Toxic Load: The Poisonous Chemicals Inside Your Body

Toxic load (sometimes also referred to as "body burden") is a huge stressor to the immune system, as well as all of your other bodily systems, and even your mental state. Learning to minimize your toxic load can greatly improve your health, and can be achieved through a number of simple steps, with fewer changes to your current lifestyle than you might think.

Toxic load or body burden can be defined as the accumulated amount of toxins affecting your bodily systems at any given time, through environmental and ingested sources.

Toxins come from many sources. Actually, we are constantly surrounded and inundated with man-made chemicals which our bodies were never meant to be exposed to, and are not designed to handle. This toxic load can be deadly to your health, even if you don't notice it right away. In fact, you are probably not even aware of the many chemicals you ingest and are exposed to on a daily basis.

Over time, hundreds of poisons accumulate in our tissues, causing numerous diseases, illnesses, and eventually, death. Hundreds of diseases can be linked to various environmental toxins, but most people are relatively unaware of the daily toxic load they are accumulating.

You may be shocked at how many chemicals you are truly exposed to on a daily basis. Here are some of the most common sources of chemicals contributing to your toxic load:

• Toxins ingested through the diet, including residues of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, artificial fertilizers, antibiotics, and chemical additives such as artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners.
  
  
• Toxins absorbed through the skin or mucous membranes from drinking water, showers, bathing, or swimming. Chemical additives such as chlorine or fluoride are poisons -- yes -- they are -- just ask any chemistry professor! Municipal water supplies also often contain residues of prescription drugs, and also pesticides, artificial fertilizers, and other residues from crop run-off.
  
  
• Air pollution, which can include ozone, poisonous gases from fuel fumes, and indoor pollution from paint fumes, varnish, carpeting, mattresses, electronics (see next category), and more.
  
  
• Electronics: Ever smelled your computer? Electronics such as computers, televisions, monitors, refrigerators, and others all release toxins from their internal components as they heat up.
  
  
• Clothing: The clothes you wear can contain a number of chemicals, including dyes, detergents, stain-resistant treatments, dry-cleaning residues, and more, all of which can be absorbed by the skin.
  

• Household cleaners: Everything from laundry detergent to toilet-bowl cleaner is typically loaded with man-made chemicals. Interesting tip: If it doesn't smell like something found in nature, it's probably toxic!
  
  
• Personal care products: Skin-care, makeup, lotions, shampoos, soap, sunscreen, and anything else you put on your body is absorbed through your skin in varying amounts.
  
  

• Last but not least, prescription drugs: This category is often forgotten when considering toxic load, but most prescription drugs are made almost entirely of man-made substances that our bodies were not designed to  handle. We don't even understand many of their long-term effects on our health, and may not fully learn the consequences of all these drugs for many years.
  
  
• This list is not exhaustive, as there are more sources of exposure than we have room for here! But these are some of the most common and pervasive contributors to toxic load for most Americans.

Scary, isn't it? However, there are many resources for learning about toxic load, and how to reduce your exposure. An excellent book which covers this topic in some depth, as well as a number of other related health topics, is Never Be Sick Again, by Raymond Francis. Or, for a Christian perspective, The Great Physician's Rx for Health and Wellness is excellent. Either one of these books could change your life, and overall health, forever. Seriously.

We also highly recommend the Total Wellness Cleanse - a safe, gentle, and natural food-based 30-day cleansing & detoxification program that can help you cleanse and detoxify all of your bodily systems, improve your energy levels, and reduce the risk of numerous health problems, just by eating the right delicious, healthy, whole foods.

It's much safer than most of the detox programs out there, as it works naturally with your body to help your own detoxification systems work more effectively and efficiently.  No weird pills or powders required! Check out this comprehensive program and learn how you can regain your youthful vitality, energy, and health, lose weight, and look and feel great - all in just 30 days!

And for more information on how to minimize your toxic load, be sure to download our FREE Toxic Load Checklist and find out what you can do to make each room in your home cleaner and healthier!