KEEPING YOUR AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM HEALTHY

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© March 2013, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

 

The human nervous system has two major divisions, the voluntary and the autonomic systems.

            The voluntary system is concerned mainly with movement and sensation.  It consists of motor and sensory nerves, among many others. 

            The autonomic system mainly controls functions over which we have less conscious control.  These include the digestion of food, maintaining the blood pressure and heart rate, and much more.  Its nerves leave the spine and connect to all the major organs and glands, either inhibiting or stimulating their activity.  This article is an in-depth look at the autonomic nervous system.

THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

            The autonomic system has two branches.  These are called the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches.

              The Sympathetic Branch.  This activates the glands and organs that defend the body against attack.  It is called the fight-or-flight system.  Its nerves direct more blood to the muscles and the brain.  The heart rate and blood pressure increase, while it decreases the blood flow to the digestive and eliminative organs.  It also activates the thyroid and adrenal glands to provide extra energy for fighting or running away.  Nervousness, stress or feelings of panic are what one feels when in a sympathetic state of readiness.

            The sympathetic system is catabolic, which means it tears down the body.  Energy is used to prepare for defense, rather than for nourishment or for elimination of wastes.  An excellent analogy is to imagine placing all of the nation’s resources in its military defense.  While helpful in an emergency, if continued too long, the nation becomes much poorer for lack of productive commercial activity. The feeling of an “adrenalin rush” is a product of the sympathetic system.  It may feel good at first, but is always followed by a feeling of fatigue, as this system uses up energy and depletes the body.

              The Parasympathetic Branch. This is concerned with nourishing, healing, elimination and regeneration of the body.  It is somewhat more anabolic, or concerned with rebuilding the body. 

            Its nerves stimulate digestion, and the immune and eliminative organs.  These organs include the liver, pancreas, stomach and intestines.  The parasympathetic nervous system, when activated by rest, relaxation and happy thoughts, is essential for balanced living and for all healing.

            Moving yourself into a healthy parasympathetic state, and staying there as much of the time as possible, helps heal all health conditions, both physical and emotional ones as well.

            The feeling often associated with the parasympathetic state can be one of lethargy or fatigue, as you are so relaxed.  Do not, however, believe this is unhealthy.  Rather, it indicates a state of repair and rebuilding in progress.

            Antagonism of The Sympathetic And Parasympathetic Branches.  Only one or the other system can be active at a particular time.  The sympathetic branch powerfully inhibits the parasympathetic system.  This is, of course, a survival mechanism because the emergency system, the sympathetic, takes precedence over the relaxation and healing.

            Thus, either one or the other is activated most all of the time.   To promote balance and healing, the goal is to keep the sympathetic system turned off as much as possible.  This allows the maximum healing to occur.  Simple ways to do this are to rest, relax and think happy thoughts.  As soon as you think fearful or angry thoughts, or become too physically active, the body shifts into a sympathetic stance.       

            The sympathetic nervous system may be roughly likened to the gas pedal of a car.  The parasympathetic is more like the brake.  Unlike a car, however, when the ‘brake’ is applied to the body, it begins to heal itself.

            Emotionally, the sympathetic branch of the autonomic system is associate with fear.  The parasympathetic branch is associated with feelings of love.  Love always drives out fear.

AUTONOMIC STATES

            Relatively few people today have a strong and balanced autonomic system.  Most people favor the sympathetic branch over the parasympathetic branch.  Before discussing these types of individuals, let us discuss the ideal situation.

              The Balanced Individual – A Flexible Oxidizer.  When the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are working as they should, the tendency is to rest often and easily.  One can, however, perform at “top speed” with equal ease. When challenged by stress, the balanced person is able to respond with vigor and fortitude.

            The parasympathetic system reduces the activity of the brain, the muscles, and the adrenal and thyroid glands.  When no situation is pressing, the balanced person can comfortably choose to rest and can go to sleep easily and deeply.  Babies often have this ability.  However, few adults have this capability today because they overuse their sympathetic system, which is the emergency alert system that inhibits rest and sleep.

            In hair analysis terms, the balanced individual will be a flexible oxidizer.  This means the person is able and comfortable slowing down at bedtime and yet also able to run, play and even fight when needed.  These activities tend to speed up the metabolism.  Thus the balanced individual may be somewhat of a slow oxidizer or somewhat fast, but fairly balanced or neutral.

            It is important to note that just because a hair analysis reveals a fairly balanced oxidation rate, however, does not mean the person is a flexible oxidizer.  In fact, the test may be skewed in many ways by toxic metals, living habits or other factors that can make it appear balanced or flexible.

            For example, cadmium will raise up the sodium and to some extent the potassium levels on the test.  So if a person is a slow oxidizer, but they smoke cigarettes or have some other source of exposure to cadmium, the test may superficially appear balanced or flexible.

            In fact, this is the reason why some people enjoy cigarettes, so in this sense only, they are not all bad.  However, the point is that many factors can cause the body to compensate for its imbalances at a superficial or even deeper levels.  Thus we never regard a first or even later hair test as the deepest reality.  Later tests will show deeper layers of adaptation and compensation in all cases.

  In fact, there is no limit to how many layers of compensations and adaptations may be unloaded in a person who desires the greatest level of health and well-being.

HEALTHY FAST OXIDATION, A MORE SYMPATHETIC STATE OF BODY CHEMISTRY

            Early in life, all of us are fast oxidizers.  This means that our adrenal and thyroid activity is excessive, in general terms. This also corresponds to an alarm stage of stress in the stress theory of disease.   On average, that is, very young bodies tend to be in a sympathetic state of body chemistry most of the time.

            Medical science is well aware that newborns, for example, have a high heart rate, and even their body temperature tends to be a little higher than older adults.  These are symptoms of fast oxidation. 

            Babies do well on lots of dietary fat and the high level of calcium found in mother’s milk.  These are other indicators of fast oxidation.  They also are usually warm and pink and have rather loose bowel movements.  These, also, are indicators of fast oxidation.

            On their hair tissue mineral analyses, in general, they have low levels of calcium and magnesium and elevated levels of sodium and potassium.  This is what we call fast oxidation.  Click here to read more about The Oxidation Types.  It is a critical concept in our healing work, although it is still quite controversial.  Others use blood, urine or other tests to determine the oxidation rate.  However, it is not usually the same as the hair level determination we use. 

            Babies are in a sympathetic state because they are new to the world with a lot to learn in a very short time.  There are also many hormonal reasons for this condition in babies that are beyond the scope of this article.

SLOW OXIDATION, A MORE PARASYMPATHETIC STATE OF BODY CHEMISTRY

            The other common states of body chemistry we call slow oxidation.  In theory, these can be of two types, healthy and unhealthy. 

            Healthy Slow Oxidation.  The healthy state is encountered only rarely.  It occurs only in the spiritually developed people.  They live most of their lives in the present moment.  They are almost always relaxed, do not react to stress, and live in a state of peace and contentment.

            They must stay very relaxed and inactive, as any activity tends to enhance sympathetic activity to some degree. Healthy parasympathetic dominance is due to what may be called spiritual development.  This is the discipline to think and live differently.  One reduces stress and strain on the body by resting and nourishing it so that it can rebuild and maintain a super healthy state.  This is so rare it is hardly worth knowing about, except as a theoretical state.

            Unhealthy Parasympathetic States = Most Slow Oxidizers.  This is very common.  It is revealed on up to 90 % of adult hair mineral analyses, for example.  It is basically the end stage of sympathetic burnout.  People in this condition have exhausted their sympathetic systems so much, their bodies flip into a default parasympathetic state we call slow oxidation.

            It is a condition in which the sympathetic organs, the thyroid, adrenals and the muscles and brain, in fact, are operating more sluggishly.  These people are often tired, apathetic, and tend to get depressed easily.

            This state is far more common in adults than it is in young children.  However, it is seen more and more commonly in children, as they are born far more toxic and depleted today. 

            This state corresponds to an exhaustion stage of stress according tot he stress theory of disease, another important concept to master if one is to use hair analysis properly.

            In this condition of body chemistry, one cannot fight back as well as in fast oxidation, so they do not tend to fight at all.  They are essentially in a state of give-up at one level, although few are aware of this.  However, it often manifests in behavior patterns such as fearfulness, depression, apathy and even despair and suicide when in the extreme case.

            The hair analyses of these people have elevated calcium and magnesium levels and often low sodium and potassium levels, providing the hair is not washed at the laboratory.  Click here to read Hair Analysis Controversy about this and other important aspect of hair mineral analysis.

            This is, of course, the exact opposite of the fast oxidizer hair analysis.  The causes of this unhealthy parasympathetic states are quite a few.  Recall that it is just a late stage of excessive sympathetic activity.  This causes nutritional depletion, excessive tissue breakdown and eventually general destruction of the body tissues and organs. 

            It is made far worse by lack of rest, improper diet, poor eating habits, worry, fears, angers and more.  Other causes include victim thinking, electromagnetic pollution, toxic metals and toxic chemicals in the food, air and water.

OTHER AUTONOMIC IMBALANCES REVEALED ON HAIR MINERAL ANALYSES

              1. Sympathetic Dominance.  Many people today overuse their sympathetic nervous system. They do not spend enough time in a parasympathetic state to fully rebuild their bodies.  Their bodies eventually become nutritionally depleted and they become quite literally ‘burned out’.  Today, even children are often burned out, in this sense, due to stress, poor diets and nutritional deficiencies they are born with.

            Hair analysis criteria for sympathetic dominance.  As of March 2011, sympathetic dominance seems to be reliably revealed on a hair mineral analysis when the hair has not been washed at the laboratory in the following ways:

              1. A hair potassium of 4 mg% or less. If the potassium is 4 mg%, it is a single indicator.  If the potassium is 3 mg%, it is considered a double or more severe indicator.  If potassium is about 2 mg%, it is considered a triple indicator.  If it is 1 mg%, it is considered a quadruple indicator of sympathetic dominance.

              Additionally, and only if the potassium level is 4 mg% or less, the pattern is more severe if the sodium/potassium ratio greater than about 4.

              Additionally, and only if the potassium is less than 4 mg% and the sodium/potassium ratio is greater than about 4, the pattern is even more severe if the calcium/magnesium ratio is greater than about 9.5.

            Additionally, the pattern is present regardless of the potassium reading if: A) three or four of the macrominerals (calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium) are elevated above their ideal levels, and B) the sodium/potassium ratio is above about 3.

            Causes for sympathetic dominance.  Some people take on too much work.  Others analyze too much or worry excessively.  Others live in fear, anger or resentment too much of the time.  A person in this condition may also talk, think, eat or work at a rapid pace, faster than the optimum for that person. They become toxic and nutritionally depleted, which makes the condition much worse.           

            Once they are used to sympathetic dominance, a vicious cycle often occurs.  They become so used to being tired that if, by chance, they get a lot of rest one day, they use up their energy the next day, instead of continuing to rest.  They do not allow their bodies to use the energy they accumulated for healing and rebuilding.  As a result, they tend to stay depleted and out of balance.

            One may not overt signs of sympathetic dominance.  It is not about fatigue, at least not a first.  One may just power through any fatigue by stimulating the adrenals and thyroid to put out more hormones.  However, eventually one will become quite tired and out of sorts.  For much more about this topic, read Sympathetic Dominance on this website.

            2. Parasympathetic dominance.  This is less common.  It may be described as a mental and emotional tendency to remain relaxed or in a parasympathetic state most of the time.

More extreme examples might be found in some advanced meditators, monks and yogis who have been specifically trained to remain calm and unperturbed no matter what occurs around them.  Meditation is a very useful tool to help this occur, and these people often meditate properly for hours each day to develop their minds and bodies in this way.

They are very oriented toward a more regenerative or parasympathetic lifestyle, diet and mentality.  They are rarely ill, generally, and usually live a very long and healthy life.

            A more common parasympathetic dominant person that we encounter is one whose sympathetic nervous system is in such poor shape that the person has either learned or must, for physiological reasons, remain in a parasympathetic state most of the time.  These people may be relaxed and fall asleep easily, but it is not due to excellent health, but rather to a damaged body that just needs a lot of rest and cannot be aroused as much as some others.

            The cause of their parasympathetic nature might be a combination of physical and emotional factors.  For example, the presence of a toxic metal, nutrient deficiencies, or perhaps emotional traumas effectively prevents the sympathetic nervous system from activating properly.  As a result, the person is 'stuck' in a parasympathetic mode of autonomic functioning.  This helps explain some 'couch potatoes' type of individuals who seem lazy, unambitious, and perhaps uncaring and unproductive.  I believe that many poor nations where nutrition is very inadequate have many people like this who are relaxed, but it is because they lack the energy to function in a more balanced way.  This can be due to a combination of biochemical imbalances, childhood traumas, oppression, and perhaps even genetics.

            Some people exhibit a combination of all of the above.  They are people who seem more able to remain at peace in the face of stress, and they relax more easily and may be able to drift off to sleep more easily, for example.  At times this is due to intelligence, a well-developed personality, healthful lifestyle habits and good self-esteem.  In other cases, there may be more underlying physical, mental or emotional pathology that accounts for their behavior and attitudes.

A properly performed and properly interpreted hair mineral analysis might help identify the true nature of this situation.  Those who are wise and balanced in their habits and attitudes will often have a more balanced oxidation rate with good mineral ratios.  Those who are less healthy will often have higher levels of toxic metals, lower levels of nutrient minerals, and more imbalanced oxidation rates – either fast or slow, but usually slower.

3. Four lows pattern.  This is a type of disconnect in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) that is like spinning the wheels of the car on ice, or gunning the engine while the car is in neutral gear, meaning the transmission is not engaged, so power is not properly transmitted to the wheels.  It is a very harmful pattern on a hair mineral test.  You can read about it at Four Lows Pattern.

4. Three highs/four highs pattern.  This is a combination of slow and faster oxidation that we call a slow oxidizer under stress.  It is a particular type of stress, called in acupuncture terms toxic yang.  You can read about it in the article entitled Four Highs Pattern. 

These are just some of the most important autonomic imbalances revealed on a properly performed hair mineral analysis.  Learning about the many possible aberrations that can occur in the autonomic nervous system is a fascinating research area in which hair mineral testing can help greatly.

WHAT TO DO TO BALANCE YOUR AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

              There is much anyone can do to keep the autonomic system functioning well.

·                             Rest often.  Nap often, and sleep at least 8-11 hours or more each night.  The hours before midnight are by far the best for sleeping.  Avoid excessive activity of any kind.  Even exercise is often overdone.  Exercise is a powerful sympathetic stimulant.  Avoid getting exhausted by any activity you engage in.  Be careful when using exercise to “run away” from stress, for example.  More rest is often what is really required.

·                             Eat well.  The nervous system must be properly nourished to function correctly.  Animal protein is particularly helpful for the brain and nervous system as it contains fats and proteins essential for the nerves.  These include the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids.  Excellent foods for the nervous system are eggs, meats, nuts, root vegetables and oily fish such as sardines and salmon.

            Supplemental nutrients that calm the sympathetic system are calcium, magnesium, kelp, selenium, manganese and zinc, among many others.  Other calming nutrients include GABA, L-taurine and a product called ICMN from Endomet Laboratories in Phoenix, Arizona that contains inositol, choline, methionine and niacinamide.  Herbs that calm the nervous system are many, including valerian, passionflower, skullcap and hops.

·                             Reduce your stress level as much as possible.  Stress is a major activator of the sympathetic nervous system.  It can arise from within the body due to fatigue, muscle tension, spinal misalignment or nutritional deficiencies, among other reasons.

            Stress can also come from outside, such as financial, work or family stress.  Other types of stress to minimize or avoid are living in a noisy environment, or in one with contaminated air and water.

            Electromagnetic stress is also very real, although it cannot be seen.  Reduce your use of computers if possible, and do not keep televisions, computers and other electrical devices on when not in use.  Be sure to turn them all off when you sleep, and keep even clocks and radios away from your head in the location where you sleep.

            Activities like driving and even exercise are also stress-producing, even if you are not aware of it at the time.  A simple lifestyle and gentle exercise is a step in the right direction to reduce or limit your stress.

·                              Keep your thoughts and your emotions as uplifted and positive as you possibly can, all of the time.

·                             Do your very best to stay in gratitude.  This will help keep you in a positive, uplifted state.

·                             Practice forgiveness.  This places you in a position of power and compassion.  It is much better than allowing yourself to feel like a victim, which always leads to a fight-or-flight response.

·                             Cultivate contentment.   This is different from feeling you need to be ecstatically happy all the time.  This type of happiness, as most people know it, is often short-lived.  It is often an attempt to overcome feelings of unhappiness.  Contentment or joy, in contrast, is a state in which you are at peace with yourself and the world, even if the world around you is not to your liking.  You can learn to let the world go and choose contentment and joy rather than attempting always to control the world around you.

·                             Do not to compare yourself with others.  This causes fear, and often anger and resentment.  The world never seems fair from our limited perspectives.  There is much that is hidden.  If you knew more about others’ lives, you would be less anxious to trade places with them.

·                             Train you mind to stay out of negative emotions.  These include worry, fear, anger and guilt.  These emotions turn on the sympathetic system and keep it active. Meditation, affirmations, counseling and other natural therapies all can help.  Also, surround yourself only with uplifting books, tapes and other forms of media.  Pick your friends and relationships carefully.  Work, school and all your activities either contribute to your contentment or detract from it.

·                             Become aware of who and what truly give you energy, versus who and what mainly use up your energy.  This is rather complex.  Meditation of the type we recommend can help a lot to identify these feelings accurately, since one cannot go on feelings alone.  We have an article on this site on the topic of Vampirism that elaborates it in more detail. 

·                             Practice breathing deeply.  This is one way to control the autonomic system with a voluntary action.  Slow, deep breathing by itself turns off the sympathetic system.

CONCLUSION

            The health of the autonomic nervous system is a critical aspect to healing that is often overlooked.  Most people today have some degree of sympathetic nervous exhaustion.  It is, in fact, a major cause of all disease that should receive much more attention. 

            On a brighter note, nervous exhaustion can also cause a person to begin searching for answers deep inside.  This can lead to changing your lifestyle and eating habits, and developing your inner potential. As more people become willing to change their thought patterns and lifestyles, they will experience a state of contentment and bliss that comes with having a balanced autonomic system.

The Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems

 

Sympathetic System

Parasympathetic System

Function

To defend the body against attack

Healing, regeneration and nourishing the body

Overall Effect

Catabolic (breaks down the body)

Anabolic (builds up the body)

Organs and Glands It Activates

The brain, muscles, the insulin pancreas, and the thyroid and adrenal glands

The liver, kidneys, enzyme pancreas, spleen, stomach, small intestines and colon

Hormones and  Substances It Increases

Insulin, cortisol and the thyroid hormones

Parathyroid hormone, pancreatic enzymes, bile and other digestive enzymes

Body Functions It Activates

Raises blood pressure and blood sugar, and increases heat production and circulation

Activates digestion, elimination and the immune system

Psychological Qualities

Fear, guilt, sadness, anger, willfulness, and aggressiveness.

Calmness, love, contentment and relaxation

Factors That Activate This System

Stress, fears, anger, worry, other negative emotions and thoughts, excessive thinking and too much exercise

Rest, sleep, meditation, relaxation therapies and feelings of being loved and appreciated

CHELATION THERAPY

By Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© January 2015, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Chelation therapy is the use of specific chemical substances, either synthetic chemicals or natural ones, to remove a few toxic metals from a person’s body.  It is used mainly by holistic doctors and naturopaths.  It is not an officially “approved therapy” for most conditions in conventional medical care today.  It is most commonly used to remove calcium deposits from the arteries.

The word, to chelate, means to grab onto something.  Thus, chelating agents are substances that have a strong ability to grab onto toxic metals.

Not the same as chelated minerals.  Chelation therapy is completely different from the concept of chelated minerals.  The latter are minerals that are tightly bound to specific mineral transporters so that they are absorbed faster and better into the body inside the intestinal tract.  In fact, our bodies naturally chelate or bind minerals in the stomach and intestines in order to absorb them properly.

Chelation therapy, however, has nothing to do with absorbing minerals.  It has to do with removing minerals by the use of a chemical that binds to them tightly.

Overall recommendations.  I would definitely avoid chelation therapy.  True, it is safer than bypass surgery, and less costly, but it is not needed, and it is not safe enough.  Many people today are told that the more they chelate their heavy metals, the better.  This is insane advice, as this article will explain.

I wish I could recommend chelation therapy, but I cannot.   Everything that can be done with chelation therapy can be done better with a complete nutritional balancing program, so that is what I suggest.

A CHELATION TESTIMONIAL

Here is an email I received.  One can argue that the timing of his stroke was purely coincidental, and not related to his chelation therapy.  However, I think this is unlikely. 

The patient was a young adult, and seemingly healthy at the time he had chelation.  Today, unlike the past, people who seem healthy may not be that healthy, and this can complicate chelation therapy.

Dear Dr. Wilson,

I was treated by my naturopath with 2 chelation treatments to remove heavy metals in June 2012.  The day after the second treatment I had a severe migraine, that Tylenol not Advil would help at all.  The morning of the next day the headache continued until I collapsed at work.  My first aid attendant at work called 911 and I was in emergency room in 17 minutes, where they scanned and found I had a brain stem hemorrhage.  The doctors said that in another 30 minutes I would have died.

My blood pressure was so high I was put into drug-induced coma, where I remained for the next 9 days!  When they took me out of the coma, my kids were told your dad is alive, but will likely have "serious deficiencies".  Incredibly, I have made a good recovery, but can no longer do a lot of the lifestyle I enjoyed.

My immediate short term memory is poor.  I was active and enjoyed hard work, and activities like windsurfing, kayaking, rock climbing, etc.  The doctors advise against these.

- J.S.

PROBLEMS WITH ALL CHELATION THERAPY

            These include the following:

1. Random and erratic removal of vital minerals.  All chelating agents, both natural and synthetic, remove some essential mineral compounds from the body.  This is a serious problem today for two main reasons.  First, many people are already extremely deficient in many essential minerals such as zinc, chromium, selenium, manganese and others.  If one removes even a little of the essential minerals, the person can become much more ill, even though the deficiency state can be subtle.

The other problem with removing some essential minerals is that it further unbalances or upsets the body chemistry, often in ways that are difficult to repair.  For this reason, removing vital minerals from the body in a random way is usually the worst problem with all chelation – synthetic or natural - that we observe.

Physicians that offer chelation say they replenish the vital minerals with either oral supplements or minerals added to an intravenous chelation bottle.  However, in our experience, this is not true.  The proper foms of the minerals often come from food and cannot be duplicated with pills or IV minerals.  In fact, replenishing minerals in the human body is a delicate, exacting process and it cannot be done by just ‘dumping’ them into the bloodstream or with mineral supplements. 

I believe that a complete nutritional balancing program can replace the vital minerals lost through chelation therapy, however.  For more about this, please read Introduction To Nutritional Balancing on this website.

2. Unbalancing the body.  Chelation rips toxic metals out of the arteries, veins and some tissues without regard for the overall balance of the body chemistry.  Replacing minerals with IV pushes and piles of vitamin pills does the same thing, or worse. 

If one unbalances the body, the vitality always suffers, even if symptomatic improvement occurs.  This is a major problem with chelation, using either natural and synthetic chelating agents.

3. The toxicity of many chelating agents.  All chelating agents are toxic, or potentially toxic.  The synthetic chelators such as EDTA, DMPS, DMSA, penicillamine, deferoxamine and other drugs are known to be toxic for the kidneys, in particular.  Kidney problems can cause high blood pressure, or worse damage to the body.

Dr. Paul Eck found that IV chelation therapy tends to lower the sodium/potassium ratio on a hair mineral analysis.  This is always a bad sign that may be related to kidney toxicity.

The nature of the damage is that methylation in the kidney seems to be affected.  I know this because giving clients who have had chelation therapy in the past with DMPS, DMSA or EDTA some trimthylglycine or TMG seems to help them a lot.  TMG is a powerful methyl donor.

The toxicity may not be apparent, although some chelation protocols demand that the doctor check the patient’s liver and kidney function periodically, for this reason.  Unfortunately, normal liver and kidney blood tests are not sensitive enough to detect subtle damage due to chelating agents.

Natural chelators such as high-dose vitamin C, zeolite, chlorella, cilantro extract, distilled water, reverse osmosis water, charcoal tablets and others are less toxic, but still damaging in various ways, and should be avoided.  The safest agents are sulfur amino acids, garlic, modified citrus pectin, and the alginates.  While safer, these are quite yin in Chinese medical terms and must be used sparingly, if at all.

4. Removal of toxic metals is not thorough enough.  Most, if not all of the chelating agents only work in the blood and in the tissues and organs located near larger blood vessels.  Repeated use of the chelating agents can go somewhat deeper, but then the hazards of chelation such as removing more essential minerals also increase.

In contrast, nutritional balancing science begins at the cellular level and works at this level.  The metals can slowly be removed at much deeper levels, as a result, and much more thoroughly.  Several patients of mine had previously undergone 40 or more chelation treatments.  This is usually considered enough to rid the body of lead, mercury or other metals.  However, when these patients went on a nutritional balancing program, they began to eliminate significant amounts of these toxic metals that supposedly had already been removed.  The only explanation I can think of is that deeper deposits were now being removed that were not reached by the chelating agents.

5. Chelation does not remove a dozen toxic metals very well.  Chelating agents are somewhat helpful to remove mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, copper, iron, aluminum and perhaps a few other toxic metals.  However, they will not remove very well about a dozen other toxic metals for various reasons that are not well understood.  By contrast, nutritional balancing science will remove all of the toxic metals, along with hundreds of toxic chemicals as well. 

6. Chelation does not address some deeper causes of illness, and indeed often makes body chemistry more unbalanced.  While toxic metal removal is helpful in some cases, many times the metal accumulation is due to many other bodily imbalances.  These include Yin Disease, Sympathetic Dominance, mineral deficiencies, chronic infections, imbalanced mineral ratios and more.

Nutritional balancing approaches the problem of toxic metals from a different perspective.  First one balances the body and renourishes the body.  One also removes the need for adaptations to stress.  Toxic metals often function as adaptations to the stress of mineral deficiencies and other things. 

When one balances and renourishes the body in a particular manner, the body automatically begins to remove the metals by itself.  Our bodies have millions of years of experience removing toxic metals, and the body can do this easily when it is balanced and nourished properly. 

When metal removal is done this way, the toxic metals also will not tend to reaccumulate nearly as much, so less therapy is actually required.

