Remove Toxins

You can use clay powder internally to remove toxins by simply mixing it with juice or water. Make sure the water is either spring water or distilled if possible. Some people like to mix the powder with water, roll it into small balls, and let them dry in the sunlight. These “pills” can be flavored or left natural, and then sucked on throughout the day, like candy. This technique works particularly well for treating problems like inflammation of the gum tissue.

Either way provides the same body detoxifying benefits. In situations where I’ve been uncertain of water quality, I’ve mixed clay with the water and then waited until the clay settled to the bottom of the glass before consuming the water. Clay is very effective at removing a long list of contaminants—along with destroying most pathogens.

When you mix clay for either oral or topical use, never let it come into contact with metal. To avoid any possible reaction with metal, always use wood utensils and glass, clay, or ceramic containers.

One of the benefits of consuming clay orally, in addition to its detoxifying effects, is the wide range of trace minerals you receive. If you look at an analysis of many “consumable” clays, the number of trace minerals present is astounding. Practically every mineral you can imagine will be there—including micro-trace amounts of some known to be toxic, such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium. This has led many people to condemn the consumption of clay.

What is often overlooked, however, is the fact that various other competing minerals in these clays are present in much larger quantities. For example, zinc and copper compete with cadmium, and when present in sufficient amounts, block its absorption. This is true of other toxins as well. Clays with the right mineral content have been consumed safely for thousands of years. The key is to limit any clay consumption to ones that are known to be safe. I don’t recommend digging up your own clay for consumption unless you have it tested.

Since clay has such strong absorptive and adsorptive properties, it is best not to take it with your vitamins or at the same time you take prescription medications. Although I haven’t seen any research specifically in this area, I imagine clay has a tendency to bind to and prevent the action of most synthetic chemicals—including drugs. As such, if you’re ingesting clay I would suggest taking it on an empty stomach and then waiting at least four hours before taking any necessary medication.

Without supervision, ingesting clay isn’t recommended for someone with an intolerance for iron or for someone with high blood pressure.

There are a few things you might experience after taking clay orally. It’s not uncommon to experience easier, more frequent bowel movements. In the beginning, stools may have a stronger odor depending on the amount of contaminants. Just remember to drink plenty of water because clay has a tendency to absorb water.

Clay also has a tendency to “scrub” and cleanse the bowel walls. This results in improved digestion and absorption, which in turn translates into increased energy. Some people even report experiencing fewer overall aches and pains, improved skin conditions, and many other benefits associated with detoxification.

For more information on how to detoxify the body and remove toxins, visit www.drdavidwilliams.com.

Clay possesses two properties that make it particularly effective at detoxification. Most people don’t realize that detoxification involves two processes: First, you have to mobilize the toxins, and second, you have to remove toxins from the body.

Chelating agents are generally thought of as complete detoxifiers. In reality, they tend to penetrate the body and bind to and mobilize toxins and heavy metals, but don’t necessarily remove toxins from the body.

On the other hand, sulfur and sulfur-containing compounds, found in glutathione (from supplements like N-acetyl cysteine and cruciferous vegetables), and alpha lipoic acid, aren’t true chelating agents, but they work to remove toxins and heavy metals from the body. The best results are obtained using a combination of both.

Clay therapy is one of the few therapies I’m aware of that has complete detoxifying abilities. It can be taken internally or applied externally. Both have their benefits.

For more information on how to detoxify the body and remove toxins, visit www.drdavidwilliams.com.

While much well-deserved attention is paid to soluble fiber foods, it is insoluble fiber that provides roughage and improves bowel regularity. This natural bulk also gives feelings of fullness and satisfaction, resulting in less food intake.

In the 1980s, there was a huge push promoting the benefits of fiber in the diet, particularly its ability to prevent colon cancer. Since that time, there have been conflicting studies, and, for some reason, fiber has fallen out of favor. I predict (something I do very rarely) that you will soon begin to see a dramatic increase in the ill effects of decreasing the amount of fiber in our diets. We’re already seeing an increase in many of these problems, such as widespread obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous bowel problems.

