The human body is beyond fascinating. It is both a receptacle and a processor through which everything we experience is absorbed. Unfortunately, it also absorbs many things that the body does not want. When this happens, and the body cannot process it all, things become blocked, and systems begin to feel stressed.
In today's hustle and bustle lifestyle, which is filled with the harsh and negative effects of our ever-changing and somewhat endangered external environment, it is crucial to remember that all health is holistic, which means that everything is interconnected.
One thing depends upon another to function optimally. This is the primary reason why eye health and good vision is so dependent upon the health of the rest of our internal systems and should be continually maintained, monitored, and strengthened.
So, the next time you feel tired or achy, or have a hard time reading the text of your favorite magazine, remember that everything works together synergistically to help you live your most clear and confident life.
Now is the time to reclaim your health. Don't hesitate; take action today.
Table of Contents
- Internal Health and External Forces
- Heavy Metals and General Health
- The Hazards of Heavy Metals
- Influence of Heavy Metals
- What is Heavy Metal Poisoning?
- The Relationship Between Heavy Metal Toxicity and Vision
- Impact of Heavy Metals on the Body
- Healthy Vision and the Digestive System
- How to Reduce Heavy Metal Toxicity Naturally
Internal Health and External Forces
Chances are you live a full life and try to take your health seriously.
You are active, respectful of your body's needs, and mindful of the importance of self-care – or at least as much as you can be.
Perhaps you are a vegetarian. Maybe you live gluten-free, dairy-free, or prefer to eat a Paleo diet.
You take daily supplements to compliment your lifestyle and specific needs. Whatever you do, you make these conscious choices because you believe in a natural lifestyle, and you know just how important it is to be pickier about the foods you eat, rather than less.
Unfortunately, even if you live a healthy lifestyle, eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and keep your systems in check, there is a chance that you might not be as healthy as you think.
Every minute of the day, we are bombarded by an environment that is potentially harmful to our health and, no matter how carefully we eat, or how active we are, some of us still feel bogged down, achy, tired, or even sick.
Simply put, there are external factors threatening and weakening our immune systems everywhere we turn: in the air, in the ground below our feet, in the water we drink, and in the food we eat.
Heavy Metals and General Health
Every single day, we are barraged with a number of naturally occurring elements that, in small doses, are fine and completely tolerable. Unfortunately, small doses accumulate into larger quantities and become quite a nuisance, eventually manifesting themselves in the form of aches, pains, weakness, and sickness.
If you consume foods that contain heavy metals, your body notices. You might not feel any different at first. But over time, the build-up of toxins triggers the body to kick the immune system into overdrive and push out the bad so that it can rebuild the good.
Unfortunately, the body can only process so much before it is pushed to its limits. Not all heavy metals can be removed by all of our systems, leaving us completely vulnerable to many different illnesses.
Over time, neurotoxins form, confusing the immune system and disrupting nerve function. As heavy metal neurotoxins build up in the body, they irritate the central nervous system, specifically the brain, causing various detrimental symptoms such as physical aches and pains, depression, memory loss, and fatigue, among other things.
When we eat food, we consume heavy metals. When we drink fluids, heavy metals are present. When we breathe, heavy metals cycle into and through our bodies.
Unfortunately, we cannot escape these heavy metals. But we can find ways to limit our exposure to them, as well as learning how to combat their hazardous properties naturally. It is at that point when we begin to see symptoms manifest in many places in the body.
Because functions are impeded, the central nervous system, which controls almost everything we do, doesn't work properly, causing irritation, weakness, and deterioration.
The Hazards of Heavy Metals
No matter where we live, there are a multitude of environmental factors that negatively affect our health.
If you live in an urban area, various forms of smoke, smog, and other harmful pollutants do their part to stress your immune system. Cars, buses, trains and other forms of transportation, while making our lives easier, also make our world more dangerous.
If you work in an office or a factory building, or a manufacturing or processing facility, levels of chemicals or synthetic elements fluctuate but are present. They are also slowly and persistently seeping into your body through your respiratory, digestive, or circulatory system, threatening your general health.
If you are a laborer, building houses, farming, or tending gardens, you are exposed to things such as pesticides, herbicides, latex, and other solvents. If you work from home or spend time in your house, the gases and vapors present can be enough to affect your health.
If you wash your clothes with detergent, clean your home with conventional household cleaning products, cook with aluminum or non-stick cookware, or even use various plant foods to fertilize your plants, chances are you are already affected by excessive and pervasive heavy metals.
Even your children's toys often carry trace amounts of toxins in them, making the reality of raising a child naturally and without harmful chemicals very hard to achieve.
Whether you are a general contractor or the president of a huge multinational corporation, you are not safe from gases, fumes, and microscopic particles that are floating in the air all around you.
