Topics in this article include:
1. Minerals are Highly Interactive With Each Other in a Dependent Fashion.Several Ways to Detox Pollutants in the Body
As a general rule, detoxing from any metal or mineral is easily accomplished with broad spectrum mineral sources created by Nature, not a laboratory.
Due to the multitude of minerals available in any clay, herb, or food, there are typically more than one mineral option within the natural resource to bond with isolated minerals or metals found in the body to be in excess, thereby neutralizing their toxic effects.
Broad spectrum mineral/nutrient sources provide the most effective protection from all forms of metal/mineral or nutrient excesses (as well as deficiencies).
The primary reason for using complete earthen resources, built into a natural balance by Nature, is due in part to the delicate dependent relationship between minerals. Mineral ratios affect all other nutritional and metabolic (body) compounds, given that these compounds are composed primarily of minerals to begin with.
For instance, sulfur can be modified by iron, selenium, copper, molybdenum, and calcium. Every mineral and metal is either enhanced or nullified by one or more elements. Then each of these are either enhanced or nullified by an additional group of elements though a chain reaction effect.
Here are a few examples:
Calcium interacts with magnesium, zinc, iron, sulfur, chromium, phosphorus, manganese, and copper.
Arsenic interacts with selenium and iodine.
Aluminum interacts with silicon, phosphorous, and iron.
Iron interacts with zinc, magnesium, potassium, manganese, and copper.
Copper interacts with cadmium, silver, calcium, iron, phosphorous, sulfur, and molybdenum.
Cadmium interacts with zinc and copper.
Zinc interacts with copper, cadmium, calcium, iron, phosphorous, and sulfur.
Magnesium interacts with potassium, manganese, calcium, iron, and phosphorous.
It is for this reason that, even though a clay or herb may contain the element you are intending to detox, in most cases, there will also be neutralizing minerals present in the clay or herb to bond with excesses of any one metal/mineral and make it non-toxic, or assist the body to process it out. The more dense mineral nutrition you provide your body, the greater the chance of the body getting what it needs to detox all forms of toxins, chemicals, metals, and even pathogens.
Detoxification can be very slow and difficult for the body if it is experiencing mineral and nutrient deficiencies. This is true simply because it takes nutrients to perform detoxification functions.
Broad spectrum mineral and nutrient sources are Nature's natural chelation program. If you are willing to consume dense nutritives on a daily basis, chelation and all other forms of detoxification happen naturally every day.
Dense mineral/nutrition sources that assist the body in removing heavy metals, chemicals and other toxins include humic earth, nettle leaf, alfalfa, amalaki (for its Vitamin C that assists in detoxification), algae of all kinds (blue green, chlorella, spirulina, dunaliella, etc.), seaweeds of all kinds, sea salt, and numerous others. For this reason we have developed several nutrient dense formulas. Herbal C and Sea Vegetable Blend plus Moringa are two prime examples. Click here for a complete list.
You can also eat glutathione-rich food sources that assist the body to detox as well. Asparagus, okra, whey, watermelon, etc. are a few. Here is an article on glutathione with a few more: Foods that Increase Glutathione in the Body
Sulfur assists the body to detox more than other mineral sources (possibly other than silica), because sulfur is a prime component of glutathione, the body's master antioxidant. Moderate amounts of Pink Sulfur Salt (AKA Black Salt) is one way to increase sulfur levels in the body naturally and add a tasty option to any dish.
Sacred Clay contains both sulfur and iron (sulfur's antagonist) in a balance created by Nature. Therefore a sulfur excess can lead to temporary anemia because sulfur counters iron. Yet, iron also counters sulfur in the body. Therefore, an iron excess can be alleviated by sulfur containing foods.
Never take isolated iron supplements for they are the primary cause of iron excesses. Using iron cookware is another major cause. Iron from herbs, food, and clay are safer ways to keep a balance between sulfur and iron in the body.
For example, I was at one point enjoying Pink Sulfur Salt a bit too much, putting it in large amounts on every food dish I ate. This led to a sulfur excess after several weeks of this. I began to experience lethargy and chronic fatigue, commonly right after a meal.
This lethargy would come and go based on my herbal and clay intake vs. my intake of Pink Sulfur Salt, but for some time I did not draw the association between the two.
I was researching thyroid problems at the time, studying how sulfur-containing brassica foods can lead to temporary anemia. I realized that my fatigue was probably due to a sulfur excess.
I also learned that in Nature iron counters sulfur. This inspired me to take a tablespoon of Sacred Clay (containing both sulfur and iron in a natural balance). I also took a tablespoon of Earth & Sea Greens to provide a broad spectrum of phytonutrients to support any mineral combinations.
Within 30 minutes my energy levels climbed from almost no energy at all to 110% of my former high energy state, and this was after 10 PM. This shows how impacting mineral excesses can be and how simple and quick the remedies can also be (in some cases).
This experience reveals that while consuming isolated minerals can be harmful, due to the lack of the support by Nature's spectrum of mineral complements and antagonists, consuming natural mineral sources that also contain the very mineral in excess (like the clay that contained both sulfur and iron), can still lead to the balancing out or removal of the excessive mineral or metal. Broad spectrum mineral and nutrient sources created by Nature, not a laboratory, is the safe answer.
