I’m blessed to be able to share the work of Dr Marilyn Golden, an amazing healer, raw foodist and friend who is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Dr Golden, who wrote the following article about how to detoxify safely, has helped many of her patients achieve incredible results. Visit her website at www.marilyngolden.com.au to find out more.
Why detox?
Pollutants pervade our world. Toxins are increasingly common in our modern environment. These include heavy metals such as mercury in amalgam fillings and as an adjuvant in some vaccines, aluminium in antiperspirants and baking powder, arsenic in preserved woods used in playgrounds and even as a border in vegetable patches, cadmium in cigarette smoke, lead in paints and car batteries, food additives such as colourants and preservatives, drugs, medication, pollutants in our water supply and the air we breathe.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 2.4 million people die each year from air pollution. Indoor pollution stems from photocopiers, carpets, cleaning materials, glues, paints and furnishings. Australia tops the per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world (SMH 2004).
Physical phenomena such as electromagnetic radiation and ionising radiation are invisible toxins. Electronic products dumped in landfills contain dangerous chemicals and heavy metals that can leach into the groundwater. According to Choice magazine, many unsafe pesticides passed by the Australian food authorities for use in our foods are banned in Europe. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 21st September 2009, written by Kelly Burke, stated that Endosulfan, one of the world’s most toxic crop sprays, is permitted for horticultural control of mites and insects in Australia, whereas Endosulfan is banned in more than 50 countries, including 27 countries of the European Union and in New Zealand since January 2009. Endosulfan has been linked to breast cancer and birth defects. It has long-term effects as it persists in the body and disrupts the endocrine system. It is but one of the many chemicals used in the agricultural industry.
According to the Environmental Working Group, people who consume the 12 most pesticide-contaminated foods, ingest 10 pesticides each day.
Research on the use of multiple pesticides and chemicals acting cumulatively and synergistically in the body is difficult to perform and long-term effects may only become apparent after many years. Multiple long-term exposure to low doses of toxins makes detection in humans difficult and may be a contributing cause to chronic illness in many forms. A frightening scenario was the discovery of two and three-headed fish in the Noosa River in 2009 which was thought to be as a result of the use of Endosulfan in the area. Some toxins such as DDT and Lindane have such a long half-life, that their presence in the soil may persist up to 30 years.
In 2009 in China, the chemical Melamine was found as a contaminant in infant milk powders, causing renal failure and many deaths. There have been concerns that it may have infiltrated vegetables and other crops through pesticides and fertilizers containing the chemical. Sciencebase is a website listing the types of processed food contaminated by melamine found in many other countries outside of China.
Mining and industry wastes pollute agricultural areas, pervading the food we eat at the end of the production chain. Our homes and workplaces generate toxic by-products from paints, glues, building materials, moulds, solvents and adhesives. A study performed by the CSIRO in 2000 showed that new homes generated high amounts of volatile toxins, including formaldehyde for more than a year after construction.
Bisphenol A is a component of plastics including plastic bottles and it is a known endocrine disruptor. Concern has been expressed by the FDA on the effect of Bisphenol A on infant brain development and on early puberty. It may also be implicated in the development of obesity.
Endogenous toxicity arises within our own bodies, generated by hostile bacteria, parasites, yeasts and their by-products in our digestive tracts as well as residues of drugs, food chemicals and free radicals from infection, inflammation, alcohol and medication. In those who are nutrient deficient or who have genetic enzyme deficiencies, toxins accumulate and these individuals are more susceptible to certain illnesses. Toxins can bind to enzymes to inhibit their capacity to detoxify.
Chronic stress may impair digestion and detoxification. Hormonal imbalance or impaired function of liver detoxification enzymes contribute to endogenous toxicity.
HOW DO TOXINS AFFECT OUR HEALTH?
Toxins may cause free radical damage, disrupt the endocrine system, paralyse detoxification enzymes in the body, accumulate in tissues and organs to compromise function, damage the nervous system, mitochondria and DNA and suppress immunity.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF TOXICITY?
