How Toxic Are You ?

Welcome to the BODY DETOX PLAN blog

This sickness doth infect the very life-blood of our enterprise.

William Shakespeare

In this chapter you will learn

• What toxins are
• How toxins are aff ecting your health
• The many symptoms of toxicity
• Some of the common sources of toxins
• What detoxifi cation is
• How to restore your health to peak performance and vitality
by cleansing your body of toxic buildup



Imagine waking up without an ache or pain, cruising though
your daily tasks with abundant energy, and ending your day with
a refreshing night’s sleep. Then imagine waking up to do it all over
again. Think it is impossible? Think again.An accumulation of toxins
can leave you feeling sluggish, achy, heavy, and out of shape. It can
also lead to disease in the form of cancer, arthritis, diabetes, allergies,
and many other serious illnesses. When you eliminate the myriad
toxins in your body, you will greet each day feeling great.

Based on a decade and a half of research and experience, Th e
4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan works where other approaches
fail. It works by eliminating the source of fatigue, headaches, and
joint pain to help you feel great. It works by addressing the causes
of minor health problems and more serious diseases such as cancer,
multiple sclerosis, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, fi bromyalgia,
depression, and heart disease. It works by addressing the underlying
cause of malfunctioning bodily processes: toxins.

Toxins are substances that disrupt the normal healthy fl ow within
our bodies. Literally thousands of toxins and harmful synthetic
chemicals lurk in our food, air, water, clothes, homes, and workplaces.
The very things that should nourish our bodies or comfort us are
often making us ill. They take the form of foods, cleaning products,
beauty and hygiene products, cooking oils, food additives, pesticides
and herbicides, industrial chemicals in our air, damaging emotions,
sugar, and much more. Take the following quiz to discover the myriad
symptoms linked with toxins.

The Detox Quiz

Do you need to detoxify? Take the following quiz to find out.
You may be surprised to learn of the many symptoms that are


linked to toxins in the body. Score one point for every habit or
symptom you have experienced within the last year.

Sleep and Energy

_ Tired in the morning or during the day even after a good

night’s sleep
_Disrupted sleep
_Ordinary activity leaves you feeling exhausted

Mental and Emotional

_Confusion
_Feeling agitated or nervous
_Unexplained feelings of anxiety or sadness
_Excessive anger or irritability
_Mood changes
_Depression
_Memory lapses
_Feeling restless or shaky
_Difficulty understanding new concepts
_Mentally sluggish
_Clumsiness
_Diffi culty making decisions
_Negative outlook

Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Nose

_Itchy ears
_Sensitivity to noise
_Itchy or watery eyes
_Dark circles or bags below eyes
_Swollen or inflamed eyelids
_Bloodshot eyes
_Sensitivity to light


_Sneezing fits or chronic cough
_Runny or itchy nose
_Itchy palate
_Coating on tongue
_Speech problems

Skin

_Dull-coloured, pale, greyish or yellowish
_Loose and flabby
_Wrinkling
_Acne or other blemishes
_Eczema or psoriasis
_Hives
_Cellulite
_Other skin problems

Digestive System

_Nausea or vomiting
_Diarrhea or loose stools
_Constipation
_Belching or gas, especially after eating
_Foul-smelling bowel movements
_Bloating or abdominal discomfort
_Heartburn or indigestion
_Certain foods irritate your stomach
_One or less than one bowel movement per day
_Frequent urination
_Water retention or bloating

Eating Habits

_Have cravings for foods
_Drink alcoholic beverages


_Eat fast foods, packaged or frozen foods
_Drink coffee or tea
_ Consume sweets (including any sweetened foods: juices, car

bonated beverages, condiments, or desserts)
_Consume white flour products (bread, pasta, cakes, cookies)
_Consume fried foods or margarine

Joints and Pain

_Aching or painful joints
_Joint stiff ness
_Headaches or migraines

How did you score?

0–5—Excellent
You are probably experiencing great health. Keep in mind
that being symptom-free doesn’t guarantee a lifetime of great
health. If you are detoxifying regularly, keep up the good work.
If not, you may want to consider doing The 4-Week Ultimate
Body Detox Plan once a year to maintain your health.

6–10—Good
You need to detoxify to improve your health. You will likely
find relief from many of the symptoms you experience by
limiting your exposure to toxins and conducting Th e 4-Week
Ultimate Body Detox Plan.

