9. ELIMINATE TOXINS This step and the next steps are related because of the vast amount of man made chemicals in our environment, food, air, and water. Most of these chemicals are not friendly to our body. Normally those that are harmful are handled by the immune system and cleansed out of our system.

Environmental doctors have discovered that a underlying cause for a lot of illnesses is allergens to harmful chemical substances. The repeated exposure to these toxins day after day weakens the ability of the immune system to guard the body against these invaders. Like a fire department always out fighting fires our immune system breaks down and the harmful toxins can travel through the body causing harm. Unlike our ancestors who did not have to deal with these issues - we have over 10,000 new chemicals invented each year. Keeping the system clean is a full time job. Stopping new toxins from entering the system is one part, eliminating the toxins stored in your body is another - strengthen your immune system is dealt with in the next step.

Fat is one of the areas where toxins are stored. The liver filters out toxins from the blood stream and usually flushes them out of the body. If the liver is not functioning properly toxins can escape back into our system and cause great harm.

Some dentists are claiming that the mercury fillings we have in our mouth are slowly leaching mercury poison in our body. Although there is no strong research proving this there are individuals who have been helped by having these mercury amalgams removed under special extraction methods which prevent the body from absorbing any more mercury. A holistic dentist can guide you in this matter.

There are gentle detoxifying diets and cleansing programs that can help your system eliminate old toxins. Several good authoritative books are related to the subject on cleansing and fasting. Both Andy Weil, MD and Elson Haas, MD have excellent, balanced books on detoxifying and elimination diets.

Another cleansing program which is still a controversial treatment is colonics or colon cleansing to remove built up encrusted fecal material off the walls of the colon. No science has proven this to be effect, yet individuals report that they feel better and have experienced sometimes better eye sight, increased energy, weight loss and even cellulite reduction. There is a national organization of colon therapies who have been trained to use a machine which irrigates your colon with purified warm water.

There are many herbal remedies that are helpful to cleanse the body. Most have extra fiber, and a mild laxative to help cleanse the digestive tract. Some include the introduction of cultures of friendly bacteria like Lactobacilli acidophilus and Lactobacilli bifidus.

Lactobacilli acidophilus and Lactobacilli bifidus are import to maintain a healthy colon and digestive tract. Unfortunately the use of any antibiotics kills both good and bad bacteria indiscriminately. If you have taken antibiotics then many naturopaths and nutritionists recommend taking these naturally occurring friendly bacteria supplements to fertilize your stomach. The use of commercial yogurt or kefir doesn't carry a large enough amount of these friendly bacteria to have the same effectiveness as supplements. The friendly bacteria are helpful in digestive process by destroying the gas producing and disease and odor producing bacteria as well as over come the fungus (Monilia Abricans).

A clinic in Petaluma California uses medically supervised fasting as it's primary treatment modality for many chronic illnesses with amazing results.

CAUTION Slow and easy are the watch words when undertaking a fast or cleansing program as you can easily over toxify your self if you over do it. Headaches, fever, nausea and possible liver and kidney damage are the result of too much too fast in the detoxification process. When in doubt - go slow.

Click here to continue to Step 10, Build Your Immune System