Also, the process is much safer.  The toxic metals can actually perform a useful function to balance certain mineral ratios.  Just pulling them out can be like pulling one’s finger out of a hole in a dike that was holding back the water.  This is why patients sometimes have very bad reactions to chelation therapy.  Such reactions do not occur as much with nutritional balancing science because the emphasis is on balance and nourishment first.

7. Stopping mental and spiritual development.  One of the problems with bypass surgery is that the anesthesia drugs from a long and complex surgery often cause permanent mental impairment.  However, the effects of chelation therapy can be as bad, in my experience.  The reason is that by removing tiny amounts of certain forms of minerals such as zinc and selenium, chelation therapy easily stops the development of some of the finer brain centers.  Unfortunately, these effects are difficult or even impossible to reverse, in my experience to date.

When this type of mental development is stopped or damaged, people report, for example, that they feel less connected to God or the holy spirit.  This can be devastating for them.  Please consider this when tempted to opt for chelation therapy instead of a nutritional balancing program.

8. Chelation removes toxic metals in an unnatural order. In nutritional balancing, all of the toxic metals are removed in the body’s own order.  This is a complex and delicate process.  The practitioner simply keeps balancing and supporting the overall stress response by balancing the key mineral ratios and oxidation rate, and the body does the rest. 

Chelation therapy is more of a ‘sledgehammer’ approach that literally rips the toxic metals out of the enzyme binding sites in a totally unnatural order.  This can cause problems such as those described in the email above.

In addition, because the order is unnatural, some reaccumulation of the toxic metals might occur, necessitating more chelation therapy in the future.  It is also possible that toxic metals that the body either cannot remove well enough or that reaccumulate for other reason will end up in more vital organs.  This does not occur with a properly designed nutritional balancing program.

9. Cost and necessity.  Intravenous chelation can be somewhat costly, although it is far cheaper than bypass surgery, for example.  Neither one, however, are needed, in our experience.

10. Redistributing toxins in more critical organs.  This is related to the toxicity of some of the synthetic chelators such as EDTA and DMPS.  These drugs can bind to and mobilize some toxic metals that are stored in relatively safe or benign locations in the body. 

The toxic metal bound to the chelator then moves to the kidneys, for example, where the body may have trouble removing it due to the nature of the chelator.  In this way, some toxic metals are redistributed by chelating agents to more critical organs, where they may do more damage.

11. No matter what anyone claims, chelation therapy is an allopathic, or drug approach to healing.  By this I mean that it does not address underlying imbalances, it is somewhat toxic, it never balances the body, and it usually reduces the overall vitality of the body. 

This is important because naturopaths and holistic doctors claim to avoid allopathic approaches, but often offer chelation.  While it is an alternative to bypass surgery for heart disease, for example, it is still very allopathic in its philosophy and methodology.

Granted, it may extend life because it can remove calcium deposits from the arteries of the heart, brain, liver and elsewhere.  However, this is not the same as improving overall vitality and health.

 

OTHER TOPICS RELATED TO CHELATION THERAPY

IS DRINKING DISTILLED OR REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER A FORM OF CHELATION?

Not exactly because it does not involve a chemical or herb.  However, the effect is very similar.  That is, drinking mineral-free water will bind to and leach out of the body some minerals.  It is sometimes called “hungry water”.  Unfortunately, it does not just leach out toxic metals, but also removes vital nutrient minerals, as well.

For this reason, please do not drink reverse osmosis or distilled water.  The only exception is that distilled water is occasionally helpful during a healing crisis for a few days or a week if one is eliminating toxic metals and needs to get them out faster.

There are other problems with distilled and reverse osmosis water, even though they are fairly pure and chemical-free.  For more on this important subject, please read Water For Drinking on this website.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS CHELATION THERAPY?

Heart disease (arteriosclerosis).  Chelation therapy definitely removes some toxic metals that lodge in the arteries.  By so doing, it can improve blood flow to the heart and other organs.  Over one thousand studies confirm this. 

However, chelation therapy for heart disease is not medically accepted.  The likely reason for this is that it competes directly with heart bypass and other common surgeries that are major sources of income - literally in the billions of dollars - for physicians, hospitals, drug companies and others who sell or supply various medical items.

The claim that chelation is not well-researched, or that it is more dangerous than most heart surgery, is false.  The ignorance and deception by the medical journals and authorities on this subject are a sad reflection upon a medical profession that supposedly exists to help people, rather than to harm them or take their money. 

The statistics on bypass surgery, for example, show clearly that there are many side effects that would be prevented if nutritional balancing, chelation or other methods such as sauna therapy were tried first.  The cost of chelation and natural methods is often one tenth to one-one hundredth of bypass surgery.  Thus, bypass surgery is quite insane today.  Unfortunately, chelation therapy is also unsafe, in my experience.  It is also not needed because a properly designed nutritional balancing program will clear the arteries and do it better than chelation possibly can.

Chelation for other diseases such as dementia, diabetes, impaired circulation, and others.  Fewer studies support the benefits of chelation therapy for other conditions, but it may help reduce some symptoms because toxic metals cause so many ailments in modern day society.

HOW I RECOMMEND REMOVING TOXIC METALS

Toxic metal exposure is universal today.  Everyone has toxic metals.  To read why I say this, read Everyone Is Toxic.  All children are born with some toxic metals that pass through the placenta from their mothers.  This is why removing toxic metals with a nutritional balancing program BEFORE one becomes pregnant is very critical if one wishes to have healthy children.  It does not matter how beautiful a young woman looks, or even if her blood or hair tests indicate that she does not have toxic metals.  They are just hidden in these cases.

After birth, vaccine exposure is an important source of mercury and aluminum, along with food, drinking water, pharmaceutical drugs of many kinds, over-the-counter drugs, cosmetics, and other environmental sources.  These include, but are not limited to air pollution, dental amalgams and other dental materials, and contact with toxic metals at home and at work.

In nutritional balancing work, we assume that everyone has toxic metals.  I have yet to work with anyone who is not quite toxic.  Toxic metals are not the most important assessment.  It is far more important to figure out a person’s energy level, exact oxidation rate, ability to eliminate toxic metals, ability to digest and assimilate nutrients and a few other parameters of health.

Once this is done, Dr. Eck’s system involves designing a healing program that includes at least 20 methods to gently and safely remove ALL the toxic metals and ALL toxic chemicals in the body at the same time.  They include improving the vitality level, balancing the autonomic nervous system (see Understanding The Autonomic Nervous System), improving the eliminative organs, the use of antagonists and synergists and much more.  For the specifics of these methods, read Toxic Metals And How To Remove Them on this site.

WHERE DO SAUNAS AND COFFEE ENEMAS FIT IN FOR TOXIC METAL REMOVAL?

              In my experience, saunas are the finest single additional modality with a nutritional balancing program for toxic metal elimination.  They combine a number of effects that together produce wonderful results.  They are also safe and very cost-effective.  One can build or buy a light sauna for several hundred dollars or less.  Click here for information about saunas.

            In essence, sauna therapy helps rejuvenate the skin, the largest eliminative organ in the body.  It helps decongest the internal organs by shunting blood to the body surface.  It helps to spare and protect the kidneys, as most all toxins eliminated by the kidneys can be eliminated in the sweat.

Heating the body assists it to kill pathogenic microorganisms, and helps destroy weaker, toxic metal-laden cells.  Saunas also drastically increase circulation, assisting to dislodge stored toxins and assisting nutrients to reach all the cells to improve energy output. 

The sauna is also a powerful inhibitor of the sympathetic nervous system.  According to Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology, when heat is supplied from outside, normal heat production, a sympathetic activity, shuts down.  Also, shunting blood to the body surface to remove heat requires and causes inhibition of the sympathetic system.

            Infrared energy supplied by far infrared and infrared light saunas adds other benefits such as deep tissue heating, decoupling of toxins from water molecules, production of heat shock proteins that help regenerate cellular structures, and more.  Saunas also have a long history of safety that extends over literally thousands of years..

            For all these reasons, saunas are the finest single modality for toxic metal removal.  As added benefits, they are also the best methods I have found to remove toxic chemicals, another serious health hazard.  They are also powerful infection-fighters, and able to dig out old chronic infections that deplete one's energy and secrete biological toxins that are hidden causes of systemic disease.

            Coffee enemas.  These are also superb for removing most toxins from the liver and large intestine.  They should be included in any detoxification protocol for this reason.  For more information about this unusual but very helpful therapy that can be done in the privacy of your home, read Coffee Enemas on this website.

ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL

One of our clients, Rosemary G., asked that her experience with chelation be included in this article.  Several years ago, at age 64, Rosemary was diagnosed with mercury toxicity.  Her symptoms included extreme fatigue, a kind of free-floating fear, depression, anxiety, skin problems, and other emotional disturbances.

She underwent more than 20 chelation treatments to remove the mercury, using DMPS and DMSA.  She reported that the treatments did not help her symptoms, but in fact made her more ill.  Her first hair tissue mineral analysis revealed a 0.4 mg% mercury level.  This is over 10 times normal.  She had been told that her mercury level was normal using a urine challenge test for toxic metals!

After only three months on a nutritional balancing program, Rosemary began to feel normal for the first time in many years.  A retest hair mineral analysis showed an almost 100% increase in her hair mercury level to 0.74 mg%.  This indicates an active elimination in progress.  Rosemary is continuing on her nutritional balancing program and feeling still better, as there is more mercury yet to be eliminated. 
DETOXIFICATION PROTOCOLS
 
© July 2014, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

Coffee Enemas * Sauna Therapy * Foot Reflexology

Colonic Irrigation * Alginates * The Genital Bath * Juicing

Peroxide And Ozone Baths

(Many other detoxification methods are also discussed)

Detoxification is a very critical subject today for anyone who wishes to restore and maintain health.  This article discusses many detoxification procedures in some depth.  The article is divided into three important sections:

1. Methods I strongly recommend as part of a nutritional balancing program.  These have unique properties that we may not understand, but in the right combination they are marvelous, in my experience.

2. Methods that are not that harmful, but are less effective or not as good in some way.  I recommend them much less often, perhaps only in special situations or for a certain few people.

3. Methods to avoid.  They are harmful or ineffective, or problematic for some other reason. 

Warning:  No claims are made for any procedures described here.  Nor are these procedures intended as treatments or prescriptions for any disease or condition.  The following is presented for educational purposes only.

THE CONCEPT OF DETOXIFICATION

Since ancient times, human beings have known that the accumulation of certain toxins in the body is an important cause of disease, aging and death.  So-called modern allopathic medical care acknowledges toxicity as a cause of disease to a slight degree, such as the accumulation of bacteria, viruses, or a few other poisons.  However, they have either forgotten or just ignore the concept in most cases.  In fact, the remedies and procedures they prescribe are often quite toxic.  This causes many “side effects”, many thousands of lawsuits, kills thousands of patients each year, and wastes billions of dollars of the people’s money.

Even if one knows about the problem of toxicity, clearing out two dozen toxic metals, hundreds of toxic chemicals, and often dozens of chronic infections safely and quickly is a challenge.  Nutritional balancing science  specializes in this activity and gets amazing results by combining about 17 different detoxification methods in a unique manner.

As humanity improves its understanding of the body and how to heal it, I believe detoxification will once again take its place as a major requirement to heal the body and the brain.

NUTRITIONAL BALANCING SCIENCE AND DETOXIFICATION

Detoxification is a major focus of nutritional balancing science.  When these programs are designed correctly, one can remove:

a. All of the toxic metals (at least two dozen), often many at once.

b. Toxic forms of physiological or vital minerals.  These include toxic forms of the “amigos”, for example, such as iron, manganese, copper, selenium, chromium, cobalt, molybdenum, vanadium and others.

c. Hundreds of toxic chemicals.  These are found in the water, air and food supply today, and acquired through direct contact with the skin or elsewhere.

d. Biological toxins.  These include millions of bacteria, viruses, fungi or yeasts, and parasites.

e. Other toxins.  These include mental and emotional toxins such as anger, fear, fixed ideas, as well as even more subtle types of toxins sometimes called etheric toxins.

Nutritional balancing uses about 20 methods simultaneously to remove these toxins.  Among the most important are:

a. Making the body more yang.

b. Enhancing adaptive energy or vitality.

c. Enhancing the activity of the eliminative organs.

d. Avoiding exposure.

e. Balancing major mineral levels, ratios and patterns in the cells

f. Balancing the oxidation rate

g. Inhibiting the sympathetic nervous system

h. Balancing the body electrically.

i. Stimulating circulation

j. Renourishing the body

k. Rehydrating the body, if needed

l. Reducing stress on the body organs through a more healthful lifestyle.

m. Assuring that spinal misalignments are not impairing organ function.

n. Working with the channel system through foot reflexology.

o. Moving energy downward through the body using the Roy Masters mental exercise with my modification.

p. Increasing rest.

q. Reducing or eliminating all stressful activities and habits.

r. Learning better ways to think about the world.

s. Very careful use of only the most mild chelators.  These are distilled water, sulfur-containing amino acids, a little vitamin C, and rarely alginates.

However, I never use chlorella, cilantro (except as a food), spirulina, herbs, or synthetic chelators such as DMSA, DMPS, EDTA, penicilamine, defoxamine and others.  These are not needed, and are always somewhat harmful.  To learn more, read Chelation Therapy.

All these methods must be integrated and coordinated as a healing program, or they are not effective and may conflict with each other.  This subject is explored in more depth in other articles on this website, notably the article entitled Toxic Metals.  It is also discussed in some depth in the textbooks, Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis, and Sauna Therapy by this author.

DETOXIFICATION PROCEDURES I STRONGLY RECOMMEND

              The nutritional balancing diets (the slow or fast oxidizer diets).  While these are not specifically for detoxification, the correct diet is absolutely necessary if one wishes to detoxify the body quickly and safely.  I cannot overemphasize this too much.  There are many reasons for this, but most have to do with balancing the oxidation rate, providing enough of the right nutrients needed for the liver, kidneys and other organs, and providing sulfur-containing amino acids in abundance.

A serious problem with vegetarian and especially vegan diets. I definitely recommend meat and eggs to assist detoxification in the liver.  We find that most vegetarians, while they may avoid toxins found in meats and fish, also cannot remove toxic metals very well at all!  Among other reason, it is because these diets are too low in the sulfur-containing amino acids (see below) and they are too yin.  They are also deficient in other nutrients needed for detoxification.

 

1. THE COFFEE ENEMA CLEANSE

To read this article in Greek, click here.

              This is a very important procedure in nutritional balancing science.  For a detailed description of the reasons for using coffee enemas and instructions for doing them, please read Coffee Enemas.

2. SAUNA THERAPY

Sauna therapy is one of the finest ways to remove toxic metals, toxic chemicals, chronic infections and other blockages in the body.  For details about sauna therapy, and sauna procedures, please read the Sauna Therapy article on this website.  Also available is our book, Sauna Therapy.  Click on the title to see the table of contents and how to order this book.

3. FOOT REFLEXOLOGY

This simple, cost-free method works exceedingly well, once you begin to understand how to use it.  It is superb, especially if the elimination process is stalled or moving slowly.  However, it is wonderful all of the time.

To learn about how to do reflexology on yourself and your family, please read Reflexology on this site.  The article also contains a foot reflex chart that you can print and use.

4. THE ROY MASTERS MENTAL EXERCISE WITH MY MODIFICATION

            This exercise is quite unique, and is not the same as other concentration exercises, meditations, visualizations, affirmations, or other types of exercises.  To learn how to do it, read Mental Exercise For Healing.

5. THE SPINAL TWIST

            This is a simple and safe type of physical exercise that only takes a minute or less, but can help keep your spinal column aligned properly throughout the day and night.  To learn how to do it, please read How To Help Adjust Your Spine.

6. LIMITED JUICING

Juicing is a popular method to renourish the body.  It allows one to ingest many more vegetables than if one were eating them whole because the pulp is removed.  Pulp is largely fiber and is not digestible by human beings.  Juicing effectively concentrates the food and is tasty.   It is more work, but modern juicers are not that difficult to clean.  See below for juicer recommendations.

WARNING 1: Unfortunately, most people who do juicing overdo it, in my view.  Ten to Twelve ounces of carrot juice with a few greens mixed in, perhaps, is enough for most people.  More causes the body to become too yin.  This is very damaging, no matter what other benefits occur from juicing.

WARNING 2. Do not juice fruits.  They are too sweet and too yin.

WARNING 3. Do not just juice greens.  This is also too yin.  Carrot is a root vegetable and red in color, and is more yang.  This is most important, as well.

Juicing for cancer.  Juicing has saved lives, and is used in many cancer therapies.  Max Gerson, MD and the Gerson Clinic in Mexico use a lot of juices for healing cancer, for example, as does the Hippocrates Health Institute, which advocates wheat grass juice.

However, my information is that the Gerson method and even the Ann Wigmore method of healing are not working as well today.  Dr. William Kelley, who pioneered the Kelley metabolic cancer therapy, now offered best by Mrs. Pamela McDougle, limits juice to about 16 ounces daily, among other recommendations.  This therapy for cancer is working much better and is one I recommend.  For more on cancer, read Cancer and Alternatives on this site.

Juicing Recommendations. For most people, I recommend ONLY 10-12 ounces daily of vegetable juice, and no fruit juice.  Fruit juice, with its high sugar content and unbalanced mineral content, is extremely yin and to be avoided totally.  Children must have a little less, depending on their size and weight.  However, carrot and green juice are excellent for children, and often liked by children.  The reasons for these recommendations are explained below.

Problems with too much juicing. Juicing is not without problems.  The problems with juicing are:

1. Juices are extremely yin. Yin is a Chinese medical term that means cold, raw and broken apart, and often ill.  Yin and yang are very subtle energetic concepts, but ones that are critical for our health today. The problem with juicing today is that our bodies are already very yin from toxic metal exposure, ionizing radiation exposure, electromagnetic stress, and other reasons.  Too much juicing makes them even more yin, and this is quite dangerous, as any traditional Chinese medical practitioner will tell you.  This is critical to understand.

I know that many holistic doctors suggest much more juicing.  To read more about why I do not recommend more than up to 16 ounces of vegetable juice only each day, read the articles on this site entitled Raw Foods and Juices and Yin and Yang Healing.

2. Juices, if taken with other foods, are usually bad food combinations because they are too watery, in addition to being too yin.  This upsets digestion in all cases.  To avoid this problem, 1) swish the juice around in your mouth so most is absorbed in the mouth, and 2) drink juice preferably alone, away from meals.  Wait at least 15 minutes after having vegetable juice to eat anything at all.  This will give the juice time to be absorbed in the stomach and mouth, so it won’t interfere with food.

3. The high sugar content of fruit juices and even carrot juice in some cases, can upset the blood sugar.  However, we like carrot juice for its special calcium content.  If 10-12 ounces of it upsets your digestion or blood sugar, drink half immediately and save half in the refrigerator, to drink in a few hours.  This usually takes care of this problem.

However, this is why one must avoid all fruit juices, including most lemonade, cranberry juice and all others.  They are just too sweet and yin.  Citrus fruits, by the way, such as oranges and grapefruit, are among the most yin foods on planet earth, and therefore never recommended in any form – juiced or whole – even though they are nutritious as are all fruits.

Coconut and palm are also among the most yin fruits on planet earth and for this reason also to be avoided in all forms such as coconut water and coconut milk.  Fruit acids and a toxic form of potassium found in fruits are also problems with fruits, and this is worse if one consumes any fruit juice at all.  So please avoid them all for all these reasons.

Carrot juice.  A very excellent juice for most people includes mostly carrot juice daily.  It is best to add some greens such as spinach, kale or Swiss chard leaves, or other green vegetables to the carrot juice.  The carrots are critical as a source of bioavailable calcium.  Do not add fruit to this juice, please, unless you must add a bit for a child to drink it.   For much more on this subject, read Carrot Juicing on this website.

Wheat grass juice.  Another helpful type of juice is wheat grass juice, about 1 to 2 ounces daily for an adult and less for children.  This is the only wheat product I suggest at all.  The new Champion juicer with wheat grass attachment, Greenstar and a few other motorized and hand juicers can produce wheat grass juice.  Of course, one must grow the wheat grass or buy it in order to juice it.

Other juices.  I don’t usually recommend other juices, as I do not think they are needed.  However, other vegetable juices may be helpful for specific ailments, at times, and are fine once in a while.  Once again, avoid more than about 10-12 ounces of any vegetable juice daily, and avoid all fruit juices, as they are too sweet and too yin for most people.  Juicing fresh herbs is also possible, but these are very strong, so be careful to use only a very small amount in your carrot juice.  Most herbs are very yin and many are slightly toxic as well, so this is not very recommended.  Some people juice sprouts.  This is okay, but most are slightly toxic, so beware.

Which juicer to buy or use.  For carrot juice, any vegetable juicer can be used.  Do not use a blender like a Vitamix or Ninja machine.  These leave too much pulp in the juice and usually mix it with too much water and air.  Centrifugal juicers waste more juice, but may be cheaper, such as the Jack Lalaine juicer that is under $100.00.  Juicers such as the Champion Juicer and Greenstar Juicer waste less juice and are easier to clean.  The Champion is a rugged machine if you will be making juice for a large family.  Wheat grass juicers have been discussed above.

7. THE OZONE AND PEROXIDE BATH

This procedure will get rid of most, if not all sexually transmitted diseases, if you also follow a complete nutritional balancing program at the same time.  This is quite remarkable.

It can also be used to get rid of other infections in the legs and genitals.  It works quite well, although note that a dozen or more of these baths may be needed, and one must follow a complete nutritional balancing program at the same time.

To do this bath, add one to two cups of 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide to a fairly hot bath.  The bath need not cover more than your legs if it is for healing of genital infections.

Relax for at least 40 minutes and up to one hour in the bath, to allow the peroxide to do its germ-killing job.  Then get out of the bath and do not rinse off.  Just get dressed. 

Use as much of the 35% hydrogen peroxide as you can.  Too much peroxide will cause a burning sensation on your skin, and this is not necessary or helpful.  If this occurs, add a little hot water to the bath to dilute the peroxide.

Repeat the bath 2 or 3 times weekly, but not more often, as too many baths are too yin in macrobiotic terms.  Also, most people do not need these baths after a few months to about 1 year of use.

Adding ozone to the peroxide bath.  This will make the peroxide bath even better.  For this, you must buy an ozone generator that has a small tube as its ozone output.  The least expensive of these are ozonators designed for hot tubs.

Set up the ozone generator near the bathtub, being careful not to get water on it, as it is an electrical machine.  Then, run the tube from the generator into the bathtub.

For women who want to get rid of sexually transmitted disease, put the end of the ozone tube deep into the vagina.  For a man, put it close to the penis.  Leave it there during the whole bath.  For more, read Baths on this website.

8. THE GENITAL BATH

This simple procedure, borrowed from the hydrotherapy literature, is often effective for alleviating vaginal, bladder, uterine and even prostate difficulties.  Bladder and vaginal infections in women often respond very well to this procedure. Men can use it as well for urinary and penile difficulties.
            The genital bath is probably effective because the cold water causes a reaction that greatly enhances the blood flow to this area. This in turn assists the healing process. The procedure is as follows:

* Sit on the side of a bathtub facing into the bathtub.  Alternatively,  sit on a stool placed in the bathtub.  One can wear a shirt or sweater, as the water will be directed only at the genital area.

* Splash cold water on the genital area only, using a wash rag or a flexible shower attachment.

* Continue the procedure for 10 minutes, and repeat it three to five or more times per day.

* The genital bath can be repeated for as long as necessary with no ill effects.

9. OZONE SAUNAS (OR REALLY OZONE STEAM CABINETS)

This can be an excellent detoxification method.  The ozone adds significant oxygen to the body for the short time that one is in the steam cabinet.  The steam helps carry the ozone to the skin.

Adding oxygen to the body is always excellent and helpful.  Other simple methods to do this are deep breathing, adding ozone to your drinking water, a bath with a cup or so of 35% hydrogen peroxide, and the favored method of installing an ozonator/ionizer air purifier in your bedroom.  Click here for more on this method of oxygenating the body.

Although helpful, I do not recommend ozone sauna therapy often.  The reasons are that it requires a steam cabinet, it is time-consuming, and it is not as good as near infrared sauna therapy, in most instances.

Other oxygen therapies.  Some physicians also offer intravenous hydrogen peroxide or intravenous ozone, which can be excellent.  They are not included in this article because they are not home-based methods of detoxification, but they are helpful.

10. VERY LIMITED DRINKING OF DISTILLED WATER

The only time I suggest distilled water is during a healing reaction or purification reaction.  During such reactions, switching from spring water or carbon-only filtered tap water to drinking only distilled water for a few days to a week or so, may reduce symptoms.  The reason is that distilled water can act as a detoxifier or cleanser to remove toxic metals and toxic chemicals.  Be sure to switch back to spring water or carbon-only filtered tap water, however, after the reaction passes.

NOTE: Earlier articles on this website suggested drinking distilled water for several months when starting a nutritional balancing program.  I no longer recommend this because the bodies are very mineral-depleted and drinking distilled water (or reverse osmosis water) will make this depletion worse.

 

2. DETOXIFICATION PROCEDURES THAT ARE EITHER LESS POWERFUL, OR LESS SAFE, AND RECOMMENDED LESS FOR THESE REASONS

COLONIC IRRIGATION OR COLON HYDROTHERAPY

This ancient hydrotherapy method can greatly assist cleaning the colon of toxins and parasites.  A series of 5 or more at the beginning of a nutritional balancing program is very good for some people.  DO NOT KEEP DOING COLONICS DAY AFTER DAY, HOWEVER, because:

1. Colonic irrigation is too yin, introducing too much water into the colon if done too often.  Limit them to once or twice a year, and only if needed.  If one does coffee enemas daily, which I highly recommend, colonic irrigation should never be needed.

WARNINGS ABOUT COLONICS:

1. Be sure your colon therapist is reputable, mainly for cleanliness reasons.

2. If you need colonics to remove impacted fecal material, colonies of yeast, parasites and to clean out infected pockets in the colon, usually a series of six to twelve colonics is required.

3. Some colon therapists add oxygen, ozone, very diluted hydrogen peroxide or coffee to the irrigation water, and this seems to be is fine.

HERBAL POULTICES

This is an ancient therapy.  There are many kinds of herbal packs and poultices.  Overall, these are very good.  Some are potato poultices, onion poultices, mustard poultices and others.  We don’t use them, as a rule, because they are a lot of trouble and we don’t find them necessary.