11+ —Time to Detox
You are experiencing many nagging symptoms that will improve by detoxifying. The energy and effort you invest in
healing will pay tremendous dividends. Keep reading—Th e
4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan will show you how to get
started on the road to incredible health, amazing energy, and
an improved quality of life.


Detoxification is the process of cleansing the body of harmful
substances, and thereby restoring the body’s natural healing ability.
This process is accomplished through the use of herbs, foods, juices,
aromatherapy, exercise, breathing techniques, and other therapies.
Detoxification gives your body a short break from dietary and lifestyle habits that may be wreaking havoc on your health. During this
time, you internally cleanse your body of waste products that clog
its normal metabolic processes. Even people with minor problems
or no visible symptoms often have toxic buildup.

Detoxification is comparable to cleaning your home. Imagine
what your bathtub or shower would look like if you did not clean
it regularly over twenty, forty, or even eighty years. Yet most people
will allow similar conditions to fester in their bodies, without any
form of internal cleansing.

Your body has its own ways of dealing with some toxins, but it can
be overburdened by the volume and type of toxins found in our modern world. To effectively cleanse your body you must eliminate toxins
from your respiratory system, liver, gallbladder, kidneys and urinary
tract, skin, fatty deposits (including cellulite), lymphatic system and
other detoxification organs and systems. To minimize further toxic
buildup you must reduce your exposure to additional toxins.

Using The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan, you will eliminate
toxins from your cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems. Th e results
will astound you. You will experience energy you never thought
possible and pain-free movement in areas of your body you thought
were permanently scarred by pain.You will experience freedom from
emotional upheavals, mood swings, and depression. Cravings for less-
than-healthy foods will disappear. Your skin will improve and fine
wrinkles may recede.Your breathing and digestion will improve, and
cellulite will diminish and, over time, may completely disappear.

In years of observing and counselling, I have seen countless people experience the miraculous healing power of detoxification. I


am one of those people. When I was only nineteen, my body was
suffering from the ravages of toxins. At one point, I was so weak
that I could not find the energy to answer the telephone on a nearby
night table. While it was not the end of the world that I could not
answer the telephone, it was symbolic of how much my life had
gone downhill.

It seemed like my life changed overnight. One day I felt on
top of the world, jogging, working, and volunteering after school.
Then suddenly, I could barely get out of bed. Soon after, I was diagnosed with a serious and rare disorder for which my doctors off ered
no hope.

After being diagnosed, I was pumped full of prescription drugs to
stop my body’s own natural processes from working. In a very short time,
I could not live without taking the medication upon which my body had
become so dependent. My immune system no longer worked. Doctors
explained that I could die from a cold or flu or even stress. I was constantly
ill, and not long afterward I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome,
which developed because of my damaged immune system.

After seeing countless doctors and specialists, I sought help from
the holistic health community. I popped dozens of herbal, vitamin,
and mineral supplements. I saw a slight improvement but they were
hard on my digestion.

I tried naturopathy, herbalism, acupuncture, and countless other
healing modalities. They all helped a bit, especially acupuncture,
which started to give me some energy back—enough to spend more
time learning how to heal my body of numerous affl ictions. I began
to wonder whether the diseases from which I was suffering could be
linked to toxic buildup. I was shocked to discover the multitude of
toxins in our modern world and their insidious presence in the air
we breathe, the food we eat, and the products we use.

My body became my laboratory. I experimented with countless
detoxification approaches. I chugged olive oil complete with raw


garlic and lemon. I fasted on juices. I ate nothing but grapefruit for
days. I used herbs and bathed in products that were supposed to pull
toxins out of the body. I experimented with every food, folk remedy,
fasting method, and healing therapy I read about. I learned what
worked and what did not. I discovered the radical misconceptions
many authors held about cleansing the body. I quickly uncovered the
flaws in their approaches by experiencing terrifying reactions from
cleansing too quickly or inappropriately.

Over time, I perfected my approach to cleansing so that it did
not entail such drastic diets or therapies. I learned that cleansing did
not have to be radical to be effective. It needed to be methodical and
harmonious with the body’s natural healing mechanisms. I learned
that if I tried to cleanse my body while my liver remained sluggish,
for example, I would experience headaches, pain, and immense discomfort. I realized that my approach needed to be truly holistic by
considering the body as an integrated system, rather than tackling
one organ or symptom at a time.

After years of trial and error, I developed an approach to healing
that is now the premise of The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan.
It is a gentle system that minimizes any reactions. My program consists of simple foods and juices that taste great and require minimal
effort to prepare. It uses foods that you can easily find in any grocery or health food store. The cost will be insignificant; your grocery
bill will probably shrink while you are on The 4-Week Ultimate Body
Detox Plan.