Fiber has decreased dramatically as our food supply has become more and more processed. To make matters worse, low-carb diets like Atkins and South Beach often shun the complex carbohydrates that contain insoluble fiber or roughage. The most commonly consumed “vegetable” in this country is now French fries. Food manufacturers have increasingly removed insoluble fiber from processed foods, to both lessen the gritty texture and make ingredients easier to combine.

Insoluble fiber, the portion of the plant that can’t be broken down by your digestive system, provides a valuable service. The fiber absorbs water and swells, making the stool bulky, soft, and easy to pass. (This is why you always need to increase your water intake when you increase the fiber in your diet.) Without adequate fiber, bowel movements slow and toxic material remains in contact with the intestinal walls longer. The foreign material causes inflammation, and additional toxins are reabsorbed into your bloodstream. These additional toxins increase the workload of both your liver and kidneys. The slow-moving stools also lead to a condition called diverticulitis.

Diverticulum: Latin for “You Don’t Want to Know”

In the early stages of the disease, as your intestines struggle to remove toxins and waste material, small, pea-sized, irreversible pockets called diverticula develop. Waste material becomes trapped in these pockets, which often expand and become inflamed, resulting in diverticulitis. If the pockets rupture, the resulting infection and inflammation in the abdominal cavity can prove fatal.

Not surprisingly, the treatment for diverticulosis (the condition before inflammation sets in) is to increase fiber and promote bowel regularity. At the same time, I would also highly recommend the use of probiotics and fermented foods like sauerkraut and others to help re-establish good bacterial flora in the lower bowel at the same time. I don’t recommend the long-term use of over-the-counter fiber products like those mentioned earlier. It is my experience that long-term use of these products seems to deplete various minerals, which can lead to all kinds of seemingly unrelated problems. This just doesn’t happen when the fiber comes from a wide variety of foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, dried beans, popcorn, brown rice, and bran.

For more information on common digestive problems, bowel irregularity, or a list of the highest fiber foods, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

In the 1980s, the big “discovery” was the importance of fiber in the diet. There were dozens of reports explaining how high-fiber diets could prevent heart disease, colon cancer, and dozens of other problems. For a while, high-fiber diets were all the rage. For reasons unknown to me, they fell out of favor. If you want to lose weight or maintain a proper weight, a diet rich in fiber can help.

There are two kinds of fiber in food—soluble and insoluble. In a nutshell, insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water and is considered “roughage.” It swells and softens the stool, and it also scrubs and stimulates the intestines as it passes through. It helps protect against constipation, cancer, and the formation of pockets and inflammation in the colon.

On the other hand, soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms sticky gums and gels. A good example is much of the fiber found in oats. Soluble fiber foods tend to absorb certain compounds like toxins, bile acids, cholesterol, et cetera. They also slow the digestion of food, which improves insulin regulation and helps prevent diabetes.

The highest fiber foods include fruits and vegetables (with the skins left on when possible), beans, and whole grains. Stay away from such refined foods as white flour, cream of wheat, oat flour, cornstarch, and white rice—all of which are low in fiber.

From a dietary standpoint, high-fiber foods are very versatile. Some, like beans, can be the main course, while others, such as fruit, popcorn, and raw vegetables, make excellent snacks. High-fiber foods generally are very low in fat and are made up mostly of high-quality proteins and complex carbohydrates. The fiber itself has no calories, yet provides bulk and a sense of fullness. Fiber isn’t the cure for obesity, but a high-fiber diet with proper nutrition can definitely help you lose weight.

A high-fiber diet decreases what is called “transit time” in the gastrointestinal tract—the time it takes for food to move through your body. A shorter transit time results in less formation and absorption of toxic material into your system. Be aware, though, that higher-fiber diets require an increase in fluid intake. As you start to add more high-fiber foods, be sure you’re drinking plenty of water.

Estimates are that most adults consume between 10 and 15 grams of fiber a day but should be taking in at least 25 to 30 grams. Eating 30 grams a day has been shown to reduce the weight gain that seems to gradually accumulate as one gets older.

For more information on the health benefits of fiber or a list of the highest fiber foods, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

Algin—a non-digestible fiber from brown seaweeds like kelp—is a secret weapon in fighting body toxins, especially mercury.

