What is It?
Metallica and Slayer aside, usually nothing good comes from too much heavy metal on or inside your body. It may perturb you to know that there is already metal in your body, through no doing of your own. Iron, copper, manganese and iodine, among many other metals, are elements inside your body that make life possible. In small amounts, all of these metals are necessary to support life. However, when they accumulate beyond normal levels they become toxic and life-threatening. The worst of these are known as the heavy metals and you may need to do a heavy metal detoxto get rid of them or at least get them down to a safe level.
Where Do These Heavy Metals Come From?
Well, no problem, because who goes around eating metal—aside from people you’ve seen on My Strange Addiction? Actually, excessive metal elements can enter your body through an “ordinary” unhealthy lifestyle. The main heavy metals are lead, mercury, fluoride, cadmium and chromium. You don’t intentionally eat them but you are constantly being served an abundance of these metals because of the air, water and food you take in. Fluoride is added to drinking water, as well as toothpaste. It can also be added to chemicals used for food production, and cleansing products. Meanwhile lead is added to canned foods and tapwater, as well as cosmetic products. Fish contains mercury, but even vegetarians can’t escape high fructose corn syrup and certain vaccines.
Heavy Metal Detox – Toxicity and Symptoms
How toxic are heavy metals? As painful as you would figure too much metal accumulation would feel to the human body. Too much metal can accumulate and damage organs like your brain, liver, nervous system and kidneys. The most common symptoms are dental fluorosis, which refers to white spots appearing in the teeth), arthritis, breathing problems, dizziness, headaches and migraines, gastrointestinal problems, depression and anxiety. As you age and metal continues to accumulate, there is an increased risk of suffering Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cancer. But the intent here is not to cause you a sleepless night thinking of all those invading metals. Rather it’s to introduce you to a lifestyle concept known as heavy metal detox. The only defense you have from these metals, assuming you don’t live off your own spring water and grow your own food, is to detoxify your body from these metals with a heavy metal detox.
Heavy Metal Detox – Testing and Treatment
While your first reaction might be to detox immediately, such drastic behavior is actually not recommended until you seek the opinion of a trusted medical doctor. Recklessly performing a detox can complicate matters, as you could flush out metals, only sending them to other parts of the body—essentially taking minor accumulations which cause minimal damage and putting them in areas where they cause much greater damage. Tests usually consist of undergoing a low carb diet in order to burn off fats cells and release toxins into the hair, the urine and the blood. Then, the metal content can be more easily evaluated to see if a major heavy metal detox is required.
One of the most common solutions for high metal content is the lemon cleanse diet. A ten day fast that can quickly get rid of fluoride, mercury and other unneeded materials. However, doctors may advise against this, particularly since protein is required for the excretion of toxins. Care must also be given to ensure that the dieter does not try to mobilize more metal than he/she can excrete. You need to ensure that your liver, kidneys, intestines and skin are in optimal health to support the detoxification process.
Visiting a sauna and hot yoga spa may also prove fruitful, since these settings increase perspiration, which helps to rid the body of many heavy metals and toxins in a painless way while protecting the kidneys. (Interestingly, a study by F.W. Sunderman MD, PhD researched a document dated 1697 that spoke of a man recovering from terminal mine poisoning using “dry sauna”)
The Ultimate Solution is in Healthy Living
This may sound a little too pat, but it’s true and bears repeating: conscientious healthy living is the best cure for heavy metal accumulation. Assuming that your body has not yet reached an emergency state, then your doctor will probably order you to do a heavy metal detoxthe old fashioned way. Namely in:
- Drinking lots of pure water (spring or distilled only) to avoid constipation and dehydration.
- Stop further liver damage by avoiding alcohol, junk food, prescription drugs, processed foods, trans-fat foods, and smoking.
- Find a purer source of organic foods, avoiding Genetically Modified Organic Produce, and foods tainted with pesticides.
- Detox your liver by increasing vitamin C intake, eating mostly organic veggies and fruits instead of a mostly solids diet.
- Improve liver health by increasing intake of herbs like milk thistle, barberry root, dandelion root, turmeric and rosemary.
- Try eating more cilantro herb in natural foods, as cilantro is a main ingredient in most detox programs, as it does a fine job of helping to mobilize metals.
The Role of Exercise for Heavy Metal Detox
Exercise and walking in particular helps to burn fat and alter your metabolism, both processes which help to get rid of toxins including heavy metals by way of mobilizing them—literally shaking them up so that they cannot accumulate. This is in addition to increased perspiration, which we already learned rid the body of toxins. Living without exercise increases the risk of heavy metal poisoning, since toxins are more likely to accumulate in inactive connective tissues and in organs. Even if you don’t sweat the metals out, they can be mobilized by moving onto the fatty layer on the surface of the skin, which comes off in bathing.
Now don’t panic. It’s far better that you’re aware of the threat of heavy metal, rather than continuing on blissfully unaware. As we can see healthy living is not a luxury or merely life extension—it directly protects you against the poisons we face every day. Don’t wait until you NEED a heavy metal detox. Start living a healthier lifestyle and guard against this threat before it adversely affects your health.
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