ALGINATES AND PERHAPS MODIFIED CITRUS PECTIN

Alginates are particular chemicals found mainly in kelp and perhaps in a few other vegetables.  They bind many toxic metals in the intestines, preventing their absorption in the intestines.  In this regard, they are like the chelators, but they are safer.  The toxic metals then pass harmless out of the body.  I particularly recommend kelp as an excellent source of many minerals, vitamins and alginates.

Sodium alginate and perhaps other compounds of alginates can also be purchased in an isolated form.  This may help some people with mercury toxicity, for example.  However, it is rarely needed, and one must use caution with any chelating substance.

Modified citrus pectin is related to the alginates and may bind some toxic metals in the intestines as well.  It, too, is rarely needed, however, if one follows a complete nutritional balancing program.

Kelp and mud baths.  This is a newer method of replenishing minerals that is being researched at this time.  I will update this article as ore information becomes available.

CASTOR OIL PACKS

This procedure was recommended often by Mr. Edgar Cayce.  We don’t use them much because they are less powerful than the methods above in most cases.  However, they appear to assist lymph circulation over the area where they are placed, in particular the stomach, liver or other parts of the abdomen.  They are also very relaxing for some people and they are completely safe as far as know.  Two common ways to do castor oil packs are:

1. The Daytime Method.  Pour pure castor oil onto a piece of flannel or other absorbent cloth that is about 1 foot long by 1 foot wide.  The cloth should be saturated and damp all over, but not dripping with the oil.  Castor oil can be bought at many drug stores.  Some outlets sell organic castor oil, but this is not needed in most cases.
            Place the pack directly on your skin, over your abdomen, or liver (upper right side of the abdomen) or wherever desired.  Fold the cloth over once if it is too large.  Cover the pack completely with a large plastic bag lying flat.  Then place a heating pad on top of the plastic bag.  The plastic bag is there simply to keep the oil from soiling the heating pad.  Turn on the heating pad to its highest setting and relax in bed or on a couch with the pack for about 2 or more hours.
            To clean up, turn off the heating pad and put it away.  Remove the plastic bag and then remove the pack from your abdomen or wherever it is.  Wipe off the oil on your skin with a clean rag or paper towel soaked in a solution of baking soda.  He always recommended this.

Place the castor oil pack in a glass or plastic jar.  Screw on the top of the jar to keep the oil moist.  The pack can be reused many times without adding more oil, unless it is getting dried out.

2. Overnight method.  Create a castor oil pack as described above.  When you are ready for bed, place the pack on your abdomen, usually, or elsewhere, perhaps.  Cover the pack with a plastic bag, as above.
            Now wrap an Ace bandage around your waist and around the pack as tightly as you can comfortably stand it.  This is to hold the pack against your skin during the night.   Go to bed with the pack strapped on.  In the morning, remove the Ace bandage, remove the pack, wipe off the area and store the castor oil pack as described in method #1 above.

THE LIVER-GALL BLADDER FLUSH OR CLEANSE

The liver-gall bladder flush is a non-surgical method to help remove gallstones.  It can also help remove stones in the liver itself.  Stones can apparently form in the liver, as well as in the gall bladder.  This  concept is explained below.

In almost all cases, this procedure can help avoid the need for gallbladder surgery.  An even better way to avoid gallbladder and many other surgeries that I find are rarely necessary is a complete nutritional balancing  program to restore the normal activity of the liver and gall bladder.
            A liver flush or two may help at the beginning of a nutritional program or if one is having severe liver or gall bladder problems.  I am not aware of complications or damage from this procedure, although occasionally someone remains nauseated for several days or more.  There are many variants to the liver-gallbladder flush procedure.  Here is the one I trust the most:

FOR SIX DAYS:

Mix 1/2-1 teaspoon of malic acid in 32 ounces of water.

Do not drink it all at once!  Drink it a little at a time throughout the day on an empty stomach.  Brush your teeth after each time that you drink a little.

To order malic acid: call Presque Isle Wine Cellars 814-725-1314 or go to http://www.piwine.com/.

ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE CLEANSE

1. Drink the juice of 1/2 organic lemon in a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar three times before 2:00 PM.

2. Do not have any dairy, oil, fat or meat for breakfast or lunch.  Food recommended is brown rice and steamed vegetables.

3. Have lunch by 2:00 PM and do not eat or drink between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM.

4. At 6:00 PM, mix 4 tablespoons of Epsom salts in 24 ounces of filtered or spring water.  This will make four 6-ounce servings.  Drink one 6-ounce serving of Epsom salts.  Wait 30 minutes to drink water.  Drink as much water as

you like after 6:30 PM.

5. At 8:00 PM, drink another 6-ounce serving of Epsom salts. Wait 30 minutes to drink more water.  Put the other two servings of Epsom salts away until the next morning.

6. At 10:00 PM, mix half a cup of organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil with the juice of a whole fresh red organic grapefruit (pink is okay).  Stir and drink quickly.

7. Go to bed and lie down on your right side and be very still.

THE NEXT MORNING

1. At 8:00 AM, do a coffee enema and drink one 6-ounce serving of Epsom salts.

2. At 4:00PM, do another coffee enema and drink the last 6-ounce serving of Epsom salts.

            I would skip your nutritional supplements on the seventh day.

If you have discomfort with the liver flush, rub the bottoms and the top of your feet and toes, including the liver areas (between the first and second toes on the top of the foot, all along the crevice between the two toes and back along the top of the foot).  There is also a liver area on the right foot behind the third, fourth and fifth toe (pinky), near the ball of the foot.  Rub the entire foot, however, and this can relieve discomfort of most types that might occur.

You can repeat the liver flush about every 4 months or so, if needed, for about a year while on a nutritional balancing program.  However, most people do not need it at all, even if gall stones are present.

This is not a complete substitute for gall bladder surgery.  Gall bladder disease can be due to gall stones, but it can also be due to infection or inflammation of the gall bladder.  Most gall bladder problems will eventually go away on a nutritional balancing program, even without doing liver-gallbladder flushes, but the procedure may help somewhat.  As for gall stones, most people have some.  They will come out each time.  They are not a serious problem in most cases.

Reducing stress in your life and reducing anger through forgiveness and healing is also excellent to reduce gall stones.  Enhancing the oxidation rate with nutritional balancing and using the supplements also increases bile flow, and this helps prevent gall stone formation.  I rarely recommend gall bladder surgery, as I think it is one of the most ridiculous types of surgery.  If the gall bladder is not functioning correctly, then it is best to get to the core of the problem, and then it will function fine.

Occasionally there are parasites in this area, there is an acupuncture meridian that goes through this area, and the colon is near this area as well.  All of these structures and systems must be fixed, and can be fixed easily with a properly designed nutritional balancing program in practically all cases.  Then the gall bladder works just fine and is a good thing to keep in your body, if you can, and most people can.  So do not rush to surgery if your gall bladder still hurts or has problems after doing a few liver flushes.  More work is needed on your body, and that is all it means.  The diet must be corrected, with about 70% cooked vegetables, and some animal protein daily, no fruit, no sweets, no wheat and no refined or junk foods, for example.

Liver stones.  The liver-gallbladder flush can actually remove stones or calcium deposits that form within the bile ducts of the liver itself.  This may seem odd or preposterous, but I am told it is the case and surgeons encounter this in very ill patients when they operate on the liver and bile ducts.  This procedure seems to help break them up and remove them, relieving pressure in the liver and helping it to function better.

NOTE: If you are older than 65, or ill, please check with your doctor before doing this procedure.  I cannot be responsible for problems that may arise when doing a liver flush or any other procedure mentioned on this website.

HERBS FOR DETOXIFICATION

Helpful and safe herbs for detoxification are milk thistle, dandelion root, Russian or Spanish black radish, burdock root, garlic, onion, and perhaps a few others.  These are always fine to add to nutritional balancing programs.

We discourage the ongoing use of other herbs, in most cases.  Unfortunately, most herbs are not powerful enough today and many are slightly toxic, as well.

Be sure to also avoid herbal chelators such as bugleweed, yellow dock, cilantro extract and chlorella.  These always seem to remove some essential minerals along with the toxic metals.  These vital minerals often cannot easily be replaced.  See the article on this website entitled  Chelation for more about chelation therapy for metal detoxification, and its problems.

BATHS, IN GENERAL

            This is a large subject.  The following section discusses a few types of baths.  For much more detail on baths, please read Baths For Therapy on this website.

STEAM BATHS

These cause some detoxification and are okay to use once in a while.  I don’t recommend steam, however, because 1) the temperature is too hot for most people, 2) chemicals from the water will get into the body unless the water is distilled or reverse osmosis, and 3) if used at a health club, the steam room may not be clean enough.

If you have a steam bath at home and the water in it is distilled or reverse osmosis, this method of detoxification is good, however.  It is not as good as near infrared sauna therapy, however.

Steam may be combined with ozone, and this is an excellent type of bath.

HOT SPRINGS

Some hot springs are quite therapeutic, while others can be toxic.  The difficulty is knowing which to visit.  An occasional visit to a hot spring can be a very relaxing and therapeutic vacation, however.  Just try to make sure the spring is safe and clean. 

We don’t advise too many hot spring or other baths all the time, however, because the water is yin and this will make the body very yin as well, if done too much.  Most people’s bodies are already too yin.  This is why the dry sauna is preferable in most cases.

EPSOM SALT BATHS

            This is a simple, relaxing bath.  It can help relax tired or tense muscles and release some poisons as well.  Baths, however, are very yin, so use them only once or twice a week, at the very most.

            Procedure: As you fill a bathtub, add 3 to 4 pounds of Epsom salts to the bath water.  Water should be hot, but not scalding for the most relaxing and effective treatment. 

Submerge as much of your body, particularly your trunk, in the bath.  Stay in the water for 20 to 30 minutes.  There is no need to shower off after the bath.  You may, in this way, absorb more of the Epsom salts with their sulfur and magnesium.

THE SALT AND SODA BATH

This is primarily an alkalinizing and mineralizing bath.  It is inexpensive, usually comfortable, although the salt and soda bath can sting the skin a little at first.

This bath will remove certain toxins and even help with infection in some cases.  Again, only use them once a week, and only when needed.  More than this will always unbalance the body.

Procedure. As you let the water run into the bath tub, add about 2 pounds of baking soda and 2 pounds of sea salt.  Any type of sea salt will do, but do not use regular table salt or salt tablets of the type used in water softeners.  These are not quite as good.  Mix the salt and soda into the water.  The bath should be fairly hot for best results. 

Stay in the water for 20 to 30 minutes.  Then let the water out.  A shower may be helpful if you feel itchy or sticky from the salt.  However, a shower is not required afterwards.

CLEANSING DIETS

These help a few people because they eliminate heavy and often indigestible food or junk food, and allergic foods in the diet.  They can be used as a quick transition to a better diet and better lifestyle.  However, they are rarely needed and I find them harmful. Their importance is very overrated.  Problems with them are:
            1) Deficient in many nutrients.  Often they are deficient in protein, essential fatty acids, and even calories.  They are usually deficient in sulfur because they don’t include meats and eggs.  Sulfur, as explained above, is absolutely needed for liver detoxification.  For this reason, they make people more nutritionally deficient and can have a counterproductive effect.
            2) They are usually very yin in Chinese terminology.  This means they are sugary, cold, watery, and broken up (as in the use of powders).  This reduces their effectiveness and often it makes them unbalance the body in very subtle ways.

3) The use of powders, juices and mixes are often poor food combinations.  This worsens digestion, even though may improve food allergies somewhat by eliminating some allergic components of the diet.

4) They may contain herbs, including spirulina, chlorella, cilantro and other substances that are slightly toxic, even if they are nourishing. 

5) They are not needed at all in most cases.  For these reasons, use extreme care with cleansing diets and preferably avoid them.

To learn much more on this topic, read Cleansing Diets and Fasting on this website.

ENERGETIC AND ELECTRICAL DETOXIFICATION METHODS SUCH AS IMT, ERT, HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES, RADIONIC MACHINES AND ELECTRO-ACUPUNCTURE MACHINES

These methods all can have definite merit.  We do not use them much, however, for the following reasons:

·           They require a trained person and are quite dependent upon the skill of the operator of the machine or technique.  It is hard to know,  at times, how skilled your practitioner is.  Thus we usually prefer methods that can be done inexpensively at home by anyone.

·           While they often give quick symptomatic results, they do not seem to have as many “side benefits” as do coffee enemas and the near infrared sauna, combined with a proper diet for one’s metabolic type and several supplements based on a properly performed and interpreted hair mineral test.

·           Most are quite yin, particularly the use of various electrical machines.  While they will cause some improvement, they may slow progress for this reason.

·           They may not cause as much mental or spiritual development.  This may be due to the fact that they tend to be extremely yin in Chinese medical terminology, or perhaps they do not remove toxins at the deeper levels of the body.  Another reason may be they do not demand enough change in lifestyle and diet of the client.  Development often requires some effort on the part of the client.

HOMEOPATHIC DRAINAGE REMEDIES

Used properly, these homeopathic remedies definitely have some benefit.  We don’t use them, however, and the reasons are explained in the paragraph above.

DETOX FOOT PADS

This is an ancient Japanese method of removing toxins through the bottoms of the feet.  Small tissue paper bags filled with various herbs are placed on the feet, and usually one sleeps with the pads overnight.  The pads can also be placed elsewhere on the body, such as over the liver or the kidneys.

I have less experience with this method.  However, I do not think it is all that effective.  It is safe, however, as far as I know, and perhaps more research will change my view.  

HOT TUBS

These will cause some detoxification, especially if heated to more than about 103 F.  However, they are not nearly as powerful as a near infrared sauna, coffee enemas and perhaps other methods.

Serious problems with hot tubs.  1) You will absorb chemicals from the water.  This cannot be avoided, unless one uses only distilled or reverse osmosis water to fill the tub.  Carbon-filtered water is better than using plain tap water in the tub, but not much as it does not remove toxic metals, fluoride and some other chemicals.

A second problem is that one absorbs some of the chemicals needed to sanitize the tub.  This can be avoided, often by skipping the chemicals and instead using 100-200 ppm of hydrogen peroxide to sanitize the tub.  Also, you may need to add a chemical to adjust the pH of the tub.

 If these cautions are observed, hot tubs can be relaxing and somewhat helpful for detoxification.  Otherwise, however, they are quite toxic, especially public hot tubs at hotels, exercise clubs and spas.  They are often breeding grounds for bacteria, virus, parasites and other micro-organisms, even if the tub is loaded with chlorine, bromine and other toxic chemicals, which should never touch your skin.   Even silver cartridges used to sanitize tubs are somewhat toxic, though much less so.  However, they also do not kill all the germs that well, either.  Remember that one will absorb the poisons from the tap water, if this used to fill the tub.

A better alternative to a hot tub can be a dip in a hot spring, if this is available.  Here the water is usually flowing, and it is pure spring water with no chemicals added.

CLAY OR MUD BATHS, WRAPS OR PACKS

Clay and some mud can be powerful detoxifiers and can help with many skin and other types of health conditions, including even cancers.  I don’t recommend them, in part because we don’t find them necessary, and in part because they can be quite toxic.  Clay tends to contain a lot of aluminum, among other toxic metals.  Also, they may not be nearly as powerful as the sauna or enemas, although this could depend on the clay product that is used.

However, for short-term use such as on a vacation at a spa, they are fine.  Some can be used longer-term, but it is hard to know which are safe.

 

DETOXIFICATION METHODS THAT ARE BEST AVOIDED.   THEY ARE LESS SAFE OR LESS EFFECTIVE

Vigorous exercise to induce sweating.  Many people say they do not need to detoxify because they sweat profusely when they run, play tennis or do other common exercise.  Sweating with exercise is excellent.  However, the sympathetic nervous system is activated during exercise, so the amount of toxin removal is much less.  Also, exercise uses up a lot of energy that could be used for detoxification in a sauna or doing another procedure.  For this reason, I do not recommend vigorous exercise, ever, and I do not consider exercise a valid method of detoxification by itself.

Chelation therapy.  Oral, intravenous, or other types of chelation tend to unbalance the body chemistry severely, removes some vital minerals along with the toxic ones, is toxic for the kidneys, and does not do nearly as good a job as nutritional balancing. 

Please avoid chelation, in general.  However, it is better than bypass surgery and helpful in a few cases.  This large subject is discussed in  more detail in a separate article, entitled Chelation Therapy.

Drinking salt water.  Salt water will pull a certain amount of toxic substances out of the body by osmosis.  However, the long-term effects are questionable, at best, and it doesn’t work very well.

Salt is an unbalanced mineral product and will slowly change the mineral balance of the body.  Salt water has been known to kill, if one drinks enough, by upsetting the mineral balance.  Avoid this method completely.

Ionic foot baths.  These consist of an electrical array, as it is called, that is placed in a small tub of water, in which one places the feet.  It can also be placed in a bath tub that one lies in.

While they are excellent to remove some toxins, all ionic foot baths I have reviewed spin the chakras backwards and damage a person’s etheric energy field.  It can take more than a year to recover.  This is a subtle problem, and occasional use such as once per month seems to be safe.  However, regular use is not safe, so I cannot suggest their use much at all.  I also suspect these machines cause a yin effect upon the body.

Alkaline water for drinking.  I know of two types of alkaline water systems.  Both have similar problems.  The first type are more popular and are free-standing kitchen units.  These include the Jupiter, I-Water, Kagen, and others. 

These devices begin with tap water.  The water passes through a carbon filter, which does not remove many toxic metals and often does not even remove too many toxic chemicals because the water must move quickly through the filter.

Then the water passes over electrified platinum and titanium plates to alkalinize it.  Platinum is a very toxic metal, as is titanium.  Then many of the machines add a calcium solution or powder to the water to further enhance its alkalinity.  I believe this is a prescription for disaster in the long run for the following reasons:

·           Carbon-filtered tap water is not a very good base water, since carbon cannot filter out most toxic metals and many toxic chemicals, no matter what the manufacturers claim.  When water passes quickly over carbon, not that much is removed.

·           Platinum is too toxic for any human exposure, in my view.  While the amount of exposure is small, we have noted that after using the machine for 6 months or so, everyone who uses one is developing a little platinum toxicity, which can be deadly.  The amount of platinum absorbed will depend upon one’s tap water and one’s body chemistry.  The more poorly nourished one is, the more platinum one is likely to absorb.  Other factors such as one’s age, vitality, etc. also have an effect.

·           The calcium powder is often coral calcium or some other contaminated product that adds more toxic metals.

·           The alkaline water that is produced has a yin effect on the body that makes one feel better, but is not helpful for deep healing and spiritual development at all. 

If you have an alkaline  machine, at least do not add the powder, and turn off the alkalinization feature if you can, and just use it as a water filter.  Preferably unplug the unit so there is no chance that the platinum plates are electrified and leaching more platinum into your body.  This is better, though your water is still passing over platinum, which is perhaps harmful.  I have seen terrible problems caused by these machines when used daily for more than 6 months or so, even though the damage is very subtle at first.

I also do not like the advertising for these machines with false claims that most Japanese hospitals and the public in Japan uses them.  I do not believe this is true.

An even worse type of alkaline water is sold in health food stores and at water stores that sell RO or reverse osmosis water.  A calcium solution or powder, often coral calcium, is added to the reverse osmosis water to alkalinize it.  Problems with this setup are:

·           Reverse osmosis does not hydrate the body well at all and should never be used for daily drinking water by most people.

·           The calcium solution or powder, especially if it is made from coral calcium, may contain toxic metals.

·           When toxic metals are added to reverse osmosis water, the ‘hungry water’ seems to take up the metals easily and drive them deep into the body cells and the kidneys.

Plain spring water, even if it is not very alkaline, nourishes the body with many alkaline-forming minerals.  Along with a proper diet of cooked vegetables, some animal protein and whole grains, but not wheat, the body will slowly become more alkaline in a natural way.   Please do not be fooled by claims that the coral calcium is safe or that every family in Japan uses an alkaline water machine.

Fasting.  Unfortunately, fasting for more than two or three days on water alone cannot be recommended.  This was formerly an excellent method of healing.  However, my experience is that today the bodies are so toxic and so depleted of nutrients, that longer fasts make one more toxic and more depleted.  I have seen this repeatedly in my practice.

In fact, I worked as medical director of a fasting spa for several years and placed over 600 people on fasts.  Results were disappointing, though most people will lose weight.  I also fasted myself, and found that it harmed my health, not helped it.

Nutritional balancing science was designed for today’s horrendous health challenges and is far safer than fasting.  Fasting was appropriate in years past, when most of the classic books about it were written.

Juice fasts are far safer, but very yin and sugary, and not generally advisable for more than a few days, at most.  A carrot juice fast might work, but is still very sugary and yin, so I cannot even recommend that for more than a day or two.  To learn more, read Fasting on this website.

Ingesting Bentonite, Azomite, Montmorilliinite, Zeolite or other clay products.  This is very popular today.  However, we find that none of these are powerful enough to remove deeper layers of toxic metals.

Even worse, all of these products must contain aluminum, as all clay does, and often contains other toxic metals as well.  I believe that the makers of these products are not honest about the contents of the products. 

I often hear that these products are not toxic, when they are.  Just because the aluminum, lead, cadmium, arsenic and other metals are “in a natural form” does not mean they are not highly toxic.  Although they can remove some toxic metals short-term, please avoid these products.

Oil Pulling.  This is an ancient Ayurvedic method of detoxification.  It is not harmful.  I do not recommend it, however, because I do not find it effective enough.

 

Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program

BATHS FOR HEALING

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© July 2014, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

            For millennia, people have used various kinds of baths to assist healing.  A bath is basically partial or total immersion of the body in a medium such as water, steam, hot air, mud or even sound or light waves.

Water baths or water hydrotherapy.  These are the most commonly used baths.  Assuming one has good water to bathe in, water baths are comfortable, inexpensive and can be very helpful for some conditions and situations.  Too much water is yin, however.  Here are just a few that I have used successfully.

Warning:  In general, I do not recommend taking baths more than two or three times weekly.  The reasons are:

A) Baths are very yin in Chinese medical terms.  As a result, taking more than a few baths per week will make the body too yin.  This is definitely harmful, no matter how good a bath feels.  A lamp sauna session is far better because it does not have this effect.

B) Most municipal water is not that clean and contains some toxic metals and toxic chemicals that you will absorb easily in a bath.  Some water supplies are even contaminated with bacteria and parasites, another problems that is fortunately not as common in developed nations.

C) Be careful about overheating the body or becoming chilled in a bath, as neither are helpful, in most cases.  Exceptions are discussed above, such as heating the body to fight a cold or other illness.

COMMON THERAPEUTIC BATHS

1. Genital bath for bladder and genital conditions.  This is a partial bath that is very helpful for many vaginal and bladder infections, and perhaps for some problems involving the penis, as well.  Essentially, it brings a lot of blood to the genital and bladder areas.

Preparation: Wearing just a shirt, sit on the side of the tub, facing into a bathtub.  Alternatively, if you have a shower massager you could sit in the tub, either on the floor or on a plastic stool.  Then use a washrag or shower massager to splash cold water on the genital area only for about ten minutes per session.  Do not splash water on the entire abdomen.  You can repeat this bath every two hours, if needed, for an acute problem.

Cautions: The water must be cold.  If your cold water at your tub is not very cold, you could put some in a bucket and add ice to it, to cool it down further.

2. The ozone and peroxide bath.  This is for STDs and all other infections, and it works very well.  To do this bath, add between one and two cups of 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide to a bath that just covers your legs.  The bath should be quite hot and stay in it for at least 40 minutes.  Usually, the genital area is not overly sensitive to the peroxide.  Use as much hydrogen peroxide as you can without it becoming too irritating to the skin.

The peroxide alone is excellent.  For even better results, add ozone.  To do this, you must buy an ozone generator and run the tube from the generator into the bath.  To get rid of STDs, put the end of the tube deep into the vagina for women, and next to the penis for men.  Just relax for 40 minutes or so and allow the ozone and peroxide to do their germ-killing job.  Then get out of the bath and do not rinse off.  Just get dressed. 

Cautions: Beware of the following with peroxide baths:

a) Too much peroxide will cause itching and burning of the skin.  Just use less if this occurs.  More is better, however, if you can tolerate it.

b) 35% hydrogen peroxide is extremely corrosive.  It will bleach and burn through clothing in a matter of minutes, for example.  Never let the concentrated product touch your eyes or skin, if possible.  Preferably, measure it out with a glass measuring cup, rather than a plastic one.  Always handle it with extreme care, and replace the cap on the container so it will not spill all over if it falls over.

c) Do not repeat the bath more than about 3 times weekly, as too many baths are too yin in macrobiotic terms.

d) To get rid of STDs, even chronic ones, usually a few weeks of doing these baths 2-3 times weekly will work.  However, be sure to follow a complete nutritional balancing program with it for best results.  This means no fruit, no fruit juices, no wheat, 9 cups of cooked vegetables daily, and no raw vegetables and no sweets, at all.

d) Most people become sleepy from this bath.  Only one person has reported that doing this bath just before bed interfered with sleep. 

3. Kelp wrap or bath to help replenish some minerals.  This is a newer method of replenishing minerals that is currently being researched.  To read about it, please go to Kelp on this website.

4. Epsom salt bath for relaxation.  This is one of the most relaxing and soothing baths I know of.  It can be used to relax the muscles and nerves.  It may help with anxiety, and may help one slow down to get to sleep.

Preparation:  Add about 4 or 5 pounds of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) from the drug store or supermarket to a fairly hot bath.  Soak for 20 minutes or a little more.

Cautions: This bath is fairly yin, so do not repeat more than twice a week, in most cases.  For an acute injury, however, you could take a few of them to reduce pain, just for a few days.

The Epsom salt sitz bath.  This bath is used to heal anal fissures.  Turn on the very warm water until there is about 1 inch of rather warm or hot water in the bathtub.  Add at least 3 or even 4 pounds of Epsom salts to the bath and let them dissolve.  Then sit in bathtub for twenty minutes.  You can wear a shirt or sweater.  You will need to repeat this bath every day for a few weeks, in most cases.  This bath is much less yin because it involves much less water.

5. Salt and baking soda alkaline bath to relax the body and remove certain toxins. This bath is extremely alkaline and may cause a tingling sensation on the skin for this reason.  This bath can help with detoxification of some types of poisons, particularly acids that may be eliminated through the skin.  Because it is alkaline, it may also be relaxing for some people, and healing, as well, by causing some temporary alkalinization of the body.