The results will astound you as they have astounded me. Once
I developed The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan, I started healing
more completely than I had in all the previous years combined. At
one time, I had almost daily migraines that forced me into a dark
bedroom. Now, I do not. The fatigue that plagued me has been
replaced with energy and vitality. Many other symptoms that were
a regular part of my life are gone. I continue to reap the rewards


of detoxification by following The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox
Plan regularly.

You will learn some truths about healing your body and afterward
your mind, emotions, and spirit. In some ways the body is like a
finely tuned and elaborate machine. If you put a piece of scrap metal
between two cogs, they will stop turning. If you oil the machine, it
will not help. Until you go to the source of the problem (the piece
of metal that does not belong there), your machine will never work
properly. Similar to the scrap metal that stops the machine from
working properly, toxic buildup at the cellular level will be felt
throughout the body in the form of disease and degeneration.

If you try to ignore the roots of toxicity, and instead merely treat
the symptoms with drugs, you mask the problem and add more
toxicity. The symptoms will return and you will be left in a vicious
cycle of pill-popping.

The average senior citizen takes eight diff erent pharmaceutical
drugs every day. They may take one drug for pain, but it causes
digestive upset, so they take another drug for the digestive problems.
That drug causes other problems for which they take yet another
pill. Soon the pills stop working, so they take stronger medications
until they rely on a buffet of drugs just to get through the day. If,
instead, they went to the root of the pain initially, they would have no
need for so many pills, nor would they experience countless secondary symptoms.

The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan works on the premise
that if you want to heal you must get to the source of the problem.
Your doctor may have told you the source of your problem lay in a
hormonal imbalance, or inflammation of your joints, or a cancerous
tumour. While this is true as far as it goes, it is not the whole story.
If toxins build up, the body’s healing mechanisms become impaired,
preventing them from adequately dealing with naturally occurring
cancer cells, excess amounts of hormones, or inflammation.


The buildup of various toxins in the body is a serious contributor
to disease and disorder, but one that few people consider. Th at is
because, as we are routinely exposed to toxins, they gradually build
up within our bodies. Toxins primarily affect the body at the cellular
level, so many people do not get any symptoms at all. But lack of
symptoms does not mean perfect health.

Few people ever experience the symptoms of clogged arteries
prior to having a stroke or heart attack. Disease may appear to attack quickly and fiercely. Some people experience pain or fatigue or
some other negative symptom but only for a short time prior to the
diagnosis of serious afflictions like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus,
fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Other people wrongfully assume that certain symptoms are perfectly normal. Recently, a middle-aged woman told me she had perfect
health and that toxins were not an issue for her. Yet she frequently
complained of headaches, had experienced menopausal symptoms, and
watched her energy plummet on many occasions. While these symptoms are common, they are not normal. They are common symptoms
of toxicity and signals from the body that something is wrong. If you
ignore these early signs of illness, you do so at your own peril.

Actually, many of the symptoms of illness are also symptoms of
toxicity within the body. Illnesses can heal when the body is cleansed
properly and rebuilt. The human body is incredible. It is designed
to heal—almost anything. Trillions of cells work at lightning speed
to remove barriers to health, overcome infection, and heal whatever
is affecting your body. That is how broken bones mend and wounds
repair. The human body can overcome even the most serious affl ictions and trauma when given the opportunity.

In a single second, billions of processes are occurring simultaneously. Things go wrong with the body when we put harmful
substances into it, whether we ingest them through food or drink,
inhale them in our air, or absorb them through our skin.


You will soon learn the extent of a serious problem and threat to
our health and well-being. The human body can withstand minor
negligence, but, eventually, it will scream to be heard. It may scream
in the form of pain or inflammation, degeneration or organ failure,
but it will scream.

When I was seriously ill, I used to believe that my body had failed
me. But I discovered that I had failed my body.

Treat your body well and it will take care of you. It has its
own innate healing intelligence. Consider the fact that your skin is
totally renewed every twenty-eight days.You have an entirely new heart
in thirty days. Your lungs take seventy days to completely regenerate. So even the most serious affliction should be gone in the time it
takes to regenerate an organ. But this is rarely the case. Th e reason
is simple. Your body has specific needs: enzymes, oxygen, nutrients,
a proper pH balance, a healthy system of digestion and elimination,
electrically charged tissues and cells, healthy emotions, love, and
a sense of purpose and fulfilment, among other things. (I will explain more about these elements throughout the book.) If any of
these elements are missing, the body will continue with the same
diseased pattern.

