Detox Diets For Dummies E-Book

Gerald Don Wootan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 581

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Detox Diets For Dummies is your guide to making informed choices about cleansing your body and mind safely and conveniently Researchers have found that we ingest dangerous chemicals every day in our food, water, and the air we breathe. Detox Diets For Dummies helps you understand the effects of these chemicals on your body and find safe, gentle methods to expel them from your system. This comprehensive guide provides clear, reliable information on the leading detox plans so you can accurately assess your own needs and select the best plan for your desired detox goal. A screening quiz helps you identify the program and plan that best suits your lifestyle and personal detox objectives. Detox Diets For Dummies provides plenty of healthy recipes and exercises help clear your body of toxins without harmful or unpleasant side effects. * Helps you flush away harmful chemicals safely and easily * Reveals why some popular detox programs may cause more harm than good * Supplies a screening quiz to help you identify your personal detox needs and choose the right program * Recommends programs for quitting smoking or drinking, fighting allergies, and losing weight, calming stress and anxiety, increasing your energy, and revitalizing your spirit. * Includes more than 35 recipes for safe cleansing of toxins and other harmful agents Whether you are motivated by weight loss, disease prevention, metal purification, or physical revival-Read Detox Diets For Dummies for a variety of detox programs that are all natural and fit every lifestyle.

Leseprobe

Detox Diets For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting to the Bottom of Natural Detoxification

Part II: Working toward a Detoxified Life: Getting Started

Part III: Enhancing Wellness through Detoxification

Part IV: Maintaining Healthy Detoxification Habits

Part V: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting to the Bottom of Natural Detoxification

Chapter 1: Understanding Detoxification and Detox Dieting

Figuring Out Why Everyone Should Detox

Defining detoxification

Seeing what detoxification can do for you

Taking a Look at Toxins

Knowing what qualifies as a toxin

Finding toxins everywhere

Getting Rid of Toxins

Watching your body fight toxins

Taking an active role in detoxification

Dieting the Detoxification Way

Losing those extra, harmful pounds

Tackling unhealthy habits

Chapter 2: Tackling the Different Types of Toxins and Their Effects on You

Exploring the Various Types of Toxins

Feeling the weight of heavy metals

Living toxins: Getting toxic from the inside

Swallowing the bitter pill: Toxins in medicines

Exploring the Effects of Toxins

Cellular damage

Nerve damage

Intestinal complications

Fat cell accumulation

Chapter 3: Discovering Where Toxins Come From (And How to Avoid Them!)

Hungering to Understand Toxins in Food

Digging up details about toxins in soil

Investigating insecticides and pesticides

Picking out problems with processed food

Paying attention to packaging

Dodging toxin-heavy foods

Thirsting for Toxin-free Water

Figuring out how toxins end up in drinking water

Avoiding toxin-tainted water

A Breath of Not-So-Fresh Air: Inhalable Toxins (And How to Avoid Them)

Understanding airborne commercial and industrial toxins

Getting a feel for the inhalable toxins in your home

Cleaning the air around you

Chapter 4: Understanding How Your Body Detoxifies Itself

Your Mouth: Chewin’ It Up

Your Stomach: Breakin’ It Down

Death to the microbes!

Interfering with your stomach’s work

Breaking down good and bad proteins

Your Intestines: Thirty Feet of Detox Action

Bringing up the barrier

Considering normal flora

Eliminating the mess

Your Skin: Touchable and Functional

Putting up a barrier

Giving a nod to natural bacteria

Sweating (out) the small stuff

Your Liver: A Detoxification Powerhouse

Phase I detoxification

Phase II detoxification

The liver cleanse

Your Kidneys: Major Detox Players

Part II: Working toward a Detoxified Life: Getting Started

Chapter 5: Taking the Detoxification Initiative: The Basics of Detoxing Your Body