Preparation: To a warm or hot bath, add about 2 cups of sea salt and about 2 cups of baking soda.  Make sure everything dissolves before getting in.  Swishing your hand in the water will help everything dissolve.

Cautions: This alkaline bath is not a substitute for a nutritional balancing program to restore the alkaline reserve minerals.  All temporary methods of alkalinizing the body, including drinking alkaline water and taking alkalinizing baths, must be secondary.  I do not recommend alkaline water, as it is too yin and often contains some platinum and titanium, which are very toxic.

6. Mustard bath for detoxification. This bath can help soothe the skin, in some cases, and remove certain toxins, including toxic chemicals such as trichloroethylene.

Preparation: This is made by placing about 2 tablespoons of ground mustard seeds in the warm bath water.  Alternatively, prepared mixtures of ground mustard seeds for baths are sold on the internet.

7. Very hot bath to cause sweating, to help with some infections, and for relaxation.  Very hot baths have several uses.  The most common is to quickly overcome some acute or chronic illnesses.  The hot water effectively raises the temperature of the body a few degrees.  This stimulates the immune response.

Very hot baths work best when the bacteria, virus or parasite is heat sensitive.  That is, when it is immobilized or even killed by fever.  An example is the rhinovirus associated with the common cold.  Beware, this is a very yin treatment so I do not use it much.

Preparation:  Make the bath water as hot as you can stand it.  Alternatively, get in the tub and slowly add hot water, as this way the body will become accustomed to the hot water.

This bath can be made even more powerful by drinking a cup of hot ginger tea.  This tea is warming, so it is synergetic with the effect of the hot water.

Cautions: a) Hot baths can be very debilitating.  It is best to have someone else present when you do this bath, in case you feel very weak afterwards and have trouble transferring to your bed to rest after the bath.

b) You will absorb more toxins such as chlorine and fluoride from very hot baths, as well as breathe more vapors or fumes from hot baths.  Therefore, use them cautiously, and not too often, in most cases.  You may need one or two during a bad cold, but don’t repeat them if they are not needed.

Hot tubs are another example of hot bathing.  However, please avoid most hot tubs because:

1) They are breeding grounds for bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.

2)  One usually picks up toxic chemicals from the water and from the chemicals used to sanitize the water.

3) The plumbing in the walls of the tub is impossible to clean properly.

If you want to use a hot tub, purify it with hydrogen peroxide and do not allow anyone beside yourself to enter the tub.  Preferably, change the water frequently and note if the tub smells or looks foul – in this case, change the water immediately, clean the tub thoroughly, and shock the tub with chlorine or another toxic chemical to help kill germs.

8. Cool or tepid bath to lower fevers.  A cool bath is usually used to lower a fever.  It can be extremely helpful for babies and children who can run high fevers, although it is equally effective with adults.  It is much better than giving Tylenol or Aspirin, for example.  These depress the nervous system and irritate the stomach, liver and kidneys, which is not good.  Either a cool or tepid bath, or sponging the body with a cool rage is much, much better.  This simply removes excess heat.

Note that cool baths will lower a fever, but if one is ill, the fever will go up again in a few hours, usually.  This is normal.  The bath can be repeated a few times daily, if needed, to keep a fever in a safe range.   

Cautions: a) Be careful not to become chilled.  This will happen if you stay in a tepid bath too long.  Often, just 15 minutes will suffice.  Monitor children carefully so they do not become chilled.

b) Do not try to lower a fever down to normal.  Just use the bath to keep the body temperature safe – usually less than about 103 or 104 degrees F.

9. Turmeric bath for detoxification.  This bath may be helpful to remove some toxic substances through the skin.  It is anti-inflammatory, and turmeric is a powerful anti-oxidant substance.

Preparation: To a warm or hot bath, add several teaspoons of powdered turmeric.  Help it dissolve by swishing your hand in the water.

Cautions: Turmeric can stain anything that it touches.  Therefore, be careful with clothing or other objects in the bathtub.

10. Clay bath for detoxification and other purposes.  This is really not a bath, but a clay application to the skin, which can be done in the bathtub, if desired, as it is quite messy.  Clay is a very absorbant substance, and this treatment is used to remove some toxins through the skin.

Clay can be very good for cystic or severe acne, for example, and to remove some infections, boils and other skin irritations.  Clays also contain some nutrients, which may be absorbed into the body during a bath.  However, clay is high in aluminum, so I do not recommend it very often.

Preparation: Buy some facial or body clay.  Mix it with distilled water, preferably, until it has the consistency of a paste.  Then get in the tub to apply it, or you could apply it to the skin outside or somewhere else where it won’t be too much of a mess.  Allow the clay to dry on the skin, usually for an hour or more.  Then it can be washed off in the shower.

Cautions: Most clay is high in aluminum.  For this reason, I do not recommend clay baths much, at all.

11. Ozone in bath water or in a steam bath to help oxygenate the body.  Ozone or O3 can be added to any bath.  This will provide the body with more oxygen, which is particularly helpful for cancer, strokes, and with some other conditions, as well.  An advantage of ozone is that it is not too yin.  A disadvantage is that it is a gas, so it will dissipate quickly in the air.

Preparation:  You will need an ozone generator.  Some make O3 from room air.  Others are usually more costly machines that start with oxygen (O2) and then concentrate the O2.  To add ozone to a standard bath, just run the output tube from the ozone generator into the bath and let it bubble into the bath.

Ozone can also be added to a steam bath, preferably a clam shell style steam cabinet in which one’s head is outside the cabinet.  The ozone is piped into the cabinet, while steam is also generated inside the cabinet in most cases.  The hot steam may help the ozone to penetrate into the body.

Ozone can also be used in the rectum or intravenously.  However, these require more equipment and usually a trained person to assist you.

Cautions: Breathing too much ozone can be irritating to the lungs in some people.  Otherwise, ozone is fairly safe.

12. Eucalyptus bath to promote circulation and relax the muscles.  This may help with the pain of Lyme disease.

Preparation: Draw a fairly warm bath.  Before getting in, or when you get in, add just a few drops of eucalyptus oil to the bath water.

Cautions: Beware that essential oils are extremely yin in Chinese medical terms.  Therefore, use them very sparingly!  Most people use too much. This may feel good, but it makes the body much more yin, which is not helpful.

13. Alternating hot and cold partial bath.  This bath is used on the feet when one has a migraine headache.  It appears to work by drawing the blood out of the head and down to the feet, and this can provide relief from a severe headache when nothing else works.

It could also be used on a hand, arm or other part of the body to draw more blood to the area.

14. Colonic hydrotherapy.  This can be viewed as a sort of immersion of the colon in water, or therapeutic use of water.  It is discussed in the article entitled Detoxifcation Protocols.

 

Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program
SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© August 2016, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

Definition of the pattern:

1. A slow oxidation rate AND a hair potassium level of 4 mg% or less

2. A slow oxidation rate AND a sodium/potassium ratio of about 3 to 4 or more. (Hair must not be washed at the lab for accurate readings.)

Name Of The Pattern

Name Confusion

II. MEANING OF THE PATTERN

III. SYMPTOMS

IV. CAUSES

V. CORRECTION

VI. OTHER TOPICS

No Hair Washing

Sympathetic Dominance On A Retest

Variants

Combination With Other Patterns

Quantifying Sympathetic Dominance

 

I. INTRODUCTION

Sympathetic dominance is one of the most important and most interesting patterns seen on hair mineral analyses.  It has to do with the autonomic nervous system.

Dr. Paul Eck, my mentor and teacher of nutritional balancing, did not recognize this pattern.  I recognized it around 1998 after he died. 

Name of the pattern. I used to call this pattern the pusher pattern, because I noticed people with this pattern tended to push themselves.  This is the same name used for this pattern in advanced acupuncture.

The pattern is now called sympathetic dominance because a person with this pattern is overusing the sympathetic nervous system.

Name confusion.  This is not the same as a sympathetic state of body chemistry.  This is fast oxidation.

Also, some other hair analysis labs and doctors use the term sympathetic dominance differently.  So please strictly follow the definition below to define this pattern.

DEFINITION OF SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE ON A HAIR ANALYSIS

This pattern is always characterized by either:

1. A slow oxidation rate AND a potassium level of 4 mg% or less.

2. A slow oxidation rate AND a sodium/potassium ratio greater than about 3 to 4.

Both the above can also be present.

Let us discuss these possible patterns in more detail:

1. Slow oxidation PLUS the hair potassium level must be 4 mg% (or 40 parts per million) or less.  This is the most common situation of sympathetic dominance.

The lower the potassium level, the more severe the pattern.

The slower the oxidation rate, the more severe the pattern.

2. Slow oxidation plus a sodium/potassium ratio greater than about 3 or 4.

The higher the sodium/potassium ratio in this case, the more severe the pattern.

If the calcium/magnesium ratio is also greater than 9.5, the pattern is a double pattern and is more severe.

Do not wash the hair! The hair must not be washed at the laboratory for accurate assessment of sympathetic dominance.  See below for more about hair washing at the laboratory.

II. THE MEANING OF SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

Sympathetic dominance indicates a person who is over-utilizing his or her sympathetic nervous system.  In simple terms, the person is pushing himself or herself, or worrying too much.

The sodium and potassium readings on a hair tissue mineral analysis, and to some degree their ratio, have to do with the utilization of this branch of the autonomic or automatic nervous system.

Relation to the stress wave and progression from fast to slow oxidation.

The stress wave is the way the body responds to a stressor.  Sympathetic dominance can occur when there is not enough recovery phase.

The progression from fast oxidation to slow oxidation.   While some use of this fight-or-flight system is normal and needed, when it is overused chronically, it becomes exhausted.  The body flips into a parasympathetic state we call slow oxidation.  However, if one keeps on using the sympathetic system after exhaustion occurs, the sodium and potassium levels in the hair keep declining, revealing the pattern we are discussing.

Physiology.  In fact, the person is eliminating in the urine and sweat some sodium and potassium beyond what is ideal.  This directly gives rise to the low levels.  The pattern also has to do with the level of aldosterone in some instances, and it has to do with more complex mechanisms that come into play when the adrenal glands are very stressed, and depleted nutritionally.

III. SYMPTOMS

            1. More physical activity than is appropriate for them.  People who are in a sympathetic dominant mode of behavior often run around too much physically.  Many are forever busy.  They have trouble just relaxing, sitting still, resting, and being idle. 

They often feel compelled, and at times, somewhat obsessive or compulsive, though usually not in a pathological way.  In fact, this can be a very positive trait when it is controlled.  Many are very caring and thoughtful, for example, but it is taken to an extreme and eventually begins to damage the body.

Some believe they are still fast oxidizers, when, in fact, the body has “burned out” of fast oxidation and is now in slow oxidation.

Many feel they are being “chased by tigers” much of the time. They may have been taught that to relax is a “waste of time” or “unproductive” or “lazy”.

They are doers.  Often they identify themselves with their ‘doingness’, meaning their activities, physical or mental, rather than identifying with their beingness.  The latter would be more like a very young child who is just happy to be himself or herself and need not run around or do much of anything to be happy.

2. Anxious or worriers.  This is a form of “running around aimlessly” in the mind

3. Tired, but usually somewhat out of touch with the fatigue and exhaustion.  They often feel tired only when they slow down.  The reason for this is that the body is often in a “second wind” mode of living much of the time.  If they relax, they often feel like going to sleep.  This is disturbing for them, so they get up and go again, putting themselves back in a sympathetic nervous mode.

4. A very active mind.  Sympathetic dominant individuals are generally smart and have a very active mind to begin with, which gets overactive easily.  This can make relaxing, sleeping or just sitting even more difficult.

5. Willfulness.  This, of course, is a good thing if it is used wisely.  However, the best use of the will for the sympathetic dominant type of person is to will oneself to slow down, relax and perhaps meditate, since that can undo the pattern better than anything else.  The use of the will for other purposes, such as planning, moving the body, thinking too much and so forth, tends to make the pattern worse and keep it going.

6. Fearful and always somewhat depressed underneath due to fears, worries and fatigue.  Some with sympathetic dominance are running away because otherwise they would not feel well. 

7. A high copper type of personality.  They generally have hidden or overt copper toxicity.  This helps explain some of their symptoms such as an active, analytical, emotional aspect of the personality.

8. In Acupuncture, damp heat or a weak yang rising.

9. Reduced libido in some cases.  This may stem from hidden fatigue, and an inability to just relax.  

10. Ungrounded and not centered enough. This goes with the tendency to run around too much or worry too much.

11. Problems with the first and second energy centers, called in Oriental medicine the first and second chakras.  This has to do with grounding, centering, and other things. 

12. Often occurs in intelligent, spiritually-oriented people. I am not sure why this occurs, but it is common.

IV. CAUSES FOR SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

            Causes for this pattern can come from the spiritual, mental or physical realm. 

1. Spiritual imbalances as a cause of sympathetic dominance.  Sympathetic dominant individuals are usually quite spiritually oriented or advanced, compared to the mass of the people.  One wants to “move on”, so to speak, but does not know how to do this without burning out the nervous system in a fight-or-flight reaction.

This is where meditation of the proper kind can be essential and powerful.  It is a productive way to use the will and other mental faculties without burning oneself out.

The same will that gets one into trouble with this mineral pattern can thus be used in a powerful, healing, creative manner.  For more information about this, read the article entitled Meditation.  Beware of using just any meditation, as many do not have nearly the same effect as the one we recommend.  Another article to read on this topic is Mental Development. 

Another spiritual aspect of this pattern is that many with sympathetic dominance are somewhat lonely because of the their level of mental development.  They react to this by trying to ‘fit in with the crowd’.  To do so, they tend to overwork, overachieve, and generally run themselves ragged.  Many try to please others, which is always a mistake.  As a result, they exhaust themselves.

Another spiritual aspect is that these individuals are generally quite ungrounded and uncentered.  They have a strong need for grounding and centering.  There are not too many ways to achieve this, and one is the Roy Masters meditation exercise mentioned above and in the article on meditation on this website.  Walking slowly is another excellent way to become centered and grounded, and is highly recommended for this reason.  Also, learning to maintain strict boundaries and learning basic truths about the world and about people is also most helpful.  For this, a starting point is to read the article called Survival on this website, and to implement what it recommends totally, without exception.

2. Mental/emotional causes of sympathetic dominance.   This has the most to do with one’s upbringing.  Many people are taught not be lazy, to be productive, to not waste time, and so forth.  This can become exaggerated into sympathetic dominance.  It is a type of compulsive or obsessive quality, we might say.

Another emotional cause may be excessive emotions that are fearful, negative, angry or harmful in some way.  For example, fear of poverty, fear of the unknown, fear of self, even, can drive many people to achieve highly or just to keep moving all the time.

Fear. The sympathetic nervous system is the fight-or-flight system.  It is the body’s response to fear.  Anything that creates fear, whether it be listening to the news, watching a horror movie or war movie, being in the company of harmful friends or family, or a thousand other situations can contribute to sympathetic dominance symptoms.

Anger. Many people with sympathetic dominance are quite angry underneath.  This is partially because they are spiritually advanced people who are having trouble handling the world.  It can also be for all sorts of other reasons, such as childhood traumas.  Dealing with anger, which is always an adrenal response to fear that is projected onto others, is important for many people with sympathetic dominance pattern.

3. Biochemical or nutritional causes of sympathetic dominance.  Copper imbalance is always present with this pattern.  In fact, a low hair potassium, Dr. Eck found, is always an indicator for hidden copper toxicity.  To read more about copper, read Copper Toxicity Syndrome. 

Other toxic metals, especially mercury and cadmium, or even toxic chemicals in the body may also irritate and drive a person even when he or she wants to relax.

The three amigos are always present in excess as well.  They help support the sodium level, according to our research.  Note that they will often not be revealed on early hair mineral analyses.  These are aluminum, along with a biounavailable form of manganese and iron that are most likely oxides.  These also irritate and stimulate the adrenals or the nervous system, perpetuating the pattern.  For more on this topic, read The Three Amigos.

Also, fatigue also depletes vital nutrients such as zinc, chromium, selenium and others.  These vital minerals and some vitamins as well are then often replaced by toxic metals such as cadmium, copper and others.

If one follows a nutritional balancing program, however, the toxic metals and toxic chemicals will slowly be eliminated from the body.  As that happens, a person often calms down, worries less, relaxes more and the sympathetic dominance pattern disappears.

Many other toxic and physiological minerals can also contribute to the pattern.

4. Physical causes of sympathetic dominance.  An interesting cause of this pattern is muscle tension in the body.  This may take the form of simple tense muscles or it may cause spinal misalignments and other distortions of the physical body and posture that require handling by chiropractors or osteopaths.

It might also take the form of tight fascia that is addressed by Rolfing or Structural Integration, tight ligaments, bad posture or other structural or physical imbalances.

This is a strictly physical situation for the most part.  This also means that anyone with sympathetic dominance should consider physical therapies such as chiropractic and structural integration as part of an overall healing program.

An interesting structural aspect is that a so-called cringing posture will tend to cause this pattern by irritating the sympathetic nerves in the upper and lower spinal area.  As the posture changes, the nerves can relax.

Chiropractic misalignments can also contribute to the pattern in a fairly pure physical sense.

V. CORRECTING SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

            The nutritional balancing programs we recommend are geared to correct sympathetic dominance in at least ten different ways, which I will elaborate here:

·           Basic good nutrition.  Those with sympathetic dominance often have poor eating habits, as they are always somewhat on the run.  They also are depleted by their pattern.  Also, the sympathetic nervous system interferes with their digestion and their elimination, so these area of their bodies are weakened in most cases.  These are specifically addressed with nutritional balancing programs with the right food, good eating habits and the use of supplements such as GB-3 and others.

·           Balancing the oxidation rate.  This helps eliminate toxic metals and restore the autonomic and other parts of the nervous system to optimal functioning.

·           Toxic metal removal.  The nutritional balancing program begins to remove All of the toxic metals.  For more about how this is done without chelation therapy, read The Danger of Toxic Metals.

·           Specific nutrients. We may give specific nutrients to rebuild the brain and nervous system.  This, however, is never quite as important as the basic lifestyle changes mentioned above.

·           Supplement program special alterations.  We give fewer stimulating supplements to these people.  For example, I substitute Thyro-complex at 2-2-2 for Endo-dren because Thyro-complex is more balanced and not as powerful a product.  Also, I reduce Megapan to 1-1-1 instead of 2-2-2 in all cases.

·           We give more parasympathetic-oriented supplements.  These may include calcium, magnesium, zinc, ox bile, pancreatin or other supplements such as valerian root, for example, if needed for sleep or relaxation for a while.

·           Lifestyle.  We recommend a lot more rest and sleep, going to bed early, and making a concerted effort to slow down your thinking, moving, eating, and all other activities.

·           Other lifestyle recommendations include learning to start each day slowly, taking slow walks during the day and deep breathing on a regular basis.

·           Dietary suggestions. Eliminate all stimulants such as caffeine, fruit, fruit juices and sugar.

·           The Pushing Down Exercise.  This is the most powerful way to slowly undo many of the physical, mental and emotional causes for the sympathetic dominance pattern.

·           Use a lamp sauna daily. Using a near infrared lamp sauna each and every day is extremely helpful.  You may feel tired temporarily, but that is because it is relaxing the autonomic nervous system and is very, very helpful.  Just rest after the sauna session.  A far infrared sauna or traditional sauna are not as good.

·           Foot reflexology and coffee enemas. Foot reflexology is superb to rebalance the acupressure meridians and relax the nervous system.  Coffee enemas bring energy downward in the body and are also particularly needed by people with this pattern.  They can be life-saving and usually feel very good.  These procedures, along with the sauna sessions, are specifically helpful for this mineral and personality pattern.

·           Chiropractic and Rolfing. Also consider chiropractic adjustments and perhaps Rolfing or structural integration to reduce adhesions and tension in the body.

VI. OTHER TOPICS

HAIR MUST NOT BE WASHED AT THE LAB TO IDENTIFY SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

It is critical that the hair not be washed at the laboratory for accurate readings of sodium and potassium, in particular.  These are water soluble minerals, and are easily removed by washing.

Only two laboratories I am aware of do not wash the hair at the laboratory.  These are Analytical Research Laboratories in Phoenix, Arizona, the one I most recommend, and Trace Elements, Inc. in Addison, Texas. I do not recommend using Trace Elements, Inc. for hair testing.  They are not as careful, they do not list the ideal hair values, their graphs are more difficult to read, and their nutrition programs are not as good.

I do not recommend using a hair tissue mineral testing laboratory that washes the hair in any manner.  In my experience, the problems associated with hair samples that are contaminated with dust or other items is much less than the problem of skewed readings due to the chemicals used to wash the hair.

SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE ON RETEST HAIR MINERAL ANALYSES

 On retest hair mineral analyses when a person is following a nutritional balancing program, the pattern is much less important because it is usually just a retracing effect that is very temporary and will pass usually in a few days to a few weeks or so.

One may still experience the symptoms of sympathetic dominance while one is retracing the pattern, but the symptoms are usually transient and fairly mild most of the time.

VARIANTS OF SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

            Burned Out Sympathetic Dominance.  This pattern is present when the sympathetic dominance pattern of a low potassium level combines with a sodium/potassium ratio less than 2.5.

            This may indicate that a person has been in sympathetic dominance for a long time, or it has been quite extreme, so that now the adrenal glands are quite exhausted, causing a low sodium/potassium ratio.  It is not a healthful pattern at all, and is associated with exhaustion, fatigue, depression, and most chronic illnesses.

            Hunted.  This is just a way to express or understand an extreme sympathetic dominance pattern.  Criteria for a ‘hunted’ pattern include a potassium level of 1 mg% or less, a Ca/K ratio greater than 200, and an Na/K ratio of 4 or more. 

            Three highs.  It is possible to have a three high macromineral pattern along with sympathetic dominant.

Four Highs.  This is also possible along with sympathetic dominance.

COMBINATION PATTERNS THAT INCLUDE SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

            Sympathetic dominance is part of a number of other important macromineral patterns on a hair mineral analysis in which the hair is not washed at the laboratory.  These include:

1. Trying Too Hard pattern.  This is indicated by sympathetic dominance and a calcium level above about 165, also called a calcium shell.

2. Wasting One’s Time or Biding One’s Time.  This is a potassium of 4 mg% or less, combined with a calcium shell and a calcium/magnesium ratio of 13.5 or higher.

3. Stress From Within And Without  This is sympathetic dominance combined with a calcium/magnesium ratio greater than 13.5.

4. Trying Hard To Stay Afloat.  This consists of sympathetic dominance combined with a double high ratio pattern.  The latter is a sodium/potassium ratio greater than about 5 and a calcium/magnesium ratio greater than about 10).  It must also be a two highs or perhaps three highs pattern, but not a four highs pattern.

            5. Workaholic pattern. This pattern is defined as three high macrominerals, AND a sodium/potassium ratio greater than 3. 

All of the above patterns always include a sympathetic dominance pattern.

QUANTIFYING SYMPATHETIC DOMINANCE

One can assess the severity of sympathetic dominance by assessing how many sympathetic dominance patterns are present on a hair chart.  Double and triple sympathetic dominance patterns are common, and it is possible to have ten or even 15 sympathetic dominance indicators.

The way to quantify the pattern is to add up the number of sympathetic dominant indicators that are present on the chart.  Here are the criteria, so far:

1. Potassium of 4 mg% = a single pattern.

2. Potassium of 3 mg% = a double pattern.

3. Potassium of 2 mg% = a triple pattern.

4. Potassium of 1 mg% = a quadruple pattern.

5. Potassium less than 1 mg%.  This is not currently read on ARL hair tests, but some other laboratories read potassium levels at lower levels.  Lower potassium indicates more sympathetic dominance patterns, and the exact criteria are still being worked out.

6. If the potassium is 4 or less, AND the sodium/potassium ratio greater than about 3 to 4, this may add another multiple, or up to 5 more sympathetic dominant patterns depending on how high the sodium/potassium ratio is. (For the number of indicators to add, see Elevated Sodium/Potassium Ratio in the Quantifying The Patterns article).

7. If the potassium is 4 or less, AND the sodium/potassium ratio is greater than about 3 to 4, AND the calcium/magnesium ratio greater than about 9.5, this adds another multiple, or perhaps more than one if the sodium/potassium ratio and/or the calcium/magnesium ratio are very high.

8. A four lows pattern adds another indicator.

9. If three highs or four highs pattern is present, AND the sodium/potassium ratio is about 3 or greater, this adds another multiple or perhaps more than one, depending on how high the sodium/potassium ratio is.

10. If three highs or four highs pattern is present, AND the sodium/potassium ratio is about 3 or greater, AND the calcium/magnesium ratio is greater than about 9.5, this can add another multiple or perhaps more than one, depending on how high the sodium/potassium ratio and/or calcium magnesium ratios are.

11. Every four poor eliminator patterns adds one sympathetic dominance indicator.

12. Every four very poor eliminator patterns adds an additional one sympathetic dominance indicator. (This is in addition to indicators due to poor eliminator pattern.) 

In this way, one can have, for example, five, ten or even fifteen sympathetic dominance patterns on a single hair mineral chart!

 

Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program

 THE OXIDATION TYPES – FAST, SLOW AND MIXED

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© February 2013, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Table Of Contents

I. Introduction

Definitions Of Fast, Slow And Mixed Oxidation

History of the Oxidation Types

Metabolic Typing

Yang And Yin And The Oxidation Types

A General, Whole Systems Behavior

Correlation Of The Stages Of Stress With The Oxidation Types

II. Fast Oxidation

III. Slow Oxidation

IV. Mixed Oxidation

V. Four Lows

VI. Qualities Of The Oxidation Types

VII. Correction Of The Oxidation Rate

VIII. Other Topics

*************

 

WARNING: Some physicians determine the oxidation rate using blood tests, questionnaires and perhaps other means.  They may also suggest different foods and nutrients for the oxidation types.  This can be confusing, incorrect and even dangerous.

Everything in this article and others on this website regarding the oxidation rate and oxidation types pertains to Dr. Paul Eck’s method of assessing the oxidation types using hair mineral analysis - when the hair has not been washed at the laboratory.

This is the only system of metabolic typing that I trust and use, as it has proven reliable and consistent.

One cannot use another method of determining the oxidation rate and expect that the information here will apply.  Indeed, several of our clients were tested by other methods of oxidation assessment and were found to have very different oxidation types using these methods.