When algin absorbs water, it expands into a gel, providing a bulk laxative effect. It also binds to various toxins like mercury, cadmium, and even radioactive materials.

Heavy metals like mercury have a half-life of 15 to 20 years in the human body, meaning it takes that long for just half the mercury to be eliminated without any help. This helps explain why symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, nerve pain, et cetera, are often the first symptoms of chronic toxicity.

Fortunately, you can fight back with algin. It is readily available and relatively inexpensive. Nature’s Sunshine makes an algin product that can be found in health food stores and or online. I recommend taking two capsules with each meal for 10 days to help detoxify the body naturally.

For more information on body toxins, how to detoxify the body, and eliminating body toxins, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

One particular supplement that has been shown to remove mercury from your body is alpha lipoic acid. This substance isn’t routinely used medically (it’s not FDA-approved as a chelating agent) but, instead, physicians resort to the prescription compounds DMPS and DMSA—both of which carry their own set of risks.

Alpha lipoic acid has the unique ability to remove mercury from inside cells and the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Although it may not be as strong or work as quickly as the above prescription items, there are benefits from working at a slower pace.

Once mercury is removed from tissues or brain cells, it enters the bloodstream and is carried to the liver where it’s mixed with bile and dumped into the intestinal tract.

Ideally, from there it should travel out of the body in the feces. However, if the natural systems are overwhelmed, some of the mercury simply gets reabsorbed and redistributed throughout the body. For this reason, it’s imperative that, if you use alpha lipoic acid to remove mercury from your body, you maintain constant levels of the supplement in your body for periods long enough that the mercury has time to be “escorted” out of your body and not reabsorbed. That’s why detoxing with alpha lipoic acid requires that doses be taken faithfully every three hours.

Alpha lipoic acid “dumps” smaller quantities of mercury into the system, making it easier to compensate for this extra toxic release. The reabsorption of mercury can be further minimized or avoided through a higher intake of sulfur-rich foods (see blog from July 26, 2010). In addition to high-sulfur foods, other known intestinal chelators include:

• blue-green algae spirulina and chlorella
• aloe gel
• algin
• various calcium bentonite clays

I’ve seen a short mercury detox program using alpha lipoic acid work wonders for many people. The program consists of taking 1/8 to ½ mg of alpha lipoic acid per every pound of body weight, every three hours for three days and two nights. (The time can be stretched to every four hours during the night to avoid interrupting sleep as much and then returning to every three hours during daytime.) This would translate to 20 to 80 mg of alpha lipoic acid every three hours for a person who weighs 160 pounds. If you want to repeat the program, you can wait for 11 days following the initial three days and two nights before starting again.

Everyone reacts differently, so dosages often have to be adjusted depending on how you feel. It’s generally better to use the lower dosages to begin with and work with a doctor familiar with this program.

To make things easier, the alpha lipoic acid can be mixed with juice or water. For example, if you were taking 25 mg doses, you could mix a 100 mg capsule in water and then drink a quarter of the liquid at a time.

For more information on body toxins, how to detoxify the body, and eliminating body toxins, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

It’s imperative that you do all you can to reduce your direct exposure to mercury. Just as important, you’ll want to implement a diet and supplement plan that will continuously help remove mercury from your body.

Nature provides various substances that help remove mercury and other heavy metals. Mercury has a strong affinity for sulfur. As such, there’s a long list of vegetables and fruits with high sulfur contents that can help remove mercury from the body. These foods do have their limitations, however. With continued exposure, your body’s natural defenses can easily be overwhelmed.

For most of us, mercury will enter our body either through our intestinal tract (water, food, or amalgam tooth fillings) or through our respiratory tract (vapor from pollution or a broken fluorescent bulb). With our food and water supplies so widely contaminated, it will be difficult to avoid mercury completely. This is where a diet high in sulfur-rich vegetables, fruits, and other foods can help. These foods can bind with the mercury while it’s still transiting the intestinal tract and carry it out of your body.

