CHAPTER ONE:
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOXINS
Toxins are all over the place. To completely avoid them is both impractical and impossible. Shampoos, perfumes, plastic water bottles, pesticides in food . . . Wherever you turn there’s a myriad of chemicals waiting to enter your body. The result is that this unnatural way of living throws a far bigger toxic toll on us than our organs were meant to handle.
The problem is not that our detoxifying organs can’t do their job well, but that they’re given far too much work and they can’t completely keep up!
This is the moment when all those itches, aches, and discomforts start appearing, externalizing the fact that toxins have set camp in our bodies.
Do you always feel like something is wrong in your body yet you can’t pinpoint the cause? Do you feel lousy or unbalanced in any way more often than you would like to? If you feel anything but splendid most of the time, your body could be waving its hands high in the air, trying to tell you that it’s overwhelmed with your highly toxic lifestyle. (Even if you don’t suspect you have a highly toxic lifestyle. By the way, most people do.)
Such symptoms may include:
Bad digestion
Chronic fatigue
Headaches
Mood swings and depression
Coated tongue
Irritable bowel
Yellow spots on your skin
Overheating and excessive perspiration
Acne
Fat around the waist
Weak immune system
Low metabolism
High cholesterol
Allergies and rashes
High blood pressure
Intolerance to alcohol and medicines
Heartburn
Dark circles under your eyes
These are just a few of the problems that an excess of toxins in your body could be causing, and that juicing regularly could start relieving. The list is really much, much longer, as any and all of your symptoms could potentially be caused by too many toxins.
THE LIVER: GENERAL OF THE BODY’S ARMY
The liver is one of your hardest-working organs, second perhaps only to the heart. Its role is to decide what is beneficial and can stay, and also what will cause damage and is inadmissible. It is no coincidence that Chinese medicine describes it as the general of the body’s army.
This organ is multitasking for you day in and day out, evaluating everything that enters your bloodstream with an eagle eye, and transforming it into a different biochemical form so that the body can use it as nourishment, get rid of it, or store it as fat in the exact places where you want it the least. This is done by filtering the blood like a mega-sophisticated kitchen sieve, singling out the unwanted toxins, and helping them make a discreet exit when you sweat or visit the bathroom.
Despite kicking ass at what it does, there are several factors that can make your liver less efficient at managing its job.
The Culture of Overeating
Can you imagine never giving your car a rest, never taking it to maintenance or changing its parts, and just making it go, go, go? It’s pretty obvious that the machine in question would soon start having problems, and eventually burn out. That is if it doesn’t explode first! In The FastDiet, Dr. Michael Mosley compares the compulsive way we eat, without giving our digestive systems a second’s rest, with digging our foot deep in the accelerator pedal of a car all the time. It’s strange that most people would never treat their toys and gadgets this way, yet find it acceptable to put that kind of burden on their own bodies. And it’s even wilder that they believe their bodies will keep working just fine, without any complaints, despite the unfriendly treatment!
Think about how many times a day you eat a full-on meal, or nibble here and there. Be honest. If you’re like most people, the answer is many times a day whether you’re hungry or not. As a result of this food obsession, our energy is hyper-focused on the sole mission of digesting food.
When we give our digestive systems a rest from solid foods, our energy can be invested in more important endeavors, such as resting, detoxifying, and repairing. Our liver can stop stressing about all the new toxins coming in, and catch up with all the stored ones from past excesses. This is one of the reasons why replacing food with juices during a cleanse is so important. Another reason is that the fruits and vegetables used in large amounts when juicing are packed with antioxidants that help protect the liver from the free radical attack caused by too many toxins and poor nutrition.
The Free Radicals Attack
Free radicals are not just the bad boys most people think they are. They actually assist the liver in getting rid of toxins. Unfortunately, they also attack healthy cells, turning them into free radicals themselves. In turn, these attack new healthy cells and the cascading effect begins. The body, wise as always, has a backup plan for this problem: it produces its own antioxidant enzymes that protect the healthy cells against free radicals. But when there are too many free radicals drifting around, as a result of too many toxins that need to be cleared out of the body, we are eventually unable to maintain this delicate balance.
Detox diets halt the inflow of toxins at least for a while, allowing for a more efficient release of stored toxins. On top of this, the superior nutrition in juicing gives your body the extra antioxidants it needs to balance out all the free radicals produced as a result of our chaotic lifestyles. Are you starting to understand why juices are such detoxifying rock stars?
