Becoming Pure

Becoming Pure

Dr. Kyle D. Christensen, DC, ND, MH

Good health is determined by several things.  Namely: What goes in, What comes out and what I call programming.     

All too often health practitioners (both medical and natural) treat their patients with the intention of "what do I need to give them".  For medical doctors, it would be a drug and for natural practitioner a supplement.  At times taking pills is appropriate.  However, I often tell my patients that the reason you should be taking a supplement (and this goes for drugs as well), is so that you don't have to take supplements anymore.  Or in other words, lets take something, so that you get better and then you won't have to take it any more.  Does that make sense?  Of course, there are exceptions, but most of us truly do not want to have to be taking pills the rest of our lives.

What is often overlooked in getting healthy is getting the bad things out.  Truly we live in a day of "great pollutions" even foretold by prophets of old. Understand that pollution is poison. A poison is something that is capable of causing illness or even death. Often illness or death is only slowly brought on "by degrees" and can even be seemingly imperceptible.  

There are poisons and pollutions that are constantly swirling around us.  In the air we breathe, in the water we drink and in the food we eat.  Toxins (including naturally occurring heavy metals as well as a plethora of man made chemicals) insidiously settle into our tissues and can alter the normal function of our cells.  Like the Romans of old who fashioned their plumbing pipes from easily malleable lead.  The lead offered a subtle sweetness to the taste of the water, but ultimately contributed to the nations downfall.

In recent years, the toxic effects of plastics has come under scrutiny.  BPA's (Bisphenol A) have been the target of the media. Studies show an ever growing list of health problems caused by this plastic.  And so we make sure that our plastic water bottles are BPA-Free but don't give a second thought to putting the kids snacks in zip-lock baggies, tupperware or covering foods with saran wrap.  And it is not just the BPA in plastic.  The list goes on and on of harmful toxins found in plastics.  And it is not just plastics.  As I said earlier, the chemical manipulation of raw materials results in thousands of toxins and poisons that we come in contact with every single day and night.  Think: new car smell, scotch guard, soaps and conditioners, make-up, and cleaning products.  

My point is: there is no way to completely avoid exposure.  Certainly, we can and should minimize exposure as best we can.  Personally, in our home, we have gotten rid of plastic food containers.  We now use glass - which means leftover salad now goes in a 2 quart wide mouth canning jar.  Fresh baked bread is now stored in crinkly cellophane bags. And silicone chocolate molds are used over cheaper plastic ones.

Many of these toxins - especially plastics - are known to be hormone or endocrine disruptors.  This means they goof up normal hormone physiology.  It kind of looks like this: instead of a cellular receptor site innocently waiting for the proper hormone to initiate healthy physiology, a blobby chunk of plastic globs on to the receptor and blocks the site.  Pretty soon, your body registers a deficiency - not because you don't have enough hormone, but its utilization is being blocked.  So the body in an effort to get more hormone that can actually be utilized may ramp up production.  This may cause the hormone producing gland (like the thyroid) to grow in size.  We observe a swollen thyroid gland or goiter as the problem, when it is really just shouting for help.   

The answer may not be simply giving more hormones. Remember the toxins are disrupting normal processes.  More often the answer is to assist the body in getting rid of the chemicals, heavy metals and toxins that are causing the problem in the first place.   

There are a couple of things you can do.  Your first option is to do nothing. For surely,  if something was really causing harm "they" would pull it off the market.  Yeah, just like GMO foods that do not require labeling, which have been proven (by Monsanto's own research) to cause damage to the liver, kidney and heart.  Ever wonder why citizens of impoverished third world countries, such as Bangledesh, out live citizens in the southern USA?

So the first option, is to deny the problem and continue to suffer, take drugs for symptoms and of course complain (and please pass the donuts).

The next option is what we are doing at our home. We are:

1) Trying to minimize exposure - avoiding and eliminating plastics, using natural cleaning and hygiene products, drinking clean water from glass bottles and eating foods that are as free from chemicals as we can find them. This includes putting our raw organic milk in glass bottles from the plastic jug it comes in.

2) Getting the toxins out.  This includes  using a FIR Sauna - Far Infra Red Sauna several times per week.  Read more about it HERE. We also use an Ionic Foot Bath to pull out toxins. We are eating naturally detoxing and chelating foods such as Cilantro.  We drink fresh homemade juices, which are also very detoxifying.    

Mind you, we are like many of you - trying to do our best.  While far from perfect, we are trying.   

Let me shift gears for a few moments.  This process of ridding ourselves of toxins and poison is not limited to just our physical bodies.  There are many poisons in the world today that cloud and distort the function of a healthy mind and spirit.  Addiction to sugar will certainly alter your physical view on life, but it can also enslave your mind, emotions and spirit.  Likewise, being lured into the world of entertainment that magnifies violence, sex and selfishness can be equally harmful and disrupt your soul just as assuredly as plastics disrupt your hormones.   

Just as we must put in place safeguards to protect us from harmful chemicals (like stop buying junk food, candy and soda pop), we must likewise protect ourselves from addictive and desensitizing images, music and entertainment.  In essence we must somehow muster the courage to "fix our minds with a determined resolution".  I have come to know that you can not do this alone.  You can not be the only person in the house that is eating healthy.  We must work together.   

As far as media influences there are a growing number of us who are utilizing filters and blocks on computers, internet and smart phones.  There is a lot of garbage out there that can lure people away from high moral standards. What may start as curiosity can poison the mind and spirit "by degrees".  The mind can become twisted and addicted to not only pornography, but violence and endless distractions in the form of gaming, texting or social media.  We are talking about changes in the brains chemistry as well as the anatomy of the brain - not good changes.  

The media of today strives to get us more and more focused on ourselves.  On our appetites, passions and appearance.  When focused out outward appearances and pleasures, often the inner spirit of man and women are neglected.  

At our home, we have been encouraged to do something that I feel is brilliant.  We enlisted a guardian - someone who could stand at the gate and turn evil aside. Someone who could control the food that comes into the home.  Control the media with set parameters.  This person is MOM. She holds the passwords that sets the blocks on phones and computers.  She purchases food within the guidelines and standards we've agreed upon.   

Life is not meant to be lived in isolation.  We need each other.  We need to work together.  We need to put into place fences, barriers and guardrails.  The strongest and wisest among us set boundaries and protections. The wind is blowing.  Will you lock arms with those you love and stand firm or will you be blown about? 

Becoming Pure.  Putting the good in and getting the bad out.

Blessings,

Dr. Kyle Christensen

May 28, 2014