Sulfur-rich foods include:

• Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, chard, and watercress
• Other vegetables: asparagus, avocado, parsley, red peppers, and tomatoes
• Root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, turnips, garlic, and onions (but not potatoes)
• Fruits like blueberries, cherries, and grapes
• Nearly all grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds
• Animal products: cheese, egg yolks, meat

Unfortunately, I don’t think these foods receive the attention or research they deserve—and probably never will. Most have strong antioxidant capability and are rich in various bioflavonoids. We now know they also have the added benefit of being able to lock on to mercury and prevent its absorption into the body.

Based on the widespread contamination levels we’re seeing today, I would highly recommend adding several of these items to your diet every day.

For more information on body toxins, how to detoxify the body, and eliminating body toxins, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

Mercury contamination is so severe in our waterways nowadays that many are thought to be contaminated forever. Sadly, most of the unwitting public will also be contaminated permanently. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every individual in this country probably has detectable levels of mercury in their system.

There are ways to check mercury levels in your body, but none are foolproof—and there’s a considerable amount of controversy over which methods work the best. The most well-known test for mercury toxicity is hair analysis.

Many doctors are of the opinion that hair analysis isn’t reliable, but that’s not the case. It can be a great tool if you know how to use it. Individuals who are mercury toxic will, in most cases, have normal readings for mercury not only in hair tests but also in blood and urine tests. To determine if mercury toxicity exists, one has to look for the biochemical aberrations that mercury causes—not just for the mercury itself.

This is far too complicated to explain here, but there’s one book all doctors should have in their offices that explains in detail how to interpret these tests. The best reference guide available is the book Hair Test Interpretation: Finding Hidden Toxicities by Andrew Cutler. Cutler also recommends specific lab tests like the “Hair Elements” test from Doctor’s Data in Chicago or Direct Lab Services.

For more information on how to detoxify the body, eliminating body toxins, or liver detoxification, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

When a fluorescent bulb breaks in your home, enough mercury vapor is released that the place should be considered a hazardous waste site to be decontaminated by experts. Obviously, that never happens. In fact, most people aren’t even aware that breathing the released vapors or coming into contact with the broken bulb are dangerous. The EPA is.

Not only did the EPA provide a special exemption to even sell mercury-containing fluorescent lamps to the public, they also have very specific guidelines for cleaning up a broken bulb. Until I researched the subject, I had no idea of just how dangerous a broken bulb could be. I doubt many people do.

According to the EPA, there are very specific guidelines you should follow to clean up a broken fluorescent light bulb:

• Open a window if there is one, and leave the room for at least 15 minutes (and restrict access to others).
• Remove all you can without using a vacuum:
  
  • Wearing disposable rubber gloves, scoop up everything you can, including the powder, using stiff paper or cardboard.
  • Use sticky tape such as duct tape to pick up the remaining small pieces and powder.
  • Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe.
  • Place all cleanup materials into a plastic bag and seal it. If your area allows it, dispose of the bag in an outdoor trash receptacle. (They don’t give any suggestions for final disposal if your local government doesn’t allow you to put CFLs in the trash.)
• Vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, then remove the collector bag or wipe out the canister. Put the debris in a plastic bag, seal it, then put it in a second bag. Dispose as above.

Given the EPA’s inconsistent track record, at this point it’s hard to tell whether they’re being alarmist or conservative. Regardless, a broken bulb is something you need to take seriously.

For more information on how to detoxify the body, eliminating body toxins, or liver detoxification, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

The state of California, as well as the country of Australia, are considering banning the use of incandescent lighting and encouraging people to start using fluorescent lighting. While this move, no doubt, would save an enormous amount of energy and could substantially reduce toxic emissions, there is one concern involving fluorescent lighting that seems to have been overlooked—the issue of mercury.

Fluorescent lights are filled with argon gas and mercury vapor. It’s the photons given off when the mercury vapor is energized that produces the light. The average fluorescent light contains 20 mg of mercury. (Some of the newer CFLs contain only about 4 mg of mercury, an amount that would just cover the tip of a ball-point pen.) This may not sound like much mercury, but consider the fact that it takes only a single gram to contaminate a 2-acre pond of water. Currently, about 800 million fluorescent lamps are being produced yearly to replace those that burn out. That’s enough mercury to contaminate nearly 20 million acres of water.

