Plant Medicine | Detox Heavy Metal – Reduce Fat and Stress

It’s impossible to lead an urban life in the city without exposure to heavy metal toxins.  These toxins weigh you down… litterally adding weight where you least desire.

Did you know, the hardest type of toxin to remove from your cells are the metals?

These metals reek havoc on our immune system, emotions, hormones .. and host of other endocrine biological reactions. The end result is feeling sluggish, pissed off, fat, and stressed out.

If you’ve already changed your eating habilts, started drinking 64 ounces of water a day, are doing some bit of body movement each day… and are still wondering why you can’t sleep through the night and feel streed for no apparent reason… metal toxicity in the blood should get tested.

Most natural doctors will test for heavy metals.  Most mainstream doctors will not.  You can find a good naturopath in your area by searching online.. but be sure to do your homework and research their background and track record for healing patients.  Both mainstream and non-mainstream doctors are only as good as their results for healing patients.

Sidenote:  Did you know Traditional Chinese Healing Practitioners etched a line in the door moulding outside their office for each patient that died in their care.  Can you imagine such honest trasparancy in healthcare?  I’d personally love to choose a doctor based on seeing his success rate.

Common metals found in a heavy metal blood test are aluminum, lead, and mercury.  The process to remove heavy metal is called chelation. Chelation is introducing a compound that acts like a magnet to the metals and drags them out of the body.  Below is a list of plants that I’ve found to be helpful to chelate the daily metals that bombard my body daily.

Botanical Herbs that Chelate Heavy Metals

The following four plants all have certain detoxifying and chelation abilities. These are all easy to grow and will come back year after year ( to be used in your tea pot) just like the old english gardens were used prior to WW2.

Dandelion Root. The root of the dandelion plant can be used to both chelate and detoxify. It is effective on most man-made molecules. A tea can be made by adding 1 cup of boiling water to 1 teaspoon of the cut or powdered root. Up to 3 cups a day is recommended.
Ground Ivy. Ground ivy seems to be specific for removing lead. To make tea, add 1 cup of boiling water to one teaspoon of the leaves. Three cups a day is recommended.
Yellow Dock. This herb is specific for removing aluminum. A tea is made by adding 1 cup of boiling water to 1 teaspoon of the root material. The dosage is 3 or 4 cups a day.

Holy Basil. Found in Rose tea, this fantasic plant has earned the name of being holy because it works to regulate so many bodily interactions.  We definately need to add this to the list of blood and cell cleansers. Make a tea of the leaves, or find Rose Tea … and drink it 3 times a day.

Plants and Natural Compounds that Chelate Heavy Metals

In addition to those three herbs, other compounds have been shown to have chelating ability, including the following:

Flax oil.

Flax oil has been shown to chelate aluminum from the body. Make sure your flax oil has been refridgerated and is cold processed.  Do Not ever cook with flax oil.  It is used as a salad dressing oil or over any type of food (maybe rice?) when you want to add a bit of nutrition.  Heads up! … some flax oil has a bit of a fishy taste.

Selenium.

Selenium has exhibited chelating abilities with arsenic, cadmium, silver, and sometimes lead. Eat 3 BRAZIL NUTS a day and get enough selenium and zinc to remove daily metal exposure… and build your immune system at the same time!

Sulfur

Sulfur has certain chelating abilities, as do many sulfur-containing amino acids. Not everyone can take sulfer.  Please check with your physician to make sure you do not have an allergy to this compound.

Shark LIver Oil

is a compound structures that have a specific ability to chelate mercury and carry it out of the body. Ironically .. this is why much of our natural fish population tends to run heavy on toxic mercury levels.  So.. be sure to do your research on exactly where your brand of shark liver oil was raised and processed. And check to make sure they have done a toxic metal screening on their final product.

Here is a list of Heavy Metals

Arsenic

Common sources of exposure to higher-than-average levels of arsenic include near or in hazardous waste sites and areas with high levels naturally occurring in soil, rocks, and water. Exposure to high levels of arsenic can cause death.

Beryllium

Elemental beryllium has a wide variety of applications. Occupational exposure most often occurs in mining, extraction, and in the processing of alloy metals containing beryllium. Beryllium can cause sensitization, lung and skin disease in a significant percentage of exposed workers.

Cadmium

Cadmium is an extremely toxic metal commonly found in industrial workplaces, particularly where any ore is being processed or smelted. Several deaths from acute exposure have occurred among welders who have unsuspectingly welded on cadmium-containing alloys or with silver solders.

Hexavalent Chromium

Calcium chromate, chromium trioxide, lead chromate, strontium chromate, and zinc chromate are known human carcinogens. An increase in the incidence of lung cancer has been observed among workers in industries that produce chromate and manufacture pigments containing chromate.

Lead

Occupational exposure to lead is one of the most prevalent overexposures. Industries with high potential exposures include construction work, most smelter operations, radiator repair shops, and firing ranges.

Mercury

Common sources of mercury exposure include mining, production, and transportation of mercury, as well as mining and refining of gold and silver ores. High mercury exposure results in permanent nervous system and kidney damage.

Other toxic metals:

Aluminum

Molybdenum

Tin

Vanadium

Contributing Articles

Is Oral Chelation as Good as Intravenous Chelation?.

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/metalsheavy/