If your body is burdened with chemicals, sugars, rancid oils,
and a lack of nutrients and enzymes at many of your meals, it simply cannot function properly. If every breath you take is shallow
and laden with airborne pollutants, your body cannot manufacture
healthy cells. If your body cannot manufacture healthy cells, you
are vulnerable to ill health. If you slather chemical-laden skin- and
hair-care products on yourself, your body cannot use its largest
organ of detoxifi cation (the skin) to eliminate toxins. Instead, it is
working in reverse, absorbing more poisons into your cells. If you
breathe the harmful vapours of chlorine bleach and thousands of
other household products, you are exposing your lungs to poisons
they were never designed to eliminate.


You may believe your symptoms are the result of a genetic predisposition to some ailment or disease with a name you can hardly pronounce or
spell. But these are labels given to malfunctions in the body by Western
medical doctors. They mean little or nothing on their own. Consider
bronchitis as an example. It is really an inflammation (“itis”) of the bronchial passages in the lungs. That is the just the symptom of a problem,
but what caused the inflammation? Too often, the Western approach is
to provide a pharmaceutical drug for each of the symptoms of a disorder,
without thought to the cause of the problem. In addition, these very
drugs are synthetic chemicals that stop some process of your body and,
at the same time, add further toxins to an already toxic state.

People are not all equally susceptible to toxins.Women are more vulnerable to them for three main reasons. First they are, on average, smaller
than men. This lower body weight causes them to become ill from toxic
buildup faster. Second, women also, again on average, have more fat in
their bodies than men. Toxins have an affinity for fat. When the body
cannot handle the quantity of toxins entering it or being manufactured
as by-products of bodily processes, it stores them in fat.

That is part of the reason why so many people find it diffi cult
to lose weight. The fat stores in their bodies are serving a valuable
purpose: to house toxins, thereby preventing them from causing more damage if they were circulating in the bloodstream or
organ systems.

Third, women’s hormonal balance is also more delicate than
that of men. Many toxins produce hormone-like effects in the body,
thereby throwing off this delicate balance.

Children are also more susceptible to toxins than adults. Toxins
tend to collect in higher concentrations in their tiny bodies. Also,
their immune systems are not fully developed and lack the strength
to eff ectively handle toxins.

Not surprisingly, lifestyle plays a role. If you work with damaging
chemicals, are inactive, or breathe toxic fumes regularly, you are more


vulnerable to the effects of toxins. If you eat nutrient-depleted food
high in additives, sugar, or rancid or hydrogenated fats, you will be
increasing your toxic load faster than if you ate healthily.

Exposure to synthetic chemicals also plays a role in susceptibility. Each chemical is different and may react diff erently in the body.
Some are soluble in water while others are not; some break down
quickly while others reside in the body’s tissues for years. So the
specific type of chemical that a person is exposed to may make a
difference in how it aff ects them.

In Chapters 2 and 3, you will learn more about the many toxic
synthetic chemicals we are exposed to and their well-documented
link to such diseases as cancer, breathing diffi culties, imbalanced
hormones, lung inflammation, liver damage, high blood pressure,
heart disease, diabetes, and much more.

While synthetic chemicals clearly contribute to toxic buildup in
the body, they are not the only culprits. There are two main types
of toxins: those that come from outside our bodies (exotoxins)
and those that come from within (endotoxins). Other external
toxins include noise, radiation, electromagnetic fields, weather,
altitude, and lifestyle habits. Some internal toxins include emotional traumas and stress hormones, diffi cult life experiences that
get stored in the body, and a loss of a sense of connection to something greater.

It is important that you start thinking of your body as a marvellous creation where millions of functions take place every second.
Your body knows how to heal, but it needs your help.

Everyone will benefit from a detoxification process several times
per year. People with chronic health concerns should gradually detoxify even more frequently or for a longer duration. Th e 4-Week
Ultimate Body Detox Plan easily fi ts into even the most hectic lifestyle, allowing for an effortless transition into detoxification any
time during the year.


I will walk you through my Ultimate Body Detox Plan. During
the four weeks that make up the program, you will gradually cleanse
and purify your body with minimal effort.You will experience few, if
any, cleansing symptoms. If you experience any symptoms at all, they
will typically be insignifi cant. They might constitute minimal fatigue
or weakness, slight nausea, or a minor headache. If these symptoms
appear, I will explain exactly what to do to eliminate them quickly.