******************

I. INTRODUCTION

              The oxidation types are one of the most important concepts in nutritional balancing science.  They are metabolic types that are the basis for the nutritional balancing diets.  Some of the supplementation used in all nutritional balancing programs is also based on the oxidation type.

DEFINITIONS

Definition of fast oxidation.  This is defined on a properly performed hair mineral analysis as a calcium/potassium ratio less than 4 AND a sodium/magnesium ratio greater than 4.17.

The lower the calcium/potassium ratio or the higher the sodium/magnesium ratio, the faster the oxidation rate.

Definition of slow oxidation.  This is defined on a properly performed hair mineral test as a calcium/potassium ratio greater than 4 and a sodium/magnesium ratio less than 4.17.

The higher the calcium/potassium ratio or the lower the sodium/magnesium ratio, the slower the oxidation rate.

Definition of mixed oxidation.  This is defined on a properly performed hair mineral analysis as EITHER:

1. A calcium/potassium ratio greater than 4 AND a sodium/magnesium ratio greater than 4.17.

OR

2. A calcium/potassium ratio less than 4 AND a sodium/magnesium ratio less than 4.17.

Hair washing.  The hair must not be washed at the laboratory in order to make an accurate determination of the oxidation type or stage of stress.  This is a vital point, since most hair mineral laboratories in the United States and most around the world wash the hair in powerful detergents, alcohol, water or solvents.

Only two laboratories do not wash the hair, Analytical Research Laboratories that Dr. Eck founded, and Trace Elements, Inc., (TEI) founded by a student of Dr. Eck’s.  I do not recommend using TEI at this time, as their graphs are hard to read, the programs are not nearly as good, and in fact are horribly incorrect.  For more on this subject, read Hair Analysis Interpretation Methods And Laboratories on this website.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE OXIDATION TYPES

Dr. George Watson.  The term ‘oxidation types’ was coined by George Watson, PhD, a researcher at UCLA.  He wrote about his work in two fascinating small books entitled Nutrition and Your Mind (1972), and Personality Strength and Psychochemical Energy (1979).  These are out of print but available through used book outlets including Amazon.com.  They are extremely readable and must reading for anyone interested in the oxidation types.

Dr. Watson discovered two major metabolic types, first by using odor tests and later by using blood tests.  He found that the blood pH of fast oxidizers was slightly more acidic than that of slow oxidizers.  He also found other differences in standard blood tests, such as the CO2 levels.

He also found that certain foods and nutrients benefited each metabolic type.  He was able to correct the oxidation rate using diet and supplementary nutrients.  This simple treatment often caused dramatic improvements in both his client’s physical and emotional symptoms.  This is as far as Dr. Watson went in his research, to the best of my knowledge.  At least, he did not write other books.

Dr. Paul C. Eck.  Dr. Eck was a physician, a brilliant researcher and clinician who lived in Phoenix, Arizona most of his life.  He was also my teacher and good friend.  Dr. Eck did not write books, and was primarily a clinician and founder of Analytical Research Laboratories in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.  I wrote about his work in Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis (1991, 1992, 1998, 2005, 2010, 2014).  In addition, several sections of the articles on this website pertain to his work very directly, as he is the inspiration for this website.

Dr. Eck could always be found reading quite esoteric medical books, almost endlessly.  He also decided to research the technique of hair mineral analysis as his major clinical research tool.  The reasons for this are described in many other articles on this website such as Introduction To Hair Mineral Analysis.  Dr. Eck developed the science of hair mineral analysis interpretation far beyond anyone else I am aware of.  This website is dedicated to his work, and to its expansion since his passing in 1996.

Dr. Eck was thrilled to discover Dr. Watson’s oxidation concepts.  It helped him make sense of hair mineral tests and opened the way for a scientific method of interpretation of this test and much more.

Dr. Eck extended Dr. Watson’s work by making a startling correlation between the oxidation types and the stages of stress, as elucidated by Dr. Hans Selye, MD.  This is discussed later in this article.

METABOLIC TYPING 

The oxidation types are an example of metabolic typing.  This is an ancient healing concept, and a very central one in nutritional balancing science.  Metabolic typing is unfamiliar to most people because modern conventional medicine, as well as most holistic doctors, do not use it.

Definition of metabolic typing.  This is a system of classifying bodies by groups of traits that they display.  There are about at least a dozen such systems in use around the world.

Homeostatic states.  Metabolic types can be viewed as homeostatic states of the whole human system.  These are modern words for an ancient idea.  Homeostatic states means relatively stable states of the body chemistry. They are often ways the human body and animal bodies cope with their environment as best they can.

The value of metabolic typing.   By identifying a person’s metabolic type, one can immediately know a lot about a person.  Astute physicians have observed this for centuries.  I discuss other systems of metabolic typing later in this article.

YANG AND YIN

The modern idea of oxidation types is essentially the same as the ancient Taoist and Chinese ideas of yang and yin.  The latter are an ancient way of expressing basic physics qualities such as hot and cold, fast-moving and slower-moving, more masculine and more feminine, and centripetal and centrifugal.

Controversy over words. Some people equate yang and yin with mystical Oriental religions.  However, fast and slow oxidation have nothing to do with religion.  They are merely states of body chemistry.

Differences. Today, we determine the metabolic types mathematically.  In contrast, the ancient Taoists used and still use pulse and tongue diagnosis, or other means, to assess the metabolic type.

Determining the metabolic type mathematically offers a great advantage in precision.  As a result, one can easily determine not only the oxidation type, but also the oxidation rate with precision.  Older systems that do not use modern biochemical analysis methods cannot be as precise, and can often be vague.

For much more on yang and yin, please read Understanding Yin And Yang, Yin Disease, and Yin And Yang Healing on this website.

A GENERAL, WHOLE SYSTEM BEHAVIOR

Simplicity, Not Perfection. The metabolic typing system referred to in this article appears quite simple.  That is its virtue.  It is also fairly accurate in most cases, but certainly not perfect.  All metabolic typing systems suffer from this problem, however, because the body is basically not a ”type”, but rather each person is an individual.

A whole system behavior.  Metabolic typing, however, still has great value because it is a whole system behavior of the body.  Whole system behaviors provide a tremendous amount of information at once, thus simplifying our assessment procedure and greatly assisting the recommending of diets, nutritional supplements and other procedures at times.

Balancing the oxidation rate increases vitality.  Balancing the oxidation rate, in our experience, appears to greatly enhance the healing of hundreds of symptoms at once, both physical and emotional ones.  This most likely occurs because balancing the oxidation rate increases energy production or energy efficiency of the body.  It is like pedaling a bicycle at the right speed, which greatly enhances one’s power and endurance.

In the body, an optimum oxidation rate may provide an optimum physical and chemical environment in which millions of enzymes function best.  If we can provide this, the body simply functions better with less stress.  As a result, many symptoms improve easily without the need for remedies of any kind. 

This is really quite amazing to see, and is one reason we do not need remedies in most cases to correct even the most difficult health conditions.  This is the exact opposite of allopathic medicine in many cases, which depends upon remedies, in most cases.

In fact, it is very different from even holistic medicine, naturopathy and homeopathy, all of which depend upon the use of hundreds or more remedies for healing.

In contrast, the nutritional balancing method is to correct the whole system behaviors, of which the metabolic type is a main one.  (Others are the key mineral ratios on a hair mineral analysis, and lifestyle factors such as the diet, drinking water, rest level and more.).  Then the ‘details’ of the body, or most symptoms, go away on their own without our needing to do anything at all.

CORRELATING STAGES OF STRESS WITH OXIDATION TYPES

 

Dr. Hans Selye, MD.  A Canadian physician, Dr. Selye is credited with the stress theory of disease, an amazing understanding of health and disease.  Dr. Selye wrote The Stress of Life and about 1200 medical articles, as well as technical books such as Calciphylaxis.

His work on stress is monumental, but largely ignored.  In part this is because it was very hard to apply clinically.  Dr. Eck, however, found that the stage of stress, or at least an aspect of body chemistry related to it, could be assessed easily and rapidly with a hair tissue mineral analysis.

Dr. Selye also coined words we use commonly today such as homeostasis and elaborated what he called the General Adaptation Syndrome.  This is ground-breaking work about how organisms always respond to stress.  It involves the sympathetic nervous system, the role of the adrenal and thyroid glands in the stress response, and much more.

He theorized that all living organisms pass through three stages of stress before they die.  He called these the alarm, resistance and exhaustion stages of stress.  Dr. Selye further elaborated some of the biochemistry of each stage of stress.

Dr. Eck was able to see the intimate connections between Dr. Selye’s stages of stress and Dr. Watson’s oxidation types.  He was able to figure out why Dr. Watson was able to help people with simple dietary suggestions and supplementary nutrients because he was addressing deep stress patterns in the organism.

Dr. Watson was addressing the individual needs of his patients in terms of their stage of stress and the condition specifically of the adrenal and thyroid glands and the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, also called the HPA axis.

Essentially, fast and slow oxidation are homeostatic states and ways that the body responds to stress.  The stress may be from within, such as nutrient deficiencies or fatigue.

Stress may also arise from a multitude of external sources.  Basically, slow oxidation correlates with a resistance or exhaustion stage of stress.  Fast oxidation corresponds to an alarm stage of stress.  In the ancient Chinese and macrobiotic typing systems, fast oxidation corresponds to a more yang condition, while slow oxidation is a more yin condition of the body.

There is also a sub-oxidation state, so called by Dr. Watson, that most likely corresponds to Dr. Eck’s four lows hair analysis pattern, when the hair has not been washed at the laboratory.  This is a collapsed or “spinning the wheels” state of body chemistry that may be fast or slow oxidation, but has its own qualities as well.  It is discussed in detail in another article on this website, Four Lows Pattern.

II. FAST OXIDATION OR THE ALARM STAGE OF STRESS

High hair sodium and potassium levels.  Fast oxidation or an alarm stage of stress is characterized by excessive activity of the thyroid and adrenal glands.  More adrenal activity and thus a higher level of aldosterone raises the hair or soft tissue sodium and potassium levels.

Lower hair calcium and magnesium levels.  One result of this excessive adrenal and thyroid activity are lower hair tissue levels of calcium and magnesium.  Essentially, increased solubility of calcium and magnesium occur when the sodium and potassium levels rise.  Sodium and potassium are highly water-soluble and antagonistic to calcium and magnesium.

Blood serum mineral levels may, but usually do not correspond to the levels of these minerals in the hair.  This is because the serum mineral levels are very sensitive to any variations, so the body often keeps them extremely stable.

Much greater variation is seen in the hair levels, however.  Also, hair is a storage and excretory tissue.  Minerals that the body is deficient in are retained, or not permitted into the hair.  Minerals that are in excess in the blood are often pushed off or stored in non-essential soft tissues such as the hair.

Visual pattern.  On a hair mineral analysis, the pattern of fast oxidation is one of lowered calcium and magnesium levels, along with elevated levels of sodium and potassium.  This is very easy to read on a test from Analytical Research Laboratories, which has calibrated scales and simple vertical graphs.  The pattern often looks like two low numbers followed by two high numbers.

Visual difficulties.  In some cases, fast oxidation is not easy to recognize visually.  The difficulty occurs when all four macrominerals are elevated.  This is called a four highs pattern.  In this case, one cannot tell visually if fast oxidation is present.  One must calculate the ratios to assess the oxidation type, as explained in the beginning of this article under Definition Of Fast Oxidation.

SYMPTOMS OF FAST OXIDATION

            Those with a fast oxidation rate tends to be anxious, irritable, in a hurry, and aggressive if their oxidation rate is very fast.  They are usually somewhat emotional, short-tempered and high-strung.  They easily become anxious and wound up, and may need sedative drugs to slow down.

Their blood sugar and blood pressure tend to be on the high side of normal.  They are often warm and sweat easily.  Their brains often work well, with fast thinking.

They usually have oily skin, and some tendency for frequent or loose bowel movements.  They may gain weight in the area of the abdomen due to high levels of cortisol and cortisone.

They are in a fight-or-flight mode too much of the time.  This uses up certain nutrients and eventually can result in symptoms and illnesses associated with this metabolic type.  These include high blood pressure, fatal heart attacks, anxiety, panic attacks, arthritis, and others.

TYPES OF FAST OXIDATION

              It is helpful to distinguish true fast oxidation from temporary fast oxidation:

1. True fast oxidation is found mainly in babies and children under the age of about 3- 8 years of age.  They have high levels of etheric energy in the body, and this tends to push their oxidation rate into the fast range.

2. Temporary fast oxidation (also called a slow oxidizer under stress).  This is almost always the case in anyone over the age of about 8 to 10 years old.

It is also helpful to distinguish healthy fast oxidation from what is called tired fast oxidation.

A healthy fast oxidizer has a sodium/potassium ratio of 2.5 or higher.

A tired fast oxidizer has a sodium/potassium ratio less than 2.5.  At times, he or she may also have a calcium or magnesium level that is above the ideal values of 40 mg% for calcium and 6 mg% for magnesium.

CAUSES FOR FAST OXIDATION

These are:

1. Early life.  All babies are born in mild fast oxidation.  Usually, before they leave the hospital, the oxidation rate speeds up tremendously.  This can be due to stress or due to administering vaccines that stress the body.

Vaccination is a horrible practice that is ruining the children today!  Please read the facts in the Vaccination article on this site, and do not be swayed by your doctor or the media.

Most children remain in this metabolic condition up to the age of between 3 and about 10. Then they slow down into slow oxidation, in almost all cases.

2. Stress fast oxidation.  These are adults or some older children who are only in fast oxidation because they are under stress of a type that forces their bodies into faster oxidation.  Dietary factors that can cause this are the use of caffeine, sugar, bread, cigarettes or alcohol.  Some people also use irritant substances such as hot spices.

Other stimulants include some medical drugs such as amphetamines, and cocaine, crack, crystal meth, Ecstacy, and other recreational drugs.

Other toxic chemicals such as certain pesticides can also have the same effect.  Excess toxic metals in the body can also act as a stressor that pushes a person into a fast oxidation rate.  These are discussed below.

Other common stimulants are lack of rest, too much work, fears, anger, hatred, working in noisy environments, domestic arguments, or financial stress.

When the stress, which is often biochemical, is relieved, these individuals move into slow oxidation.  If it happens quickly, it is called a crash landing, which is somewhat unpleasant, although it can be taken care of easily with the proper diet and nutritional supplements.

3. Dietary fast oxidation.  These people remain in fast oxidation because they do not eat enough fats and oils – foods that slow the oxidation rate.  Some are vegetarians, or semi-vegetarians who do not like to eat meat, eggs or cheese that all contain fats. 

Some also eat fruit, sugars and other high-carbohydrate foods such as chips, pasta or bread that can keep them in fast oxidation.

Some do this unconsciously, while others know what they are doing, and prefer to stay in fast oxidation by eating certain foods and avoiding others that slow their oxidation rate.

4. Toxic fast oxidation.  Certain toxic metals, as they build up in the body, cause a fast oxidation rate.  These include cadmium, nickel, and an unusual group of mineral compounds called “the amigos”.

The amigos are toxic, oxide forms of aluminum, iron, or manganese.  These are widely distributed in the environment and in our food.  They also may include oxide forms of chromium, selenium, copper, cobalt, boron, molybdenum, lithium and cobalt.  Rarely they include oxides of calcium and magnesium.

They are all powerful oxidants and irritants to the body and can cause a faster oxidation rate as a secondary effect of their irritating presence.

These often accumulate in the kidneys, in particular, but also at times elsewhere in the body such as in the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, nervous system, brain or elsewhere.  Other minerals that can cause or contribute to a fast oxidation rate are other forms of copper and mercury.

Some people are born with too much of these toxic metals, or one can acquire them from food, occupations, or other places.  Toxic fast oxidation can always be corrected with a nutritional balancing program, though it may take months or occasionally several years of following a properly designed nutritional balancing program.  When the toxic metals are removed, the oxidation rate promptly slows down.

5. Running away.  Some fast oxidizers are “running away”, biochemically speaking, in a way that causes a fast oxidation rate.  The situation can be termed an avoidance of life pattern.

A few are in a Step Up Mineral Pattern, a dangerous mineral pattern that is associated with heart attacks, strokes and other health catastrophes.  A properly performed hair mineral test will reveal this pattern.

These people are running away from life, or stepping out of life quickly.  It is important to reverse this pattern before trouble occurs.  This is not hard to do if one identifies the pattern.

6. Infection fast oxidation.  This is a less common situation.  A few individuals have an infection of a type that speeds up the oxidation rate.  These are often bacterial infections that cause high fevers, for example.

7. Vampire fast oxidation.  Some adult fast oxidizers, are energy vampires.  This means they have mastered methods to steal some energy from others.  A hair mineral analysis often reveals a fast oxidation rate with a normal or even elevated sodium/potassium ratio.  A double pattern, or more pronounced pattern of this type, occurs if the sodium/potassium ratio is high and the calcium/magnesium ratio is elevated as well.

Interestingly, the person may report few symptoms.  A separate article entitled Energy Vampirism discusses this topic.

8. “Beam me up Scottie” pattern.  Consuming a lot of fruit causes a type of fast oxidation mineral pattern that I call Beam Me Up, Scottie pattern.  It is fairly rare.

9. Excitement fast oxidation.  These people are in fast oxidation because they are extremely excited.  This happens, at times, during a nutritional balancing program as a person begins to get well, often after years of trying different programs and going to doctors with little or no success.

10. Farmer fast oxidation.  Another more rare cause of fast oxidation is working as a farmer.  The earth radiates certain energies that these people pick up.  This type of fast oxidation may also be due, in part, to handling farm chemicals, especially superphosphate fertilizers and pesticides.

Many farmers are also exposed to toxic metals used in farm implements such as nickel-plated machinery, and cadmium or lead found in lubricants, gasoline and elsewhere.

11. Toxic potassium fast oxidation.  This is a very temporary fast oxidation rate caused usually by the elimination from the body of large amounts of a toxic form of potassium.  Usually, this only occurs during a nutritional balancing program.  For more on this topic, please read Toxic Potassium on this website.

12. A fast oxidizer personality.  This is a personality type that loves “speed” and thrills, is often somewhat emotionally immature, and is often in denial, to a degree, and likes it.

This personality type loves fast oxidation, and may unconsciously do things to help remain in this mineral pattern.   For example, the person may seek out stressful situations, use stimulants, smoke cigarettes, or do other things in order to remain in fast oxidation.

13. Medical drug fast oxidation.  Some people have a fast oxidation rate because they are taking medications, specifically thyroid hormones (Synthroid, Armour thyroid, Levothyroxine, Naturethroid or other brands), or adrenal hormones such as DHEA, cortisone, cortisol or others.  Other stimulant drugs could also be involved.

14. Back or neck tension. This can cause a fast oxidation rate because tightness or tension in these areas can pinch off and stimulate the sympathetic nerves that come off the spine.  This, in turn, stimulates the sympathetic nervous system including the adrenal and/or thyroid glands.
 
III. SLOW OXIDATION

A person with a slow oxidation rate has decreased activity of the adrenal and thyroid glands.  This may or may not be revealed on standard blood tests.

The glands themselves, and at times the sympathetic nervous system, are both usually depleted of nutrients and do not function well.  It is a resistance or exhaustion stage of stress.

A less healthy parasympathetic state.  In part for this reason, slow oxidation is related to a more parasympathetic state of body chemistry with less fight-or-flight activity.  In almost all cases, the sympathetic nervous system is exhausted and the person moves into an unhealthy parasympathetic state by default.

A lower energy state.  About 80 to 85% of adults are in a slow oxidation state of body chemistry.  It is a decidedly lower energy state with, and perhaps caused by more impairment of the electron transport system in the mitochondria, where most biochemical energy is produced.

Biochemistry.  This impairment is caused primarily by replacement of the bioavailable forms of minerals such as copper, iron, manganese and others with some of the less bioavailable forms of these minerals such as oxides and other forms.

This disables the critical enzymes in the energy cycles to a substantial degree.  Adaptive energy production decreases, and the person moves into slow oxidation. 

This can occur even in babies, today, and generally always occurs by age 10 or so in most people.  They usually spend the rest of their lives in slow oxidation, and often in poor health.

Without sufficient energy, the body is unable to repair and regenerate itself fast enough.  This causes degeneration of the body until overt health problems begin to occur. 

Mental aspects.  Also, low energy gives rise to the common mental/emotional symptoms of slow oxidation such as apathy, fatigue, introversion, and depression.  If the situation is severe enough, one experiences suicidal thoughts and despair as the body’s energy system fails to a greater degree.

SYMPTOMS OF SLOW OXIDATION

Slow oxidizers often suffer from symptoms of low thyroid and low adrenal glandular activity.  These may include fatigue, sweet cravings and low blood sugar.  As their oxidation rate slows further, they often become apathetic and depressed.

Their blood pressure and blood sugar may be low, unless arteriosclerosis or diabetes have set in.  These can raise the blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

Their skin and hair are often dry, and their hair may become brittle or thin.  Many also experience constipation, gas, bloating, leaky gut syndrome or other digestive problems.

Slow oxidation and society.  Entire nations “burn out” as more and more of their citizens move into slow oxidation.  A large portion of the population lose their drive to work and succeed, and their brains and bodies just do not function well.

This is the situation today in much of the developed world today, especially Europe.  Refined food diets, widespread use of toxic medical drugs and vaccinations damage the body.  Polluted air, food and water, and other insults to the body also help decimate the energy-producing system of the body.

Nutritional balancing restores the energy system.  Nutritional balancing science, unlike medical or most holistic or naturopathic methods, specifically targets the body’s energy-producing system and will restore it, although it can take a few years to do so if it is very damaged.  When this is done, the oxidation rate speeds up, dozens of health problems vanish by themselves, and health can be remarkably restored although no “remedies” have been used at all.

Sympathetic dominance.  A common situation found in slow oxidizers is of great importance and called sympathetic dominance.  It is an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system.

In this common situation, the person is still attempting to use the sympathetic nervous system all the time.  However, the body is exhausted and can no longer respond strongly.  As a result, the person stays tired and often ill, because excessive sympathetic stimulation blocks or inhibits the activity of the immune system, digestive system, elimination system and other vital organs and systems needed for recovery of health.

This is a very important pattern on a hair mineral test that I have added to Dr. Eck’s work.  It is revealed on a properly performed hair tissue mineral test that has not been washed at the laboratory as a potassium level less than about 5 mg%, or a high sodium/potassium ratio.  Sympathetic dominance is discussed in much more detail in the article entitled Sympathetic Dominance, and in one entitled Autonomic Balance.

Adrenal and Thyroid Insufficiency.  Tissue sodium correlates well with the activity of aldosterone, an adrenal hormone.  On a hair mineral analysis, slow oxidizers have low levels of sodium and potassium, relative to their levels of calcium and magnesium. 

Basic physiology of slow oxidation.  What occurs physiologically is that lower levels of sodium due to adrenal and thyroid weakness or generally lower energy production reduce the solubility of calcium and magnesium in the blood.

Sodium and potassium are solvents that maintain calcium and magnesium in an ionized form.  As the solubility decreases, more calcium and magnesium precipitate out of the blood and begin to accumulate in the soft tissues of the body.  This causes a rise in the hair tissue calcium and magnesium, relative to the sodium and potassium levels.

In other words, calcium and magnesium rise in the hair as the tissue sodium and potassium levels decrease.  This is the familiar look of slow oxidation on a hair mineral analysis.

IV. MIXED OXIDATION

As mentioned above, Dr. Eck found that the best way to calculate the oxidation rate is to evaluate two ratios on a hair mineral chart, the sodium/magnesium ratio (Na/Mg or the adrenal ratio) and the calcium/potassium ratio (Ca/K or the thyroid ratio).  If one of these ratios indicates fast oxidation and the other indicates slow oxidation, the pattern is called mixed oxidation.

This pattern is fairly common, temporary, and usually a short-term condition of the body chemistry.

Specific definition of mixed oxidation. Mixed oxidation is said to be present on a hair mineral analysis, provided the hair is not washed at the laboratory, when:

·           The calcium/potassium ratio is greater than 4 AND the sodium/magnesium ratio is greater than 4.17, OR

·           The calcium/potassium ratio is less than 4 AND the sodium/magnesium ratio is less than 4.17.

For example, mixed oxidation is present if the Ca/K is 6 and the Na/Mg is 10.  Another example of mixed oxidation is if the Ca/K is 2 and the Na/Mg is 0.5.

Symptoms of mixed oxidation. There may be a mixture of symptoms of both fast and slow oxidation.  It depends on the mineral ratios, since some cases of mixed oxidation are much closer to slow oxidation, while others are much closer to fast oxidation.

One may need to wait until the mixed oxidation pattern resolves into slow or fast oxidation to gain a clear picture of underlying metabolic patterns.

Correction.  Most mixed oxidation is quite mild and resolves within a few months to either fast or slow oxidation state.  Rarely, resolving it takes six months or more.

Fast mixed oxidation and slow mixed oxidation.  Dr. Eck further classified mixed oxidation as either fast mixed oxidation or slow mixed oxidation.  This calculation is necessary in order to decide whether to give a fast oxidizer program or a slow oxidizer program to these individuals.

CALCULATING MIXED OXIDATION

This gets a little mathematical, but is not too involved.  Often, assessing mixed oxidation can be done visually, which is much easier.

Dr. Eck defined fast mixed oxidation as follows: The ratio that indicates fast oxidation (whether it be the Ca/K or the Na/Mg) is more extreme or out of balance than the ratio indicating slow oxidation.

He defined slow mixed oxidation as follows: The ratio indicating slow oxidation is more extreme or more out of balance than that indicating fast oxidation.

For example, let us imagine that a hair analysis indicates a Ca/K ratio of 10 and a Na/K ratio of 6.  First of all, this is a mixed oxidizer because the Ca/K is greater than 4 and the Na/Mg is greater than 4.17.

The next step is to figure out if it is a fast mixed oxidizer or a slow mixed oxidizer.  To do this, one must follow a two-step process:

1. Check to see which of the two ratios is more extreme or most out of balance.  In our example, since both ratios should be about 4:1, the one that is most out of balance is the Ca/K, since it is the furthest away from a ratio of 4.  The number 10 is further away from the ideal of 4 than is the number 6.  Therefore, for our determination, we will focus on the more imbalanced Ca/K ratio.

2. The next step is to ask whether the more extreme or out-of-balance ratio indicates fast or slow oxidation.  Using our example, is the Ca/K ratio of 10 an indicator or fast oxidation or slow oxidation? The answer is slow oxidation, by the definition given at the beginning of this article.

