Toxicity is all around us, and it’s time we do something about it

Up until about 100 years ago, humans lived on planet Earth with little to no exposure to toxic chemicals. Our bodies and detoxification systems were designed and evolved in this environment. We had the capacity to process and eliminate many of the naturally occurring challenges to our systems, such as mold and fungus, and even metabolic toxins, naturally occurring toxins, as a result of the digestive process. However, around 100 years ago, things began changing, slowly at first and then more dramatically as we entered World War II and biological warfare became a predominant investment for governments looking to kill off and conquer enemies en masse.

Post-war, many of these chemicals were reinvented and reimagined as agricultural chemicals such as insecticides and pesticides and herbicides. Additionally, chemical companies continued producing and releasing into our environment, the air, water, and our food, over 60,000 different manmade chemicals; chemicals in doses and combinations our bodies have never had any exposure to or experienced dealing with, and the results have been devastating.

Governments and regulatory organizations assure us that they are safe, but as we have found is often the case, these positions are reversed and compounds that have once been declared as safe become, all of a sudden, known cancer-causing substances. Just think about asbestos, or mercury, or lead, and more recently, glyphosate, or Roundup as it is known. In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, the IARC, classified glyphosate as a group 2A substance, meaning that it is a probable human carcinogen.

Alarming traces of this substance are being found in many foods, including bread, which begs the question, what damage are these toxins causing to our bodies? How do we best avoid these toxins? And what can we do to support our bodies from this inescapable exposure?

In this day and age of fake food and toxic ingredients, the damage to our bodies and health is evident; gut issues, poor immunity, chronic disease, fatigue, weight gain, and more.

There’s no doubt about it. We currently live in the most toxic environment of all of human history. There are thousands of pollutants that our bodies are exposed to on a daily basis. Many chemicals we encounter in our everyday lives have already been proven to be harmful to humans, but worse yet, the chemical cocktails and combinations, because we are always in contact with multiple toxins at one time, have never and could never be tested for in these complex and unique interactions.

The problem with toxins is that we usually can’t see or smell them, and for many, this alone is a reason to ignore this issue. The problem is they are silent but deadly and the impact of environmental toxins on not only hormonal health, but biological health, in general, is very concerning.

Let’s consider just some of the possibilities the average human might encounter on an average day. The pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides are sprayed on the fruit and vegetables they eat. The pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, hormones, and environmental pollutants concentrated in the fats of the meat, eggs, and dairy that they eat. The chlorine, farming chemicals, fluoride, industrial chemicals, petrochemicals, and heavy metals in the tap water they drink, and the xenoestrogens such as phthalates and BPA in the plastic water bottles they drink them from. The artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, thickeners, stabilizers, anti-caking agents, hydrogenated fats, and denatured ingredients in the packaged or pre-prepared foods they eat. The heavy metals and PCBs in the fish and seafood that they eat, and the BPA found in the lining of the cans they’re packed in. The harmful household chemicals and fragrances found in the dishwasher tablets, surface sprays, air deodorizers, and cleaning agents they use to clean their homes and clothes. The pesticides and herbicides they use on their gardens and lawns, and the pesticides they use to control pests in their homes. The multitude of chemicals, talc, heavy metals, and petrochemicals are found in their toothpaste, deodorant, perfume, aftershave, hair care, makeup, and body products. The petrol fumes, industrial chemicals, and pollution in the air outside, but even worse than that, the off- gassing chemicals, vinyls, polymers, solvents, flame retardants, and heavy metals found in the plastics, glues, paints, timber treatment, carpets, furniture, and building materials found in their offices, homes, and cars. The electromagnetic radiation they receive from electricity towers, flying, WiFi, electronic devices, modems, phones, and computers. The list just goes on and on and on.

I have absolutely no doubt that this abundance of environmental toxicity is one major contributor to the steep increase of hormonal issues, infertility rates, autoimmune conditions, and inflammatory conditions we are seeing in our modern world. Our increased level of toxic exposure, possibly coupled with other less than desirable lifestyle conditions such as suboptimal nutrition, pharmaceutical drug use, recreational drug use, high-stress levels, lack of movement, and poor sleep is a recipe for endocrine dysfunction and generally poor health outcomes.

So what can we do?

• Detox and cleanse: similar to when you take vacation from work to give a break to your mind, sometimes you need to give a break to your gut, and that means mainly removing all inflammatory food and aiding your gut with digestion. More to come on this topic in a future article

• Prioritize organic: organic food means non-GMO and also no pesticides. It is to prioritize when possible to limit exposures to more toxins. Refer to my other article on the topic for more information

• Drink good water: The interesting thing about water is the water you drink goes down your esophagus, through your stomach, into your small intestine, where it’s immediately absorbed into your blood. In other words, the water you drink is your blood an hour from now. And it's not just your blood, also your cerebral spinal fluid, that’s the fluid your brain floats inside of, your intracellular fluid, your lymph, your extracellular fluid, all of these fluids in your body - they’re made of the water you drink. And if you’re not drinking extremely clean water, then you’re going to be taking in, bio-accumulating the toxins that are in the water. Those could be the plastics that are found in bottled water, the fluorides and the chlorine that’s added to, as well as other things that is in industrial water and in tap water. For instance, phosphoric acid and lye are added to adjust pH, so when you're ingesting these things all the time and they’re accumulating. They’re getting into your cells. By switching to a clean water source, or having a high quality filtered water, some kind of clean water, what you know you’re doing is replacing the toxic body water with clean water that once that water is clean, the cells can start to give up their toxins to that water. You clean that water out again, you keep doing that eventually the whole system runs itself clean. The body always wants to detoxify itself. It just needs to be given the right elements.

• Prioritize unprocessed food: this should be a no brainer. Processed food and ultra-processed food has been linked to a multitude of diseases. It's the man made ingredients, the extra salt, the added fat and sugar, all the non natural food we add in our body that prevents it to do its work. I'm no saying to eliminate the once in a while take-out food, just that it shouldn't be the main food source in your diet. The little wink on this topic in the movie Soul from Disney always makes me smile as this is a topic that should be discussed front and center and I find it ironic to have an afterlife being telling a human to stay away from "processed food" (see screenshot below)

• Add plants in your diet: Plants of all colours are great to any diet! They add different nutrients are are rich in fiber, which are excellent source of prebiotics necessary for your gut health

• Add fermented food: Probiotics are necessary to feed the healthy bacteria in your gut. And fermented food are the best natural source to find a rich probiotic diversity.

• Use an app like Yuka: I regularly use this app for my home products or at the grocery store to recognize which products may have harmful chemicals

I hope you found this article informational and as always simply contact me or add a comment below to exchange on the topic!

Screenshot from the movie "Soul" by Disney