D  e  s  e  r  t   E  x  p  o  s  u  r  e        January 2008

Toxic Stew

With chemicals everywhere, how can we keep our bodies — and psyches — from being polluted?

By Melissa Copeland

Now that the New Year has rolled around, it's time for each of us to self-assess and set course to walk this earth for another year. The holidays are headed back into boxes in the closet, and we're — hopefully — coming off the buzz of that portion of holidays that stayed behind, the excess on the hips or around the middle that crept up from behind a smooth eggnog or a nibble of fudge.

The intent of this article is to take a look — from a holistic perspective — at the factors that create health problems for a majority of the American population, and to then offer some suggestions for resolving these problems. I certainly don't mean to belittle the issues that so many of us are dealing with; in most cases, there are no simple fixes. But a clear overview of the situation allows for better decisions, so let's take it from there.

As a long-time reader of Desert Exposure, I feel like we're all old friends, yet I realize most of you don't know me. Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a Clinical Nurse Specialist with prescriptive authority, board certified with a specialty in Advanced Holistic Nursing. I've been in nursing for 20-plus years, and have been in private practice in Las Cruces for the past five years. Before becoming a nurse, I was a back-to-the-land mother, gardener, herbalist and lay midwife, and that's the nutshell version of why my current practice is called Full Circle Health Center.

I started studying holistic nursing about 12 years ago, entering a program with the skeptical attitude that I knew what holistic nursing was all about, wondering what "they" had to offer. That formal course of study took five years to complete, enriched my knowledge and understanding immensely, and led to what is now a nationally recognized specialty in the field of nursing. In the ensuing years, I've been following the fields of environmental medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, functional and restorative medicine, to the best of my ability within the confines of a severely restrictive health condition of my own. This is the foundation from which I offer to share some ideas with you, the reader.

The world we live in today is very far removed from the world as I can imagine it a short hundred years ago. Here in southern New Mexico, we're so blessed with blue skies and open spaces, it might be easy to forget the overall health of the planet. (Note to Pollyanna: read no further!) Is it going to surprise you if I come right out and say it? We are immersed in a toxic stew of our own making; nothing short of conscious and direct action on all our parts will clean up the mess.

Our bodies are bombarded on many levels and from many aspects. Looking at this reality is no fun, but problems have to be defined if they're going to be solved. Let's face the bad and the ugly, and finish up with good! Why should you care? Because things can get worse, and they will, unless we individually and collectively take action to change our current course. Why should you care? Because, for the first time in many years, the life expectancy of today's children is predicted to be shorter than that of their parents.

The foods we eat no longer match the nutritional value of our grandparents' food. The soil is depleted, thanks to "modern" farming practices. Chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides leave residues that accumulate in the harvest, eventually ending up in the bodies of consumers. What nutrition remains in foods harvested today must cling for dear life as the foods are processed, stored and eventually transported for hundreds, if not thousands of miles. There's a problem with labeling on the foods that we purchase at the grocery store, such that we no longer know where our food comes from, both physically and genetically!

The water that we drink contains not just chlorine and fluoride, but also birth-control hormones, antibiotics and traces of the chemicals used in agriculture that run off into ground water. While we may not have much visible smog in our locale, we still breathe air that is impregnated with fumes from traffic, asphalt and industry. Indoors, the air we breathe is laden with another assortment of the chemicals classified as volatile organic compounds. These compounds are released from building materials and furniture, fabrics, household cleansers, laundry products and air fresheners, as well as shampoos, cosmetics and other personal-care products.

OK, so maybe you know about all the chemicals, and you're thinking "so what?" The problem with all the chemicals is that once they get into our bodies, they stay there! Our tissues absorb foreign molecules, and the foreigners attach themselves to receptors on cell walls, disguised as similarly constructed human molecules. These are called "hormone disruptors," because they cause changes in the body such as decreased sperm counts, or early development of secondary sex characteristics.

If the invader is not similar to what our bodies produce on their own, then the immune system will take action. Inflammation sets in, or the foreign molecule becomes encapsulated so that the harm it causes can be minimized. If this is the case, tiny clusters of molecules can accumulate in the tissues, perhaps not causing any immediate damage, but certainly unneeded and unwelcome.

National Geographic magazine published an article titled "The Pollution Within" in October 2006, in which the author, David Ewing Duncan, reports having his blood and urine tested for a number of chemicals, dangerous metals and pollutants. Of the 320 different chemicals for which he was tested, 165 chemicals were detected. Duncan writes that his test results are probably average in comparison to most other Americans; the only difference being that the budget of a national publication paid the tab, about $15,000 for all the tests. (For details, the full article can be found online at ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0610/feature4.)

Another area of concern is the psyche, that part of each one of us from which we draw motivation and sustenance. It's not just our bodies that grow weary of being bombarded with manmade toxins. Our psyches become polluted, too, with noise pollution and overstimulation in all its various forms. Hence the success of the Chicken Soup books, which nourish the nonphysical part of us that hungers for the meaningful.

Making informed choices about the foods that we eat and the products that we use can make a difference in the toxic load that we each have to carry. Those of us with children and grandchildren may feel more strongly about wanting to leave a decent world for younger generations, but even the most confirmed of singles are still very much in favor of maintaining their own health for a good long time. Back at the beginning of this article, I wrote that there aren't any simple fixes. I'd like to retract that, as I'm now thinking that it was an overly simplistic statement. More accurately, perhaps: There are a LOT of simple fixes. It's just that in most cases, we have to employ a number of "fixes" in order to change the status quo.

Actions I recommend we all take include eating more fresh, unprocessed foods — organic and locally grown if at all possible. (Read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for inspiration!) If you're a meat eater, consider just one meal a week without meat for a very real impact on the greenhouse emissions that contribute to global warming. Avoid artificial sweeteners, as well as so-called energy drinks, including the sports drinks — the "ades" — and the Dews. If you want to know what's especially toxic about this class of beverages, contact me for more information, or see www.oasisadvancedwellness.com/health-articles/2007/11/many-benefits-of-iodine-in-body.html

To reduce incidence of respiratory illnesses, trade in your household cleaning products for alternatives that can clean your house from top to bottom for pennies, without harsh chemicals. Throw out the plug-in air "fresheners"; instead use baking soda to absorb unwanted odors, then try leaving out a bowl of sliced citrus fruit, or boil water with some cinnamon (or eucalyptus or other plant material that you enjoy).

If I'm preaching to the choir, and you already do these health-conscious things that I've suggested, thank you! If you do all that, and you still have health issues, you may need to take more focused action. In an upcoming issue, I will discuss in more detail some of the treatment options for removing unwanted pollutants from the body.