Since the ratio that indicates slow oxidation is more extreme, the hair analysis is said to be showing a slow mixed oxidation pattern.

A mathematical short cut method. Mixed oxidation can be a confusing pattern to read at first glance.  A simple and fairly accurate mathematical shortcut to figure it out is to simply subtract the Na/Mg from the Ca/K number (or Ca/K – Na/Mg = X).  If the answer is positive number, it is a slow mixed oxidizer.  If the answer is a negative number, it is a fast mixed oxidizer.

For instance, in the example above in which the Ca/K is 10 and the Na/Mg is 6, if one takes 10 minus 6 = 4.  Since 4 is a positive number, it is a slow mixed oxidizer.

How skewed is the oxidation rate?  One can do some other calculations that may be helpful to further assess a state of mixed oxidation.  For example, it can be helpful to know if the mixed oxidation rate is fairly balanced between fast and slow oxidation, or if it is very skewed either toward faster oxidation or slower oxidation.

 To do this, use the same mathematical calculation as above, subtracting the Na/Mg ratio from the Ca/K ratio (Ca/K – Na/Mg = X).  However, now we are not going to consider whether the answer is a positive or negative number.  Instead, we will just consider how large the number is.  If the number is larger, then the oxidation rate is heavily skewed.  If it is a lower number, then it is fairly balanced between fast and slow oxidation.

To summarize Ca/K – Na/Mg:

Smaller positive number = fairly balanced slow mixed oxidizer.

Larger positive number = slow mixed oxidizer and the oxidation rate heavily skewed toward slow oxidation.

Smaller negative number = fairly balanced fast mixed oxidizer.

Larger negative number = fast mixed oxidizer and heavily skewed toward fast oxidation.

How unbalanced or skewed are the ratios themselves?  This may also be helpful.  When the ratios are very unbalanced, it tends to indicate more health imbalances in most cases, for example.  It may also have to do with the presence of certain patterns on the hair mineral chart.

To calculate this, you can use the formula Ca/K x Na/Mg – 16.7 = X.  If the answer is:

A low number, either a positive or negative number, then the ratios themselves are fairly near their ideal ratio.

A higher number, either a positive or negative number, then the ratios themselves are more skewed or imbalanced.

            Two mixed oxidation types based on which ratio is fast and which is slow.  In a mixed oxidation situation, the ratio that indicates fast oxidation can be either the adrenal ratio (Na/Mg) or the thyroid ratio (Ca/K).

If the adrenal ratio is fast (greater than 4.17), this is more associated with acute stress.  This is true regardless of whether the oxidation rate is a fast mixed or slow mixed oxidation rate.

            If the calcium/potassium ratio indicates fast oxidation and the sodium/magnesium ratio indicates slow oxidation, this is more likely associated with adrenal exhaustion and more chronic stress, in most cases.  This is true regardless of whether the pattern is fast or slow mixed oxidation.

V. FOUR LOWS OR SUB-OXIDATION

            A common and very important hair analysis pattern is four lows, sometimes also called four low macrominerals.

Definition.  The definition of the pattern is that the first four minerals on the chart (macrominerals) must all be less than their ideal values.  This means:

- A hair calcium level less than 40mg%

- A hair magnesium level less than 6 mg%

- A hair sodium level less than 25 mg% and

- A hair potassium level less than 10 mg%.

A SEPARATE METABOLIC TYPE?

I consider four lows pattern as another metabolic type because:

1. It causes rather specific symptoms.

2. It requires a special nutritional balancing program. 

However, this can be confusing because within a four lows pattern one will also have a pattern of fast, slow or mixed oxidation based upon calculating the two ratios, as explained early in this article.

Sub-oxidation?  A four lows pattern may be the same as what Dr. George Watson, PhD, called Sub-Oxidation.  However, I am not sure about this and Dr. Watson is no longer alive to run experiments and confirm this idea.  For much more information about this topic, read Four Lows Pattern on this site.

VI. QUALITIES OF THE OXIDATION TYPES

1. Frequency of Bowel Movements.  Increased metabolic activity is associated with increased peristaltic activity and hence more frequent bowel movements in the fast oxidizer.  Fast oxidizers may have more than one bowel movement per day.  One or fewer movements per day is commonly associated with slow oxidation.

2. Dry or Oily Skin and Hair.  Increased metabolic activity is associated with increased activity of the sebaceous and oil glands of the skin and scalp.  This tends to cause more a greater tendency for oily skin and hair in the fast oxidizer.  Slow oxidizers are more prone to dry skin and dry hair.

Also fast oxidizers tend to have a more watery appearance of their skin, and poorer muscle definition for this reason.  Slow oxidizers may have better muscle definition and dryer appearance to their skin.

Also, fast oxidizers often have a more ruddy complexion.  This may be due to higher blood pressure, use of alcohol or better circulation in the skin.  This is true even though the sympathetic nervous system tends to move blood inward, away from the periphery of the body.  However, many slow oxidizers are still in a sympathetic dominant condition described elsewhere, in which their sympathetic system is in fact even more active than in many fast oxidizers.  This causes poor circulation to the extremities.

3. Blood Circulation.  An increased rate of metabolism in the fast oxidizer is associated with enhanced blood circulation, and correlates with a tendency to warmer hands and feet, even in cold weather.  Slow oxidation is commonly associated with impaired circulation and a tendency for cold hands and feet.

4. Food Cravings.  Food cravings can express the body's desire to balance chemistry.  Fast oxidizers tend to crave fats, butter and red meat, foods which slow the metabolic rate. They may also crave sweets or carbohydrates if they do not eat enough fats and oils.  Slow oxidation is associated with chronic low blood sugar.  There is a tendency for sweet cravings and at times salt cravings, as the body does not retain sodium and potassium as well in slow oxidation, due to impaired adrenal glandular activity. (low aldosterone).

5. Blood Pressure.  Fast oxidation is associated with increased vascular (sympathetic) tone, and sodium retention due to elevated aldosterone levels. These frequently result in a blood pressure of 120/80 or greater.  Fast oxidizers are also more prone to labile or changing high blood pressure.  This is because greater sympathetic nervous system activity will cause momentary constriction of the arteries due to fatigue, emotional upset or other stressors.  Healthy slow oxidizers tend to have blood pressures of 120/80 or lower. This is due to weaker vascular tone, and/or low sodium levels which cause a reduced blood volume and blood pressure.  However, slow oxidizers are prone to hardening of the arteries, as are fast oxidizers.  This can cause high blood pressure later in life, in particular.

6. Sweating.  Enhanced metabolic activity increases the generation of heat in body tissues. This is associated with increased sweating in the fast oxidizer.  Slow oxidizers generally sweat less, and many hardly sweat at all.

7. Mood.  In fast oxidation, all metabolic processes speed up, including mental functioning. This can result in a tendency to anxiety, irritability, nervousness, or jitteriness.  Slower mental activity in the slow oxidizer, on the other hand, causes a tendency for sluggishness, lethargy, apathy, and depression.  Very slow oxidation is associated with despair, brain fog and confusion.

8. Energy level.  A fast metabolic rate, within certain limits, is associated with higher energy levels than is a slow oxidation rate. Fatigue and lethargy can be experienced by both types, but is more common with slow oxidation.

9. Animal Protein Preference.  Fast oxidizers require more fat, and tend to prefer red meats to other meats, as they contain a higher percentage of fat.  Fast oxidizers may also prefer the high-purine proteins such as sardines, anchovies and organ meats.  Slow oxidizers tend to prefer chicken, fish, or vegetarian proteins because these low-fat sources of protein speed up and normalize the slow oxidizers' metabolic rate.  They are also easier to digest as they contain less fat.  They also contain somewhat less etheric energy and thus have a lower dynamic action than the red meats.

10. Body Shape.  Classically, the fast oxidizer corresponds to a more ‘Cushinoid’ body shape, so named after an illness called Cushing’s disease.  The person is not as tall, and is broad in the middle.

This is sometimes called the apple-shaped body.  The legs and arms are thinner.  There is often a bulge in the belly.  This is due to high cortisol, which in turn causes high insulin, which deposits fat in the belly area.

The classic slow oxidizer has a pear-shaped body, especially later in life.  This is due to sluggish thyroid gland activity, which is more associated with fat deposition on the hips and legs.  The upper body is often thinner.

However, combinations of these two are very common, because people pass through various stages of stress at different times of their lives.  Also, one can be a mixed type, which also gives rise to combinations of body shapes.

One final note regarding body shapes is in order.  The sympathetic dominant person often has a very angular body.  That is, there is little fat deposition.  This is basically good, though if the sympathetic dominance persists, serious health problems including heart disease, cancer and others develop in these individuals as well.

This is seen in women, particularly, who are what is called progesterone dominant.  Estrogen is responsible for fat deposition, especially in the hips and breast areas.  Women with low estrogen tend to be more angular.

Women with higher estrogen levels tend to be more curvy, fleshy and at times one calls them more voluptuous shaped.

Caution:  Beware of using body shape or other physical characteristics to assign a metabolic type to anyone or to recommend a nutrition program.  Many times you are viewing a person as they were some years ago, in terms of their body chemistry.  I tried this for several months and found the hair mineral analysis did not correlate with my guesswork based on symptoms and body characteristics.

I also found the hair test gave me more accurate information than just using the symptoms or signs described above.  I learned through the experience to trust the hair tissue mineral analysis and began to get far better results with patients.

11. Cell membrane permeability.  Fast oxidizers tend to have more permeable cell membranes than slow oxidizers.  This may be because calcium that builds up in the tissues of slow oxidizers tends to stabilize cell membrane potentials.  This fact is very important for hormone imbalances, in particular, and perhaps for blood sugar and other types of metabolic problems as well.

12. Acid or alkaline.  Fast oxidizers tend to be more alkaline at the cellular level, while slow oxidizers tend to be more acidic at the cellular level.  Blood, urine and saliva pH levels do not correlate well with the cellular level and are often useless for determining the true cellular acidity.

The reasons for the differences between fast and slow oxidizers is that fast oxidizers have less toxic metals, in general, which are very acidic.  They also have far better alkaline mineral reserves, in general, than slow oxidizers.  This is likely the major factor.

Slow oxidizers also have more biounavailable calcium that does not seem to neutralize acids as well in the body.  In addition, slow oxidizers tend to have more infections, which tend to be more acidic.

13. Yang and yin.  Fast oxidizers are usually much more yang, while slow oxidizers are more yin.  This may sound esoteric, but it affects every area of human functioning.  Yang is warmer, more contracted, more masculine, more ruddy or reddish with better circulation and in terms of psychology more aggressive and sexual.

Yin is colder, more ill, more expanded and tired, less aggressive, less sexual, and more pale or white with poorer circulation. This is a very brief description of yin and yang.  For more information, read Yin and Yang Healing on this site.

VII. CORRECTION OF THE OXIDATION RATE

DIETS FOR THE OXIDATION TYPES

            The Fast oxidizer diet.  All fast oxidizers today require plenty of cooked, not raw vegetables three times daily.  This is most critical.  In addition, Dr. Goerge Watson found that fast oxidizers require extra amounts of fats and oils in their diet in order to feel their best.  They burn their food quickly and their caloric needs are greater.  They also do best on a low carbohydrate diet, obtaining most of their calories from fats and oils.

Fats provide more calories and longer-lasting energy.  In contrast, sugars burn too fast, provide fewer calories and often further enhance the oxidation rate.

For this reason, fast oxidizers should avoid all sugars, including ALL fruit and all juices.  Even complex carbohydrates are recommended only in small amounts.

True fast oxidizers require heavier, fattier foods such as lamb and even beef in limited amounts if it is grass fed or naturally raised.  They may handle sour cream, butter, eggs and other fatty foods well.

To lose weight, they may do well on an Atkins-style diet, although I feel it does not include enough cooked vegetables, at times.  Also, the quality is not as good as our standards.  However, one could try it for a limited period of time.  We suggest, however, that one eat only the highest quality animal fats, along with flax oil, fish oil, cod liver oil, olive oil and a small amount of refined vegetable oils such as in blue corn chips are fine as well.  Coconut oil and palm oil are not recommended, except perhaps occasionally, as they are too yin and slightly toxic, in our experience.  For more information, see the Fast Oxidizer Diet on this website.

            The Slow Oxidizer Diet.  Slow oxidizers definitely require plenty of cooked vegetables three times daily, In addition, they require more protein and less fat in their diets than fast oxidizers.  Some protein at least twice daily is most important to maintain their blood sugar level and support adequate adrenal and thyroid gland activity.

In fact, if there are blood sugar issues, as there often are, then five meals a day with some protein and possibly a little fat as well is an excellent regimen.

Animal protein of some kind is helpful for most slow oxidizers to eat at least once every day, as the bodies are depleted of many nutrients found in meats.  These include zinc, alpha lipoic acid, sulfur-containing amino acids and L-carnitine.  Meats also provide other less-known nutrients the slow oxidizer requires.

Protein digestion is weak in slow oxidizers.  As a result, many tend toward vegetarian diets.  However, this slows or prevents their complete healing.  Instead, they require digestive enzymes to obtain all the nutrition from their food.  For much more information about diet, see The Slow Oxidizer Diet on this website.

BASIC SUPPLEMENTS FOR FAST AND SLOW OXIDIZERS

Dr. Watson and Dr. Eck found that fast oxidizers need more of nutrients such as copper, zinc, choline, inositol, calcium and magnesium.  They also do well on more of vitamins A and D.  B-complex vitamins, vitamin C and vitamin E are less beneficial and tend make fast oxidation much, much worse in many cases.

Slow oxidizers need more of the B-complex and vitamins C and E.  They usually do not need much copper.  They do, however, need zinc, calcium and magnesium supplements.

Both types benefit from a digestive aid.  We find that they both also need extra chromium, selenium, kelp, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D3.

When one combines the extensive research of Dr. Hans Selye, Dr. George Watson and Dr. Paul Eck, one begins to develop a very clear picture of the physiology and biochemistry of fast and slow oxidation.

By identifying these states quickly with a hair mineral analysis, one knows at a glance how a person is responding to stress biochemically.  Then one can recommend the correct foods, nutrients, lifestyle changes and detoxification protocol to bring the body to balance and harmony. Balancing body chemistry in this manner results in a significant increase in cellular energy production.  This allows healing to occur at a greatly increased rate.

We always seek to move a person from a lower energy and less optimum homeostatic state to a healthier state with higher energy.  Slow oxidation, for example, is a lower energy state than fast oxidation.  A balanced state, neither too fast nor too slow, is considered optimum.  It is a condition in which the metabolism can speed up when needed, and yet at other times remain peacefully at rest.

The specific chemistry of the oxidation types is discussed in more detail on the Six-CD Series on Nutritional Balancing offered on this website and in articles by Dr. Paul Eck and myself.  Another source of information is Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis, a book by this author.

SYMPTOM-BASED PROGRAMS

In two situations, setting up the programs based on the oxidation type is not easy.  In both these cases, we may take into account a person’s symptoms, and not simply the readings on a hair mineral analysis.  These are:

1. If we know a person is in temporary fast oxidation due to a toxic metal elimination, and the person is headed back into slow oxidation.

2. In the case of mixed oxidation that is balanced, meaning even between fast and slow oxidation

3. In cases of fast or slow oxidation, if the mineral analysis indicates a very balanced pattern.

4. If we suspect that the person’s body chemistry has shifted since the most recent hair test was performed.

In all these cases, we may need to use symptoms as part of an overall evaluation to help assess whether to give a fast or a slow oxidizer program to the person.

For example, a patient with a mixed oxidation hair chart might present with fatigue, depression, constipation and copper toxicity and have a mixed oxidizer hair analysis.  This patient most likely requires a slow oxidizer supplement and dietary program.

If, in contrast, the person complains of anxiety, nervousness, muscle tension and anger, one might assume that, although the hair test indicates mixed oxidation, this person requires a fast oxidizer diet and nutrient program.

VIII. OTHER TOPICS

FACTORS THAT CAN SKEW THE READINGS

Rarely, hair mineral readings are affected by various factors that skew the reading.  Such ‘artifacts’ may include” bathing in softened water, extreme stress, recreational drug use, medical drug use rarely, or an elimination of toxic potassium.  These will rarely skew the oxidation rate.

OTHER SYSTEMS OF METABOLIC TYPING

 Here are some other well-known examples of metabolic typing:

Hippocrates four types:

1. Choleric, or irritable.

2. Sanguine, or content.

3. Phlegmatic, or sluggish.

4. Melancholic, or depressed.

The Taoist idea of yin and yang:

1. Yang is warm or hot, more constricted or compact, more reddish in color, more masculine, more active, and, at time, high-strung or irritable. 

2. Yin is colder, more expanded, more feminine and often depressed and sluggish.

In terms of modern biochemistry and nutritional balancing science, here are some of the correlations with yin and yang:

·           Fast oxidation (more yang) and slow oxidation (more yin).

·           Sodium (more yang) and potassium (more yin).

·           Zinc (more yang) and copper (more yin).

·           Calcium (more yang) and magnesium (more yin).

·           High Na/K (more yang) and low Na/K (more yin).

·           Sauna therapy and coffee enemas (more yang) and distilled water (more yin).

·           Warm, cooked meats and cooked vegetables (more yang) and raw food, fruit, sugar, alcohol and most drugs (more yin).

For much more about the relationship between nutritional balancing science and yin and yang, read Yin And Yang Healing. For more on acupuncture, read Acupuncture on this website.

The Ayurvedic or ancient Indian qualities of bodies:

·           Vatta. This means air, ether or perhaps mind and emotions.  This is the source of the other two imbalances.  Western science is just beginning to appreciate the power of the mind and emotions on health.

·           Pitta. This means fiery energy, will and a more yang approach to life.  This correlates perfectly with fast oxidation in nutritional balancing science.  However, pitta and the others are qualities of bodies, not metabolic types. 

·           Kapha. This means earth or watery energy.  It corresponds more to slow oxidation in nutritional balancing.  However, once again, kapha is a quality, not a metabolic type.

The three qualities of nature (called gunas in Sanskrit) also from Ayurveda:

·           Sattva or balance is associated with balanced and flexible oxidation.

·           Rajas or hot or burning is more yang and more associated with an alarm stage of stress and fast oxidation.

·           Tamas or passive is more yin and most associated with an exhaustion stage of stress and slow oxidation.

Other typing systems.  Another well-known system of metabolic typing is the Chinese 5-element theory.  This does not correlate as well with nutritional balancing science, at least not obviously so.

Other typing systems include using one’s blood type, one’s genetics, and Dr. Sheldon’s system based on body shape and other qualities.  I have also seen metabolic typing done by glandular type, such as an adrenal type and a thyroid type.  One can also classify people by which energy centers are most active.

 

Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program
DETOXIFICATION

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© July 2016, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Table Of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

Definition Of Detoxification

History

The Century Of Toxins

II. THE PROBLEM OF TOXICITY

Definitions Of Toxins

Types Of Toxins

            Environmental (from outside) Entities, EMF

            - Metals

            - Chemicals

            - Biological

- Entities

            - Electrical

- Mental And Emotional Toxins 

- Geopathic Toxins

Born Toxic – Congenital Toxicity

Imbalances That Favor Toxicity

Autointoxication or Endogenous Toxins (those made inside the body)

The Colon – Our Most Toxic Organ

Toxicity As a Cause Of Disease

Aging

III. DETOXIFICATION CONCEPTS

Philosophy

The Autonomic Nervous System And Detoxification

Detoxification Requires Energy

Yang And Yin Methods Of Detoxification

Replacing Toxic Metals With More Preferred Minerals

Toxic Metals And Chemicals Can Remain In The Body For Decades

Retracing

The Organs of Detoxification

Autonomic Imbalances And Toxicity

Toxin Removal Is Never Enough

“Layers” Of Toxicity

IV. NUTRITIONAL BALANCING AND DETOXIFICATION

Methods Involved

Stages Of Detoxification

Retracing

Diet

Rest

Lifestyle

Supplementation

Procedures

V. ASSESSING TOXICITY

Hair Mineral Patterns Of Toxicity

Other Testing Methods

VI. CAUTIONS

Pregnancy

Breast Feeding

Babies

Children

Older People

When Very Ill

Detox Methods To Avoid

VII. OTHER TOPICS

Genetic Detox

Trauma Release

Infections As Cleansers

Mineral Cleansers

Menstruation As Detoxification

 

I. INTRODUCTION

            Definition. Detoxification is the removal of waste matter or toxins from the body.  It is one of the most critical of the body’s natural functions. 

It goes on 24 hours a day, rain or shine, and we soon die if anything goes wrong with this function.  This article is introduction to the large topic of detoxification – how it is done well, how it affects health, and more.

HISTORY

The concept of detoxification is as old as humanity.  In fact, it was one of the mainstays of health care until the rise of drug medicine in the past 100 years.  Here are some of the historical methods that heavily employed detoxification.

Herbalism.  This is the oldest type of health care, dating back many thousands of years.  Detoxification of the body is one of the main methods of healing in traditional herbalism.  This is very clear from the words used to describe the action of herbs.  They may be called the language of detoxification, and include:

Emetics – cause vomiting

Diaphoretics – cause sweating

Purgatives – cause elimination through the bowel

Laxatives – soften the stools

Cholagogues – increase bile flow

Alteratives -  cause cleansing of the organs

Anthelminthics – destroy worms

Vermifuges  - expel worms

Astringents  - peels off the top layers of mucus

Carminatives – expel gas

Cathartics – violently expel contents of the stomach and upper intestine

Demulcents – soften hard mucus

Drawing herbs and salves – cause toxins to come out through the skin and mucus membranes.  Black salve is one example used with nutritional balancing programs.

Emmenogogus – cause menstrual blood flow

Expectorants – expel mucus from the throat and lungs

Lithotropics – expel gall and bladder stones

Lympthatics  - cause lymph to flow

Rubifacients – cause increased blood flow

Sialagogoues – cause more saliva to flow

Homeopathy.  This 175-year old science contains the idea of miasms and diatheses.  These are toxic conditions of the body that are remedied with homeopathic pills or drops.

Modern allopathy.  Present-day medical care has many fewer words for detoxification, but still uses some.  One of them is kidney dialysis.  This is a forced cleansing of the body using a special machine that filters the blood.  Doctors also occasionally do peritoneal dialysis, cleansing the body tissues by running pure water through the abdominal cavity.

They also employ some emetics, purgatives, laxatives and other cleansing products, usually drugs, today.

For more about these healing arts, and others, read The Healing Arts on this site.

THE CENTURY OF TOXICITY

            While toxic metals have always been around, as have biological toxins such as bacteria and viruses, the latter half of the 20th century and the 21st century on planet earth have seen an increase in toxic metals and toxic chemicals in the food, air and water that is unprecedented.

The levels of toxic metals, thanks to industrialization, are 1000 times higher than in any previous century in many areas.  In addition, over 10,000 toxic chemicals have found their way into our air, water and food supplies.  We also contact them through our skin on a daily basis.

            In addition, the advent of atomic bombs and nuclear power plants has added a tremendous amount of ionizing radioactive particles that float through the air and water, and find their way into the food supply as well.

            In addition, the advent of cell phone technology, along with large-screen televisions and computers, has added a large amount of toxic electromagnetic fields to the atmosphere of many nations on earth.

For this reason, the topic of detoxification is far more important today than it was 100 years ago, for example, when so-called modern medicine was established.  While bacteria and viruses are still very important, conventional medical care is far behind nutritional balancing and other healing modalities that recognize and regularly deal with the 21st century problem of metal and chemical toxicity.

Medical system problems. Conventional medical methods of healing, and even holistic and naturopathic methods of healing, are not solving some of the disease crises of our time such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autism, attention deficit disorders, birth defects, infections and other problems. 

They are not designed for the current toxic situation with the bodies.            A focus of this article is to address these concerns with some newer approaches such as nutritional balancing science.

II. THE PROBLEM OF TOXICITY

            In order to understand the need for detoxification, and what it requires, one needs to know about toxins.  So this short section introduces toxins and toxicity.

            Definition of toxins.  In our bodies, toxins can be of at least five categories.  This may seem to be nitpicking, but all of them are important in nutritional balancing

1. Anything that does not belong in the body.  These include obvious poisons.  However, sometimes these are not exactly what one may imagine, as explained below.

2. Less preferred minerals.  Toxins may also include  “inferior” or less preferred minerals that the body can use when no better materials are available. 

For example, if the body does not have enough zinc, because the diet is deficient in zinc, the body can sometimes use other minerals in its enzymes and proteins instead of zinc.

Cadmium.  One of these is cadmium.  This mineral is located just below zinc on the periodic table of the elements.  This means it “looks” very much like zinc in its outer electron shell.  For this reason, it can sometimes substitute for zinc in certain enzyme binding sites.

An analogy.  A good analogy is to imagine a car factory that must produce 1000 cars per day.  They order all the parts, and they hope they all arrive on time.  However, sometimes the “factory original” parts are not available.

In this case, since the factory must produce the cars (just as our bodies must produce its chemicals), the factory workers call upon other suppliers and tell them “Send us your parts, even though they are somewhat inferior”.  This is what happens in our bodies commonly, because most people do not eat properly!

3. Less-preferred mineral compounds.  Another type of toxins are inferior or less-preferred compounds.  These contain the right mineral such as zinc, but it is in a different compound or molecule.

For example, this toxic situation definitely occurs with magnesium.  The body can use a magnesium chloride, for example, but is it not ideal.  Some magnesium acetates are superior and less toxic.

Another example is a group of minerals we call the “amigos”.  The group includes iron, manganese, copper, boron, and chromium.  The amigos are oxide forms of these minerals.  They are not the best forms of the minerals for our bodies, but in the face of deficiencies of better forms of the minerals, the body will use them.   For details about them, read The Amigos – Iron, Manganese and Aluminum.

            4. Too much of a good thing.  Toxicity can also have to do with the amount of a mineral, vitamin or other substance, even the best of them.  For example, we find that meat such as lamb or wild game is an excellent food.  However, eating too much causes too much acidity and gives the body too much iron.

            5. “Older” versus “newer” minerals.  This is an unusual concept.  However, as bodies develop, a very important idea in nutritional balancing science, they must eliminate certain minerals and substitute others that we call the “newer” ones.  We promote this process with the diet and with nutritional supplements.

            For example, older minerals include most of the toxic metals with which everyone is born today.  These include mercury, cadmium, aluminum and others.  For development to occur, these need to be replaced with more zinc, selenium, silicon, lithium, iodine and others.