Detoxing through Diet

Eating the essentials

Eating colors for antioxidants

Eating raw

Avoiding ingredients you can’t pronounce

Spicing up your life

Embracing Exercise

Maximizing detox with your muscles

Working your heart, lungs, and brain

Supporting Your Health with Supplements

Selecting supplements smartly

Avoiding potential supplement snags

Changing Intestinal Flora: Gut Check Time

Checking out what’s living inside you

Considering useful tests

Cleansing your bowels

Getting a Professional Check-up

Finding an open-minded doctor

Seeking out an alternative practitioner

Keeping an eye out for bogus medicine

Chapter 6: Recognizing Toxin-filled and Otherwise Unhealthy Foods

Being Wary of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods

Understanding GM food basics

Trying to identify GM foods

Growing Food in a Toxic World

Focusing on fertilizer

Investigating insecticides

Working around Processed Foods

Keeping your hands off homogenized food

Passing on pasteurization

Chapter 7: Deciding on the Best Foods for a Toxin-free Dinner Table

Gathering What You Need for a Detox Diet

Buying the correct equipment

Keeping the right supplies on hand

Going Organic

Planning Out Your Protein Source

Fleshing it out

Sticking with vegetarian varieties

Corraling Carbohydrates

Getting Some Good Fats

Animal fats

Vegetable fats

Venturing beyond Your Grocery Store

Going to a health food store

Capitalizing on farmers’ markets

Turning to the Web and catalogs

Chapter 8: How Toxic Are You? The Detoxification Quiz

Yeast Toxicity

Gastrointestinal Toxicity

Allergic Toxicity

Chemical Toxicity

Heavy Metal Toxicity

Liver Toxicity

Part III: Enhancing Wellness through Detoxification

Chapter 9: Reaching Your Ideal Weight (And Staying There!) with Detox Dieting

Changing the Way You Think about Dieting

Identifying the problem with diet pills

Realizing why limiting your consumption doesn’t work

Seeking the big picture

Doing Away with Dysfunctional Eating Behaviors

Going Back to the Basics

Chewing the right way

Slowing down your eating

Resisting the urge to wash it down

Less is more, more often

Taking a break

Taking time for a BM

Practicing Essential (And Realistic) Eating Habits

Dodging food served through a window

Avoiding white foods

Giving sweeteners the slip

Planning ahead

Recipes for Detox Dieting Success

Chapter 10: Boosting Your Immune System

Avoiding Toxins that Challenge Your Immune System

Biologic toxins

Environmental elements

Removing Toxins for Better Immune Response

Saying goodbye to living toxins

Giving chemicals and heavy metals the heave-ho

Using Nutrition to Bolster Immunity

Picking foods to help thwart disease

Figuring out what to eat if you’re already sick

Choosing Supplements that Boost Your Immunity

Vitamins and minerals

Herbs and other supplements

Recipes for Improving Your Immune Function

Chapter 11: Increasing Your Energy Level

Taking a Look at Your Thyroid

Mastering mercury

Assessing the risks of aspartame

Giving your thyroid what it needs to succeed

Grasping Glucose Control

Recognizing sugar as a toxin

Keeping an eye on your sugar

Solving your sugar problem

Considering the Effects of Abnormal Bowel Flora

Peeking at what’s hiding in your gut

Getting tested for abnormal bowel flora

Avoiding abnormal bowel flora

Recipes for Boosting Your Energy Level

Chapter 12: Fighting Allergies

Covering Allergy Basics

Nothing to Sneeze At: Supplements for Beating Allergies

Energizing immunity

Helping to keep allergies under control

Controlling Allergies with Smart Food Decisions

Recipes for Getting Your Allergies under Control

Chapter 13: Improving Circulation

Focusing on Blood Vessel Inflammation

Pinpointing Toxins That Hinder Circulation

Feeling the strain from heavy metals

Looking at reactive oxygen species

Understanding the Many Levels of Toxic Damage to Your Circulatory System

Stressing the adrenal glands

Gauging glucose

Battling high blood pressure

Putting Cholesterol in Its Place

Natural, normal, and necessary

Looking at the facts about cholesterol

Supplementing to Help Circulation

Recognizing the Importance of Exercise

Making sure you exercise regularly

Considering a few different types of exercise

Recipes for Improved Circulation

Chapter 14: Using Detoxification to Help Your Body Heal after a Smoking Addiction

