms that may be contributing to poor health.  Therefore, it is suggested to detox your body at least once year if not twice, while maintaining your improved health by following the above suggestions. 

Products to Help with Cleansing

The Complete Body Cleanse Kit is a Triple Action Detoxification System created by Life-flo.  It is designed to help support, detoxify, and rejuvenate us. This fourteen day program is designed to improve our health by dealing with the overabundance of toxins residing in our bodies.  The triple action system gently enhances our internal detoxification system while at the same time ridding it of heavy metals.  It is a complete cleansing system because it addresses the areas that are of greatest concern.

The Complete Body Cleanse Kit not only supports the body's own detoxification mechanisms, but at the same time enhances them. This triple action system works on the gastrointestinal tract, liver, and the circulatory system where a lot of heavy metals and other toxins can reside.  These compounds are either generated by the body as by-products of cellular metabolic processes, or acquired through exposure to the environment. 

Benefits of use:

• Helps cleanse the liver and colon
• Helps remove toxic heavy metals
• Helps increase weight loss results
• Helps increase energy levels
• Helps improve the health of your skin
• Helps promote overall well being

Green Foods to Assist Detoxification

Chlorophyll is the green pigment found in plants and algae that is responsible for their color.  Historically, chlorophyll has been used to help improve health.  For example, for bad breath, for constipation, and for use in detoxifying, just to name a few.  Chlorophyll also has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and wound-healing properties. (1,2)

Some evidence suggests that chlorophyll helps detoxify cancer-promoting substances, suggesting that chlorophyll may reduce the risk of cancer. (3,4)

According to the PDR for Nutritional Supplements, “some experimental data suggests that chlorophyll may have some antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic potential, may help protect against some toxins, and may ameliorate some drug side effects.” (5)

You can find good dietary sources of chlorophyll in dark green leafy vegetables, spirulina, chlorella, algae, wheat grass, and barley grass.  Those who do not consume a variety of green foods in plentiful quantities may lack chlorophyll in their diets.  Therefore, including a good “green foods” supplement, such as LifeSource SuperSprouts that contains sources of chlorophyll, can help you get this important nutrient into your diet or cleansing program.

Benefits of use:

• Detoxification
• Constipation
• Eliminate bad breath
• Wound healing
• Antioxidant

Calcium D-Glucarate to help remove toxins from the intestinal tract

D-Glucarate is a phytochemical that can be found in fruits and vegetables, such as apples, oranges, broccoli, cabbage, bean sprouts, and brussels sprouts.  It is also made in small amounts by the body. Many believe that this nutrient aids the body in the elimination of many harmful toxins and lowers abnormally high levels of used steroid hormones including estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. 

D-Glucarate also inhibits an enzyme known as beta-glucuronidase, which suppresses the body’s ability to detoxify many toxins using the glucuronidation pathway. When levels of this enzyme become elevated, it reverses the glucuronidation process and releases the toxins back into the bloodstream. (6)   When detoxification involves Calcium D-Glucarate, it is called glucuronidation, which is the process that occurs when toxins or carcinogens are combined with water soluble substances, allowing such toxins to be more easily removed from the body.  Research supports a role for glucuronidation in protecting cells (especially those of hormone-sensitive tissues such as the breast and prostate) from dangerous environmental chemicals.(7)

Consider supplementing with Calcium D-Glucarate to keep the detoxification pathway moving forward.  This will preserve the amount of glucuronic acid available to detoxify toxins, and limit the amount of free estrogen that is reabsorbed.

Benefits of use:

• Helps eliminate toxins and carcinogens
• Helps eliminate used hormones
• Helps reduce the risk of certain diseases
• Has been shown to reduce estrogen receptors

Neutralize Environmental Toxins in Your Body

Since you can’t live in a bubble, Aulterra Enhance capsules are the next best thing. Aulterra is a homeopathically activated combination of natural elements which help neutralize the effects of heavy metals and other toxins on human DNA.

Benefits of use:

• Activates DNA
• Enhances cellular activity
• Neutralizes toxic substances
• Reverses cellular aging

The Neutralizer for RF/EMF Protection

Studies have shown that cellular phones can damage the DNA in sensitive areas of your brain.  Wireless equipment, computers, microwave ovens, televisions, and more also emit EMF’s.  Apply the Neutralizer sticker now to protect yourself.  See research links on the product webpage.  A very popular product with our customers.  Three to a pack.

The Neutralizer is effective against harmful EMF/RF radiation when applied to any of the following devices:

• Any cellular phone
• Computer terminal
• Microwave oven
• Cordless telephone
• Television
• Video game equipment

References

1. Rudolph C. The therapeutic value of chlorophyll. Clin Med Surg 1930:37;119-21
2. Chernomorsky SA, Segelman AB. Biological activities of chlorophyll derivatives. N J Med 1988:85;669-73.
   
3. Gruskin B. Chlorophyll-its therapeutic place in acute and suppurative disease. Am J Surg 1940:49;49-56.
   
4. Hayatsu H, Negishi T, Arimoto S, et al. Porphyrins as potential inhibitors against exposure to carcinogens and mutagens. Mutat Res 1993:290;79-85.
   
5. Thomson, PDR for Nutritional Supplements. New Jersey: Thomson PDR 2002;89
   
6. Dwivedi C, Heck WJ, Downie AA, et al. Effect of calcium glucarate on beta-glucuronidase activity and glucarate content of certain vegetables and fruits. Biochem Med Metab Biol. 1990; 43:83-92.
   
7. Walaszek Z, Hanausek-Walaszek M, Minton J, Webb TE. Dietary Glucarate as anti-promoter of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced mammary tumorigenesis. Carcinogenesis 1986;7:1463-1466

By Marie Holt, BSc
Nutritional Consultant
Energetic Nutrition, Inc.