Something that I discuss frequently with my patients is the idea of a “Toxic Bucket”. The volume in this bucket is the total of all the exposures we have to factors which have a detrimental impact on our health.
These include:
Food allergies
Chemicals in food
Environmental toxins - chemicals, mould, inhaled allergens, electromagnetic frequencies
Household toxins e.g cleaning chemicals, personal care products
Medications
Stress
Infections
Heavy metals e.g mercury from amalgam fillings, occupational exposures, smoking.
If you imagine that at the bottom of the bucket is a tap which is emptying the bucket. This represents our ability to deal with these negative factors by:
Activation of the immune system to deal with infections and allergens
Detoxification of toxins by the liver, kidneys, gut and skin
Having strategies to mitigate the effects of stress
If the level in the bucket is rising faster than the outflow can cope with then the bucket starts to overflow resulting in the development of symptoms I.e. ill health.
This explains nicely why it can be a seemingly insignificant exposure or stressful event which is the trigger to the onset of symptoms. It also explains why sometimes you may tolerate an exposure because the level in your bucket is not near the top yet on another occasion react to an exposure because it is enough to cause your bucket to overflow.
Through our comprehensive questionnaires and initial consultations we explore each of these potential triggers and formulate a time line so we can understand together when, how and why symptoms started.
Some strategies for reducing toxic exposures you might like to consider:
Eat real unprocessed food without added chemicals
Eat organic food if possible. If this is not possible concentrate on eating organic for the Dirty Dozen ( the 12 most contaminated foods - the list can be found at www.pan-uk.org
Use more natural cleaning agents within your home. Many supermarkets now sell environmentally friendly products such as Ecover, Method, Bio-D or you can make your own using simple compounds like lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda, distilled white vinegar and essential oils (for some recipes I have a book: The Organically Clean Home by Becky Rapinchuk)
Try personal care products made from more natural ingredients. The chemicals in your products easily pass through your skin and into the blood stream within minutes of application. Studies have shown that some of the chemicals in personal care products can disrupt hormones and increase your risk of cancer e.g. parabens, acrylates, triclosan. www.thinkdirtyapp.com allows you to scan bar codes to see what your products contain. www.ewg.org has a section called skin deep which gives useful advice on choosing safer products. You can even make your own using natural oils, butters and essential oils (The Holistic Beauty Book by Star Khechara)
Avoid plastic water bottles , plastic food containers, vinyl cling rap and BPA lined cans
Stay well hydrated and consume alcohol in moderation if at all
Avoid taking paracetamol for pain relief especially after alcohol (paracetamol interferes with the detoxification of alcohol so will not help a hangover!)
Chose composite over metallic dental fillings and ensure your dentist follows the IAOMT procedures if removing amalgam fillings.
Don’t feel that you have to do all of these at once. For me it has been a gradual process over several years. I’ve had some fun trying out some homemade cosmetics and cleaning products and even made some as gifts.
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