Lighten your toxic load
Doing cleanses and detox programs is great to improve your health but might not be enough if you don’t do anything to reduce the toxic substances in your food, cleaning and cosmetic products…
Many of these toxins are linked to cancer, endocrine-disruption, asthma, obesity and reproductive problems, yet they remain in wide use.
Key findings in the Report on Pollution in Canadians state that each volunteer showed 44 chemicals on average! including 41 carcinogens, 27 hormone disruptors, 21 respiratory toxins and 53 reproductive and developmental toxins. Scary, eh!
Our body is amazing and uses the lungs, digestive system, and skin to eliminate what it can. However, if we keep adding to the toxic load everyday, there comes a time when the body gets tired or no longer can keep up.
I used to have severe allergy reactions to scents of any kind. I started by substituting cosmetics with homemade alternatives, cleaning products, and changed my diet. Now, I react very little and allergies are gone! Allergies and asthma can be related to high toxic load.
What can you do to reduce the toxic load?
Are you ready to do something about it? I Here are a few tips that can make a big difference:
- Eat organic. Check out the dirty dozen and clean 15 list to help you decide.
- Eliminate the use of non-stick pans specially Teflon.
- Use glass containers or plastic without BPA. Avoid reusing disposable plastic containers.
- Avoid the dirty dozen in your cosmetics or cleaning products
- Use green school supplies
- Use green dry cleaners or steam the clothes at home!
Foods to help you reduce yourtoxic load
- Green leafy vegetables and sea vegetables which are great detoxifiers and heavy metal chelators
- Foods rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C and phytochemicals, such as sweet potatoes and berries
- Apples rich in pectin which binds and eliminates pollutants
- Onion family vegetables rich in sulfur which helps to support liver detoxification
- Fiber-rich foods helpful in removal of toxins
- Flax seed oil rich in omega-3 EFAs helpful in reducing sensitivity and support healing
- Avoid processed foods and sugar
Mudras and yoga poses to detoxify
Regular yoga practice helps you remove toxins from your body and kick off toxic thoughts like anger, hate, jealousy, greed, grief, fear.
- Twists
- Twists stimulate circulation and have a cleansing and refreshing effect on the torso organs and associated glands.
- Mudras
- Mudras help normalize the five elements in the body by seeking an optimal balance of prana. Proper breathing plays a vital role to help energy flow. Deep, slow, and flowing breathing is very restorative, calming, and regenerative.
Green recipes
Try the cleaning recipes posted by the Queen of Green with small variations. >I have used most of them with a few variations. Experiment! and find out what works for you.
Try also to make changes to your use of cosmetics. I use coconut oil as night cream and make up remover. I use the following recipe as body lotion:
- Body Lotion
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Ingredients
- ¾ cup jojoba oil or sweet almond oil
- 1 cup of rose water or distilled water
- 2 table spoons shaved beeswax
- 30 drops of essential oils
- 1 wide-mouth glass jar
- Add the shaved beeswax to the glass jar and place on a soauce pan. Fill with water until it reaches half way of the jar side.
- Heat over the stove until beeswax melts.
- Remove from the stove and slowly add the oil until it is fully mixed. Let is cool down for a minute or two.
- Add the rose water slowly with a hand blender.
- Optionally add any essential oil of your preference and mixed with the hand blender. Lavender oil is healing for most skin types. The rose water scent is enough for me.
Preparation
To keep fresh, store it in the fridge. It keeps for 6 months.