Realizing the Monumental Toxic Impact of Smoking

Carcinogens

Carbon monoxide

Nicotine

Other chemical toxins

Heavy metals

Choosing a Smoking Cessation Method

Getting help from hypnosis

Adding acupuncture to your toolbox

Sweating Out Cigarette Toxins

Supplementing to Heal Your Body

Counting Calories after You Quit

Recipes for Helping You Kick the Smoking Habit

Chapter 15: Drowning Alcohol Abuse

Understanding the Toxic Effects of Alcohol

Short-term effects of overconsumption

Long-term effects of overconsumption

Using Detoxification Techniques against Alcohol

Adjusting your drinking behavior

Supplementing to help your body beat alcohol’s effects

Recipes for Helping You Detox from Alcohol

Chapter 16: Enhancing Mental Health with Detoxification

Digging into Depression

Understanding the causes of depression

Seeing the symptoms

Analyzing Autism Spectrum Disorders

Fingering the cause

Figuring out the best treatments

Busting Stress and Anxiety through Detoxification

Beefing up your brain

Managing stress with what’s on your plate

Using natural supplements to stave off stress

Considering a few other ways to deal with stress

Recipes for Improving Your Mental Health

Part IV: Maintaining Healthy Detoxification Habits

Chapter 17: Supporting Healthy Body Chemistry

Valuing Vitamins

Vitamin A

The B vitamins

Vitamin C

Vitamin D

Vitamin E

Vitamin K

Making Room for Minerals

Calcium

Iron

Zinc

Sodium

Potassium

Magnesium

Phosphorus

Manganese

Copper

Iodine

Selenium

Chromium

Molybdenum

Embracing Essential Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-6 fatty acids

Assisting with Amino Acids

Adding in Antioxidants

Chapter 18: Trying a Few Other Kinds of Detoxification

Sweating It Out in a Sauna

Understanding the many benefits of sauna

Getting a feel for the three different kinds of sauna

Knowing who shouldn’t sauna

Capitalizing on Chelation

Natural

Oral

Rectal

Transdermal

Intravenous

Advocating Acupuncture

Mixing in Meditation

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Foods to Leave at the Store

Milk

Margarine

Corn Oil

Artificial Sweeteners

Artificially Colored Foods

Olestra

Tuna

Soy

Processed Meats

Animal Fats

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Tell That Your Detox Diet Is Working

You Lose Some Weight

You Don’t Get Sick as Often

Your Gas Doesn’t Smell as Bad

You Have More Energy

Your Skin Looks and Feels Better

Your Food Allergies Improve

Your Blood Pressure Decreases

Your Bowel Movements Are More Regular

Your Mental State Improves

You Live a Long, Healthy Life

Chapter 21: Ten Supplements to Take Daily

Multivitamin

Multimineral

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Resveratrol

Vitamin C

Vitamin B Complex

Magnesium

Sulforaphane

Vitamin E

Alpha-lipoic Acid (ALA)

Chapter 22: Ten Common Detoxification Pitfalls

Keeping Unhealthy Food in the House

Not Reading Labels

Eating Out

Eating Too Fast and Not Chewing Enough

Washing Food Down with Drinks

Not Doing an Annual Bowel Cleanse

Not Exercising 30 Minutes per Day

Not Sweating Enough

Not Supplementing

Drinking Inadequate Amounts of Water

Detox Diets For Dummies®

by Dr. Gerald Don Wootan, DO, M.Ed., and M. Brittain Phillips

Detox Diets For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Authors

Gerald Don Wootan, DO, M.Ed.: Dr. Wootan is an osteopathic physician board certified in family practice and geriatrics. He holds bachelors’ degrees in biology, psychology, and medicine, a master’s degree in counseling psychology, and a doctorate in osteopathic medicine with board certification in family practice and geriatrics. He is the medical director of Jenks Health Team in Jenks, Oklahoma, a medical practice that specializes in integrative medicine with a strong emphasis on natural detoxification and nutritional supplementation. He is also the Medical Director of Narconon Arrowhead, an inpatient drug treatment facility that utilizes natural therapies. Dr. Wootan is trained in and utilizes the Defeat Autism Now! protocol for treating children on the autism spectrum and is an active member of the American College for the Advancement of Medicine.

