The 10 Americans

Most of us are aware of Environmental Pollution and efforts are slowly being made to address this issue. Industrial air pollution has improved, our lakes and rivers are cleaner, we recycle, we carpool, and we generally make an effort to be more "green".

Despite all of this, we are still exposed to thousands of harmful chemicals each day. Pollution has changed over the years and has now become invisible. It time to look at Human Pollution - the toxic burden that exists in each of us. We need to continue efforts to clean our environment and start to focus on the steps we can take to rid ourselves of these pollutants.A small study was completed some years ago by the Environmental Working Group, an American non-profit organization that advocates for the protection of public health and the environment. The study involved 10 Americans and their toxic exposure. The embedded video describes this study and its implications.This is both a fascinating and scary video providing perspective on the seriousness of environmental toxins. I highly recommend watching The Ten Americans.

The take away message from this video is that we all have measurable levels of harmful chemicals in our body. While we need to support the initiatives of the Environmental Working Group and our Canadian Environmental Defense Group in their lobbying efforts for policy change, there are important lifestyle changes that we must make to decrease our own toxic exposure.

Organs of Elimination

One way we can all improve our general level of health is by supporting our organs of elimination.

Our primary organs of elimination include the lungs, the skin, the kidneys and the digestive system. Through these four organs we eliminate waste products from our body. From the lungs we eliminate carbon dioxide, from the skin we excrete sweat, urine is voided by the kidneys and stool is eliminated from the digestive system. These are all of the natural and normal ways our body eliminates that which we have no use for: by-products of our metabolism and toxins that we accumulate from our environment through our air, food and water.

Proper elimination is essential for health. When these waste products are not eliminated efficiently from the body, they will accumulate and contribute to ill health. Many common symptoms can be cured by simply supporting our organs of elimination.

To support our kidneys we need to drink an adequate amount of water each day. I recommend drinking half of your body weight(lbs) in ounces. See blog post "Water" for more information.

To support our lungs we need to practice deep breathing. Aim for 100 deep belly breaths over the course of the day.

For the skin we need to promote sweating (think exercise) and allow the skin to breathe by practicing dry skin brushing each day.

For the digestive system we must ensure we are having a minimum of 1 bowel movement each day. Anything less is considered constipation. (see blog post "Improving Bowel Regularity")

One other system that plays a key role in elimination is our lymphatic system. See previous post entitled "The Importance of the Lymphatic System" for more information.

By enhancing the function of our organs of elimination we can more efficiently eliminate the toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis and we can begin to eliminate waste products we have stored in our body. Supporting the function of our lungs, kidneys, skin and digestive tract is paramount to good health.

By improving your body's ability to eliminate you can expect a reduction of symptoms, improved energy levels, enhanced weight loss, a general sense of well-being and prevention of future disease.