Why Detoxify? Am I Toxic?

Toxicity Factoids

Columbia University School of Public Health reports that 95% of cancer is caused by diet and environmental toxicity.

EPA studies of human fat biopsies found styrene residue in 100% of people.

According to the EPA, our bodies accumulate 210mcg of just plasticizers (phthalates) everyday.

Studies show that most of us have between 400 and 800 chemical residues stored in the fat cells of our bodies.

A USA Today article indicates that the average city water contains more than 500 chemicals.

"Air pollution and water pollution are only a small part of the toxicity story. There are thousands of harmful environmental toxins, some of which we�re aware of -- such as pesticides, chemicals, household cleansers, fertilizers -- and others, which seem perfectly innocent, such as those ubiquitous plastic water bottles, styrene cups, dental fillings, and plastic wrap. These are just a few small examples of the alarming amount of harmful toxins our bodies are absorbing every day."

--Dr. Sherry Rogers, author of the best selling book Detoxify or Die

We believe that the two most powerful ideas in health today are detoxification and nutrition.
Our exposure to toxins is higher now than at any point in human history. So many aspects of our lives contribute to our toxic burden without our awareness. While many of us probably have some idea that being around pesticides or automobile exhaust probably isn't good for us, most of us would probably be surprised to know that the fire retardants present in virtually everything in our homes (in the United States) also exposes us to toxins. Even our carpeting outgases over 12 chemicals known to cause cancer. Toxins damage cells, disrupt our endocrine systems, and impair the body's ability to absorb nutrients and heal itself.

Besides toxins inhibiting our ability to absorb nutrients, other factors also contribute to reduced nutrition. Worsening the state of our health is our increased need for nutrients resulting from our use of antibiotics and other medications, our diets high in protein and fat, and our often high-stress lifestyles.

When it comes to both detoxification and nutrition: You are what you don't excrete.

Nutrition that cannot be absorbed is excreted, so you aren't really "what you eat". When it comes to exposure to toxins, the body cannot metabolize most of the poisons it is exposed to. Most of these toxins remain in the body for many years, stored in the fat cells that exist throughout the body. Our incremental exposure is quite small, however, by remaining in the body, even small incremental amounts result in significant amounts over time. As the ability of science to measure increasingly smaller amounts of toxins in the body improves, we are finding that it does not take very large amounts to degrade body functioning. What's worse is that these many toxins combine in unpredictable ways to produce a combined effect worse than the sum of the individual effects.

Our Toxic World

Our bodies have become virtual dumping grounds for the hundreds of thousands of toxic compounds that invade our air, water, and even the soil that nurtures our food.

More than 77,000 chemicals are in active production in North America. More than 3,000 chemicals are added to our food supply; and more than 10,000 chemicals in the form of solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives are used in food processing, packaging, wrapping, and storage.

Every day, all of us ingest tiny amounts of these chemicals. The EPA estimates there are more than 20,000 chemicals that our bodies cannot metabolize. Chemicals not metabolized are stored in the fat cells throughout our bodies where they continue to accumulate. As these chemicals build up, they alter our metabolism, cause enzyme dysfunction and nutritional deficiencies, create hormonal imbalances, damage brain chemistry, and cause cancer. Because the chemicals accumulate in different parts of the body and at different rates and in different combinations, there is a disturbingly large variety of different chronic illnesses that can result.

Common Sources of Toxins

We have been perpetually exposed to toxins every day since we were born. As the quantity that accumulates in the body reaches high enough levels, the affect on our health can vary from annoying chronic symptoms to death from heart disease or cancer.

Plastic wrap and plastic bottles outgas plasticizers (phthalates) which leach into our food. Phthalates chemically mimic hormones, damaging the endocrine system.

Pesticide residues are detectable in 50% - 95% of the food consumed in the U.S. Pesticides can be even more damaging to the endocrine and glandular systems. The U.S. uses 30x more synthetic pesticides today than in 1945.

"Silver" dental fillings contain mercury (a cause of Parkinson's disease and many other neurological disorders) that leaches out and is absorbed by the surrounding tissue and lungs.

The average carpet outgases more than 12 chemicals (such as benzene, a known cause of leukemia) all of which can cause disease.

Are You Toxic?

Studies show that most of us have between 400 and 800 chemical residues stored in our cells. EPA studies reveal that 100% of people tested have dioxins, PCBs, dichlorobenzene, and xylene in their fat cells, and carcinogenic benzene (89%) and percholoethlylene (93%) in their exhaled breath. These are just small examples of an epidemic problem.

Unable to be excreted from the body, chemicals find their way into our liver, and then migrate to fat cells in organs throughout the body where they are stored. When our bodies exceed the limit for toxins we can excrete, those too are stored. Chemicals and heavy metals make up our "total toxic burden". This bioaccumulation compromises our physiological and psychological health and leads to chronic disease.

Early warning signs of toxic overload include headaches, skin conditions, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, and more.

There is No One on This Planet With a Body Free From Accumulated Toxins

The fact is our exposure to chemicals and heavy metals often exceeds our body's abilities to excrete them. The sources are everywhere: mercury from fish, mercury from dental fillings, plastics from food packaging, pesticides from our immediate environment, fire retardants virtually throughout the house, even carpeting outgases chemicals known to cause cancer. That beloved new car smell, while indicative of a car with many years left to it's life, may actually be shortening yours. All of these sources, independently, are miniscule and innocuous, but they accumulate in the body ultimately to cause problems for many of us.

Halling Wellness Center detoxification products help bring the body back to a state of balance.

Lowering our toxic burden, while increasing our level of nutrition helps the body heal itself. Most of us, as we get older, are plagued with chronic ailments that drug-based medicine cannot cure but rather only cover up. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, chances are good that you are on your way. In many of these cases, all that the body needs is some assistance returning to balance, and it will heal itself from there.