Indeed, we live in a world where our immune system is constantly tested and challenged, and our organs have to work extremely hard to maintain some regularity and consistency to keep all systems functioning.
Influence of Heavy Metals
When we don't feel well, we take vitamins, supplements, and over the counter medicines to "make us better."
We have been told that we need to find ways to support the body's systems so that they can become stronger and more resilient to our smog-filled, chemically-colored world.
In other words, we are what we eat. We are a product of all that we consume, and unfortunately, what we consume sometimes contains traces of harmful chemicals and other compounds that are quite bad for our systems.
Sometimes though, we still don't feel better. Physicians, academics, and even naturopaths run tests and create studies to hypothesize possible reasons and try to sort through the symptoms to find a diagnosis.
While there are many possible causes and potential reasons for what could be going on, here is one major underlying problem; heavy metal toxicity.
What is Heavy Metal Poisoning?
Heavy metal toxicity is the over-accumulation of heavy metals in the soft tissue of the body.
To put it another way, it's the buildup of metals and compounds that are absorbed into the body from all over the place which back up our various systems so that we cannot function properly.
Before we move on, it's important to note that our bodies actually need heavy metals in certain amounts to sustain life and proper body function.
Metals such as zinc, iron, manganese, and copper are essential in small quantities. However, when these metals build up in the body and become trapped, serious damage can occur.
The most common heavy metals often associated with ill health include lead, arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, and mercury.
When tested, these metals are extremely toxic in certain amounts and can lead to the body's inability to filter out the bad stuff, leaving us feeling fatigued, achy, irritable, anxious, and generally unhealthy.
Mercury Poisoning and Your Vision
Take mercury, for example. The metal is used for beneficial things that we use every day, such as batteries, fluorescent lighting, thermometers, and refrigeration units. But, mercury is toxic even if diluting it into a ratio of 1:1 billion, which means that even the smallest amounts of mercury can be harmful to the body and your eyes.
Now let's look at the disproportionate amounts of mercury found in sea life, some of which many of us include in our diets. Due to the off-products of industries like coal burning and mining, most water sources contain mercury which is then absorbed into the bodies of fish.
As the fish consume other plants, the mercury is further magnified, and concentrations of heavy metals raise dangerously. This is a process called biomagnification, and it occurs in all of us, from fish to fowl to humans.
Lead Poisoning and Your Vision
Lead is another hugely problematic heavy metal in our society today. Although naturally occurring in the earth, lead is one of the most harmful heavy metals on the planet, causing significant health problems in people all over the world. In fact, lead accumulation in any organism is toxic and can cause everything from dementia to cataracts. Lead exposure has also increased drastically over the course of the twentieth century, and may potentially be an unrecognized risk factor for your health.
There was a time when lead was an ingredient in many things, due to its natural drying and curing characteristics. Paint, for example, contained lead in it so that it would dry more quickly and evenly and be more moisture resistant.
Lead can be found in gasoline, many building materials, and even cosmetics. And, since it is found in the soil, lead is really all around us, ever-present in the air we breathe and the water we drink.
The awareness of lead and mercury poisoning, as well as many other forms of heavy metal toxicity, dates back to ancient times. Although used for a variety of things, it was a well-known fact that too much of any of these metals could cause sickness and even death.
The Relationship Between Heavy Metal Toxicity and Vision
In the world of conventional medicine, when something doesn't work, you have two options; either have surgery to correct the "problem," or take medication. Often, both of these options are implemented, leaving the body in a weakened and sometimes dependent state.
Although many people feel like these options are the only ones available, many of us know that this simply isn't the case. Research, dating back thousands of years, shows us that nutrition is, quite possibly, the root of overall general health.
Taking care to be aware of what goes into our bodies is extremely important. There is almost no question that health is intricately linked to nutrition.
And now we have even more resources to get help deciphering what our bodies really need. For example, sometimes we have too much of something in our systems, or too little.
Here is where heavy metals come into play.
Poor vision is often a common problem faced by many people living with high levels of heavy metals in their bodies. Unfortunately, when other functions begin to lose their efficacy in the body, specific operations begin to slow down and cause unwanted effects all over the body.
We now know that macular degeneration can be directly attributed to a buildup of heavy metals in the body. Researchers have conducted studies that demonstrate this hypothesis and conclude that heavy metal buildup is, in fact, toxic and has long and far-reaching implications for our health.
In this case, we see that it is lead and mercury, building up in our bones, brain, muscle, fat, and tissue, which leads to complications, illness, and deterioration.
Impact of Heavy Metals on the Body
We all age. It's a part of life. And as we age, our organs age as well. But now, instead of simply thinking that any kind of macular degeneration is only because of how old we are, there are other things to consider, namely heavy metals.
So what can we do?
