Spring Cleaning isn't just for houses - it can apply to our bodies, too.
by Elson M. Haas, M.D.
(Excerpted from the author's book, "The Detox Diet.")
s a physician, I am fascinated by the complexity, subtlety,
and diversity of individual health habits - the combinations of the various
substances we imbibe and ingest. The spectrum of these substances includes
the components of our diet (foods, drinks, chemicals), supplements (nutrients,
herbs, homeopathics), drugs (prescription, over-the-counter and recreational),
and pollutants (herbicides, pesticides, hydrocarbons, and petrochemicals).
How do we develop our preferences? When do
our preferences become needs? Why do our needs become addictions? Why do
some of us become addicted while others can stop on their own? Our personality,
upbringing, and our environment influence our personal choice of substances.
In exploring these concerns about abuse and the way it affects our health,
I have developed a specific orientation and program for initial healing
and detoxification. This process has evolved over my twenty-five years as
a naturally-based general health practitioner.
My overall understanding of symptoms and disease
integrates both Western linear thinking and naturopathic approaches to health
and illness. Problems with the body and mind often arise from either deficiency
(when we are not acquiring sufficient nutrients to meet our bodily needs)
and/or congestion (when our intake is excessive). Congestion involves both
reduced eliminative function and an over consumption of food or substances,
such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, refined sugar, and chemicals.
People who are deficient may experience problems
such as fatigue, coldness, hair loss, or dry skin. They need to be nourished
with wholesome foods that aid healing. However, congestive problems are
more common in Western, industrialized countries. Many of our acute and
chronic diseases result from clogged tissues, suffocated cells, and subsequent
loss of vital energy. Frequent colds and flus, cancer, cardiovascular diseases,
arthritis, and allergies are all consequences of congestive disorders. These
medical problems may be prevented or treated through a process of cleansing,
fasting, and detoxification. These represent different degrees of a process
which reduces toxin intake and enhances toxin elimination.
So many problems in Western society come from
the excessive use of food and drugs. Abuses and addictions touch almost
every person's life. I realize that the development of these habits is multi-faceted
and as much a part of our social and cultural upbringing as they are our
responses to dealing with a stressful family, school, work, and society
at large.
Don't feel bad, weak, or inferior if any of
these potentially destructive habits applies to you. I know the struggle
between light and dark - between picking up that cup of coffee or glass
of wine or that pack of cigarettes and the desire to stop or to never have
started. I also know that it is an incredible challenge to change anything
- particularly to clear any habit/abuse/addiction that we have had years
to get used to and rely upon.
But I have seen that it can be done with greater
attentiveness to ourselves; with a gathering of our willpower, and with
the support of our loved ones. And I have also seen that it is very difficult
without a willingness to deal openly with emotions and other adversaries
that may block our way toward healing.
The first principle for improving your health
is to eliminate destructive habits. Even if you cannot fathom at this time
doing without your substances completely, at least consider an "abuse
break." Try a day or week without caffeine, alcohol, or sugar, replacing
them with a new habit drinking water, walking, or swimming, for example.
All addictions are ultimately self-destructive
(some can hurt others as well, such as alcohol and smoking). When you change
that dynamic to self care through both your internal healing process as
well as with the lifestyle and nutritional guidelines you will begin to
serve your body and life toward its highest potential. As you develop more
nurturing and supportive habits, good food, exercising regularly, learning
to cope with stress, and developing motivating attitudes I can promise you
will experience greater vitality, more positive relationships, and overall
improved health.
In my book, "The Detox Diet," I have
written specific programs for dealing with sugar, nicotine, alcohol, and
caffeine, and chemicals (drugs) - what I call SNACCs. In each program, I
discuss the physiologic actions and reactions involved, the hazards and
ill effects of each substance, and methods for handling and clearing these
adverse habits.
The beginning of the process for healing our
abuses requires motivation from within to change unwanted habits. This often
requires us to address the underlying emotions that may perpetuate the problem.
Then we must create a workable plan and gather our will power to begin.
The Detox Diet alkalinizes the body, helps us feel better quickly, and lessens
feelings of withdrawal. Water, exercise, and vitamin and mineral supplements
also support the detoxification process.
I work with three primary tenets of naturopathy,
adapted from Jim Sharp's book, Basic Principles of Total Health-Harmonious
Integration of Body, Mind and Spirit:
I believe that patients and physicians alike
should be oriented to live and practice with a common-sense approach that
first looks at lifestyle as a place to promote rejuvenation, then to natural
therapies, and finally to pharmaceutical drugs and surgery. Lifestyle factors
include diet, exercise, stress management, and attitudes. Natural therapies
include supplements, herbs, homeopathics, and hands-on healing such as massage,
osteopathy, and chiropractic. Pharmaceutical drugs or surgery are appropriate
when a situation is acute or severe, or if natural therapies are not working.
Put simply, the key to maintaining metabolic
balance is to maximize nutrition and to eliminate toxins. There are also
entire programs for detoxification available, such as Dr. Robert Gray's
Colon Cleansing program (which includes a book and special supplements)
found mainly in health food stores. For a complete body and colon cleansing
program, I really like Nature's Pure Body Program available through their
toll-free number (800)952-7873.
My goal is to place your health and that of
your family back into your own hands. In fact, so much of your health is
up to you. Take the initiative to do what you can to be vital and healthy.
It is really worth it!
Be clean and clear, healthy and free.
This column was excerpted from, and Dr. Haas
is author of, "The Detox Diet" the How-to & When-to guide
for cleansing the body of: sugar, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, chemicals
and more. Published by Celestial Arts, P.O. Box 7123 Berkeley California,
94707 (800) 841-2665.
