DETOX vs HEALING: a summary

We have had a wonderful, deliciously overwhelming increase in people subscribing to the Good Mood Food site over recent weeks, and it occurred to me that I would like to share with you the underpinning philosophy of the Good Mood Food way: DETOX and HEAL.

Now that makes perfect sense to me, after nearly 8 years of doing exactly that, but I wanted to write up a summary for any newbies to the 'healing your body' game, and also to those of you who have plateaued or regressed, or who have just got on with life and forgotten this ROOT CAUSE philosophy!

If you eat well and exercise regularly, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you are at very best, maintaining a certain level of health, but most likely your health is slowly and subtly regressing. The reason for this is that, in the 21st century, toxins are unavoidable. Even if you are eating the healthiest, most organic diet around, you are going to be building up toxins from the air, the grass, your clothes, your dinner plates, stressful events, a walk down the cleaning product aisle at Woolies... And unless you are regularly assisting your body to flush these toxins out, they will cause cellular damage and inflammation, which then needs to be actively HEALED, something that simple detoxing cannot do.

Getting to a better level of health, and staying there, takes a two-pronged approach.

1) DETOX (regularly)

One of the number one causes of inflammation and toxin build up is really the major word I would use to describe this era of living: STRESS. Most of us are now living at such an elevated level of business and anxiety, that we are permanently stressed, which leads to all sorts of inflammatory skin, pain, sleep, ache, weight-gain, chronic problems. And when most people think about toxins, they're not thinking about a byproduct of our body's own making, their thinking about synthetic chemicals.

The other causes of toxin build up are just the complete and utter overload of poison in our lives. We are bombarded by it, without even realising it. It's in our medicine cabinet, in processed foods in the form of stabilisers and colours and flavours, its in our dishwashers and washing machines, the weed killers, the food that animals eat, poured on animals to prevent flies and ticks, pumped into their system to ensure weight gain for a better price. It's EVERYWHERE, and it is NOT normal. Our bodies are uniquely designed to be self-detoxing, but not at this level of overload.

One of the most invigorating exercises I ever partook in was ridding my home of toxins. It took a number of big black bags, some heartache saying goodbye to my favourite (but terribly toxic) perfume and shampoo, changing every possible cleaning agent in the house for either non-toxic options, or just plain old wonderful baking soda (the worlds best deodorant!), and just dealing with one area at a time. We did household chemicals, then we did cookware, moving everything to 10/8 stainless steel and glass for storage (plastic hormone disruptors be gone!). Our food eventually became 100% unprocessed, organic, wholefoods, during which time I learnt a whole lot about sourcing good food. We transitioned to organic sheets and pillows, and lastly, because my children were reacting so violently to medical chemicals, I researched and began making natural, non-toxic balms for every emergency. We were able to replace every medicine in our cabinet, except for bandaids and anti-histamine, with the balms. While the balms themselves are an excellent way to detox your medicine cabinet, a number of the balms actually support your body during detox.

Both the bestsellers, SLEEP Sole balm and ACHY BREAKY Sole balm are dense with magnesium, which, when applied to the incredibly absorbent soles of the feet, goes straight to the liver to assist by binding to toxins, which then can be safely removed. Activated Charcoal is another personal favourite: 1 teaspoon stirred in a small glass of water, drink, and feel the easing of detox symptoms very quickly.

Many foods are fabulous detox agents: salycilates, so maligned by modern medicine and allergists, are a great indicator of how toxic you are. Salycilates, also referred to as Phenols, trigger your body to release stored toxins. If you are highly toxic, it will be too much for your poor body, resulting in rashes, mental health struggle, bowel trouble, or pain in the joints. This does not mean that high salycilate foods are bad for you, it means that you urgently need to assist your body in detoxing before you can have too much salycilate food, for example, citrus and pineapple.

I could write a book about all the different ways to detox (actually I am writing a book called God Food which will have a chapter dedicated Detox), but for now, just take this message away: your body needs regular detox, to avoid building up toxins which cause damage at a cellular level. Cellular changes in the body lead to many epidemic disease, from cancer to diabetes, to auto-immune disease. DETOX REGULARLY!

2) Take HEALING action:

Do not fall into the trap of believing that detoxing your body HEALS your body. It doesn't, it simply clears away the toxin to allow improved liver and kidney function, for example, but the root cause, where cells, or gut lining, or organs have received damage, cannot be healed by detoxing, and if not healed, the symptoms will return again and again. This is why people feel so good on a vegan diet initially (done right, it is full of fruit and vegetables that help your body to detox years of toxic waste), but so many report that after a few months, body processes start to break down and auto-immune markers start to appear in the bloodwork. There are very few people in the world whose bodies thrive on a permanent vegan diet.

That is because the HEALING foods of collagen, gelatin, fat and organ meats, can only come from animals, well raised, fed on the food their bodies are designed to eat, getting plenty of sunshine, and minimal toxins. This should be the meat we eat. In particular, meat on the bone. The bones, and the meat attached directly to it, when regularly consumed, plumps up and heals our damaged gut lining, ligaments, tendons, joints, with COLLAGEN and GELATIN. Healing enzymes in homemade broth and stock cause the body to HEAL twice as fast. The marrow inside of bones is miraculous, as is the healing profile of organ meats such as chicken liver. FAT. Good quality fat, like TALLOW or organic duck fat, lard, suet, literally heals the brain which is not immune from toxic damage and deterioration. There is much to say about this, I will write a chapter on HEALING in the book too, I promise!

But for now, I would just like you to understand the difference between DETOX and HEAL, and why both are such a critical part of maintaining true health in the 21st century.

Have a browse through the HEAL section for recipes, ebooks, blogs for heaps more information on both these topics, and in particular, if you are ready to detox your medicine cabinet, have a look through the DETOX section on the website to see the wide variety, and discounted packs, of handmade natural balm remedies to get you on your way. We've got everything covered from CHEST balms, to natural sun protection, to an amazing BLACK Poultice for drawing out everything from hospital infections, to splinters and thorns! There is even a balm for CALMING anxiety (and pain!)

I believe that these activities of detoxing and healing our families is the most important thing we can engage in, if we want to change the future away from these epidemic chronic diseases, and take control. Everything we need to detox and heal is available without prescription, without oversight, in our own kitchens, gardens, homes and hearts, its all there for the taking!

Kind Regards and thanks for reading!

Mary Kelly

www.goodmoodfood.net.au