Most of us realize that the environment we live in isn’t exactly pristine. From chemicals in our water supply to the ubiquitous use of plastics, we’re constantly challenging our body’s ability to handle environmental pollutants. The incidence of chronic disease in this country has continued to grow, and most any chronic disease you can think of (diabetes, autoimmune disease, cancer, endocrine disorders, you name it!) is influenced by the chemicals that surround us. However, when it comes to the relationship between exposure to environmental toxins and disease, conventional medicine pays little to no attention to this connection.
Let’s just consider the effects of one chemical on the body: PCBs. The use of these industrial chemicals has been banned since the late 1970s, yet continues to show up in our soil and water supply. According to the EPA, PCBs have been linked to cancer, reproductive disorders, immune system disorders, endocrine disease, and nervous system disorders, among others. Now, consider this: More than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in the United States, with 2,000 new chemicals being introduced each year. That’s pretty scary! The point of this article is not to induce fear, but to demonstrate how serious this problem truly is, and how little conventional medicine is paying attention to it.
Many of the chronic diseases we see today, whether it be asthma, allergies, or autoimmunity, were virtually non-existent before the 1900s. So, despite the ongoing advancement of medications to treat these diseases, why have they continued to become more prevalent? Largely because modern medicine continues to focus almost solely on symptom management, ignoring the underlying causes of chronic disease. Of course, it’s not practical to test every patient for every chemical under the sun. But, by being more conscious of how chemicals can promote disease, and having a better understanding of how our bodies deal with these chemicals, we can make a significant impact on the incidence of chronic disease in this country.
I like to use the analogy of our bodies being a bucket, with toxins being the water that fills it. At some point, our bodies’ innate abilities to metabolize these toxins hits the tipping point, and organ systems begin to break down. This, in turn, leads to the development of a number of chronic diseases that are often considered “incurable” by the medical profession. But, we all have metabolic pathways in place that are programmed to help the body eliminate a number of the toxins we become exposed to. These pathways can be enhanced and nurtured with proper diet and nutrient supplementation, lessening the toxic burden, and bringing the body back to a more balanced state. The terms detoxification and cleansing are often thrown around loosely, but there are more definitive methods of testing that can isolate dysfunctional metabolic pathways, allowing them to be corrected accordingly with the appropriate nutritional interventions.
So, if you’re suffering from chronic disease, there are a number of things you can do to help lower your toxic burden. One way to look at it as offense vs. defense. Your doctor may be prescribing drugs to diminish pain or other debilitating symptoms, which is the defense, but you can play offense by providing your body with adequate nutrition and substrates to help enhance your body’s ability to eliminate disease-causing toxins.
