In this series of blog posts I want to discuss an important underlying concept in wellness. These concepts were adapted from a German physician who identified a number of predictable steps that would occur when a person is “toxic”. This concept is called homotoxicology and is the premise for a lot of work in homeopathy and naturopathy. Homotoxicology simply means the study of how toxins affect humans.
- The foods you eat can help you buffer your metabolic acids, or they can make your acid problem worse. Choose wisely.
An understanding of each of the six steps in this process are key components of developing a wellness protocol that work for you. Different symptoms are most noted in different stages along the illness and disease pathway. We are going to just introduce you to the concept of these six stages and provide you with some brief introduction into what should be looked at in each stage.
The first stage is excretion. When you are exposed to toxins, increased metabolic acid and other waste products, your body should be able to handle the excretion of these compounds from your body. Every cell in your body needs to have the ability to obtain nourishment and eliminate waste. That is on a micro level. On a macro level you need to be able to consume nutrients and eliminate waste. I am amazed at the number of people walking around with poor excretory pathways. People suffering with chronic constipation, urinary problems and the list goes on. You must be able to get rid of excess metabolic acid and toxic residuals.
Let me sidetrack for just a moment here. Everything you and I do in our daily life produces increased metabolic acid. From thinking about the bank account, to studying Spanish for your trip to Mexico, from riding your bike, to playing with your kids. The fact that we are living means that we are producing metabolic acids and wastes that need to be eliminated. Guess what? Our body is designed to eliminate these wastes when it is working properly! It is when this process does not work you begin to trek down “homotoxicology lane” and start having deterioration in your health.
Below the video we’ll give you three tips on how you can monitor your functional excretion with simple at-home tests.
Measure bowel transit time – Use activated charcoal to measure your bowel transit time which should be 18-22 hours. You need to have 1-2 well-formed, healthy bowel movements each and every single day…no exceptions. Period.
- Measure your first morning urine pH – In my office we look at not only first morning urine pH but also specific gravity. This gives us clues to acid and toxin excretion. Your first morning urine should be the most acidic urine of the day. Now your body will secrete what it has in excess. Everything you do produces acid…including all the maintenance jobs your body just spent all night doing when you were sleeping. So guess what? Your first morning urine sample should be around 5.5 on the pH scale which is fairly acidic. Then your second morning urine should start to rise to a more neutral pH level. Take some pH strips and measure your first morning urine pH and second morning urine pH and observe the trend for on week.
- Measure your first morning saliva pH – Normal salivary pH for the first morning sample before any food, water, toothpaste, etc is introduced should be 6.5-6.8. This can be measured with pH strips and tracked along with your urine tests to observe trends for a week.
