Heavy metals in the body are often overlooked as the cause of a number of health conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to allergies, to autism, to lack of energy and many more.
Protecting your family from heavy metals in the body is very important. Children are particularly vulnerable because some childhood vaccines contain mercury, which can trigger autism and this is one of the reasons the rates of autism continue to rise.
How Are Heavy Metals Getting in the Body?
There are many sources of heavy metals, most of which we come into contact with on a daily basis. These include; Chinese toys, cosmetics, cookware, dental fillings, seafood, aluminum cans, pesticides and herbicides, pollution, freeway dust and many more. Over time, these heavy metals accumulate in the body, usually in an organ such as the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidney and so on where they begin to cause problems in that area. For this reason, it is important to recognize and research the sources of heavy metals which you might be exposed to.
The Organs of Detoxification
Heavy metals are stored in the body but a small amount of them are released on a continual basis through the skin and via the liver, kidneys and intestines. The liver works in conjunction with the kidneys to remove metals from the body in normal circumstances but if you are removing heavy metals using chelation, then most of the metals will be eliminated through the kidneys and into the urine.
Minimizing Heavy Metals Through an Ideal Diet
You can keep the detoxification pathways open and functioning well with certain food choices:
- Apples contain pectin which helps remove metals from the system.
- Avocados are a great source of fiber for colon cleansing.
- Basil is full of antioxidants which help to protect the liver.
- Beets are a wonderful source of nutrients which help to detoxify the liver, such as calcium, zinc, iron and magnesium.
- Brazil nuts contain a lot of selenium which is essential for removing mercury.
- Ginger is a natural detoxifier and flushes out toxins.
- Goji berries contain lots of vitamin C which helps to remove toxins.
- Onions contain a lot of amino acids which help to detox the liver
- Parsley provides beta-carotene and vitamins A, C and K to help protect the kidneys.
Some foods contain high levels of heavy metals – broccoli for example, even organic, is sometimes fertilized with fish bones and the larger types of fish contain mercury. So, keep intake of cruciferous vegetable to a minimum and avoid large fish – the safest are the smallest such as sardines and anchovies.
Removing Heavy Metals from the Body
You can take steps to detox heavy metals on your own, or at least keep them moving out of your body. Herbs are great for this purpose, particularly cilantro, spirulina, chlorella and garlic, so make these a regular part of your diet.
An important supplement is Vitamin C as it helps the body to produce glutathione, which is essential for removing metals. Glutathione can also be administered intravenously or taken as an oral supplement.
Regular exercise is important to keep your lymphatic drainage system working properly and dry brushing your skin with a natural brush stimulates the removal of toxins through the pores.
Far infrared saunas can also help because as they have the effect of mobilizing the heavy metals in the body’s tissues, so they can be excreted.
Professional Heavy Metal Detoxification
Although you can take the steps above as a preventative measure, to move some heavy metals out of the body, when you suspect health issues that may be resulting from heavy metals in the body, you should seek professional help. The most widely available protocol offered by practitioners is chelation therapy, which delivers EDTA intravenously combined with vitamin C, magnesium sulfate, B-complex vitamins, B6, B12, procaine and heparin.
Most people receive chelation therapy 2-3 times a week and the procedure takes about half an hour. After 10 sessions, a urine test will be ordered which will show the levels of the different heavy metals which are being excreted by the body and the practitioner will decide if the further chelation treatments are needed.
Getting Heavy Metals in the Body Tested
The body continually excretes small amounts of heavy metals out of the body in the hair, stool, and urine. So, it follows that doing a test of hair, stool or urine samples will indicate the levels of heavy metals in the body. At LifeWorks Wellness Center, a urine sample is taken after one dose of chelation therapy, which is administered to speed up the excretion of the metals. It is important to get tested for heavy metals if you suspect your levels may be high or if you have been diagnosed with a chronic health condition.
Get Tested for Heavy Metals
LifeWorks Wellness Center is long recognized as one of the foremost natural health clinics in the US. At our Tampa Bay, Florida alternative medicine office we have been offering heavy metal detoxification for a long time and many of our patients have benefitted from it. Our patients fly in from all over the world because they simply can’t find clinics offering tests for heavy metals where they live.
We have helped many patients regain their health and we would love to help you, too. To become a patient, or for more information, feel free to call our New Patient Coordinator at (727) 466-6789 or simply submit an online web inquiry with your request.