• Symptoms may be nonspecific and persistent.
• Low energy
• Low mood, anxiety and depression
• Poor concentration, memory problems, headaches
• Frequent infections
• Joint pain, muscle aches
• Allergies
• Weight gain
• Digestive symptoms – diarrhoea, constipation, bloating
• Autoimmune disease
• Chemical and environmental sensitivity
• Infertility and reproductive disorders
WHAT CAN WE DO?
• Limit your toxic load through reducing household and personal use of toxic chemicals.
• Enjoy indoor plants that absorb pollutants – The Areca palm, Bostern ferns, Chrysanthemums, Dwarf Date palms, Striped Dracena
• Filter your water
• Greatly reduce or abstain from alcohol, cigarettes and recreational drugs.
• Practice some form of stress relief and happiness time
• Detoxify under supervision from an experienced health practitioner
• Select your food carefully.
According to the Environmental Working Group, people who consume the 12 most pesticide-contaminated foods, ingest 10 pesticides each day. The list of foods containing higher concentrations of chemicals and pesticides from ewg.org:
• Peaches
• Apples
• Capsicum
• Celery
• Nectarine
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Grapes
• Carrots
• Pears
As many pesticides do not wash off with rinses, these fruits and vegetables should be organic wherever possible or peeled. It is uncertain whether vegetable rinses remove all pesticide residues.
GROW YOUR OWN
Sprouts and greens are very simple and easy to grow at home, in pots or in sprouters. Examples are kale, parsley, silverbeet, rocket, lettuce and wheatgrass. Sprouts with high detoxification capacity include broccoli sprouts, mustard seed and cress. Sprouts and greens may be used in smoothies or salads. They are powerful packages of antioxidants, proteins and protective phytochemicals such as sulphoraphane which upregulates the genes which code for glutathione detoxification in the cells and in the liver.
DETOXIFICATION BEGINS AT THE CELL
Protect your cells at all times. Support cell nutrition.
Antioxidant support is essential throughout life. We are bombarded with an estimated10,000 hits of free radical assault to our cells and DNA on a daily basis. Free radicals damage our cell membranes and our DNA leading to disease.
Growing up, I used to love the smell of freshly washed towels. Whenever the breeze would blow as they hung on the line to dry, I’d get a waft of fragrance that somehow made me think of all things lovely: a warm bath on a cold winter night or coming home after being away on vacation.
What I didn’t know back then is that comforting, fresh smell was actually nasty, toxic chemicals… chloroform, ethyl acetate and limonene (among many others)… dressed up as flowers, luring me in, to believe that I was as close to a lavender field as I could get without actually being in one.
Besides the carcinogenics, I also recently found out (thanks to www.thevegandecision.com) there’s another great reason to stop buying and using fabric softeners: animal tallow, or animal fat, if you will. Common, every day fabric softeners are a recipe made from dead animals and toxic chemicals, not a lavender field or bowl of fresh lemons in sight.
So what does this mean for the planet and our own health? These chemicals are detrimental to marine life, as they enter our waterways (whatever we put in a washing machine, toilet, dishwasher ends up in the environment). But once the towels and clothes are dry, how harmful can these chemicals be to our health? Extremely. Anything worn close to, or applied to the skin ends up in the blood stream.
Here’s an excerpt from Natural News:
Most fabric softener products—dryer sheets, for example—are positioned as being at least somewhat earth friendly thanks to a claim in the ingredients list that reads “biodegradable fabric softeners.” Unfortunately, the second ingredient in fabric softeners is “fragrance,” and the fragrance chemicals are so highly toxic that they cause cancer in humans and are extremely destructive to aquatic ecosystems downstream. Merely drying your clothes with common dryer sheets, then washing them the next time you do laundry unleashes a chemical tidal wave of toxicity that is shockingly harmful to (you and) the environment.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (US), here’s a list of what you can expect to find:
ALPHA-TERPINEOL Causes CNS (central nervous system) disorders… “highly irritating to mucous membranes” …”Aspiration into the lungs can produce pneumonitis or even fatal edema.” Can also cause “excitement, ataxia (loss of muscular coordination), hypothermia, CNS and respiratory depression, and headache.” “Prevent repeated or prolonged skin contact.