Thanks to the natural laws of healing, when you eliminate toxins from your cells, tissues, glands, and organs, the body can resume
healthy bodily functions. After we work to cleanse the body, I will
show you how to detoxify on mental, emotional, and spiritual levels
as well.

The procedures to detoxify the emotions or spirit are clearly
different from those used to eliminate chemical toxins in the body.
In the following chapters I will address these diff erent approaches
and provide you with the tools to start detoxifying. The results of
detoxifying are truly remarkable, regardless of your symptoms.

Detoxifying your body, mind, emotions, and spirit has countless
benefits.You will observe many irritating symptoms clear up.You can
expect that your digestion will improve, your sinuses will clear, your
blood pressure may normalize, your bowel movements will regulate,
and your hormones will begin to balance. Your energy will soar, and
you will see improvements with many chronic ailments.

Your mental abilities will sharpen; you will sleep better, have
fewer mood swings, experience a stronger immune system, healthier
skin, and lessening of allergy symptoms; and you will feel more
capable of living life to its fullest. You may even feel a stronger
sense of purpose in your life and a greater connection to the planet
and humankind.

It may seem hard to believe that a detoxification program can
offer so many rewards, but it is true. I spent years popping vitamins
and herbs and trying to eat well, but I saw few improvements in my


health. When I focused on cleansing my body, I noticed tremendous
improvements quite quickly.
The approach I use to healing is threefold:


1. Cleanse the body of toxins that have built up in the cells,
tissues, organs, and organ systems.
2. Reduce further exposure to toxins.
3. Help the body to rebuild through proper nutrition and
healing therapies, with particular emphasis on weakened
or damaged areas.
This approach sounds simple because it is.Yet it is also powerful
and eff ective. Using The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan, you will
learn how to eliminate even the most stubborn toxins from your
body. You will also learn how to improve your circulation, so it is
better equipped to transport nutrients and remove wastes from your
cells. When cells are freed from the burden of excess waste products,
they are more capable of fulfilling their purpose. That spells healthier
tissues, organs, and glands since cells are their building blocks.

In the chapters that follow, I will take you through the stages of
detoxifi cation and healing.

You must first address the toxic load that has already built up in
your body. Next, you will eliminate further exposure to additional
toxins. Finally, you can start to strengthen any weak areas by providing the body with exactly what it needs to heal fully. I have included
short quizzes throughout this book to help you determine the weakest detoxification organs or systems in your body. I will also explain
how you can strengthen them to function at their peak.

You will also learn how to maintain the sense of vitality you
experience after completing The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
by making small dietary and lifestyle changes. For example, selecting
healthier cooking oil can help you sharpen your mental clarity, lose

weight, and boost your immunity. By choosing better food storage
containers, you can reduce hormonal imbalances.

Foods, herbs, juices, increased oxygen and movement, along with
natural healing therapies are the best approach to healing. Restore
your body’s natural healing instincts by eliminating toxins and you
will experience improved health. Henry David Thoreau wrote about
the healing effects of nature:“Nature is doing her best each moment
to make us well. She exists for no other end. Do not resist. With
the least inclination to be well, we should not be sick.” If you have
the inclination to be well, The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan will
walk you along the path to vibrant health and vitality.

In her book Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola
Estés compared the human body to the planet. She declared:

The body is like an Earth. It is a land unto itself. It is as vulnerable to overbuilding, being carved into pieces, cut off , overmined,
and shorn of its power as any landscape. We tend to think of the
body as this “other” that does its thing without us. Many people
treat their bodies as if the body were a slave. We have only to
pay heed to our bodies to know what we must do. The body is
not sculpture or marble. Its purpose is to protect, contain, support and fire the spirit and soul within it, to be a repository for
memory, to fill us with feeling. It is to lift us and propel us, to
prove that we exist, that we are here, to give us grounding, heft,
weight. The body is best understood as being in its own right,
one who loves us, depends on us, one to whom we are sometimes
mother, and who sometimes is mother to us.

In The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan you will learn how to be
a better mother to your body—by paying heed to its communication
with you via symptoms and by not treating it as a slave any longer.
In this way your body will become a more eff ective repository for


memory; it will have a greater, more vital existence and it will be
better able to fire the spirit and soul it houses.

In this chapter you learned

• What toxins are and their many sources
• How toxins are aff ecting your health
• That there are many negative symptoms linked with toxicity
• How to restore your health through detoxificaton