And mercury contamination isn’t something new; it’s just the awareness that’s recent. I can remember that, as a child, my brother and I played with the mercury (often referred to as “quicksilver”) from broken thermometers. Those old thermometers contained 500 mg of mercury! I have no idea where that mercury eventually ended up.

The dangers of mercury contamination are well-known and documented. Mercury is the second most toxic naturally occurring substance on earth. (Plutonium is said to be the most toxic.) Mercury is recognized as one of the most hazardous substances in our food and water, and has been linked to everything from mental impairment in our children to heart disease in adults, and is a possible contributor to the growing epidemic of Alzheimer’s. (Neuroreport 1;12(4):733–737)

While a few states (California, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan) have passed laws making it illegal to throw fluorescent bulbs in the trash, I’m not convinced that it can be enforced. I doubt that most people in these states even know about the law.

There are also companies that specialize in recycling these bulbs, for a charge of anywhere from $2 to $4 per bulb. Through recycling, over 99 percent of the mercury can be reclaimed and kept out of the environment.

All of these recycling efforts are highly commendable, but I still think we’re going to see a very significant increase in mercury pollution for several years to come. And along with that we’re going to see increases in childhood mental deficiencies and cases of Alzheimer’s and other “unexplained” neurological diseases.

Don’t get me wrong—I think widespread use of fluorescent bulbs has a place in solving many of our current problems. Full-spectrum bulbs are a good choice, and even better are LED bulbs—which don’t contain toxic material, but haven’t become inexpensive enough yet for widespread use. I have no problem with the use of fluorescent bulbs. I do, however, have a problem with their potential for contamination.

For more information on how to detoxify the body, eliminating body toxins, or liver detoxification, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site.

If you are overrun with body toxins, one of the first places it will show up in your skin. In addition to following my previous recommendations, you can support the liver nutritionally by taking supplements that help your body detoxify waste material.

To help your liver and body detoxify, I generally recommend using milk thistle, which both protects and helps increase liver function. The active ingredient in milk thistle is a bioflavonoid complex called silymarin. Studies have shown that silymarin can prevent damage to liver cells. It also has the unique ability to stimulate regeneration of damaged liver cells.

The best products for this purpose are concentrated extracts standardized to 70 to 80 percent silymarin content. I recommend that you take 500 mg a day.

For more information on how to detoxify the body, eliminating body toxins, or liver detoxification, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site. While there, you can also sign up for Dr. Williams’ FREE eLetter or monthly newsletter.

When it comes to skin problems, most people don’t think of detoxification, but they should. In fact, one of the best ways to clear up a variety of skin conditions involves easing the load on your liver in every way possible.

To help you do a liver cleanse naturally, follow these three easy steps.

Liver Detoxification: Step 1
You must make sure your bowels are moving regularly, at least once daily. Food wastes that remain in the body over 24 hours become toxic. Your intestines continue to absorb this waste and it places an enormous burden on the liver to detoxify it.

Liver Detoxification: Step 2
You must drink at least eight, 8-ounce glasses of water per day. This helps both the bowels and the kidneys and lightens the load on the liver. If you drink other liquids, make sure they are sugar-free, but don’t count them as part of the eight glasses of water.

Liver Detoxification: Step 3
Foods high in sugar (natural or otherwise) and high starch foods must be eliminated initially. Some products where sugar has been added are obvious, like soft drinks, candy, ice cream, cakes, pies, etc. The list below contains foods which have a high natural sugar content or an abundance of starch that can be quickly converted to sugars by the body. Eliminate or at least reduce these foods until the psoriasis patches have disappeared.

• Potatoes
• Rice
• Grapes
• Raisins
• Plums
• Figs
• Dates
• Bananas
• Spaghetti
• Macaroni
• Noodles
• Pizza
• Jams
• Jellies
• Corn
• Beans
• Rice
• Peas
• Artichokes
• Breakfast cereal

After reading this list, you may be wondering just what you can eat. Remember, the foods may later be reintroduced into the diet, but in the beginning you will get faster and better results if you stick rigidly to the program. You can eat any vegetable not listed above. You can have any meat except pork. Eggs and dairy products are allowed. But only a few kinds of fruit are allowed such as: strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew melon, peaches and all citrus fruit, which may be eaten if fresh or packed in water. Coffee and tea should be limited to a couple of times a day.