BENZYL ACETATE Carconigenic (linked to pancreatic cancer). “From vapors: irritating to eyes and respiratory passages, exciting cough.” “In mice: hyperanemia of the lungs.” “Can be absorbed through the skin causing systemic effects.” “Do not flush to sewer.”
BENZYL ALCOHOL Causes CNS disorders … “irritating to the upper respiratory tract” …”headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drop in blood pressure, CNS depression, and death in severe cases due to respiratory failure.”
CAMPHOR Causes CNS disorders. On EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. Symptoms: “local irritant and CNS stimulant” …”readily absorbed through body tissues” …”irritation of eyes, nose, and throat” …”dizziness, confusion, nausea, twitching muscles and convulsions”. “Avoid inhalation of vapors.”
CHLOROFORM Neurotoxic. Anesthetic. Carcinogenic. on EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. “Avoid contact with eyes, skin, clothing. Do not breathe vapors …Inhalation of vapors may cause headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, irritation of respiratory tract and loss of consciousness.” “Inhalation can be fatal.” “Chronic effects of overexposure may include kidney and/or liver damage.” “Medical conditions generally aggravated by exposure: kidney disorders, liver disorders, heart disorders, skin disorders.” “Conditions to avoid: Heat…” Listed on California’s Proposition 65.
ETHYL ACETATE Narcotic. On EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. “…Irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract” …”may cause headache and narcosis (stupor)” …”may cause anemia with leukocytosis and damage to liver and kidneys”. “Wash thoroughly after handling.”
LIMONENE Carcinogenic. “Prevent its contact with skin or eyes because it is an irritant and sensitizer.” “Always wash thoroughly after using this material and before eating, drinking …applying cosmetics. Do not inhale limonene vapor.”
LINALOOL Narcotic. Causes CNS disorders. …”respiratory disturbances” …”Attracts bees.” “In animal tests: ataxic gait, reduced spontaneous motor activity and depression …depressed heart activity …development of respiratory disturbances leading to death.”
PENTANE “Danger – Harmful if inhaled …Avoid breathing vapor.” “Inhalation of vapors may cause headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, irritation of respiratory tract and loss of consciousness. Repeated inhalation of vapors may cause CNS depression. Contact can cause eye irritation. Prolonged exposure may cause dermatitis (skin rash).”
Relevant Facts:
- CNS = Central Nervous System, your brain and spine.
- CNS disorders include: Alzheimer’s Disease, Attention Deficit Disorder, Dementia, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Seizures, Strokes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
- CNS exposure symptoms include: aphasia, blurred vision, disorientation, dizziness, headaches, hunger, memory loss, numbness in face, pain in neck and spine.
As a journalist, you get to meet people from all walks of life. Over the years I’ve met some wonderful souls, been welcomed into people’s lives in the name of a story, learned many things and questioned much.
In the 15 years I’ve been doing this, there have been a few incredible people who have, just by their very nature, etched their message into my heart—some, albeit few, have even influenced me to change my life.
Once such interview was about five years ago: “Come along and meet this guy, he’s amazing,” the publicist promised. She was talking about Don Tolman, a guy from Utah known fondly by many as the Indiana Jones of Wholefoods. I’d never heard of him, or his message.
His message, I soon learned, is simple: live with nature, by nature and from nature. Understand what foods benefit particular body functions and eat them. Stop putting chemical pills and potions into your mouth. Drink fresh spring water. Stop brushing your teeth with fluoride. Listen to your great grandmother and use her natural remedies. Know that your body’s symptoms are your body’s cures. Eating meat causes putrification and dis-ease. Question everything.
A 30-minute meeting with the Stetson-wearing cowboy felt like five minutes. His message spoke directly to me, as if what he was saying I already knew on some deep level. I’d already been following some of his recommendations, purely on instinct, such as never taking a pill to relieve a headache or antibiotics to fix an ill, and no longer eating red meat.