In short, we can find out what is present in our bodies. Once we have a baseline upon which we can build, we can then figure out what the body needs and what it doesn't need to gain strength, resiliency, and immunity.
For example, when there is too much lead present in the body, chances are there is too little of something else that we actually need for optimal health.
In terms of vision, glutathione and ascorbic acid levels must be higher rather than lower in the body. Too much lead means that levels of other, crucial minerals and antioxidants (such as glutathione) falter, making proper function difficult and, ultimately, impossible.
Basically, when too many heavy metals are present in the body, they eradicate the body's ability to absorb nutrients that the body needs to sustain a healthy life. So, it is our job to decipher the mystery of the buildup of heavy metals in the body and to find ways to reduce those harmful levels, while increasing the levels of positive, healthy minerals and nutrients.
Healthy Vision and the Digestive System
In the world of holistic medicine and healing, everything is connected.
The ancient practice of reflexology depicts this clearly, by noting points all over the body that connect one thing to another. The colon, for example, is connected to the eyes by a reflexology point in a specific spot. The colon is like the processing plant of the body and needs to function properly.
You might ask yourself, what does my vision have to do with my colon? Simply put, everything. If that point is open and clear, there is a good movement of energy or chi, and all channels are clear. If that point is blocked, the energy (required for optimal functioning), cannot move through causing a backup of energy and, in many cases, all sorts of complications.
The colon is a processing center for bacteria, toxins, and other unmentionables that move through the digestive system. When working properly, it filters out all of the things we don't need, using digestive enzymes.
When our immunity is compromised in some way, and the body cannot function adequately, the digestive tract becomes inflamed and unable to process.
As the inflammation increases due to these blockages and the limited number of enzymes and antioxidants present, the body strains to work and, eventually, gets bogged down, sluggish, and sick.
How to Reduce Heavy Metal Toxicity Naturally
Below are a few ways to live a more natural, less "heavy metal lifestyle:"
- Eat more natural, unprocessed, organic, unpasteurized, raw, and fermented foods
- Eat locally and seasonally grown foods
- Include omega-3 fats in your diet, while reducing the amount of omega-6 fats
- Choose foods rich in Vitamins A, C, and E
- Augment your diet with antioxidants and other immune-boosting and detoxifying supplements that can help to flush out toxins from your body
Clear and unimpeded vision requires maintenance. You need to visit the eye doctor for regular exams and keep your body strong and supported.
Sometimes, with all of the information flying around the internet, it's hard to know just how to do that.
Now that you know the connection between overall physical health and vision, learn about some of our all-natural supplements that will help your body function more optimally.
These are the supplements we highly recommend for heavy metal detoxification:
Spirulina
Spirulina has shown promising results in eliminating heavy metal toxins such as arsenic and mercury and even radioactive materials from the body.
A 2016 research study documented that spirulina "could be a useful coadjuvant agent within clinical practice" for the treatment of toxic pollutants such as "arsenic, cadmium, carbon tetrachloride, deltamethrin, fluoride, hexachlorocyclohexane, iron, lead, lindane, and mercury."
Another study in 2006 showed that 250 mg of spirulina extract and 2 mg of zinc twice a day for 4 months is highly effective in treating chronic arsenic poisoning, reducing toxicity by almost 47% in the body.
If you're looking to detoxify your body from the harmful effects of heavy metals, give spirulina supplements a try.
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Research has shown that alpha lipoic acid (ALA) "chelates" or binds to heavy metals such as mercury and iron that act as free radicals in the body causing harm to cells and tissues.
Due to its ability to chelate metal ions so that they cannot generate free radicals makes ALA a promising treatment for "neurodegenerative diseases and other chronic diseases in which metal-induced oxidative damage may play a pathogenic role."
Studies have shown that ALA also helps to increase levels of glutathione, an "intracellular antioxidant that also plays a role in the detoxification and elimination of potential carcinogens and toxins."
By helping to increase cellular glutathione levels, ALA supports "the mobilization and excretion of mercury" and decreases "cellular damage and neurotoxicity." This, in turn, helps to regulate the body's natural immune response and helps to combat illnesses such as diabetes and even HIV.
These studies suggest that ALA may potentially be used as an adjunct treatment against heavy metal toxicity.
Chlorella
Naturally rich in chlorophyll and other potent nutrients, chlorella is a natural detoxifier and can help rid the body of harmful heavy metals, chemicals, and even radiation.
Chlorella chelates, or binds, to toxic substances and helps excrete them out of the body. It helps to eliminate stubborn toxins such as mercury, lead and cadmium and prevents them from being reabsorbed.
These heavy metals chelate or bind to chlorella in the digestive tract and are then eliminated from the body through excretion.
DISCLAIMER
GoodLifeProvision is not a doctor, and this information shouldn't ever substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have questions, seek the help of your physician or qualified health provider.