Coming clean: The truth about detoxification (Part 1)

by Betty Dante Aw, NP

It’s the best way to bring ourselves back to health, but we need knowledge and persistence to succeed

TO understand detoxification, let us go back to 19th-century France, where French biologist Louis Pasteur, who was supported by the pharmaceutical industry, advocated the “Germ Theory of Disease,” while French scientist Antoine Béchamp championed the “Cellular Theory of Disease.” Pasteur said to vaccinate the fish; Béchamp said to clean the tank, which is more in line with ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), where the whole body is treated until the root cause of the illness is eliminated.

Through the years, we accumulate a lot of toxins, but through detoxification, we are able to bring ourselves back to health.  We need proper knowledge and persistence to succeed, however.  Infection is the result of illness, not its primary cause.  A sick person has an acidic, low-oxygen cellular environment in his or her body, the result of a poor diet, toxic emotions, and an unhealthy lifestyle—a deficiency of nutrients at the cellular level. We should take a holistic approach, where a clean body and mind are necessary for overall health.

Toxins enter our body in two ways: through normal physiological processes like eating and breathing, and through exposure to chemicals in the environment, such as mercury, lead, pesticides, prescription medicines, antibiotics, vaccines, and even UV radiation. Normally, we should be able to get rid of these toxins, because our body has a self-healing mechanism, although we can also take supplements to expel toxins more rapidly.

Best option

The organs involved in detoxification are the organs of elimination: the colon, the large and small intestines, the liver, the gallbladder, the kidney, the skin, and the lungs. We naturally eliminate toxins through movement of our bowels, purification of our blood, urination, respiration, and in women, through the menstrual cycle.  We can do colon, liver, gall bladder and kidney cleansing, and also focus on ridding our systems of parasites, heavy metals, and chemicals.

The best option, however, is still to do gentle daily cleansing.  We should eat cruciferous (green leafy) vegetables like broccoli, which are very good detoxifiers. Probiotics are also very helpful, as they are the good bacteria that help with digestion and prevent accumulation of toxic waste, especially after taking antibiotics or getting vaccines, or when we are exposed to radiation. 

We should drink lots of water, not only to rehydrate ourselves, but to flush out the toxins in our body, which are filtered by the kidney. We should not smoke, so as not to burden our lungs. When we sweat, the body fluids we release actually contain bacteria, so we should remember to wipe away our sweat to prevent the bacteria from re-entering the body, as our pores are open. 

We actually make new blood every day in our bones. It would probably take around 90 days to purify and create new blood.  Thus, the best we can do is to eat good food, drink clean water, and adopt a healthy lifestyle. The most important organ for filtering our blood is the liver, so we should try to keep our livers from becoming fatty.

If we are able to clear away all these toxins, chronic disease simply cannot exist in our bodies. The author is a Department of Health–Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (DOH-PITAHC)-certified naturopath practitioner, a licensed real estate broker, a registered financial planner, and a woman with community service at heart, having founded and joined many civic organizations. She is also the president of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)–initiated Metro Manila Association of Food Entrepreneurs.