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Toxins are ubiquitous.

Exposure can come from many sources. Toxins have a huge impact on our health. This is the reason that toxins are a key area of focus in my own health coaching practice. And I educate my clients on how to avoid them and reduce exposure to them.

Toxins are all around us and yet, often overlooked as an important contributor to causing diseases. Diseases like cancer, autoimmune disease, diabetes, dementia, fatigue and depression, and many more others.

Our toxic world

Toxins enter our bodies every day through the water we drink, the air that we breathe, the foods that we eat, the products that we apply to our skin and use at home. Even medications and treatments prescribed to us fall into this category.

The impact of these toxins is the maximum on our children since their bodies are still developing. At the same time, we are exposed to not one but a huge combination of toxins on a daily basis.

I first came to know about the kind of impact that toxins have on our health when I was doing research on this topic in 2015. This was a part of the Functional Medicine protocol that I had started following to help bring my daughter’s severe eczema under control.

During my research, I came to know that toxins produce all kinds of health issues and symptoms. I realised that toxins would have certainly contributed to my daughter’s eczema and I worked on reducing our exposure at home.

Till then I had been unaware of the many different ways that toxins cause damage and disease in our bodies.

The toxin landscape

There are a few things that you need to be aware of when it comes to toxins

• Any substance can be a toxin, natural or artificial, as long as it causes structural or functional disturbances in our bodies

• What is toxic for one person is likely just fine for another person. In other words, our toxin tolerance is particularly individual

• No matter where you reside in the world, you are being exposed to not one but multiple toxins at the same time. Also, these often work synergistically to cause even more disease and damage

• Exposure can come from many sources, not only external but also internal like our own metabolism and our gut bacteria

• Toxins can be well managed and excreted by a healthy body to some extent

So the question is, why don’t you hear more about all of this? 

Why has it taken so long to acknowledge the role of toxins in terms of causing disease and damage?

It’s mostly because conventional medicine and approach and research fall terribly short when it comes to these kinds of issues.

Conventional medicine works brilliantly when there is a simple connection between the cause of a disease. Like the connection between a bacteria causing an infection and the treatment, like an antibiotic.

However, this model fails if there are multiple causes or contributing factors.

This means that unless there is a high level of toxic exposure, the connection between toxins and disease progression is overlooked.

At the same time, each of us is biochemically unique. This means that even if we are exposed to the same toxin, our bodies will differ hugely in their ability to detoxify the toxin.

This makes it hard to come up with hard, fast rules that apply to everyone.

If you would like to dig deeper into this topic, I highly recommend this book.

In the recent live training I had done on this topic I shared a few common myths and truths about toxins. I also shared a few ways that toxins dysregulate your body and cause damage and disease.

You can watch the video below.

The hidden “elephant” in the room

Toxins are like the elephant in the room- hidden from sight but unavoidable.

However, once you know how you are getting exposed you can work on reducing your exposure. You can also start supporting your body’s own ability to detoxify by focusing on sustainable, long term health.

While toxin exposure is unavoidable, you can reduce your exposure and avoid toxins as much as possible.

I want to leave you with this-

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better

Maya Angelou