Spring Cleaning
by Mary Jo Ruggieri, Phd, RPP

Healing occurs when the life-sustaining systems of the body function at peak performance. Unfortunately, with our environment being so toxic and with the pesticides in our food being so prevalent, we have no other choice but to detox and repair our bodies' support systems.

The healthcare system of the future will incorporate all levels of detoxing as part of a regular health maintenance program. Detoxing is for everyone and can change the quality of your life while slowing down the aging process.

Everything needs cleaned or detoxed. How often do you spray down all your filters you care, hot tub or furnace? We clean our house vents, flush our radiators, and call Roto Rooter when our pipes get clogged. So what's wrong with taking this one step further-cleaning out our body's pipes, removing plaque from our arteries and cleansing our colons?

The problem is toxins. Our environment, which has reached high levels of toxic waste, is the main culprit. We cannot get away from the fact that we live in a toxic waste nightmare.

First prize goes to the chemical industry and its hidden toxic legacy. An industry that's put our health, wellness and safety at a dangerously high risk while continuing to lie and hide the truth at any cost.

Dr. Christina Scott-Mancrieff, in her book Detox, states that our environmental toxins can affect our ability to think properly; they can produce physical symptoms such as exhaustion or headaches; and create emotional turmoil such as anger and frustration. Following a detox program, she continues, reduces the amount of toxins entering your body and helps your body deal with them better by improving nutrition and enhancing the removal of unwanted waste.

A checklist from Scott-Mancrieff's book gives us some eye-opening information on toxic elements in our life. How many of these toxic elements are in your life?

Toxic food and drink
• Some Tea or coffee
• Sodas or fizzy drinks
• Processed meals
• White bread
• Artificial sweeteners
• Non-organic fruits and vegetables (not washed or peeled)
• Processed meats
• Canned foods

Environment

• Do you live in a city?
• Do you live near sprayed areas?
• Do you swim in or drink chlorinated water?
• Do you have clothes dry-cleaned regularly?
• Is your plumbing more than 20 years old?
• Do you use pesticides?
• Do you use large amounts of bleach, detergent, household cleaners or disinfectant?

Is everything toxic? No, just the majority of what Americans eat, wear, and use.

What is so difficult to understand is the correlation of cancer to environmental toxins and the lack of concern about these facts. One in three of us will have cancer in our lifetimes, yet we still sit idle watching the environment deteriorate. It's more of a shame when we see the rise of cancers in children knowing that it's often environmentally induced.

Beginning a simple detox plan

• Increase your water intake. This helps keep your fluids moving, flushes your kidneys and keeps your minerals balanced. Drink reverse osmosis bottled water.
• Add one tablespoon of liquid chlorophyll to at least two glasses of water daily. Chlorophyll is a natural antiseptic and removes mucous from the body.
• Brush your skin, using a dry vegetable brush, before you shower. Brush every part of your body stroking toward the hearth. This stimulates the skin to begin purging toxins
• One day per week, drink organically juiced juiced-carrot and/or green vegetables. Eat a large organic salad in the evening. This helps with digestion.Drink 'green' daily. Spirulina, barley, or wheat grass adds oxygen to the body and eliminates toxins.
• Sweat it out in steam, sauna, or hot Epsom salt baths.
• Polarity lymphatic balance and or lymphatic massage are effective lymphatic cleanses.
• Most healthcare systems, except Western medicine, use some form of fasting as a preventative practice. There are major hospitals in Europe that use controlled fasting for many debilitating diseases.
• A colon cleanse can be as simple as eating specific foods such as grains, organic fruits and vegetables, or could include a more elaborate system of taking certain herbs and digestive enzymes. I find colon cleansing to be one of the most effective ways of healing the body. Most experienced holistic practitioners or naturopathic doctors can advise you on the process.
• Vitamins, minerals, herbs, and homeopathics all are useful for detoxing. The antioxidants are primary.
• Get a complete naturopathic assessment that includes hair analysis, saliva testing, and electro-derma screening to determine if there are substances like heavy metals in your system.

Constant tiredness is the main symptom that indicates a person needs to detox. A final quote from Dr. Scott-Mancrieff: "Health is more than the absence of disease; you need to feel well." It's your choice.
May the longtime sun shine upon You.

Mary Jo Ruggieri, PhD, RPP, is the Director of the Columbus Polarity Center for Integrative Health & Wellness and the Ohio Institute of Energetic Studies & Bodywork, a state registered school for Polarity Therapy, Elemental Reflexology training and Energy Science studies. For more information, you may contact her at satnam170@aol.com or (614) 299-9438.