For more information on how to detoxify the body, eliminating body toxins, or liver detoxification, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site. While there, you can also sign up for Dr. Williams’ FREE eLetter or monthly newsletter.

The skin is the largest organ of your body. For the average adult, the surface area is about 3,000 sq. inches (or over 20 sq. ft.). It ranges from one-tenth to one-one hundredth of an inch in thickness. And, one square centimeter, you have an average of 1,000 oil glands (called sebaceous glands) and hundreds of sweat glands.

Your skin is an extremely complex organ. Besides protecting the underlying tissues from dehydration and bacteria invasion, it performs many other vital functions. It also helps control body temperature, store chemicals, synthesize several compounds such as vitamin D, receive environmental messages, and act as an elimination organ. This last function is of particular importance in dealing with skin diseases.

Waste products and body toxins that are filtered and broken down by your liver and kidneys are removed from the body by several organs. These include the bowels, the urinary tract organs, the lungs, and the skin. You use water to carry these waste products away and detoxify the body. By tracing this water loss, you can tell just how important the skin is in this cleansing process. The average water intake is about 10½ glasses a day. This includes the eight glasses of water you should be drinking and about 2½ glasses from food.

Although the skin’s primary purpose is generally said to be that of temperature regulation, the sweat it uses to cool the body is made up largely of waste material. In fact, the chemical composition of sweat is remarkably similar to urine. Sweat is a mixture of water, various salts, urea, uric acid, amino acids, ammonia, sugar, lactic acid and ascorbic acid.

As you can see, the skin is not just something to cover your organs. It is a complex organ itself, and its overall health depends on how well your body detoxifies and eliminates waste.

For more information on how to detoxify the body, eliminating body toxins, or liver detoxification, visit Dr. Williams’ Web site. While there, you can also sign up for Dr. Williams’ FREE eLetter or monthly newsletter.

There’s a critical connection between bowel problems and the nervous system that doesn’t receive much attention in most medical circles. In fact, in testimonials concerning the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, you’ll find that many individuals have seen a dramatic improvement or even complete reversal in such problems as schizophrenia. The same is true when bowel problems are corrected with probiotics or many of the other digestive cleansing methods I’ve discussed in this blog.

Generally, those in conventional medical circles haven’t been able to grasp the connection between toxins in the bowels and neurological disease. (Most still believe the cause of IBS, ulcerative colitis, and similar bowel problems is totally unknown.)

Between 60 and 70 percent of our immune system is located in the digestive tract, which makes sense when you realize it’s one of only three direct connections our body has to the outside world (our skin and respiratory tract are the others)—making it one of the places we are most exposed and vulnerable.

A breach in the gut wall—common in individuals with IBS, Crohn’s disease, and chronic constipation and diarrhea—is commonly referred to as “leaky gut” syndrome. This state allows toxins, bacteria, yeast, fungi, viruses, and incompletely digested foods to enter the bloodstream. An excess of these pathogens creates additional acids, fermentation byproducts, waste, and toxins that eventually overcomes our gut’s defenses.  

That’s why it is vital to maintain bowel health. It’s one of the most effective methods of improving your overall immune function. It can help prevent or reverse many of the neurological diseases on the rise in both children and adults.

Once these toxins and other particles breach our body’s protective barriers, they cause inflammation throughout the body and can often cross the blood/brain barrier, where they then interfere with the circulation and flow of nutrients to the brain—which in turn impairs consciousness, speech, cognition, and behavior. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that digestive and bowel problems are one of the principal complaints of people of all ages with depression, “brain fog,” irritability, schizophrenia, and seizures—even children with autism. It also should be no surprise to see these problems resolved when the bowel problems are corrected.

If you or your loved ones suffer from one of these neurological problems, getting rid of body toxins and restoring the bowels to normal is one thing you don’t want to overlook.

