heavy metal

Our previous health conversations have highlighted the dangerously high level of toxins we hold in our bodies as one major source of our health concerns. We have touted the need to cleanse chemicals we regularly ingest from processed food and flesh from our bodies. Now let’s talk about heavy metals. Don’t shirk. We are all filled with them. Let me explain. The most obvious example of heavy metal poisoning comes from smoking cigarettes. The tar and nicotine are brutal but the real killers are the heavy metal elements added to the product. The heavy metals remain in the body long after the smoker abandons the habit. That’s why so many smokers develop lung cancer years after they have kicked the habit; they failed to cleanse the heavy metals from their system.

Now just because you never smoked don’t get the idea that you are not filled with heavy metals. All your tap water has them. Not to mention the acid rain that falls on your fruits and vegetables as they grow in the field from any part of the world. If you cook in aluminum or Teflon coated pots imagine the heavy metals you scrape into your foods each time you stir with your tin flatware. Are you beginning to see the amount of poisonous metals we consume regularly?

Now don’t confuse a heavy metal with the necessary trace elements our body needs to sustain itself. Iron, cooper, silver, zinc, et al are all needed by the body and regulated well. These elements in excess wash through the body. The body signals potential poisoning scenario if levels of these necessary minerals are too great. Here a heavy metal is defined as something the body incapable of using or eliminating in quantity, like arsenic, silicon or lead.

Although no part of the body benefits from presence of these elements, the kidneys and the liver first suffer the most. These are the first organs that attempt to eradicate these substances from the body hopefully before they accumulate in the brain and cause Alzheimer’s. The kidneys will attempt to separate the poisons from the internal organs by pushing the toxins into your feet. This can turn your toe nails dark blue or black or, maybe make the bottoms of your feet hard and crusty.

There are many ways to remove these unwanted substances from the body and obviously help the body purge the materials through the feet. You know this because you have seen advertisements for those foot pads for nighttime usage claiming to absorb heavy metals through the feet. They do work. There is also an ionized foot water massage that attracts the metals into the water coaxing them out your feet. Because this method usually involves a sodium mixture, potassium and magnesium will be excessively and unnecessarily extracted from the body also. The easiest method is to regularly walk barefooted on the rich moist brown soil of the earth. And if you’re a sun worshipper note that beach sand is good too. Still better is to ingest seaweed, Irish Sea moss is the absolute best. Because you are a creature of the earth, the planet does take care of its own. I favor the traditional foot soak in hot water with Epson salt and baking soda or, use raw apple cider vinegar instead. If you are truly serious about cleansing your body you will immerse your entire body in this solution. Don’t forget to shower after the soaking. Shower with course corn meal instead of soap. You can’t imagine how clean you will feel.

lebron & gisele

Vogue, April 2008