            As a rule, the “newer” minerals have a lower molecular weight, but not necessarily.  Two older minerals that are highly toxic, for example, are aluminum and beryllium, both of which are lighter-weight minerals.  

TYPES OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES

These may be naturally-occurring or man-made.  They may come from outside the body (environmental toxins) or may be generated within (autointoxicants). 

As explained above, they may include simple poisons, but they may also be nutrient substances that are simply present in excessive amounts.  They may be vital minerals, for example, that are compounded in ways that they are now poisonous.

Even too much water, or the wrong type of drinking water, can become a poison in the body. 

Toxic substances.  Toxins can be:

1. Chemical elements.  These include the toxic metals and other toxic elements such as chlorine, fluoride, bromine and many others.  For details, read Toxic Metals on this site.

2. Chemical compounds.  Thousands of toxic chemicals exist.  Some are naturally-occurring.  Some are made inside our bodies.  This phenomenon is important and discussed below in the section entitled Autointoxication.

 Others are man-made industrial chemicals such as solvents, sealants, paints, adhesives, lubricants, pesticides, and others.  For more about them, read Toxic Chemicals on this site.

3. Living or biological toxins.  These include bacteria, molds, yeasts, fungi, viruses, parasites, and cancer cells.

4. Entities or discarnate souls.  These are unusual, but very real.  They are souls who are no longer in living bodies.  They can enter another body or energy field and cause many problems for a person.

5. Electrical toxins.  These include stray electromagnetic fields from cell phones, cell phone towers, computers, television sets and other applicances.

            6. Mental and emotional toxins.  Harmful beliefs, and negative attitudes and emotions can be as deadly as any virus or bacteria.  Harmful beliefs include selfishness, negativity, elitism, fixations, hatred for anyone or anything, and even excessive seriousness.

Toxic emotions include uncontrolled anger, lust, greed, resentment, anxiety, and severe depression.

7.Geopathic and other suble toxins.  The earth generates magnetic fields, geopathic fields, and other subtle energetic toxins, at times.

            Etheric Toxins.  These are very subtle, very fine, high-frequency energies that are finer than electromagnetic radiations and therefore hard to detect.  They emanate from people, from the earth, and from outer space.

They can play an important role in human relationships, marriages and sexual relationships and can make a lot of difference as to whether one is happy or not in a male-female relationship, in particular.

            Etheric toxins are also generated by certain energy weapons that, when directed to a person, can make a person ill or even kill a person at a distance.  This topic is explored more in the article entitled Psychotronics on this website.

BORN TOXIC

            Most children born today have excessive levels of many toxic metals and many toxic chemicals.  This is not an exaggeration.  In fact, it is obvious from the hair mineral analyses of hundreds of babies.  The toxic metal levels are high, even when the baby has never ever touched regular food. 

Congenital toxicity.  This condition is called congenital toxicity.  The word congenital means present at birth, but not caused by defective DNA.  Instead, the toxicity is caused by toxins in the mother’s body that find their way into the unborn baby.    Congenital mineral deficiencies and congenital metal toxicity should become household words because they are so important and common. 

All toxic metals and many toxic chemicals pass right through the placenta from mother to child during pregnancy.  This is a major, and generally ignored, cause of autism, ADD, birth defects and many cases of delayed development as well.

Mothers-to-be need assistance.  All teenagers, especially girls, would be very wise to start a nutritional balancing program before becoming pregnant.  If that is not possible, then at least begin a program once you become pregnant.

This would help replenish hundreds of nutrient compounds and reduce the body’s load of toxic metals and toxic chemicals greatly.  This can undoubtedly help prevent birth defects, as well as make childbirth safer and reduce illnesses in their children. 

            True prenatal care.   Thus far, in all cases, when a pregnant mother follows a nutritional balancing program carefully, compared to their previous pregnancies, the pregnancies and the births have been easier, and the health of the babies far better than that of their previous children.

I hope that our prenatal care system will change, as it is one of the worst features of “modern” medical care.  It is simply too little, too late.  It is just not enough to make sure a woman does not have diabetes or some other serious disease and then to hand her a simple diet sheet and a pre-natal vitamin that is often not correct for her metabolic type.

Prenatal care needs to begin earlier than when a woman becomes pregnant.  It takes several years to remove dozens of toxic metals and toxic chemicals from her body.

In contrast, teenage girls and young women are allowed and often encouraged by the media and even parents and friends to:

* Eat junk foods that contain toxic chemical additives.

* Indulge in other toxic habits such as smoking, drinking coffee and drinking alcohol.

* Take dangerous medical drugs such as birth control pills, the patch and others.

* Adopt loose morals that cause sexually transmitted diseases in at least 25% of young women between the ages of 16 and 25.  These are biological toxins that always damage one’s health.  For more details, please read Prenatal Care on this site.

IMBALANCES THAT FAVOR TOXICITY

            In addition to exposure to toxins and congenital toxicity, certain imbalances in the body predispose one to becoming much more toxic.  These include:

1. A sluggish oxidation rate.

2. A very fast oxidation rate.

3. A low sodium/potassium ratio.

4. Sympathetic dominance.

5. Four lows pattern.

6. Aging or low etheric energy.

7. Impaired digestion or absorption of nutrients.

8. Other problems with the liver, kidneys, bowel or skin (the eliminative organs).

            More details about these imbalances are discussed in the section of this article entitled Assessing Toxicity.

AUTOINTOXICATION

This is toxicity produced within the body.  All bodies produce some toxins due to digestion of food.  However, there are numerous reasons for endogenous toxicity or autointoxication.

Sources. 

1. Normal metabolism. This produces some toxic chemicals such as carbon dioxide from energy production, and lactic acid in the muscles.  The body also naturally produces ammonia and a number of other toxins.

2. Digestion.  Digestion always produces some toxins.  Some of these are fermentation products such as alcohol, methane gas, acetaldeyde and a number of others.  Those with the best digestion produce less, but still produce some of them.

Rotting or putrefaction of protein also produces some toxins in everyone.  With a proper diet and healthy digestion, less is produced, but always a little.  Parasites in the intestines of some people also produce powerful toxins.

To minimize toxin production in the intestines, separate meals by 5 hours, do not snack, do not overeat, do not drink with meals, go to bed early, and do not eat in the middle of the night.  Also, always have relaxed, sit-down meals with pleasant conversation only.  This will minimize toxicity that occurs due to digestion.

3. Toxins produced when healing occurs.  Whenever healing occurs, diseased tissue and perhaps tumors are broken down by the action of macrophages and enzymes such as lysozymes.   Usually, the body handles these well but they can be a problem, in a few cases.

4. Infections.  All of these produce some endo-toxins and exo-toxins when they die.  Some are extremely powerful and poison the liver, kidneys, heart and other organs.

One of the worst sources of infection are infected root canal-filled teeth.  Almost all of these produce very harmful bacterial toxins.  You may not be aware of it at all!  This is the reason why I never suggest having a root canal procedure, and I suggest removing all root canal-filled teeth.

However, many other bacteria, viral and parasitic infections anywhere in the body are also sources of toxins. 

Cancer cells, of which most people have some, also produce toxins inside the body.  If their numbers are small, they are not too important.  As the number of these cells increase, the effect of their toxins increases dramatically.

Effects.  These toxins are a common cause of liver toxicity today.  They also often cause foul-smelling stool or gas, intestinal bloating, bad body odors, bad breath, fatigue, headaches, weakness, and many other symptoms of toxicity.

THE COLON – OUR MOST TOXIC ORGAN

People just assume that the large intestine or colon must always be a smelly cesspool of toxic waste matter.  This is not true.  The stool can be more like horse manure, which smells but is not overly unpleasant.

The reasons why the colon is usually a person’s most toxic organ are improper diet, poor digestion, improper intestinal flora and infections in the intestinal tract, stress, ignoring the call of nature, and constipation. 

These usually take a few years to correct on a nutritional balancing program, even with the help of coffee enemas, foot reflexology, and red heat lamp therapy on the abdomen.  However, when, the colon is no longer a source of toxicity, and bowel movements and body odor improve.

TOXINS AS A CAUSE OF DISEASE

The concept that toxic substances cause disease is very ancient.  It is mentioned in Greek and Roman medical texts, and even older writings as well.  Ancient Chinese medical books speak of ‘harmful chi’ and contain other references to toxins that cause illness.

Natural healing methods such as nature-cure have emphasized toxin removal for thousands of years.  Baths, enemas, poultices, emetics, laxatives, purgatives, skin brushing, cleansing diets, sweating and other methods for eliminating poisons are integral parts of these sciences.

Conventional or allopathic medical care emphasizes biological toxins such as bacteria and viruses as causes of disease.  However, they overlook and often deride the broader concept of toxins and their role in all illness.  Unfortunately, many of their remedies and procedures, including drugs and surgery, are very toxic themselves.  As a result, they contribute to ill health by making the bodies even more toxic.

Nutritional balancing strongly emphasizes this cause of disease and advises people eat pure food, drink pure water, and breathe pure air.  In addition, detoxification of the body is given great importance. 

AGING

Increasing toxicity of the body tissues is a very important cause of aging.  In some cases, it is a primary cause.  In others, toxicity is secondary to low etheric energy in the body, or to something else such as infections or a disease such as cancer.

I hope that toxicity will be given more attention in the medical world as a primary cause of aging in plants, humans and animals in the years to come.

III. DETOXIFICATION CONCEPTS

PHILOSOPHY

The concept of detoxification is that poisons that get into the body cause its dysfunctions.  Removing those toxins will help restore the ‘body machine’ to a better state of functionality.  This is similar to the way one maintains an automobile or other complex machine.

Prevention.  This philosophy tends to be preventive because it logically follows that to avoid problems in the body, one should avoid getting toxins inside the body.  This can be done through one’s diet, drinking water, air one breathes, and avoiding contact with toxic substances.

THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AND DETOXIFICATION

An important cause of poor detoxification is excessive activation of the sympathetic or fight-or-flight branch of the autonomic nervous system.  This severely reduce detoxification in the body.  Here is what occurs:

1. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system causes blood and nerve energy to be shunted away from the liver, kidneys, bowel, and skin.  Blood is moved toward the brain and the muscles so that one can better fight or run away.

2. The liver, kidneys, bowel and skin are the eliminative organs.  As a result, they do not function as well when there is activation of the sympathetic nervous system.

3. The effect on these organs is quite pronounced and profound.

4. Even worse, in many people and some animals on earth, the sympathetic nervous system is activated most of the time.  This is a serious health problem that causes anxiety, depression, and even diseases such as cancer. 

We give this condition two names in nutritional balancing science, depending upon the oxidation rate:

A. A sympathetic state of body chemistry.  This is the same as fast oxidation.  It means that the entire body is stuck in a fight-or-flight mode of operation.

B. Sympathetic dominance.  This is a more chronic imbalance of the autonomic nervous system found in some slow oxidizers.

An analogy.  These imbalances are somewhat like having everyone in a nation preparing for war and training in the army.  As a result, there are not enough people available to collect the garbage, so the trash builds up!

In other words, the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is the clean up branch whose activity is required for proper detoxification.  For more details, read Fast Oxidation and Sympathetic Dominance on this site.

Nutritional balancing is one of the few healing sciences that addresses these nervous system problems that are directly responsible for many illnesses related to toxicity.

DETOXIFICATION REQUIRES ADAPTIVE ENERGY

Doctors often overlook this critical idea.  A healthy, high-energy, balanced body detoxifies itself all the time, and does so with ease.  Sick bodies cannot detoxify properly because they are low in adaptive energy.  This is the reason why babies often have high fevers, eczema, and colds.  These are often symptoms of the elimination of toxins from the body. 

Adults have fewer of these, but not because they are healthier.  They have fewer because they have lower energy levels, and therefore they do not detoxify as well.

Analogy: A clogged toilet.  When clients begin a nutritional balancing program, their adaptive energy level is often low.  As a result, detoxification proceeds slowly.  This is similar to having a clogged or poorly-functioning toilet.  It just does not flush well.  As one’s energy improves due to balancing body chemistry, detoxification proceeds much faster.

YANG AND YIN DETOXIFICATION

All methods of detoxification are either more yang in nature or more yin.  This is a vital topic, although it is not commonly discussed.

Yang methods heat the body, and may compress or contract the body.  They may also have a drying effect on the body and may activate the body in order to remove toxins.

Examples are diets with cooked food, kelp, sea salt, bone broth, some meats and eggs, a small amount of grains, and no fruits, or sweets.  One must also limit juices, alcohol and almost all herbs. 

Fever, thermotherapy, or heating up the body is a wonderful yang method for cleansing the body.  It has been used for thousands of years to rid the body of infections.  The reason are:

1. Many bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites and cancer cells are heat-sensitive.   They are more delicate than good tissue, and do not survive when the body temperature goes up.

2. Raising the body temperature even one or two degrees increases the white blood cell count.  This means it activates certain parts of the immune response.  

Older methods of raising the body temperature are the use of a very hot bath, along with one or two cups of ginger or cayenne tea, and wrapping oneself in blankets after the hot bath.  This will usually get rid of a cold in one afternoon.  Some cancer clinics use heat therapy to reduce tumors in which they raise the body temperature very high.  This must be carefully supervised.

Other examples are the use of saunas, especially the red heat lamp sauna.  This raises the body temperature several degrees, in addition to having many other benefits for detoxification.

Other more yang methods are yang herbs such as coffee, rubbing the feet (reflexology), and the Pushing Down exercise.  All of these are part of all nutritional balancing programs.  Chiropractic tends to be more yang, as well.

Yin methods cool the body and may expand the body.  They tend to relax the body and often flush it with water.

Examples of yin detoxification methods are vegetarian diets, “cleansing” diets with a lot of raw food, fruit, and juices, and little cooked food.  They also include chelation, homeopathy, baths, clay treatments, relaxation exercises, and most vitamin and herbal therapies.  They particularly include high-dose vitamin regimens, IV vitamins, vitamin C therapy, and the use of powders, smoothies and shakes.  Acupuncture tends to be yin, as well.

Why is the idea of yin and yang important? The reasons are: 

* The balance between the complementary opposite forces of yin and yang are most helpful to maintain and achieve health.  They are also important to promote the fastest, safest and most effective detoxification.

* Today, almost all bodies are too yin, in our experience.  This is due to our diets, toxic metals and toxic chemicals in the environment, medical drugs and vaccines, recreational drug use in some cases, radiation poisoning, electromagnetic toxins all around us, and because we are born this way due to toxicity of our mother’s bodies.

* Therefore, we find that using yang detoxification methods work much better and are much safer than yin methods because they also tend to balance the body better.

For this reason, herbal methods are not as safe or effective today as they were 100 years ago when brilliant people such as Jethro Kloss, author of Back To Eden, wrote about them.

Chelation therapy, bio-identical hormone therapy, some hyperbaric oxygen therapy and many others are also more yin as well.  It means there will often be side effects from them, even if they are not obvious.  For more on this topic, read Yin And Yang Healing.

REPLACING TOXIC METALS WITH PREFERRED MINERALS

This is a somewhat esoteric topic, but a very important one.  Some toxic metals are just occupying space in a body compartment or organ and need to be removed.  However, many toxic metals are lodged in enzyme binding sites where they actually perform a function, albeit poorly.

Removing the latter always requires replacing them with more modern, more physiological and what I call preferred minerals.  This is sometimes called the concept of preferred minerals.  It means that many enzymes and other body systems will function, to a degree, using toxic metals in critical enzyme binding sites.  However, some minerals in these sites are preferred, and function much better.

For example, zinc, selenium, chromium, magnesium and manganese are among the most preferred minerals in enzyme binding sites.  Less preferred minerals might include lead, cadmium, nickel and aluminum.

The implication of this concept is that one must never simply attempt to “pull out” toxic metals using powerful methods such as chelation.  This tends not to work that well.

One must always attempt to assess which preferred minerals are needed, and to supply them in bioavailable forms.  This is not always easy.

Simply administering a general mineral supplement, or adding minerals to an IV bottle containing a chelating agent is not sufficient in most cases.  It is not exact enough, and usually does not contain the required amount and type of minerals needed.

TOXINS CAN REMAIN IN THE BODY FOR DECADES

This is the truth, although most people do not realize it or they would be much more careful with medical drugs, toxic chemicals and everything else they touch or ingest.  Toxins that are easily retained include all prescription, over-the-counter and recreational drugs, along with most toxic chemicals such as anesthesia drugs, recreational drugs, pesticides, solvents and others.

Other toxins that remain in the body for years are mercury from amalgam dental fillings, aluminum from anti-perspirants or anti-acid use, and nickel from eating hydrogenated oils found in commercial peanut butter and margarine.  Others are cadmium from cigarette or marijuana use, manganese from breathing auto exhaust, and many others.

Even a parent’s cigarette smoke (contains cadmium and other toxic metals) and residues from contaminated work clothing are stored in the body for 20 or more years, especially if a person’s health is impaired, as is often the case.

Upon undertaking a nutritional balancing program, medications and other toxins from long ago will be eliminated.  One may smell or taste them, or even experience their pharmacologic or toxic effects to a slight degree.  This happens, at times, because, when liberated from storage tissues, they circulate in the blood a short while until they are excreted through the urine, bile or other routes.

This can give rise to odd symptoms.  For example, one may suddenly smell cigarettes, even though one has not been exposed to nicotine for years.  One may experience a caffeine-like rush if a stimulant drug is released, or feel extremely tired if a sedative is released.

This phenomenon is called retracing or purification reactions.

RETRACING

            One of the most interesting phenomena to do with detoxification is called retracing, healing reactions, purification reactions, or flare-ups.

            These are symptoms that occur as one eliminates toxic substances from the body.  Symptoms can be most anything such as rashes, headaches, upset stomach, runny nose, diarrhea, constipation and many others.  Most symptoms are benign and go away on their own.  However, they can be annoying and occasionally scary.

They can also mimic diseases, which confuses our clients and often confuses their doctors.  They often cause blood and other tests to be skewed, which also confuses doctors and their patients.  This critical topic is discussed in the article entitled Retracing And Healing Reactions.

THE ORGANS OF DETOXIFICATION

Certain organs of the body are called the eliminative organs.  These are the large intestine, liver, kidneys, lungs and skin.  While the idea of eliminative organs is very important, in fact the entire body is concerned with detoxification.

Each cell must continuously eliminate toxins in order to function properly.  Its ability to do this depends on how much adaptive energy the cell has, the condition of the cell membrane, the condition of other cell structures.

The circulatory and lymphatic systems play indispensable roles to carry waste products from the cells to the eliminative organs.

Glands such as the thyroid, adrenals, and others must also function well as regulators of the eliminative organs.

The autonomic nervous system also plays a critical role.  The parasympathetic nervous system enhances the activity of the eliminative organs.  In contrast, all sympathetic nervous system activity, which is often very exaggerated today, diminishes the activity of the eliminative organs.

STEPS IN ALL DETOXIFICATION

            Detoxification is actually a complex process.  It always involves a series of steps:

Step 1. Dislodging toxins from the tissues.  Toxins are often stored or sequestered deep in body organs and tissues.  The first step in detoxification is to dislodge, mobilize or remove toxins from storage sites.

This is often not easy.  Some toxins are encapsulated, such as chronic infections.  Some are deeply hidden in the brain, for example.  Some not close to a major blood vessel or lymph vessel needed to carry them away.  Others are tightly bound to tissue structures.  In fact, many are part of tissue structures such as connective tissue, enzymes, and other chemicals.

Certain toxins are also extremely dangerous for the body, and must be handled with great care.  These come out very slowly, and may require chemical transformation so they will not damage the body too much if they are placed in the blood stream.

Cysts.  Occasionally, the body will prefer to move them into a cyst or capsule, rather than risk putting them into the blood stream.  This can be mistaken for a cancerous tumor, when it is really just an effort of the body to dispose of very poisonous substances.

For example, the kidneys often form cysts filled with toxins to move the toxins out of the way where they will not do damage to the body.  This is not a “disease”, but a method of detoxification.

This step requires plenty of adaptive energy.  It also may require the presence of nutrients such as more preferred minerals to replace some toxic material.  It may also require macrophages, lysozymes or other specialized cells that can help dislodge the toxins.

Step 2.  Once dislodged, toxins must be moved into the bloodstream or lymph channels.

This is needed to transport toxins to the eliminative organs for final removal.  This is often not an easy step.  The reasons are that many people have impaired circulation and impaired hydration.  This directly impairs the body’s ability to move toxins around the body.

Also, most people’s diets are low in omega-3 fatty acids.  This interferes with the integrity and permeability of the cell membranes.  Some people also have hardened arteries and veins that impair transport of toxins.

Methods that can help with this stage are improving circulation, hydration, and oxygenation of the body.  For example, near infrared heat lamp sauna therapy is wonderful to assist circulation. Some exercise is also helpful. 

Rest.  Plenty of rest helps all the steps by conserving energy for healing and detoxification that would otherwise be used up in other activities.  I cannot emphasize how important this is for detoxification.

This is one reason our clients often feel tired, and need to rest more.  Their bodies want to detoxify and it requires energy to do this. 

Step 3. Moving toxins out of the blood and lymph and into the eliminative organs.

This is a rather amazing step.  The body has 5 or more eliminative channels.  It must decide which one to use for each type of toxin in the body.

Liver.  For example, the liver handles hundreds of types of toxins.  It has dozens of methods of altering and breaking down various types of toxins so they can be safely excreted from the body through the blood or in the bile, which flows from the liver into the digestive tract and finally leaves the body with the feces.

Kidneys.  The kidneys handle other types of toxins.  They are amazing filtering systems that remove dozens of poisons through the urine.

Skin.  The skin is the largest detoxification organ.  Unfortunately, in most people it is congested and not too active.  This is due to wearing tight clothing, and the use of soaps, lotions, creams and other products that clog up the skin.  

Sympathetic imbalance.  Inactive skin is also due to overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system.  When the sympathetic nervous system is chronically activated, it reduces circulation and thus elimination through the skin.  This very important and common autonomic nervous system imbalance is discussed later in this article. Some toxins are moved to the skin and come out through the oil glands and sweat glands in the skin.  At times, toxins are removed through the skin by an eruption or rash.  These can be unsightly, but this is an excellent way to safely remove some toxins from the body.

For example, silver, a toxic metal, comes out this way and causes a bluish tinge to the skin.  Copper often causes rashes on the face, chest, back and abdomen.

Lungs.  Some toxins are “blown off” as gases.  The lungs take of these.

Peyer’s Patches.  When operational, which is usually only up to the age of about 30 to 40, these specialized lymph glands in the abdomen move toxins directly from the lymph channels into the small intestine for final removal.  This bypasses the liver, which may not be able to handle certain chemical toxins.

Direct elimination from the blood to the colon.  We have observed other unusual detoxification of the blood in which some toxins are moved directly from the blood to the large intestine for final removal.

At times, toxins may first go to the liver where they are chemically altered by such processes as methylation and others.  Then they may pass out of the liver and move to to the kidneys or skin for final removal.  In other words, more than one eliminative organ may be involved with just one type of toxin.

The eliminative organs also help each other in other ways.  In many people, especially as they age or become less healthy, one or another of the eliminative organs becomes weakened.  In this case, another eliminative organ can take over its job, at least to some extent.  If this did not occur, many people would die much younger.

Detoxification methods that are most helpful for this step of detoxification include all methods that nourish, restore, cleanse or otherwise support the eliminative organs.  These include proper diet, plenty of rest, and drinking enough good quality water that hydrates the body.

Other methods are procedures such as skin brushing, coffee enemas, sauna therapy, chiropractic and perhaps massage.  The Pushign Down Exercise recommended on this website helps every aspect of detoxification and is extremely beneficial.  Foot reflexology is also amazing, at times, to keep subtle energy flowing through the body and to remove toxins.

Also helpful are supplementary nutrients such as kidney glandular product and trimethylglycine to supply methyl groups.  Rarely, we use herbs such as garlic, milk thistle and dandelion.  However, most herbs are somewhat toxic and are not helpful for this reason.  I very rarely recommend baths because they are too yin.  One must not take more than two baths weekly at the most.

Step 4. Final elimination through the urine, feces, skin, and lungs.  This step has mainly to do with one’s lifestyle.  It is important to avoid constipation, and to breathe deeply and drink enough water every day.

Also very important is to maintain the health of the skin by avoiding contact with toxic chemicals.  Beware of toxic body care products, even those sold at health food stores.  These include soaps, shampoos, lotions, hair dyes, makeup, and other body care products that can poison or congest the skin.

As you can see, this is not a simple process.  This is the reason that anyone who claims to detoxify the body in a few weeks or a few months, or even in few years does not understand detoxification well, or is just lying.

CLEANSES AND CLEANSING DIETS

  Understanding that toxins cause disease leads many people to undertake various detoxification regimens to heal themselves.  While helpful in theory, I find this harmful in almost all cases.  Here is why:

1. They are not needed if one follows a nutritional balancing program.

2. Most of them involve deficient and unbalanced diets such as vegetarian diets or raw food regimens.

3. Some involve fasting.  I find this is definitely dangerous today because the bodies are so nutritionally deficient already.

4. Some detoxification regimens also involve toxic methods such as the ionic foot baths, clay baths if done often, too many water baths, which is very yin, and the use of herbs that are somewhat toxic. 

5. Some methods involve chelators, which are also somewhat toxic and which always deplete some vital minerals along with the toxic metals.  For more on this, read Chelation Therapy, Cleanses and Fasting, and Detoxification Protocols on this site.

All the above can easily throw the body further out of balance and deplete it nutritionally, no matter what other benefits they provide.  Please beware of these problems today.

In contrast, a properly designed nutritional balancing program will remove all of the toxic metals, thousands of toxic chemicals, all biological toxins eventually, and much more.  It will do this faster than any other method I am aware of, in a gentler, safer way than other methods.

For this reason, I do not recommend ANY cleansing diets or detoxification regimens at this time. 

TOXIN REMOVAL IS NOT ENOUGH

The idea that toxins cause disease is a critical one.  However, I find it must be combined with other concepts of disease or a person will be misled.  For example, low adaptive energy causes disease and is probably even more important, at times.  Without enough adaptive energy one cannot eliminate the toxins. 

An unbalanced body chemistry also causes disease and death in all cases.  Unless the body is balanced properly, once again it is impossible to remove toxins properly and adequately.  The balance of the body chemistry is complex, and involves mineral levels at the cellular level, yin and yang, mineral ratios, and more.