Since then I still enjoy using Pink Sulfur Salt on my food, but use intuition to guide the amounts consumed.
Mineral Manna (that contains Sacred Clay) is my prime mineral source taken daily (one tablespoon in a quart of water, sometimes with lemon or lime, first thing in the morning).
I have since also eliminated all use of iron cookware, as a result of discovering the amounts of heavy metals that leach into our foods when cooked in iron, aluminum, stainless steel, or ceramic coated pots and pans. This shocking discovery led to purchasing cookware made with stainless mixed with titanium from SaladMaster and solid ceramic cookware from Ceramcor, both of which do not leach heavy metals during normal cooking.
This is particularly important when you are cooking acidic foods like tomato sauce that accelerate the leaching of metals into your food, adding a metallic bitterness to the dish. Cooking bone broth, vegetable broth, or mushroom broth for hours adds extreme amounts of heavy metals to the broth.
Stainless steel, aluminum, copper bottom pans, metal slow cookers, and ceramic-coated pots are all susceptible to metal leaching. Of course, non-stick coatings are very toxic as well.
For this reason alone, daily mild detoxification strategies are a crucial element today in any health building program.
You can also eat bitter foods and bitter herbs to stimulate bile, which cleans out the blood and liver of heavy metals, chemicals, and pathogens by encapsulating the poisons in bile fluids and passing them out of the body.
Digestive Bitters was created partly for this purpose, in addition to its laxative effects (a function of bile), and its promotion of the body's natural enzyme production from the pancreas, liver, stomach, and intestines. Here is an article on cleansing the liver with a Digestive Bitters Flush
Excesses of sulfur in the body, for instance, can be reduced by increasing the intake of a mineral source created by Nature containing 70+ minerals. Doing so provides a good spectrum of minerals to bond with the sulfur excess and bring it back within a healthful range. As we now know, this holds true even if the antidote (iron) mineral source also contains sulfur in it (as in Sacred Clay).
The same is true for aluminum. If your clay has silica and aluminum in it (as all edible clays do) it is typically bound up in the form of an aluminosilicate, known to be safe in the human body.
An aluminosilicate clay will also assist the body to remove the toxic form of unbonded, isolated aluminum from the body (typically from industrial aluminum sources). This is partly due to the silica presence in the clay, and partly due to other minerals in the clay that interact with free aluminum, like phosphorous and iron.
So if you find out you are excessive in one mineral or metal, the solution is not to avoid all foods, clays or herbs that might contain a trace amount of such, but to insure that you consume as many broad spectrum nutrient sources as is possible and reasonable, so as to insure you have sufficient bonding opposites for both the excessive element and all of the other elements that interact with the excessive element, as revealed above.
It is also important not to take single mineral supplements like calcium, or cal-mag, or magnesium, or zinc, etc. alone. The interdependence of minerals are foundational to the Natural Order. Taking just one or two, or even 5 or 10 minerals, can throw off the balance of several other minerals in the body through a chain reaction effect.
A shortage here, an excess there, and the domino effect can take its toll on hormones, muscle and nerve actions, digestive juices, brain function, along with numerous organ and gland regulating functions, all of which are dependent on a proper balance of minerals to perform their health supportive functions.
An excess of calcium, for example. can lead to heart attacks due to way calcium counterbalances (is an antagonist to) magnesium and potassium. If magnesium and potassium are deficient, the heart muscle will not be able to relax causing it to freeze, resulting in sudden death. Here is an article citing that study: Mega Vitamin Therapy or Whole Food Nutrition?
An excess of magnesium, on the other hand, is implicated in vomiting, low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and cardiac arrest.
An excess of potassium can result in muscle fatigue, chest pains, and an irregular heart beat.
It is not wise to micromanage excesses or deficiencies of any kind. The entire mineral kingdom is interrelated by design. Better to maximize the broadest spectrum of minerals and phytonutrients from resources derived from the earth soils, grown in the earth, or in the waterways. Let Nature strike the perfect balance of nutrients in your body. That is what plants and earthen sources were designed for.
What Nature has made will contain a multitude of nutrients already balanced. Her properties bred into each earthen source are multidimensional. Such balance is readily available to provide bonding opposites for metals, minerals, chemicals, and pathogens alike to support the body's own natural detoxification pathways.
Here is an article on several ways to detox pollutants of all kinds: Nature's Most Powerful Protections from Radiation Exposure
The article focuses on radiation, but radiation is just another heavy metal, so the principles apply to all areas of detoxification.
Hope this helps to sort out what your best options are in your instance. Your own intuition, along with an adherence to whole earthen resources, are your best guides when trying to detox from excesses of any kind in the body.
Many blessings of health & success,
Enjoy the many gifts from Nature!
Herbs and clays that help keep the detox channels clear, accelerate the release of toxins from the cells, tissues, and organs, and protect the body from detox reactions.
How to Guard Your Health & Emotional Well Being as You Celebrate
Surprising and (for some) Shocking Tips on How to Minimize the Side Effects of Celebration Foods & Prevent the Seasonal Blues