by Dr. Jacob H. Karl
At this point, you have probably heard one of the hottest words in the health and wellness field. DETOXIFICATION! Everybody has a say on it yet most don’t understand it. There are naysayers who shout from the tops of their Facebook page, “There’s no such thing as detoxing via (insert new internet fad)” and on the other end of the spectrum (via their Facebook page) “I was about to die until I drank this. PM me for info.” One of my favorite lines and I have to agree a little bit with it, is “If it says it clears toxins but it or the person selling it can’t name those toxins, it’s probably a sham.” To know what’s real you have to educate yourself.
Let’s talk toxins and where they come from. Honestly, they come at us from so many angles. There are toxins in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the creams we put on our skin, the pans we cook our food in, the plastics we store our food in, the ground we play on, etc. The list can go forever. I want to focus on just a few areas here, and in case you were wondering, all of these toxins do have names. Here is a sampling of them and where they are from.
First is air pollution. This is one that we all come in contact with and it doesn’t matter what filter you put on your furnace. It doesn’t grab everything and sooner or later you have to walk outside. Air pollution contains many different heavy metals, VOCs, and fine particulate matter (particulates smaller than 2.5 micrometers that can pass through lung tissue.) Often this comes from various factories and plants near and far around the world. Winds in the atmosphere can carry these things from very great distances.
Our food supply is chock full of weird things. For example, non-organic chicken contains cyanide (helps plump chickens faster than regular feed alone), pesticides and fungicides are on heavily sprayed fruits, veggies, and even coffee, which are toxic, estrogenic, and disrupt your hormone balance. There are antibiotics and heavy metals in farm-raised fish (methylmercury is big here). These are just a few of the non-processed foods with different toxins. Water contains various things like excess chlorine, fluoride, and copper. The biggest news-maker right now is the lead in public drinking water in Flint and also recently discovered in Detroit. Processed/prepacked foods and sauces often contain a slew of different chemicals and neurotoxins like MSG (monosodium glutamate) and Aspartame that come in various names.
Health and beauty creams often contain chemicals like parabens, phthalates, triclosan, and oxybenzone. These have been linked to inflammation, cancer, and hormone disruption. Heating food in plastics imparts phthalates into foods. Phthalates, in particular, have been heavily linked to hormone disruption and lowering sperm count.
I hope at this point you can see there are NUMEROUS names for many of the toxins we encounter. It is so overwhelming that our body cannot process them fast enough through normal detoxification, and therefore stores these toxins in fat cells as a way to try to quarantine them. This creates some problems because you cannot easily burn fats that have stored toxins. This is the cause of weight loss battles for many people. Those who do burn through those fats often feel sick and lousy because those toxins have become free throughout their body.
There is a specific process of detoxification which happens in three phases. Phase 1 is the process of releasing the toxin from the fat cell. Phase 2 is where the unlocked toxin is conjugated or converted from a fat-soluble toxin to a water-soluble toxin. This is vitally important because in phase 3 the actual elimination of the toxin cannot be done unless it is water soluble. Usually, a form of fiber absorbs the toxin and you eliminate this through a bowel movement. Nutrition plays a huge role in all three phases in order to release, conjugate, and eliminate toxins properly. Keeping your phases balanced is also crucial, or you can actually re-toxify yourself and feel sick. This is why detoxing is not a great idea to do on your own but should be done under the supervision of a doctor who knows when you need help in getting your detoxing phases balanced.
We employ many different programs for detoxification — from toxin specific nutrition and ionization — to specialized programs like the Standard Process 21-day purification. This is the most well-rounded and most successful one we use. It is very well structured and an easy-to-use program that does a great job at keeping all three phases in balance. It uses safe, concentrated nutritional supplements and a specific diet to help your organs, such as the liver, kidneys, and GI tract, release and safely process those stubborn toxins.
It may surprise you but I actually do the Standard Process purification once a year. Let’s face it, nobody is perfect. Not even me. I love the taste of craft beers, but I know I have to clean my body after a year of those. This also helps me get rid of toxins that sneak into foods or drinks when you don’t see them, or toxins in the air that you can’t control. Here’s a list of reasons why my patients love to do the purification program: 1) Weight loss 2) Clearer skin 3) Hormone balance 4) More Energy 5) Easier mornings after having a few drinks the night before J.
So if you are thinking about detoxing, wanting to help balance hormones, or just lose some stubborn weight, give us a call and make an appointment. The Standard Process Purification is a great structure that we customize specifically for each person. For more info contact us at Karl Wellness Center and take advantage of the coupon for a FREE detoxifying ionic footbath when you buy a Purification Kit!
Dr. Jacob H. Karl, DC, a practicing Holistic Chiropractor for 5 years, is a trained Applied Kinesiologist, with a Doctorate in Chiropractic, and a bachelors degree in Nutritional Sciences, Health/Wellness, and Anatomy. Join him for a FREE Detoxification Workshop at Karl Wellness Center & Chiropractic Clinic, January 24, 6 pm. Please RSVP 734-425-8220.