The use of probiotics is preventive medicine at its best. For this very reason it’s important to constantly replenish your body’s supply of these important life-sustaining organisms, which you can do easily with a daily probiotic supplement. And to that you can add my favorite—a nice daily helping of homemade sauerkraut to reap full probiotic benefits.

Any steps you take to increase your glutathione levels will be an extremely worthwhile investment when trying to detoxify the body. It seems that every disease process begins with a decline in glutathione levels. And when you take a closer look at many of the "miracle" antioxidants that have become popular, much of their therapeutic effect comes from the fact that they help raise glutathione levels.

You can increase glutathione levels by taking the amino acid N-acetylcysteine. N-acetylcysteine is converted in the body to glutathione. Taking 600 milligrams daily of N-acetylcysteine has been shown to increase blood plasma levels of glutathinone by 38 percent. (Euro J Can 95;31A(6):921-923)

You can also take glutathione powder, and while it's possible that it may be one of the more reliable methods of raising glutathione levels, it's also the most expensive. Jo Mar offers glutathione in bulk powder form. In homemade capsules or with food or drink, a daily dose of 500 mg will run around 50 cents a day.

Finally, melatonin has been found to stimulate the production of glutathione peroxidase, the principle enzyme for controlling free radical damage in the brain. Plus, grape seed extract, bilberry extract, curcumin from turmeric, and Pycnogenol from pine bark have all been found to increase glutathione levels.

Glutathione (pronounced "glue-tah-thi-on") is an extremely important compound that naturally occurs in the body. It is composed of three amino acids, namely glycine, glutamic acid, and cysteine. It is particular useful in detoxifying the body.

Research has shown that glutathione levels decline as we age, and there seems to be a corresponding decline in our health and longevity. It's possible in many instances that the drop in glutathione levels may be related to exposure to heavy metals like mercury, lead, and cadmium.

These metals are sulfhydryl-reactive metals. In simple terms, this means that they steal sulfur groups from enzymes, protein compounds and/or peptides such as glutathione. Once these compounds lose their sulfur component, they lose their ability to detoxify the body.

Much of glutathione's ability to improve your longevity and overall health comes from its role in detoxifying various chemicals, thereby preventing them from damaging your cellular DNA. When you increase glutathione, you in turn increase glutathione S-transferase, a naturally occurring enzyme in the body that neutralizes several different carcinogens. It keeps these toxins from damaging the cells' DNA, thus preventing cancer and other cellular damage.

Choose Glutathione–Rich Foods

There are several ways you can help to raise your glutathione levels and help increase the production of the GST enzymes:

1. Eat cruciferous vegetables. This family of vegetables is one of the richest food sources of glutathione. The most potent vegetable is Brussels sprouts. Others include: cauliflower, broccoli (particularly the flowers, not the stem), cabbage, kale, bok choy, cress, mustard, horseradish, turnips, rutabagas, and kohlrabi.
2. Eat garlic.
3. Use rosemary when cooking. At the University of Illinois, researchers found that including the herb rosemary in the diet could increase GST enzyme activity.

Some experts believe that half of all cancer results from our exposure to various environmental toxins. While some of these toxic substances obviously come from our drinking water, it appears that most are finding their way into our food supply.

Some of these toxins are formed naturally when grains or other food products begin to break down and develop molds. For example, in China, the incidence of liver cancer has skyrocketed due to a mold that grows on rice. In some parts of China, as many as one in 10 adults dies from liver cancer caused by the chemical aflatoxin found in the mold. Aflatoxin also grows on corn and other cereal grains, and has been linked to increases in cancer rates throughout the world.

Many man-made environmental toxins, some of which have been banned from further use, are also finding their way into the food chain. In Europe, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found in hen eggs. Further investigation found that the source was chicken feed contaminated with oil. The problem, however, both in this country and abroad, is that there is no regular monitoring in place to check animal feeds, produce, etc., for the hundreds of potential contaminants. If a farmer unknowingly feeds his chickens contaminated feed, or allows them to graze on contaminated soil, and the toxins later show up in their eggs, who would know?

