When we think of toxins, we often think of chemicals, industrial pollutants, etc. When we think of food toxins, pesticides might come to mind. But what would you say if I told you there was more to the story? I remember an evening when I was consulting a 30something male patient. He told me he was feeling really run down. He had been enjoying his summer barbeques with his beer and burgers (and had no intention of putting an end to that!), but something wasn’t right. His wife (a patient as well) told him that I test for toxins, so he asked to get  “one of those hair analyses or something.”

He suspected that he was tired from some kind of lurking toxin — and he assured me it couldn't be food. I smelled a rat. I had a sneaky suspicion that my friend here was sitting in front of me because his wife gave him the “go see Dr. Kellyann or ELSE” stare. (You know, that  “or else” can scare the heck out of a guy!) So, he was sitting in front of me much like someone sentenced to jury duty. Well, I had been to this rodeo before. You can tell a lot about the health of someone by examining some common threads that you often see in Chinese medicine diagnostics.

I studied quite a bit of Chinese medicine and I knew much of what my friend was feeling was because he was caught up in what I coined in practice as “decadent eating.” While it may be okay to eat crap some of the time, when you make it a habit, you are literally poisoning your cells. I can’t make that any clearer. I knew a hair analysis was not the answer to my patient’s issues — it was clearly his decadent eating lifestyle.  His nightly habits of brew and picnic foods, was putting him over the top.

Here’s why:

Most of us don’t get unhealthy or overweight from eating a small amount of crud, but regular amounts of crud, consumed in excessive quantities all of time can poison us! In fact, our risk for developing sickness and disease goes up considerably when you get a daily dose of foods that are not best for your body’s design. By the way, I’m not talking about a mamby pamby illness like a cold, but the biggies like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

The truth is, because of the  “economic principle of declining marginal benefits to dietary toxins,” it’s what you do on a regular basis that makes a difference. In other words, if you want to go off the rails, do it in one shot. Hold nothing back, and go until the wheels fall off — then STOP. Poisoning yourself everyday is the worst thing you can do to your cells. Your cells become riddled with carrying matter that's not easily eliminated. This is a dangerous state for your cells to be in. Sick and starving cells create havoc.

The bottom line:  You can’t make progress on yesterday’s garbage when you are constantly cleaning up after today’s mess. To make any difference, you need to eliminate as much garbage from your diet as you possibly can. What is this garbage you ask? Dietary Toxins: These toxins are anything your body cannot fully utilize, metabolize, digest or eliminate causing waste, debris or harm to your gut.

The biggest dietary toxins I see today are:

• Wheat and other grains
• Added sugars (both real and artificial)
• Poor-quality oils
• Soy products

In my next four posts, I’ll break things down for you and tell you just why these are dietary toxins and that if you eat them on a regular basis you are stamping your card to get into the worst party in town — your local sick bay. Well, so I don't leave you hanging…my burger and brew friend was not so easy to convince until he starting feeling so bad he could barely function.

I took the hair analysis he requested and while he certainly had some elevations there (like most people do) he didn't feel better until he paid attention to dietary toxins – because no matter how you slice it…they matter. Before I go, I have to share a quick story about a well-known blogger/radio host who’s now ridding herself of dietary toxins …

A Blogger on a Mission

I had been following a blogger named Debra Lynn Dadd for years. She is the founder of the website http://www.debralynndadd.com and a radio show called Toxic-Free Radio. Guests share their insights on everything from cosmetics to gardening – it's a great radio show, and her blog has been invaluable to me in demystifying what toxic-free products to buy. I first turned to her when I was pregnant and wanted a totally toxic free environment for my son. Debra, coined the Queen of Green by the New York Times, is a wealth of information.

She has been at it for years and gets literally hundreds of thousands of visitors to her website every month. I reached out to her about her radio show, on which I was a featured guest on the topic of dietary toxins. You can listen here: Dr. Kellyann Petrucci on Toxic Free Talk Radio She also invited me to do a guest blog post on the same topic, which you can read here. You know how they say, when you are supposed to do something, your teacher often shows up, that things start to align.

That's what happened with Debra and me! My 30 Day Reset Diet made total sense to her. She asked me what the 30-Day does, and I told her, “It gets the toxins out of the cells, the nutrients in … that everything rises and falls on healthy cells.” This resonated with her. She evaluated the program, and decided to JUMP IN! Debra is wonderful to work with because she was completely ready, and is totally committed. You can read about her amazing journey here: www.debrashomecooking.com. Join Debra on this amazing journey by starting your own 31-Day Total Health Reboot cellular cleanse! It works!! Keep thinking big and living bold!