Excerpt from Healthy Living in a Contaminated World by Don Hoernschemeyer
A daily barrage of TV and magazine ads, featuring bodies most of us can only dream of having, tell us how to be fit and healthy. Eat right, get lots of exercise, sleep well, meditate, lower job stress, get regular physical check-ups, and laugh more. All of these will promote better health and physical fitness. But, they are insufficient to assure it.
Every “expert” claims that his or her way is best. Eat a balanced diet, eat lots of fruit and vegetables, eat more fish, get enough omega-3 and omega-6 nutrients, take multiple vitamins, eat only raw foods, avoid meats, avoid sugary drinks, drink no alcoholic beverages, drink alcohol in moderation (a little red wine), replace meat by tofu, eat only cage-free chicken, eat only organic beef, etc. Of course, minimize calories. Such conservative diets, faithfully followed, will promote your health.
Every exercise guru has his or her own recommended regimen, from running, using their exercise machine, doing yoga, swimming, playing vigorous sports, ingesting high-protein supplements, and more. You watch for the blood pressure to go down and the fat roll to melt away. Sticking with any exercise practice will increase your muscle tone, cardiovascular fitness, and overall health. These prescriptions will make you more fit and healthy today, but will they assure your continued health, free of cancer and debilitating illnesses? Decades ago the answer was probably “yes.” However, in the present era of massive pollution of the environment by invisible toxic chemicals, the answer is “probably not.” The air is contaminated with exhausts from cars, trucks, and coal-fired power plants. Water is often contaminated with industrial wastes and agricultural pesticides and fertilizers. Meat and dairy products contain hormone and antibiotic additives. Myriad pesticides contaminate fruits and vegetables. Toxic chemicals that cause cancer, disrupt the hormone system, depress the immune system, and sabotage the reproductive system infiltrate our homes.
There is consensus among scientists that traces of toxic chemicals in people’s bodies cause many diseases and illnesses. More than 400 studies have linked pesticides to cancers, Parkinson’s, asthma, reproductive and developmental disorders, and birth defects. The President’s Cancer Panel Report for 2008-2009 states, “A growing body of research documents myriad established and suspected environmental factors linked to genetic, immune, and endocrine dysfunction that can lead to cancer and other diseases.”
What can a person do to protect himself or herself from these invisible toxic substances that permeate the environment in which they live? Fortunately, the solution is easy, much easier than demanding exercise and diet routines. Simply learn what toxic chemicals you are exposed to, the sources of the toxics, and how you can avoid exposure to them.
Healthy Living in a Contaminated World has been endorsed by: Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus U. Chicago Medical School; Robert Bates, MD, MPH; Doris Rapp, MD, Founder of the Environmental Health Foundation; Patricia Keith-Spiegel, Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School.
Toxins Found In Your Home:
Throughout the centuries people have suffered from diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid, syphilis, and smallpox caused by bacteria and viruses. Most of those diseases have now been eliminated or minimized by improved sanitation, vaccination, and antibiotic drugs. However, in our times people are experiencing a growing incidence of slowly developing diseases that are primarily caused by invisible toxic chemicals in our communities, homes, and workplaces. Once the dangers and sources of common toxics are understood, each person can make choices that greatly reduce their own and their family’s exposures, and thereby have lives more free of disease and illness. They will also discover how easy it is to help create a safer environment so that future generations – their grandchildren – can have lives freer of disease and illness.
The following charts offer one sampling of how common toxins effect our health, where they can be found and how the can be eliminated from our homes.