If you haven’t had a chance to hear Don Tolman speak, below is an interview he did with Samantha Backman. I hope you enjoy hearing his message, as much as I always do.
Why it’s great: Packed with a gold mine of information that will change the way you look at your body and the food you put in it, forever. Tolman also talks about how every wholefood has a signature that corresponds to parts of the body, such as an avocado, which looks like a pregnant woman and takes nine months from blossom to ripened fruit. If a woman eats just one avocado per week, she is helping prevent cervical cancer.
Who’s watching it: Health care professionals, university lecturers and doctors who are realising the Western way of healing with pharmaceuticals doesn’t work. Also anyone who is interested in honest-to-goodness nutrition and how it greatly improves life through diet and exercise.
What you’ll learn: How your body actually works, why disease is not a mystery and how wholefoods, water, sunshine and clean air can prevent just about any disease.
Want to know more? See www.dontolmaninternational.com
Photo by Wheeloflife.tv
1. Start with you. While scientists once believed we were separate from everything else on earth, we now know that couldn’t be further from the truth. We human beings are made up of the same stuff that makes up the stars we gaze at, the grass we walk on and the very food we eat. Spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says it best: “At some point in our lives, the realization dawns upon us that freedom does not come from external situations or circumstance. All of creation, everything that exists in the physical world, is the result of the unmanifest transforming itself into the manifest. Everything that we behold comes from the unknown. Our physical body, the physical universe — anything and everything that we can perceive through our senses — is the transformation of the unmanifest, unknown and invisible into the manifest, known and visible. The physical universe is nothing other than the self curving back within itself as spirit, mind and physical matter.”
With this in mind, how we think about ourselves, treat ourselves and feed ourselves becomes a whole new ball game: every negative thought we hold and reaffirm to ourselves is also reaffirmed to the universe, every bad diet choice directly affects the health of universe, every unkind action or thought towards another has a direct affect on the universe and so on. Making conscious, educated choices every day is the first and most important step in healing the earth. A great place to start the education is with inspirational author and teacher, Louise L Hay and her bestselling book You Can Heal Your Life
2. Change your diet. While the meat and dairy industries do everything in their power to ensure consumers believe meat and dairy help us grow healthy and strong, there is much evidence to the contrary. Besides the undeniable health risks of eating meat and dairy that can no longer be ignored due to the rise-and-rise of cancer cases, there’s another reason it’s important to reassess the amount of animal products in your diet—and that’s the detrimental impact meat production has on the planet. A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. When asked by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) what personal change people could make to help the environment, ex-Beatles star Paul McCartney answered, “I think the biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become vegetarian.” Find out how here.
As with anything, it’s about being kind to yourself during the process if you decide to give up meat and dairy. Do your research to ensure you do things at a pace that works best for your body and lifestyle. An important thing to remember: vegetarianism and veganism are not diets in the common sense of the word, or religions for that matter. Rather they’re a lifestyle choice—an action resulting from understanding how everything on the earth is deeply connected, and how what we put in our mouth has a profound effect on everything we are and do. That means taking it all one meal and day at a time, so leave any feelings of guilt or failure at the door. Every step you take towards making a difference adds up. Be proud of yourself and tell yourself often.
3. Stop buying plastic water bottles, shopping bags or containers. We’ve all certainly heard it before: buying water in plastic bottles and getting plastic bags at the supermarket isn’t a good choice for the environment. Treehugger.com has an article that gets straight to the point detailing what is known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” or “trash vortex”: (it’s) essentially a floating expanse of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean now covering an area twice the size of the continental U.S. Believed to hold almost 100m tons of flotsam, this vast “plastic soup” stretches 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan. Gotta see it to believe it? Watch this.
