Imagine your typical day: You get up in the morning and brush your teeth with toothpaste. Then you have a shower; you use shower gel or soap, shampoo, conditioner and shaving cream. After you've dried yourself off, you apply moisturizer to your skin, makeup to your face and perhaps some hair gel, mousse or hairspray. A final spritz of perfume or cologne, an application of deodorant, and you're ready for breakfast.

You have your usual breakfast of cereal with milk and grab an apple for the road. You're feeling pretty good and refreshed, you're clean, you smell nice and you've just kicked off your metabolism for the day with a nutritious and healthy breakfast. Well, that's one way of looking at it. What you're probably not aware of is the phenomenal amount of toxins you've just absorbed or ingested in your body within your first hour of waking.

The skin is the body's largest organ and it is very efficient at absorbing and transporting to the blood and cells whatever it comes into contact with. Barbara Griggs, the author of "Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine" (Healing Arts Press, Rochester, 1991) tells this story of healing via poultices applied to the skin:

"This hot aromatic poultice of stimulating and antiseptic herbs very probably did the trick - and reminds us that until only very recently, poultices and foot-baths were very common ways of applying medicine, not just because of their local heating or counter-irritant value, but because their virtues are absorbed through the skin. Mustard foot-baths - piping hot - have always been a popular remedy for coughs, colds and chestiness in my family - a folk-remedy of hundreds of years' standing which we have always found highly effective. Research by the German firm Madaus has recently revealed a rationale for this treatment: mustard seeds contain a powerful antibiotic, which is absorbed directly through the particularly sensitive skin of the feet." (pg.92-93)

When you realize how very efficient the skin is at absorbing and integrating into the body anything it comes into contact with, you might also want to take a second look at exactly what elements you're introducing to your body via your skin. Every single product that you've used during your sample morning outlined above likely contains toxic and carcinogenic elements - from your toothpaste to your deodorant. In addition, many of the products available in North America contain chemicals that have been completely banned in numerous other countries. It's beyond the scope of this article to go into exactly what each of these chemicals are and which products they're found in, but rest assured if you didn't buy all your toiletry products from a reputable health pharmacy, you're likely absorbing toxic and carcinogenic elements from every single product you use.

Then there's the supposedly healthy breakfast you ate. But what about the secondary hormones, antibiotics, and pesticide residues in the milk? Your cereal packet was likely sprayed with BHA or BHT:

"Researchers report that BHA in the diet of pregnant mice results in brain enzyme changes in their offspring including a 50 percent decreased activity in brain cholinesterase, which is responsible for the transmission of nerve impulses. BHA and BHT also affect the animal's sleep, levels of aggression and weight." (Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, by The Burton Goldberg Group, pg. 169)

Maybe you sweetened your cereal with Aspartame, which is banned in numerous countries and has the longest list of complaints the FDA has ever received. Then there are the pesticide residues found in the cereal itself and also on and in your apple. Your supposedly "normal" morning routine is beginning to look like a toxic nightmare.

We have to wonder why childhood cancer rates are up several hundred percent from the 1970's. What exactly is causing all these auto-immune diseases like lupus, fibromyalgia, Crohn's, multiple sclerosis, etc? And why is it that the incidence rate of cancer in America is now 1 in 3? Could it be that between our diet, environmental pollutants, household cleansers, cookware, toiletries, water supply, synthetic materials, building materials and other supposedly "normal" elements, we are slowly and synergistically poisoning ourselves?

"The EPA does not have a scientifically acceptable method for determining the risk for multiple chemical exposure. Yet when scientists have done studies on multiple chemical exposure, it seems quite clear that the chemicals act synergistically. In one 1976 study, a scientific team used three chemicals on a group of rats. The chemicals were tested one at a time on the rats without ill-effect. When the scientists gave the rats two at a time, a decline in health was noted. When the rats were given all three chemicals at once, they all died within two weeks." (Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, by The Burton Goldberg Group, pg. 168)

You can also start becoming aware and simply take notice of the number of chemicals you're ingesting, absorbing or otherwise exposing your body to. Start reading the labels on products you buy, the food you eat, and toiletries you use. Fortunately, there are non-toxic, environmentally-friendly versions available of nearly every product or food you currently use. Start shopping at organic food stores and health pharmacies. You can eliminate a tremendous amount of daily toxins simply by changing your personal hygiene, household cleaning and dietary habits. Yes, it's more expensive, but would you rather pay the price with your health or your pocketbook? Eliminating the avoidable toxins from your lifestyle and diet will relieve a great deal of stress from your body; leaving it free to use its energy to process the unavoidable toxins and pollutants in our environment.

© 2001 Jini Patel Thompson
www.caramal.com

Jini Patel Thompson was diagnosed with widespread Crohn's Disease in 1986. For the next three years she adhered to medical treatment protocols until it became clear they were not helping her. She spent the next seven years researching and experimenting with alternative healing methods and therapies as she lived and worked in Canada, Japan and England. Jini has since remained drug and surgery-free for over 15 years. She continues to manage her symptoms and heal flare-ups using the natural methods described in Listen To Your Gut and The IBD Remission Diet.

Jini Patel Thompson has a Bachelor's degree in English and Sociology from the University of Alberta (1989). She then worked as a journalist and magazine editor in Tokyo, Japan for two years, followed by three years in the music business in London, U.K. She then set up a telecommunications company in Vancouver, BC, sold it five years later and started a publishing company. Her health articles have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers throughout North America, Europe and Australia and she has appeared on radio and TV shows in the U.S. Jini currently runs her own publishing/consulting business and travels often throughout North America, Asia and Europe. Jini lives with her husband and two children in White Rock, BC.

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