And toxic contamination isn't limited to chickens and/or eggs. Beef, milk, grains, fruit, vegetables, fish, and practically every other food source has been shown to have some level of pesticide, herbicide, toxic metal, pollutant, or other contaminant at one time or another. Unless you raise all your own food, there's a pretty good chance you'll be ingesting environmental toxins from the food and/or water supply at one time or another. (If you're drinking chlorinated water, you're already consuming toxins on a regular basis.)

With all of the focus on cholesterol and the heart, most people are surprised to learn that there is a strong connection between cholesterol and digestion. As it turns out, much of the cholesterol produced by the liver is converted into bile acids. The bile acids are stored in the gallbladder to later be dumped into the small intestine to help digest fats. Ultimately, they end up in your colon, where they are either destroyed or excreted in bowel movements.

If you are on a low fiber diet, you are harboring millions of anti-bile bacteria in your colon. These bacteria attack the bile acids and break them down into several substances, including cancer-causing chemicals and toxic products called "lithocholate." Lithocholate causes the liver to cut back on converting cholesterol to bile acids.

Unfortunately, this causes a couple of serious problems. When less cholesterol is converted to bile acids, it begins to accumulate in your bloodstream. Also, less cholesterol reaches the colon, which means it is trapped in your body rather than being excreted. This is especially dangerous, since bowel movements are your body’s main method of ridding itself of unwanted cholesterol and other body toxins.

Conversely, following a high fiber diet alters the type of bacteria in your colon. High fiber diets promote friendly bacteria. This allows your bile acids to stay intact and do their job of digesting fats. As a result, the combination of a high fiber diet and good bacteria flora can lower blood cholesterol levels, protect against colon cancer, and even improve fat digestion by providing more bile acids.

In the 1980s, the big “discovery” was the importance of fiber in the diet. There were dozens of reports explaining how high-fiber diets could prevent heart disease, ease common digestive problems, and help dozens of other health problems. I’d like to add another key health benefit of fiber: weight loss. If you want to lose weight or maintain a proper weight, a diet rich in the highest fiber foods can help.

There are two kinds of fiber in food—soluble and insoluble. In a nutshell, insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water and is considered “roughage.” It swells and softens the stool, and it also scrubs and stimulates the intestines as it passes through. It helps protect against constipation, cancer, and the formation of pockets and inflammation in the colon.

On the other hand, soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms sticky gums and gels. They tend to absorb certain compounds like toxins, bile acids, cholesterol, et cetera. They also slow the digestion of food, which improves insulin regulation and helps prevent diabetes.

The overall highest fiber foods include fruits and vegetables (with the skins left on when possible), beans, and whole grains. Stay away from such refined foods as white flour, cream of wheat, oat flour, cornstarch, and white rice—all of which are low in fiber.

From a dietary standpoint, high-fiber foods are very versatile. Some, like beans, can be the main course, while others, such as fruit, popcorn, and raw vegetables, make excellent snacks. High-fiber foods generally are very low in fat and are made up mostly of high-quality proteins and complex carbohydrates. The fiber itself has no calories, yet provides bulk and a sense of fullness. Fiber isn’t the cure for obesity, but a high-fiber diet with proper nutrition can definitely help you lose weight.

A high-fiber diet decreases what is called “transit time” in the gastrointestinal tract—the time it takes for food to move through your body. A shorter transit time results in less formation and absorption of toxic material into your system. Be aware, though, that higher-fiber diets require an increase in fluid intake. As you start to add more high-fiber foods, be sure you’re drinking plenty of water.

Estimates are that most adults consume between 10 and 15 grams of fiber a day but should be taking in at least 25 to 30 grams. Eating 30 grams a day has been shown to reduce the weight gain that seems to gradually accumulate as one gets older.

Determining your diarrhea cause can help you identify the best diarrhea treatment for your situation. Remember that diarrhea symptoms appear when your body is trying to purge itself of toxins.

If your diarrhea cause is related to digestive upset, then using a diarrhea treatment is appropriate. I've written about several diarrhea treatments, including clay, probiotics, and black tea.

If your diarrhea symptoms are especially severe, it's probably a better idea to let them run their course for up to a day--so the purging can take place. Diarrhea symptoms that last longer than a day call for medical attention, because you can become severely dehydrated.