M. Brittain Phillips: Brittain didn’t used to think much about toxins, but after working with Dr. Wootan on this project he’s not putting anything in his shopping cart without checking the label for high fructose corn syrup. (It’s everywhere!) He studied biology and English at DePauw University, and he’s happy to report that with this project he finally found a way to combine the disciplines. He works and writes in Charleston, South Carolina.

Dedication

Jerry: This book is dedicated to my mother and father, Corrine and Ralph Wootan, and my uncle, Howard Mauldin, MD. My mother showed me true unconditional love and instilled in me a feeling of introspective self-worth that has lasted me my entire life. My father showed me that dreams can be attained and that discipline is the way to get there. From my earliest memories, my Uncle Howard was my inspiration and role model as a physician and as a person.

Brittain: For Mimi. Moderation in all things, indeed.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Jerry thanks his office staff, and specifically Nancy Smith, who did so much to support him and allow him the time to do this work. He also thanks Mike Mahoney, Vice President of Xymogen Exclusive Professional Formulas; his daughter Heather Walters, ND; and his brother, George Wootan, MD, for their support and input on technical aspects of detoxing; and his sister Darla Nesom for being there. He gives a special note of thanks for the staff at Wiley for their assistance during their entire writing process. This book would not have been possible without the guidance and assistance of Brittain Phillips.

Brittain thanks Dr. Wootan for his professionalism and patience throughout this project. He thanks Cindy, who was right about this stuff all along; mom and dad, who set the perfect example; and Sarah, who never ceases to amaze.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Introduction

Few things in the world are as pristine as a newborn baby, right? For thousands of years, a brand new bundle of joy represented all that was pure. But just in the last century or so, the world has changed quite a lot, and so have our babies. A recent study showed that an average newborn has detectable levels of more than 200 toxic or cancer-causing chemicals on the day of birth. That’s a shocking but very real indication that you are constantly exposed to an enormous amount of chemicals that are toxic to humans. (Is it any wonder that 1 in every 6 children has a neuropsychological disorder? Or that autism, which is associated with exposure to toxins, now affects 1 in every 91 children?)

Quite a lot of damage is done to the environment in the name of progress, and at the top of the list is the spread of toxins into the air, water, and soil. Many people have long had faith that the commercial interests driving the progress would be strict with their pollution policies and work to ensure that toxic substances aren’t released into the environment. Beyond that, government entities at all levels have assured us that they are monitoring these developments and keeping us safe from toxic influences. Unfortunately, the facts prove otherwise.

The development of industry has expanded much more rapidly than the resources available to monitor it. As a result, today more than 80,000 manmade chemicals are released into the environment each year, and fewer than 3,000 of them have been tested to determine their toxic effects on humans. Some of the most toxic materials have been banned, but often those bans don’t cross borders. That means, for example, that a pesticide may be banned in the United States but used extensively in a neighboring country that ships crops directly to U.S. food providers. Air pollutants travel even easier, and they end up settling on water sources and open land if they don’t invade our lungs.

The fact is that the world is more toxic now than it has been since the dawn of mankind, and it’s not likely to get considerably less toxic anytime soon. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your body is a marvelous machine that does a really good job of taking care of itself. It’s able to flush out quite a bit of the toxic material that ends up inside you.

But even the strongest body can’t win the fight alone. You have to work hard to limit the amount of toxins entering your system, and you have to take a proactive approach to detoxifying the harmful substances already in your body. If you suffer from chronic illness or autoimmune disease, you simply must look at toxic triggers for these illnesses. The process starts with your diet, but several other useful options for detoxification exist. In this book, I include plenty of information on a range of these considerations — from diet to saunas to supplements and more.

About This Book

My goal in this book is to show you how you can cut down on your intake of toxins and detoxify your life so that you can enjoy the best possible health for as long as you’re on the top side of the grass.

