Toxic Overload

 Toxic Build Up - Tipping Point

Something that has been a problem for me for a while, but recently was more obvious and severe is a reaction to certain foods. I have struggled with being overweight, acne, generalized pain, arthritis, migraines, itchy dry skin, neuropathy, and irritable bowel. Over the years I have come to correlate these symptoms with gluten, dairy, sugar, corn, and most highly processed foods. I had been able to keep my diet somewhat clear of these foods. Not 100% eliminated, but nearly. I felt much better. My migraines all but disappeared, my neuropathy (numbness and tingling of hands and/or feet) improved, I was able to drop about 35-40 pounds and keep it off consistently, my skin became much clearer, my arthritis and pain would lesson, and abdominal discomfort lessoned.

I am sure in recent years, you may have heard a lot in the news, media, and from other informational sources about how elimination diets can be used to improve your health. The key to that can be figuring out what foods are causing the most of your discomfort or symptoms.

Historically, many of the foods of which I mentioned bother me were never a problem. Why is it that they are suddenly a problem? Does some magic switch go off? What is the trigger?

Here are a few of the things that create a trifecta of how you can develop food sensitivities:

Regeneration is Slower

One thing that occurs as we get older, is that our cell replication doesn’t work as well or as quickly as when we were younger. It becomes harder for our cells to process and remove any toxic burdens. This can cause certain organ systems to become unable to work as it did before. The cells and organ systems can become overburdened with toxins making it difficult to process the most basic things.

As your cells replicate, they can develop sensitivities due to the environmental exposures of foods, additives, chemicals, pesticides, where they cause your immune system to overreact when your body is exposed to them. This is when you can experience any number of side effects, symptoms or even eventually a disease process. This leads to Autoimmune conditions.

In my recent case I ate off plan, trying out a pre-packaged Tea. While it was organic, I failed to recognize that it had Stevia added as a sweetener. Stevia is a natural sweetener; however, it gave me a terrible reaction. Within an hour I could feel my left eye swelling up. My left eyebrow began to have a spot that became painful and raised, like a boil or large pimple feeling. By the time I was driving home from work a few hours later, I felt as though my eyelid was half closed. It was!

I was also experiencing a breakout around my mouth, which was previously triggered about 4 days prior to non-organic wheat (gluten) being in a Cauliflower pizza crust I tried. I failed to check the label, although, it said Cauliflower, in small print on the ingredient’s “wheat” was listed. The product label did say it was non-GMO, but not organic. So, just by not being careful these two times, I was suffering from painful sores on my face, swelling in my left eye, and felt disfigured.

Sometimes these kinds of reactions can be made more severe when our bodies are overburdened with other Toxins.

Toxic Overload

During our lives we are constantly exposed to toxins in our environment, things we put on our bodies, in our hair, through stress, and in our food sources. Normally our bodies would accommodate for this with our lymphatic, liver, kidneys, and skin systems. All these systems work together to process and excrete the toxins that have built up.

In certain instances, some toxins can get stuck in our bodies. This can be true with metals, like lead, aluminum, and mercury. You may have heard over the years that these metals have been removed from things like paint and dental fillings to prevent exposure due to how they can damage our cells and cause disease.

If you think of our body’s health balance as measured into two buckets. One bucket would be our intake/exposures and the other bucket representing how well our body has been able to eliminate these toxins.

If the intake bucket is being overloaded with food/environmental toxins and weighed down even further by stress or lack of proper sleep and hydration you would have an imbalance.

The other way would be if your body’s filtration system to remove the toxins was overloaded and/or inefficient. This would cause the other bucket to become overburdened.

For instance, a dialysis patient whose kidneys can’t filter toxins out of their blood on their own, will have those toxins build up in their bodies. Sometimes the toxins build up in their abdomen causing very tight distension, increasing how much their skin itches, and can begin to cause them to become confused at times if they aren’t able to get dialysis when they should.

Some systems are overloaded without us even realizing it, like with our livers. The liver helps remove toxins from our blood too. But the liver function can be impaired by improper diet and infections. When this happens, it will not filter out the toxins as well, they continue to build up, and cause further liver damage, as well as other metabolic issues. This leads to other symptoms and many times diseases.

These are just a couple examples of how our function can be impaired in removing the toxins from our body’s. Ultimately this creates a chronic chaos in your body where you are in a constant battle to restore its peace.

Allergies & Food Sensitivities

Over time we have developed “sensitivities” to certain foods, food products, and/or additives. Which is what has occurred in my case. In addition, the Toxic Burden becomes too much over time. I am unable to keep my buckets balances well. It is a constant balancing act. Making sure I am careful as to what is going in my body, or what other external exposures I may have. Sometimes it is making sure my stress levels are low, that I am sleeping well, that I am getting enough water. Those are some foundational tools to allow me to continue at a functional level.

Next it is very important that I pay attention to how my body reacts to things, and avoid things that I don’t tolerate well, like the gluten, and now apparently, I will have to avoid Stevia. Meanwhile, I also look to improve my overall nutrition. I make sure that I am eating foods that are minimally processed, if at all. If it is something pre-made, I must read my labels good. Making sure to avoid gluten, any chemical sounding names, & preferring to have organically sourced foods.

There are also foods that help you eliminate your toxic burden. Things like Milk thistle which helps the liver. Dandelion tea helps to detox, it is also a diuretic, so it will allow the toxins to flush out of your system.

Detoxing in general can be quite a severe undertaking, or it can be done gently. I would recommend talking to your doctor if you are wondering about specific food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances. Your physician may be able to run more specific tests to help you identify these.

If you are looking to find ways to improve your diet, build healthy nutrition, and keep your toxic burdens in check having a personalized Health Coach may be for you. I offer a Free Health History Consultation, in which we can identify your needs and goals. I offer one on one coaching in person or remotely. We can discuss what kind of program would be right for you.

Take Care and Be Well,

Tina

 Redwood Whole Health Coaching