Day 211 of 365 - Our Toxic World
It's a disturbing topic, and one we'd rather ignore, but the fact is that, we live in a chemically toxic modern world, thanks to industrialization and the way so many of our daily use products are manufactured.
When I was younger, I had no awareness of these things, other than news stories about radiation effects from nuclear bombs, or chemical weapons used in warfare. It just was not something we thought about as part of our everyday life. But now, we know better.
Every single day, we come into contact with industrial chemicals and heavy metals - in indoor air, outdoor air, food, water and much more. They are found in most of our home products, including what we use for cleaning, for personal care and in large part, in all the plastics we surround ourselves with.
There is an overload of chemicals being dumped into our environment every day. Over many generations, our human bodies, which are amazing, made internal adaptations to cope with aspects of our environment that have changed. But now, it is harder for our bodies to keep up with the changes in environment, food and lifestyle. There is such a toxic load now in our air, water and soil, that even babies are born with hundreds of chemicals present in their blood.
This environmental chemical load affects everyone. The longer we are exposed to them, the greater our risk of serious chronic disease. Some people are more sensitive than others, due to their internal makeup. For these people, additional stress on their immune systems, in the form of infection from viruses, bacteria, mold or yeast can make them very sick. At the overload point, our internal detoxifying systems just cannot keep up. A range of symptoms from chronic headaches, to shortness of breath, to skin rashes and more are indicators of this.
Fortunately, there are things we can do to give our body systems a better chance at doing their jobs. Eating cleaner overall, and especially eating more high fiber foods will help your body detox. Being mindful of what goes into and onto your body will also be of benefit. Drinking filtered water, eating organic food, cleaning indoor air with filters and avoiding toxic products are all supportive practices. The body also detoxifies through the skin, so doing any vigorous activity which makes you sweat a couple of times a week is also good.
Avoiding chemicals which cause sensitivity can be done by clearing the spaces you spend the most time in of artificial scents, by being careful about using non-stick pans, avoiding use of plastics with food, and avoiding use of pesticides, insecticides and herbicides. Clean up sources of mold or other toxins in the home.
Since our skin, lungs, bowels, liver and kidneys are our detox mechanisms, doing whatever we can to support their function will help us do better in our toxic world. As consumers, we can also decrease the burden by not purchasing the products which are typical culprits.
Doing what we can at a personal level as well as demanding that the mega-corporations stop producing and dumping toxic chemicals into our environment, will hopefully result in a cleaner, healthier world for our future generations. In the meantime, we do what we can to support our own health and vitality in the present time.
When I was younger, I had no awareness of these things, other than news stories about radiation effects from nuclear bombs, or chemical weapons used in warfare. It just was not something we thought about as part of our everyday life. But now, we know better.
Every single day, we come into contact with industrial chemicals and heavy metals - in indoor air, outdoor air, food, water and much more. They are found in most of our home products, including what we use for cleaning, for personal care and in large part, in all the plastics we surround ourselves with.
There is an overload of chemicals being dumped into our environment every day. Over many generations, our human bodies, which are amazing, made internal adaptations to cope with aspects of our environment that have changed. But now, it is harder for our bodies to keep up with the changes in environment, food and lifestyle. There is such a toxic load now in our air, water and soil, that even babies are born with hundreds of chemicals present in their blood.
This environmental chemical load affects everyone. The longer we are exposed to them, the greater our risk of serious chronic disease. Some people are more sensitive than others, due to their internal makeup. For these people, additional stress on their immune systems, in the form of infection from viruses, bacteria, mold or yeast can make them very sick. At the overload point, our internal detoxifying systems just cannot keep up. A range of symptoms from chronic headaches, to shortness of breath, to skin rashes and more are indicators of this.
Fortunately, there are things we can do to give our body systems a better chance at doing their jobs. Eating cleaner overall, and especially eating more high fiber foods will help your body detox. Being mindful of what goes into and onto your body will also be of benefit. Drinking filtered water, eating organic food, cleaning indoor air with filters and avoiding toxic products are all supportive practices. The body also detoxifies through the skin, so doing any vigorous activity which makes you sweat a couple of times a week is also good.
Avoiding chemicals which cause sensitivity can be done by clearing the spaces you spend the most time in of artificial scents, by being careful about using non-stick pans, avoiding use of plastics with food, and avoiding use of pesticides, insecticides and herbicides. Clean up sources of mold or other toxins in the home.
Since our skin, lungs, bowels, liver and kidneys are our detox mechanisms, doing whatever we can to support their function will help us do better in our toxic world. As consumers, we can also decrease the burden by not purchasing the products which are typical culprits.
Doing what we can at a personal level as well as demanding that the mega-corporations stop producing and dumping toxic chemicals into our environment, will hopefully result in a cleaner, healthier world for our future generations. In the meantime, we do what we can to support our own health and vitality in the present time.
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