Your diet is the most important factor when it comes to determining how toxic you are. (You are what you eat, after all.) I spend quite a bit of time providing you with details on how you can shape your diet and eating habits so that you’re getting the maximum detox effect. But I don’t stop with diet, and you shouldn’t either. Given the toxic threats all around us, you’ll be wise to consider any and all options for flushing toxins out of your body and out of your life. The truth is that everyone is exposed to toxins on a daily basis, and you need to do everything you can to reduce the damage those toxins are doing on your body and mind.

Embracing the ideas and practices behind detoxification isn’t always easy because traditional medicine doesn’t usually focus on the presence and influence of toxins. Many doctors and most pharmaceutical companies are lukewarm at best to the idea that toxins are causing a lot of the ailments that are becoming more and more prevalent every year.

That means you need to be your own advocate and take the time to familiarize yourself with all the various threats and how they can affect you. You need to invest time, but by doing so you’re investing in your future health — your most important asset. You have to take charge of your own health and assume responsibility for the outcome. Doctors can offer some good information, but in the end the decisions are yours. I challenge you to look at the facts about toxicity and use common sense to determine what remedies you need to incorporate into your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Conventions Used in This Book

Following are a few conventions I use to help guide you through the book:

I use a number of medical and health-related terms in this book that you may not be familiar with. In those cases I italicize the jargony term and follow it up immediately with a definition.

I also present a lot of acronyms throughout the book. To prevent you from drowning in alphabet soup, I spell out the full words the first time an acronym is used in a chapter.

In Part III, I include several recipes in each chapter. If you’re a vegetarian, look for the tomato next to the recipe name that indicates the recipe does not contain meat or fish. (Be aware that the recipe may contain eggs or cheese, however.)

All Web addresses appear in monofont so they’re easy to pick out.

Keep in mind that when this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. Wherever that’s the case, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book. Pretend as if the line break doesn’t exist.

What You’re Not to Read

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to let you know that you have to read every word in this book. As soon as you’re done I’ll give you a call, and you’ll have to take an essay test on the topics I cover. Hope you have a flexible phone plan.

Seriously: Each part and chapter in the book contain their own information, and where you may want to jump around from chapter to chapter I’ve inserted cross references to facilitate your page flipping. Feel free to skip around.

If you have absolutely no regard for my feelings and you’re not interested in reading every single word in the book, you may consider skipping the sidebars, which contain interesting but not essential information. Sidebars are contained in the gray shaded boxes.

Foolish Assumptions

I’ve written this book with a few assumptions about you in mind. Here are those assumptions, in no particular order:

I assume you’re on board with the fact that our planet is currently chock-full of toxins and that those toxins can affect your well-being.

I assume you know diet is important to your health.

I assume you’re at least willing to consider that traditional medicine doesn’t currently have all the answers for the various diseases and conditions plaguing people in increasing numbers, and that medical professionals could very well be underestimating the influence that toxins have on our bodies and our collective health.

How This Book Is Organized

I’ve divided this book into five parts. Each part covers a different aspect of detoxification, and the information I offer on the impact that diet has on your detoxification is pretty strong throughout. The great news is that you can jump around all you want; you don’t have to read Part I in order to understand Part III, for example.

Part I: Getting to the Bottom of Natural Detoxification

If you’re new to detoxification, it won’t hurt to check out Chapter 1. That chapter is an overview of toxicity and detoxification ideas. Read it if you want to find out what detoxification means and what it can do for you.

The rest of the chapters in Part I clue you in on the many different kinds of toxins that surround you, how they end up in your body, and (perhaps most importantly) how your body manages to flush quite a lot of them out. You’ll be surprised at some of the places where toxins are hiding and what they can do to your health. This information is a little scary, but it’s also necessary because you have to know where the toxins are coming from if you’re going to try to avoid them.

Part II: Working toward a Detoxified Life: Getting Started

Part II gives you the details on how you can get started on a detoxification regimen. It opens with Chapter 5, which fills you in on a few basics (most of them diet-related) for detoxing. The part then proceeds with a couple chapters that tell you how to dodge toxin-filled foods and — even better — what you should be buying at the grocery store to fill up your pantry and fridge with nontoxic options. You may be amazed at the range and amount of toxins that you can find in very common food items.