As said before, being kind to you, also means you’re being kind to the world around you. Plastic water bottles contain the cancer-causing chemical known as Bisphenol A, which leaches from the bottles to the water you consume. Step one: buy a reusable water bottle. Step two: fit a reverse osmosis filter to your kitchen tap (same goes for the shower: many municipal water supplies are not only highly chlorinated, but also contain high levels of pharmaceutical drugs—such as antibiotics, oral contraceptives etc—which get ingested through the skin, which is the body’s largest organ. Read more here.
I’ve always loved old Hollywood. There was always certain glamorous innocence that appealed to me, even as a child.
I still love the music, the actors and the acting. I’m all for stars bursting out in song or dance mid sentence. Girls with perfectly set hair, men treating women like ladies.
As I thought about watching one of my favourite oldies today, I wondered if there were any old Hollywood stars who used their star power back then to actively promote not eating animals. An olden day Alicia Silverstone. A Casey Affleck in black and white.
My never-fail Google search lead me to 1920s glamour girl Gloria Swanson, who became vegetarian in 1928. She was known as an early advocate of healthy eating—to the extent she even brought her own meals to functions in a paper bag. She had also recommended a macrobiotic diet to actor Dirk Benedict, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Benedict had refused conventional therapies and later said his recovery was due to his healthy diet.
Swanson also used her Hollywood connections and her natural health know-how to help promote the classic health book, Sugar Blues, written by her husband William Dufty.
She only bought organically grown food and tap water wasn’t acceptable. In 1976, she told People magazine: “If you looked at it (water) under a microscope, you’d be horrified.” Instead of refined sugar, Swanson recommended natural sugar boiled off from organically grown raisins.
Elite ultra-endurance athlete Harley Johnstone is giving Aussie livestock producers something to worry about, according to a story on ABC Rural News.
What’s making the meat industry quake in their bloody boots? The fact that Harley has ridden more than 160,000 kilometres in the past 10 years on a diet of fruit and water. No meat. No dairy. Just a good ol’ helping hand from Mother Nature.
“He could be every fruit grower’s best mate, and every livestock producer’s worst nightmare,” the reporter quipped.
The Aussie vegan has founded a raw food vegan group, 30 Bananas A Day, and says he’s the country’s biggest fruit lover.
“A typical day, well I’m quite active so I need a lot of calories. So that’s typically 35-40 large bananas, or if I’m not eating bananas that could be 20 or 30 mangoes, or a couple of kilos of dates from California,” he said.
“A lot of people say, are you nuts? And I say, no, I’m bananas.”
Harley’s fruit of choice, the banana
Today is day three of my planned 7-day nutritional fast, which means loads of fresh fruit and veges smoothies (and water). It’s a great way to introduce yourself to fasting, because you’re still getting the fibre of the fruit and vegetables, which can be a lot more satisfying that just water or juice. I’m also a big believer of needing the whole fruit or vegetable to reap all of the nutritional benefits.
Fasting (or juice feasting) is a great way to give your digestion a break, while giving your body an opportunity to dump all built-up those toxins from your organs, including your skin. Plus it’s a fabulous way to ring in the new year—physically rejuvenated and mentally clear.
While I’m going with instinct and my own knowledge to put together a plan, there are plenty of books and websites that can help guide you on a fast/feast that suits you.
Here are some of my faves:
The Blending Book
JuiceFeasting.com
GreenSmoothieRevolution.com
Green For Life
GreenSmoothieGirl.com
GreenSmoothieBlog.com
How Green Smoothies Saved My Life
If you’re tempted to get blending and need a recipe, here’s my organic breakfast smoothie:
• 1 banana
• 3-4 silverbeet leaves
• Big handful of spinach
• 1 apple
• 1/2 small cucumber
• 2 teaspoons Kal’s Nutritional Yeast
• 1 teaspoon of Nutrex Hawaiian Spirulina
• Fresh parsley to taste
• Add water for desired consistency
Also check out Rhonda Lee’s 7 Ways to Make Green Smoothies on The Green Dove.
Hot tip: Be sure to “chew” each mouthful of your green smoothie, to ensure the digestive juices do their work. This allows the body to absorb all of the nutrients.
