Part II: DETOX, is it Real?
Put down the Zagat Guide and pick up a good book on cleansing and detoxification. It can save your life, and the planet’s. A good book to start with is my book, CLEAN, The revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself.
I wrote CLEAN in an attempt to clear the general confusion on detoxification and to prevent something tragic in my opinion. We are at risk of discarding the whole thing as a fad, because celebrities are endorsing it. There is great value in examining things without jumping into them because of endorsements from people we trust. Ironically, the most catastrophic backlashes came from fads endorsed by the people we trust with our lives, doctors. I am referring to the “Low Fat” fad. In the 90’s, America declared war on fat. Fat free was the secret to good sales. The concept that eating fat made you fat was endorsed by the medical community, and the country blindly followed. The result is the fattest country in the world. Obesity has caused more deaths and disability in the last 20 years than all the wars ever fought by the US throughout its entire history, put together. Don’t believe me ? Read the National Health Statistics, if you are not at risk of a heart attack. They are scary.
Literally, the same generation of doctors that prescribed you a fat free diet are now warning you of the dangers of detox programs. Some go as far as to say the whole thing is quackery, that there is no basis to any of it. That the body has its organs of detoxification, they know how to do what they need to and if you leave things alone, everything will work as it should.
Well, that explanation is not good enough for me. It is like saying that the body has its muscular system that will take you here and there, and if you leave things alone, everything will work as it should. But look at what happens when we understand the muscles, and how they respond differently to different kinds of exercise, and how it responds to different kinds of diets. We have developed gyms, treadmills, elipticals, weights, gear, technology, services, foods, supplements and a whole culture that have yielded miraculous ways of shaping your body, gaining strength, agility, elasticity and many other benefits. Plus this industry has provided thousands of jobs.
A similar thing is happening with the understanding of detoxification. Spas, chefs, blenders, colonics machines, detox supplements and many other supporting services, activities and tools are appearing every day.
Some are excellent, some are good and some are dangerous. To give you the distinctions you need to figure these things out is my intention behind CLEAN.
And last , but not least, to give you a day by day guide to a 21-day detox program that can change your life while you live your life. Detoxing while living a busy life is not easy. Especially at the beginning. Most people need to stop everything and take a few days off, retreating into a spa and focusing on detox alone. The CLEAN Program described in the book, with Recipes by Jill Pettijohn, life food chef and detox expert, can be done while working, taking care of your family, and even working out. CLEAN will teach you what toxicity is, what and where these toxins are, how we are exposed to them, how we absorb them, what and where damage is caused and more importantly, what to do about it. It will teach you how to slow down the workload of your digestive system so that the detox systems can work at maximum intensity. But it doesn’t stop there. It teaches you what happens when detox in ON. How to support it and what to do when you encounter the most common obstacles.
It is undeniable that the earth has a fever. Global Warming is “An Inconvenient Truth”.
But a fever is just a symptom. In my opinion, the cause behind this fever is toxicity. Toxic thoughts, toxic emotions, toxic relationships, toxic governments, toxic financial institutions…..modern life in the modern world is toxic. And the biggest source of toxicity is through the chemicals we manufacture to use in our homes, our clothes, to clean our houses, to put in our cosmetics and pretty much everything else. The one thing that is mind blowing to me, that I still cannot wrap my mind around, is that the chemicals that kill us for sure over time are in what WE EAT. Yes, we don’t eat food any more, we eat chemical concoctions that look like food. 90% of what humans consume, wild animals won’t even go near if found in their natural habitats.
Global toxicity is “Another Inconvenient Truth”. Educate yourself about it. Spread the word. For more info go to www.cleanrevolution.tv.
In the meantime, don’t eat anything that you wouldn’t find in nature if you had to go look for your own food. When you walk in the supermarket, Imagine you are hunting, gathering or fishing in the wild. Nothing in the wild comes in cans, boxes, jars, bags or tubes.
With love and respect, and a CLEAN warm hug,
Alejandro
- Posted by Dr. Alejandro Junger on August 13, 2009 at 8:15 am
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Tagged as: detox, diet, exercise, food, global warming, nutrition
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Awesome follow up to part 1. I’m excited to read this book.
I also think there’s an important distinction that we collectively don’t necessarily think about or possibly even realize when we think about going to a traditional doctor. Culturally, many of us have been raised to believe that if you are “sick” you go to “the doctor” and they will help you get well, including treatment for serious chronic diseases such as cancer.
My personal experience has been that allopathic medicine tends to excel more at acute and/or trauma care than it does for chronic care, whereas integrative care & in some cases, alternative care may be better at supporting &/or resolving chronic health issues. Part of this is understanding & working with the systemic components of the health challenge, which often involves improving detoxification, a key system component of recovering & maintaining health. In addition, there are many factors in our modern health care systems which often limit the amount of time spent with patients, the range of solutions offered, & can end up focusing on “fixing” problems quickly & based on whether or not the solution will be reimbursed by an insurance company.
Chronic health challenges often build up over time & often have one or more underlying systemic issues to address, one of which is some form of toxic overload. I agree with you that getting input from sources, such as yourself who understand the role that our detoxification systems play in whole picture of health is a wise thing to do, rather than focusing solely on the symptoms or an isolated piece of the whole person.
I also agree that the sheer numbers of people that are dealing with chronic health challenges are a mirror of what is going on with the well-being of the planet. Our individual well being & that of the planet needs detoxification support that at a minimum stays pace with what we are putting into our bodies, and hopefully, stays ahead. Instead, we continue to pollute our bodies & the planet, and overlook the importance of cleaning up our individual & collective behaviors. Everything is interconnected!
“My friend said we’re like the dinasaurs, only we are doing our selves in faster than they ever did . . . we’ll make great pets” The planet will be fine. We, in the other hand, are rapidly becoming extinct.
It doesn’t have to be that way. It is not written. Those who transform will survive. Be one of them.
Excellent! I feel like I want to spread the word to everyone I know, as so many people seem hopeless or in the dark when it comes the link between what we eat and the quality of life we create. I’ve experienced a dramatic life change with whole, raw foods and I want to shout it from the rooftops!
Thank you so much for the wonderful insight, will be reading your book.