I wrap up Part II with a quiz that you can take to figure out just how toxic you are. The quiz takes up all of Chapter 8.

Part III: Enhancing Wellness through Detoxification

Part III really gets down to the nitty gritty of how toxins affect various aspects of your health and how you can detoxify — especially with your diet — to keep those areas of your health in top-notch shape. I tell you how to maintain a healthy weight, boost your immune system, increase your energy level, quit smoking, and much more!

Throughout this part you find an excellent feature of this book: wholesome, healthy, detox recipes that you can make yourself to help ensure your diet is contributing to your health in a toxin-free way.

Part IV: Maintaining Healthy Detoxification Habits

Part IV may be small, but it’s mighty. In Chapter 17, I explain many of the important aspects of your diet that you need to keep on the front burner if you’re going to be successful with any detox effort. From vitamins to essential fatty acids and everything in between, Chapter 17 hammers home the importance of nutrients and how they fit into an effective detox diet (not to mention a generally healthy lifestyle).

Chapter 18 is another one of my favorites. In it you can read all about the various options for detoxification that await you outside the grocery store and kitchen. Check out this chapter to find out how you can really stretch your detox efforts.

Part V: The Part of Tens

If you’re familiar with books For Dummies, you may flip straight to this part, which is full of interesting (and fun) lists. If you’re new to the For Dummies series, check out “The Part of Tens” for quick-hitting information that can pique your interest and help you determine where you may want to go next as you dig into the book.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout the book, you’ll notice three icons in the margins that help you navigate the text:

When you see this icon, you can be sure that you’re getting an important piece of how-to advice about detox dieting or general detoxification.

This icon lets you know that you should slow down for a moment and really let the information soak in. It’s important stuff!

I use this icon to fill you in on potentially toxic pitfalls.

Where to Go from Here

There’s no wrong way to use this book. If you’re just getting started on your quest to understand how toxins affect your health, you may want to get cracking with Part I (even Chapter 1, if you’re interested in covering all your bases). But maybe you already have a good feel for the toxins that are out there, and you really just want to know how you can use detoxification and detox dieting to improve a specific part of your health. If that’s the case, I recommend jumping into Part III.

If you want to begin embracing the practices and techniques of detoxification right away, Part II is where you want to be.

Or maybe you want to start with some light fare and ease your way into the subject. If so, check out “The Part of Tens” (Part V).

No matter how you want to start or continue your path toward leading a healthy, detoxified life, you’re bound to end up with better health as a result. And that’s a destination we should all add to our itineraries.

Part I

Getting to the Bottom of Natural Detoxification

In this part . . .

I kick things off with a good hard look at the toxins that have become a very real (and very harmful) part of our world. There are tens of thousands of toxins in dozens of categories, and they exist in the air, in water, and on land. You really can’t escape them, but it’s important that you understand where they’re lurking so you can at least do your best to avoid them whenever possible.

In this part, you can also read about the efforts that your magnificent body makes to cleanse itself of toxic substances. If you’re not already convinced of the wonders of the human body, prepare to be amazed!

Chapter 1

Understanding Detoxification and Detox Dieting

In This Chapter

Realizing why detoxification is essential

Recognizing toxins

Removing toxins from your body

Taking toxins off your plate

Your amazing body is the most complicated machine on earth. But keepingthat complex machine operating at an extremely high level can be surprisingly simple. You can enjoy maximum health for decades if you follow just a few rules, the most important of which are:

Keep your body fueled with the right kinds of food.

Avoid anything that can cause your body harm.

These rules may be simple, but I didn’t say they were easy.

The world around us is filled with toxins. In fact, our planet is more toxic now than it has ever been in human history. To be honest, it can be a real challenge to get healthful, toxin-free food and to dodge all the toxins that exist in our environment, just waiting to creep and seep into your body to do you harm. That’s the bad news: So many toxins exist at such high levels that you simply cannot escape their reach.