Nutritional balancing is one of the few modern biochemical sciences that addresses this balance in a delicate and precise way.  So while the idea that toxins cause disease is an important one, it is not sufficient of itself to understanding how our bodies work, in my experience.

“LAYERS” OF TOXICITY

An important concept in regard to detoxification is that some toxins in the body may be “layered”.  This means there can be some mercury, and a little deeper is a chronic infection, and a little deeper is some cadmium, and a little deeper is more mercury, and so on. 

We know this because, as an experiment, I have tried removing specific chronic infections with various methods.  It has not worked well.  It seems like the one must “work through the layers” to remove deeper toxicity.

This is one reason that nutritional balancing does not force toxins out of the body with chelators, for example.  Instead, nutritional balancing programs mainly support and renourish the body.  Then the body decides in what order to remove toxins, when, and how fast.

This is a major difference between nutritional balancing and other detoxification programs that are aimed at mercury, for example, or perhaps cadmium.  Their approach might be called allopathic.  By this I simply mean that one identifies a toxin, and then gives a remedy for it.  With a nutritional balancing program, one rarely needs to identify which toxin is present, and no specific remedies are required or used.  Also, the body decides the speed and timing of the removal of all toxins.

IV. DETOXIFICATION WITH NUTRITIONAL BALANCING SCIENCE

One of the key advantages of nutritional balancing is its ability to safely, comfortably, inexpensively and often quite easily eliminate most, if not all, toxic metals, toxic chemicals, radioactive particles and biological toxins.

In addition, mental and emotional toxins, and psychological traumas of many kinds, are slowly brought up to the surface of the mind for processing and elimination as well. 

Methods used.  Nutritional balancing makes use of about 15 methods in a coordinated way to detoxify the body.  These include:

1. Reduce toxic exposures.  This is done via a healthful diet, proper drinking water and a healthful lifestyle.

2. Increase adaptive energy.  This comes from balancing the oxidation rate and the major mineral levels and ratios.  It makes far more energy available for detoxification and healing.  It is a key difference between nutritional balancing and most other approaches to detoxification.

3. Increase rest and sleep.  This is critical for maximum detoxification.

4. Remove the need for physical and emotional compensations.  Many toxins act as compensatory mechanisms.  For example, cadmium raises the sodium level.  Also, the “three amigos” (iron, manganese and aluminum, all in biounavailable form) appear to boost adrenal and perhaps thyroid activity in slow oxidizers. 

Removing the need for these compensations and adaptations is what appears to allow these toxic minerals and compounds to be removed so easily and quickly.  Otherwise, they are very difficult to remove from the body.

Removing the need for adaptations also helps prevent them from re-accumulating, which can happen with other methods.

5. Balance the qualities of yin and yang.  Balancing these subtle qualities strengthens the body and increases the available adaptive energy.  This is discussed later in this article.

6. Balance the autonomic nervous system.  Detoxification is primarily a parasympathetic activity.  It requires organs that are stimulated by parasympathetic nervous system activity such as the liver, kidneys, and intestines.  Any therapy that promotes parasympathetic activity or inhibits sympathetic activity will assist detoxification greatly.  Methods used with every nutritional balancing program are:

* A healthful diet free of stimulants.

* Supplemental calcium, magnesium, and zinc to help relax the sympathetic nervous system.

* Extreme care to avoid supplements, herbs and other substances that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, or that unbalance the body, increasing tension in the body.

* Sauna therapy, especially when done upon awakening in the morning or just before bedtime.

* Enemas and colonic irrigation.

* The Pushing Down Mental Exercise.

* Foot reflexology.  This simple technique is very relaxing.

* The Spinal Twist.  This procedure will reduce tension and misalignments of the spine.  This is also very relaxing for the nervous system.

* Removing toxic material from the body that irritates the central nervous system is very helpful.  For example, iron, manganese, aluminum, copper and other metals, when in oxide forms, act as irritants that help keep the body in a sympathetic state.

7. Reduce harmful stress of all kinds. Stress interferes with detoxification for several reasons:

a)  The body must use up a lot of energy adapting to stress

b) stress of any kind activates the sympathetic nervous system, which impairs detoxification.

c) stress depletes many vital nutrients such as zinc and magnesium needed for detoxification

d) stress weakens the body greatly, making detoxification much more difficult.

8. Replace less preferred minerals with more preferred minerals.  This is both a cause and an effect of detoxification.  In order for detoxification to proceed rapidly and safely, one must replace the less preferred or toxic minerals in millions of enzymes with more preferred vital elements such as selenium, chromium, zinc, magnesium and others.

9. Support the eliminative organs.  Nutritional balancing makes use of at least a dozen methods to improve the activity of the eliminative organs.  These range from improving the diet, drinking the right water and resting more, to colon cleansing, saunas and other detoxification procedures.

10. Increase the body temperature to help normalize enzyme activity.  Many adults have a low body temperature due to fatigue, illness or decreased thyroid or adrenal activity.  Increasing the oxidation rate and regular use of a near infrared heat lamp sauna helps normalize this.

11. Deep cleansing of the liver and large intestine with coffee enemas.

12. The use of antagonists. These are specific nutrients or compounds that oppose or compete with toxic substances.  They antagonize in various ways:

a) Some compete with toxic metals for absorption.

b) Some antagonists replace the less preferred minerals in enzyme binding sites.

c)  Some, such as zinc, safely escort toxic metals out of the body, or in other ways facilitate their removal.

            d) Some replace toxic metals in various tissues, but not enzymes. 

e) Antibiotics and antitoxins may be considered antagonists for bacteria or other toxins.  For infections, however, nutritional balancing uses safer and often more effective agents such as colloidal silver and bee propolis.

13. Clearing emotional and mental toxins. Emotional blocks and traumas can reduce detoxification as badly as any other factor.  Methods that can help release them that are part of nutritional balancing programs include reducing the physical toxin level, enhancing overall vitality, improving memory and cognition, and what I call personality integration.

14. The right type and amount of drinking water.  This is vital to hydrate the body, and provide nutrient minerals, as well.  Pure water also helps reduce a person’s intake of toxic chemicals and metals.

Rarely, we use distilled water for a few days to assist detoxification.  Distilled water is often called “hungry water”.  It contains very few minerals.  As a result, it holds and helps remove from the body many minerals and other toxic substances.  It is not for long-term use, however, as it will remove many vital minerals, not just toxic ones.

15. Uncovering layers of toxins.  Many toxins are buried deeply within body organs.  Nutritional balancing slowly brings up the layers to be uncovered over a period of several years or more.  I know of no other method that can uncover and remove these deeper layers of toxicity.

            The allopathic concept of identifying a single toxic metal as the cause for a symptom is only partially effective, in my experience.  In fact, everyone has most toxic metals in their bodies.  In addition, they are layered and often the deeper deposits will not be revealed on any tests, even hair tests, until they begin to be uncovered.

            16. Eliminate many chronic infections.  Infections produce powerful toxins and they use up the body’s vitality in fighting them.  Eliminating infections thus frees up a lot of adaptive energy for detoxification.  Methods used to eliminate them include:

* Heating the body with saunas or hot baths. Many infectious organisms are sensitive to heat.

* Balancing the body chemistry to enhance adaptive energy.

* Removing toxic metals and replenishing missing vital nutrients. 

*Coffee enemas are very helpful to get rid of some infections.

* Improving the sodium/potassium ratio, in particular, along with other mineral imbalances.

* Improving circulation, oxygenation and hydration.

* Healing emotional traumas and other issues that weaken the immune response.

* At times, using specific anti-microbial agents such as colloidal silver, bee propolis, vitamin A, or rarely others.

            17. Parasite cleansing.  Some people have intestinal parasites that can produce toxic substances in the intestines.  They also interfere with proper digestion and absorption of nutrients.  These are all slowly eliminated on a nutritional balancing program.  Methods used to eliminate them with nutritional balancing are:

* Ox bile and pancreatic enzymes in the digestive aid we use weaken and even digest many parasites.

* Daily use of a near infrared lamp sauna enhances circulation and raises the body temperature.  This weakens some parasites.

* Coffee enemas can dislodge many parasites.

* Increasing the vitality of the body by balancing the oxidation rate and replenishing many minerals and vitamins helps greatly to make the body less hospitable to all parasitic organisms.

            18. Other therapies when needed.  Nutritional balancing is not intended as a complete healing system, and I do not know of any such system.  All healing arts have their place.  Methods such as bodywork, chiropractic, and biofeedback may all assist detoxification, at times.

Rarely, a person may require a medical drug for sleep or for something else until the body can heal enough that it is not needed.  However, the toxicity of drugs, surgery and other medical methods make them unsuitable for a healing method that emphasizes detoxification.  The only except is if all of the more natural and less toxic methods have been exhausted and are not sufficient.

OTHER METHODS OF DETOXIFICATION

            Some doctors and health authorities recommend many other methods of detoxification.  These include fasting, special diets, baths, clay packs, herbs, and others.

A separate article on this site discusses many methods of detoxification.  It is divided into methods we like, methods that are okay but not as good, and methods to avoid.  The article is Detoxification Protocols.

V. ASSESSING TOXICITY

              Assessing the toxicity of the body is difficult.  Reasons for this is that toxins can be located deep inside body organs, where they cannot be detected through most tests.

Also, there are many types of toxins.  A person may not have much metal toxicity, for example, but may have more chemical toxicity, or some other kind.

There are many methods to assess the toxicity of human or animal body.  Among them are symptoms, blood and urine tests, hair mineral tests, and electrical machines.

            Is testing needed?  In regular medical care, functional medicine, holistic care and naturopathy, testing is very important.  The reason is that the remedies given for different toxins are different, and must be applied carefully.  Testing can be costly, especially if one is searching for toxic chemicals in the body.

Blood tests.  The blood is a transport medium.  Toxins are removed from the blood as fast as possible because the blood touches all the body organs, and having toxins in the blood is very dangerous. 

Therefore, in general, the blood is only useful to detect acute toxicity, not chronic toxicity.  For example, it can detect if a child is eating old paint off the walls that contains lead.

However, most toxicity about which we are concerned is chronic, not acute.  Blood tests are generally too accurate for this assessment.

              Nutritional balancing.  This detoxification method uses hair mineral testing, but not primarily to assess toxicity.  Instead, we assume that everyone is toxic.  This is accurate, in my experience.

Also, with nutritional balancing there is no need to figure out which toxin is present because the program is designed to remove many types of toxins, including all of the most common ones.  These are important differences between nutritional balancing and methods such as functional medicine, naturopathy, environmental medicine and other common approaches to detoxification.

SYMPTOMATIC ASSESSMENT OF TOXICITY

Without spending a lot of money on blood and other tests for toxicity, here are some symptoms that indicate toxicity:

Bad breath

Bad body odor

Gas or bloating

Fatigue

Bad skin color and skin eruptions

Brain fog

Mood swings

Allergies

TOXICITY INDICATORS ON A HAIR MINERAL TEST

            Why use hair?  Recall that hair, an outgrowth of the skin, and is an eliminative tissue.  This means that it will be cut off the body, and anything in the hair will be permanently eliminated from the body.  For this reason, the body often tries to eliminate toxins of many kinds through the hair.

Does the hair test reveal the “body load” of a toxic metal?  No.  It only reveals what is being eliminated through the hair.  This is often related to the total body load of a toxic mineral, but not necessarily.

For example, often on an initial hair mineral test, few toxic metals are revealed.  This usually means that the body is having difficulty removing them.  It does not mean that they are not present.

We know this because when the person undertakes a nutritional balancing program  designed to eliminate toxic metals, the hair levels often rise very high on subsequent hair tests.  This occurs because on the program the body gains enough energy to remove more toxic metals through the hair and through other routes.

Hair mineral testing is my specialty area.  This test can assess toxicity in two overall ways:

I. Specific indicators for excessive toxic metals in the body.

II. General bodily toxicity indicators.

Here are examples of each type of indicator:

I. GENERAL TOXICITY INDICATORS:

1. A slow oxidation rate.  All slow oxidizers are more toxic.  Slow oxidation is like having the motor in your car run too slowly.  Gunk builds up in the motor in this situation.

Another analogy is that it is like having water flowing too slowly through a pipe.  Eventually, sediment always builds up in the water pipe in this situation.

A more yin state of body chemistry Slow oxidation is also a more yin condition of the body.  This means weak and expanded, which makes it easier for certain toxins to build up.  For details, read Slow Oxidation on this site.

2. A very fast oxidation rate, especially with a low sodium/potassium ratio.  This indicates a strong sympathetic state of body chemistry.  This condition powerfully inhibits elimination in the body.  For details, read Fast Oxidation.

3. Sympathetic dominance.  This indicates a chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system in a slow oxidizer.  The sympathetic nervous system strongly inhibits toxin elimination by driving blood and nerve energy away from the organs of elimination.  For details, read Sympathetic Dominance.

4. Four lows pattern. This is usually an exhaustion pattern, that is always associated with excessive toxins in the body, even if none of them are revealed as elevated on the hair mineral chart or on other types of tests.

            The reason that high levels of toxic metals may not be revealed on the hair chart or other tests with this pattern is that the body’s adaptive energy level is too low too push out the toxins.  For details, read Four Lows Pattern.

              5. Four highs.  This is a somewhat deceptive pattern that always indicates an underlying slow oxidation pattern.  As explained in #1 above, slow oxidation is always associated with high toxicity.  For details, read Four Highs Pattern.

6. Bowl pattern.  This is an indirect indicator.  The pattern indicates nutrient deficiencies.  When the body is nutrient-deficient, it tends to pick up more toxic metals.  For more details, read The Bowl Pattern.

7. A low sodium/potassium ratio.  This is a weakness and electrical discharge pattern that also predisposes one to accumulate toxins.  For details, read Low Sodium/Potassium Ratio.

II. SPECIFIC TOXIC METAL INDICATORS:

            1. Elevated hair levels of the toxic metals, and of some nutrient minerals, as well.  This pattern usually means the body is dumping a lot of these minerals into the hair in an attempt to eliminate them.  This is especially true if one is following a nutritional balancing program.

            Elevated nutrient minerals.  One might ask, why would the levels of iron, manganese, copper and other nutrient minerals be elevated on some people’s hair tests?

The answer is that these can be in a toxic form, such as oxides, carbonates and others.  Then these become toxins, as well, and our bodies must eliminate them.

              Rarely, a high hair level of a mineral occurs because a person has just put a mineral on the hair, such as using Selsun Blue shampoo, which contains a lot of selenium.  This is on the hair, but the mineral is not necessarily present throughout the body.

2. Poor eliminator patterns.  These indicate that a person cannot eliminate toxic minerals properly.  This is a more recent finding on hair mineral tests, and is quite reliable.  The criteria is a very low level of a mineral.  For the exact criteria, read Mineral Ideals, Ranges, Toxicity And Poor Eliminator Patterns on this website.

VI. DETOXIFICATION CAUTIONS

DO-IT–YOURSELF OR GUIDED

            I receive many emails and phone calls from people who are in trouble because they decided to take herbs, or decided to do coffee enemas, saunas, or other detoxification programs on their own.  Here are my observations:

1. Not all methods are safe.

2. Coffee enemas and near infrared lamp sauna therapy are very powerful and will cause healing reactions.

3. The correct diet is very important along with any detoxification procedure to minimize intense reactions.  Without the diet, the body simply cannot properly eliminate many toxins.

4. One can begin with the ‘Free Program’ on this website.

5. It is definitely best to work with one of the Approved Practitioners listed on this website at this link.  This is so that it is done correctly, and you have someone to consult when healing reactions occur.  Otherwise, deep and effective detoxification can be scary, and sometimes unsafe.

DETOXIFICATION THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE

Cautions with newborns and infants.  Babies are generally less toxic than adults.  However, many are ill, even if they seem healthy. 

The main cause is nutritional deficiencies and toxic conditions in their mothers.  The babies’ condition is made much worse by vaccinations, antibiotics, and other drugs used today on babies and young children.

All babies need to be breastfed for about three years if they accept it.  In some instances, the mothers’ milk is not of good quality and the babies may reject it earlier.

Telling mothers to stop breastfeeding after the baby is 6 months or 1 year of age is among the worst advice that many doctors offer.  Mothers who follow a nutritional balancing program improve their milk quality very quickly.

Infants and young children do exceedingly on nutritional balancing programs.  Most of them handle healing reactions easily.  Most need just two or three supplements. 

The diet needs to be mainly cooked vegetables and some animal protein, with no fruit, no juices, no junk, and no shakes or smoothies.  Babies also benefit from foot reflexology, and ten to fifteen minutes of red heat lamp therapy on the abdomen.

Cautions with children and teens:

* Children are growing fast.  Never deprive them of protein, and plenty of cooked vegetables.  This means avoid “cleansing diets”, which we find are not needed.

* Children over the age of about 6 need extra omega-3 fatty acids, a vitamin D supplement, calcium and magnesium supplements, and iodine in the form of kelp. 

* If children won’t eat vegetables alone, set a good example, use toppings they like, disguise them, cook them in thick soups, and give them about 2-4 ounces of carrot juice.

They can also be given Veg-Easy or Juice Plus dried vegetables in a capsule.  Green “superfood” powders are not as good because they must be mixed with something sweet in a smoothie, they form bad food combinations, and because, unlike capsules, they go rancid much faster.

* Avoid herbal products, as children are much more sensitive to them than most adults. 

* Be careful with vitamin doses.  Some doctors give babies or children adult doses of vitamins or worse, herbs, many of which contain small amounts of toxic metals.

* Nutritional balancing supplement programs from the computer at Analytical Research Labs often need adjustments for children.  They are much more difficult for a computer to design.

* Children over the age of 5 or 6, and teens benefit greatly from saunas.  The sauna clears their acne, relaxes them, and removes many toxins easily and painlessly.  It may also assist their maturing process.

* Most healing reactions are benign.  Rashes in children are a very common healing reaction, as is fever.  With a proper program, these go away on their own.  Try not to give children drugs for healing reactions.

* Most fevers can be handled naturally.  Other articles on this website such as Infections discuss how to handle healing reactions and retracing in children.

            Detoxification programs during pregnancy and lactation.  Some are rightly concerned about placing pregnant women on detoxification programs.  I suggest avoiding most detoxification regimens at this time.

Initially, I was very skeptical about placing pregnant women on a nutritional balancing program because it is a powerful detoxification method.  However, after 36 years of personal experience, as well as checking with other nutritional balancing practitioners, the programs appear to be very safe.

Additionally, the health of the mother and child are much better if the mother follows a nutritional balancing program before, or even just during her pregnancy.

The breast milk is also of much better quality and there are fewer problems with breast feeding.  Often, the baby will continue to want the milk for a longer period of time, which is very beneficial.

            Breastfeeding and detoxification.  Nutritional balancing programs while breastfeeding are superb.  Very rarely, baby will develop colic due to one of the supplements or due to the elimination of a toxin that finds its way into the breast milk.

In these rare cases, you may have to try each product one at a time to discover if one or another of them is causing the reaction.  Another idea is to take one’s nutritional supplements soon after breastfeeding so the supplements will be thoroughly assimilated before the next breastfeeding.

Detoxification in older or very ill people.  Older people have less ability to remove toxins due to lower vitality and often due to a more sluggish oxidation rate.  Therefore, begin slowly and gently with them.  Those over the age of about 83 usually need fewer supplements.

DETOXIFICATION METHODS TO AVOID

Avoid all fasts, especially any over about 2-3 days.  These are quite unsafe, in my view.  I worked as the medical director at a natural hygiene fasting spa for several years.  I found that the bodies are so toxic, so yin and so depleted today that books written about fasting 50 years ago, as most were, no longer apply.  Clients who consult me after fasting are often more depleted and worse off than before the fast, although some symptoms may have improved.

Avoid most herbs and herbal cleanses.  Among products that can be somewhat toxic are cloves, wormwood, black walnut, yellow dock, bugleweed and other commonly used herbs.  Even safe herbs may contain small amounts of toxic metals and other impurities that are hard to trace, but cause problems eventually if used continuously for more than a few weeks.

Avoid putting salt of any kind into drinking water.  This removes some toxins.  However, it also unbalances the macrominerals and causes subtle mineral losses that may take months to notice and are difficult to correct.

Cleansing diets and other cleanses.  These are not needed with nutritional balancing and slow a person’s progress in almost all cases.  Fruit diets and juice fasts, for example, are okay for a few days, but are very incomplete and cause more nutritional deficiencies.  They are also too yin, similar to fasting, and they slow the metabolic rate in most cases.  If you must do them, limit them to a few days at the most.

Clay baths. Some doctors like these.  However, clay is high in aluminum and other toxic metals.  Once in a while they are fine and will pull certain toxins from the body.  Definitely avoid long-term use and preferably use other methods.

Ionic foot baths such as the Q2, Biocleanse and others cause some detoxification.  However, they are harmful and should be avoided altogether.  They seem to spin the energy centers improperly.  They may be okay for those who are over 75, but no one else.

Alkaline water. Avoid all alkaline water.  Symptomatic improvement may occur.  However, they make the body yin and may have other problems.  Two people contacted me recently who slowly developed severe metal poisoning from this type of water.  Read Water For Drinking for more details on the problems with alkaline water.

Swishing oil in the mouth. This Ayurvedic method was great when the world was not totally polluted, as it is today.  It will do little for modern toxic mankind, as it is just not powerful enough.

Detox foot pads from Japan.  These are an older herbal detoxification method.  They are fine, but not very powerful.

Chelation.  This has been discussed earlier.  It is not needed and usually harmful in subtle ways.  All chelators remove beneficial minerals along with toxic ones.  There is never any need for a “metal detox” product or program if one is using nutritional balancing science because all the toxic metals will gently be removed in a natural sequence without the problems these products can cause.

VII. OTHER TOPICS

GENETIC DETOXIFICATION

An important purpose of detoxification of the body is to permit better manufacturing or biosynthesis of all body chemicals.  This helps prevent some genetic defects, and can greatly improve anyone’s health.

The DNA itself does not require detoxification.  However, the fluid of the nucleus of each cell, called the nucleoplasm, can benefit greatly from detoxification. 

The nucleoplasm or fluid in the nucleus of each cell is the site where all the chemicals in our bodies are manufactured.  When this fluid contains too many toxic metals and toxic chemicals, some of them can find their way into our body chemicals such as our hormones, enzymes, proteins and others.

Analogy.  This is exactly like making computers or cars in a filthy factory.  Some of the dirt and grime tends to get into the finished products, and damages them.

Similarly, the genetically defective chemicals, sometimes called pleomorphisms, cause many symptoms in the body.  They also have to do with aging and death.

The worst of these toxins for your genes and chromosomes are toxic metals such as cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic, aluminum, nickel, antimony, beryllium, bromine and, less often, a few others!  Please remember this.

TRAUMAS AS TOXINS AND TRAUMA RELEASE

Traumas are a type of injury to the brain that act somewhat like a toxin.  They get in the way of normal functioning of the brain an cause symptoms such as post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias and more.

Releasing traumas is something like releasing toxins from the body.  For details, read Trauma Release on this site. 

INFECTIONS AS DETOXIFICATION

Infections have a cleansing or detoxifying effect upon the body.  An example is a common cold.  One’s nose runs for a week, and this may eliminate some toxic substances from the nasal area.

This is part of the nature-cure theory that infectious organisms are not only opportunists.  They are also helpful for mopping up toxins in the body.  The theory is that infectious organisms only cause disease if there is present debris or toxins that need removal.

If this theory is correct, one should not suppress infections with antibiotics, herbs or other products unless the infection is life-threatening.  Instead, one should detoxify the body, and the infection will subside.

In fact, this is the preferred method of handling infections with a nutritional balancing program.  We do not like to use antibiotics, or even natural “germ killers” such as grapefruit seed extract, oregano oil, olive leaf extract or other toxic products.

Instead, we recommend coffee enemas, infrared lamp sauna therapy, and foot reflexology to promote detoxification and balancing of the body.  We also recommend a diet of chicken soup or other mild food, along with plenty of rest.  In this way, most infections go away easily without a need for suppressive drugs of any kind.

Making things worse.  In contrast, using suppressive drugs, as shown in medical studies of antibiotic therapy for ear infections, for example, often causes a recurrence of the infection.  The reason is simple.  The drugs (or some herbs) kill the “bugs”, the toxic terrain of the body remains.  So another infection often follows.

Eventually, the drugs don’t work as well.  Doctors call this “antibiotic resistance”.  It can be due to mutated germs.  However, it can also occur because the body has become more and more toxic due to the suppressive drug methods of treatment.  As a result, there is just too much “food” (really toxins) available for the infection to feed upon.

Suppressive methods such as antibiotics also add more toxins to the body because the drugs, or even health food store remedies, are often somewhat toxic themselves.  This also can contribute to future infections.

MINERAL CLEANSERS

Our bodies use three common minerals as cleansers.  These same minerals are used in industry for similar purposes.

1. Sulfur.  Sulfur is a fiery mineral, a direct copper antagonist, and a general cleansing mineral.  It grabs on tightly to toxic metals, in particular.

Sulfur is found in many foods including radishes of all kinds, and the cruciferous vegetables, especially cabbage.  Those who do not eat many cooked vegetables do not get enough sulfur, and this impairs their detoxification significantly.

The form of sulfur in meats and eggs is one reason we recommend these foods, as they help with liver detoxification.  Vegetarian diets lack this form of sulfur.  Too much meat, however, is not helpful.  One reason is that sulfur is an acid-forming mineral, so one must moderate the amount eaten as meat and eggs.

2. Chlorine.  This is a completely different kind of cleansing mineral.  It is an oxidizer.  This means that it causes oxygen to combine with toxins.  This destroy many types of toxins, especially toxic chemicals and some viruses, bacteria and fungi.  It is like putting bleach in your laundry because bleach kills many germs.

There is enough chlorine in sea salt so that most people are getting enough of this mineral.

3. Boron.  This is also a cleansing mineral, and works somewhat like chlorine.  It also kills some bacteria and viruses. 

Boron is a trace mineral found in many foods.  Excellent sources are broccoli, green beans and other vegetables and grains.  The best form to get it is from food.

MENSTRUATION AS DETOXIFICATION

            The loss of the menstrual blood each month in young women is a method of detoxification.  Many women notice the blood is a dark color, and sometimes smelly.  It is a benefit for these women, although they may not view it that way.

References

Retracing And Healing Reactions

Infections

Parasites

Toxic Metals

Toxic Chemicals

Trauma Release

Candida Albicans Infection

 

Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program