Tammy Alvord June 3, 2015

The best way to improve our health is to reduce our toxic load and increase our nutrients.

Headaches, insomnia, fatigue, frequent illness, persistent pains, constipation, and digestive issues are just some of the signs that we need to reduce our toxic load.

If we first look at the things that contribute to our problem, then we can find easy ways to minimize our exposure.

Factors that contribute to our toxicity:

• Environmental and food allergies.
• Petrochemicals, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminum).
• Medications. *Sometimes we need medications. The reality is though that most of us are over medicated. Modifying our diet and lifestyle often times provides better and safer alternatives to medications.
• Molds and their toxins
• Digestive toxins. Things like:  yeast, fungus and bacteria that take up residence in our digestive system and may wreak havoc on our health.
• Stress. Negative emotional and spiritual toxins have a profound impact on our health. These include but are not limited to: anger, jealousy, loneliness, isolation, bitterness and hostility.

So let’s start with the small stuff that makes a huge impact.

I can’t stress enough how important clean pure water is to our health.  70% of our body is made up of water. So it just makes sense that if we improve our quality and quantity of water we will drastically improve our health.  Natures’ solution to pollution is dilution. So I recommend that we consume half of our body weight in ounces of pure clean water each day just to maintain proper hydration and function.

Often times our tap water is not as pure as we would like.  There are lots of ways to improve the quality of our water, but getting a really good filter is a great place to start.

Another great way to reduce our toxic load is to detox our mind, heart and spirit. Often times we overlook this area of our lives, but I believe it is one of the most important aspects. I love to just be outside, working in the garden, walking in the woods, or playing in my backyard with my kids. I personally find yoga greatly rewarding. Not only does it help me to still my mind it also works up a sweat (a great way to eliminate toxins from the body), strengthens my core and so much more. Massage, meditation, deep breathing and aromatherapy are other great ways to reduce stress.  Find one that works for you!  Start today and see for yourself what a difference it can make.

When we are ready, further reduce exposure to toxins by switching to homemade or natural/organic personal care and cleaning products. Items such as: shampoo and conditioner, lotions, toothpaste, sunscreens, make-up and perfume can be full of toxic chemicals. They have found lead in lipstick, formaldehyde in hair care products and even mercury in face cream and this is only the beginning.  Try using essential oils like tea tree and lemon to make homemade cleaning products. We can even make our own bug spray that actually works and is non-toxic. Did you know that catnip essential oil has been proven to be 10 times more effective than DEET (known carcinogen)?  The internet is full of recipes for homemade cleaners, lotions, toothpaste, deodorants and so much more.

So we’ve reduced the exposure now to increase the nutrients.

This is also really simple.

Eating large amounts of foods that are as close to the way they grow in nature is a sure way to increase the amount of nutrition we are getting. One of the easiest ways is to start making green smoothies. Green smoothies consist of 60% fruit and 40% greens and little liquid. They are quick, easy, very tasty and super nutritious. Adding superfoods like: Hulled hemp seeds or maybe chia seeds on a regular basis can really increase the amount of and quality of vitamins and minerals in our diet. Another great way for us to increase our nutrients is to buy as much of our food from local farmers as possible. The moment our food is picked it begins to loose vitamins and minerals. If the food was picked before it was actually ripe, it will contain even less vitamins and minerals.  The food we buy from the supermarket has most likely been picked 2-3 weeks ago and was NOT ripe when picked. The food that our local farmer picks is usually picked that morning or with in the last couple days.  Not to mention that fully ripe, freshly picked foods also have the best flavor too.

After years of abusing our bodies with toxic chemicals and food like substances, most of us need to repair and /or boost our digestive system with digestive enzymes and reestablish the good bacteria that helps assimilate our foods with probiotics. The best ways to repair/reboot the entire GI tract are with bone broth made form grass-fed organic animal bones and cultured foods like: kraut, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, and miso.  These foods not only help rebuild the digestive system but they also help to detoxify the liver, improve hair, nails, and skin, decrease joint pain and inflammation, and  boost your immune system just to name a few.

By implementing these small but very beneficial steps into your lifestyle you can decrease your toxins and increase your nutrients, dramatically improving your health.

For more information visit www.foodsalive.com or www.ltthrive.com