Ever wonder if you’ve got harmful chemicals in you?”
I don’t blame you for being curious! Especially if you’re feeling challenged by:
- Excess weight
- Digestive issues
- Any number of mysterious aches & pains
On the heels of our recent exploration into Internet “fact or fiction” – including the myth that chemicals can be absorbed into your skin in 26 seconds flat – answering this question means taking the conversation a bit further.
As you know by now, chemicals CAN find their way into you through many different pathways – either from:
- your food
- personal care products
- cleaning supplies
- home furnishings
- pesticides
- …& more
And there ARE specific kinds of tests that can determine your overall chemical load – some of which you might have heard about some of, such as urine or hair analysis.
That said, are you familiar with Body Burden testing?
The TV journalist Anderson Cooper, recently delved into this realm for a documentary he produced.
It was a really great example of one person who had really extensive testing done. Because what this did, it illustrated that these chemicals in our environment are a REAL problem – even for someone like Anderson Cooper (who just happens to be famous).
In other words, he’s also a real person and in that respect no different from the rest of us!
Having a celebrity figure such as Anderson Cooper serve himself up as a human guinea pig, was enormously helpful.
On the other hand, do you really need these extensive tests to show that chemicals are showing up in peoples’ bodies? The answer is no. And the reason why, is because we already know this. Various studies and testing are continuously being done – and have been done for many years already (such as the aforementioned urine analysis).
Take routine blood work, for example. You’ve had that done – yes?
Chances are, this happened at your doctor’s office during a routine annual check-up. And so what these tests have done – for you and everyone else – they provided your doctor with all kinds of data about what was going on in your body.
The CDC – or Center for Disease Control – even keeps tracks of these statistics.
It’s how we know that about 98% of the population has traces of phthalates in their bloodstream (phthalates being an endocrine-disrupting chemical linked to certain kinds of cancers – I talk about that here).
This routine blood work at your doctor’s office, is among several standard blood tests that focus on things like:
- Your hormones,
- Your thyroid
- Your white blood cell count
- …and so forth.
However, Body Burden testing takes things to a whole other level.
You could say it’s at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum! One reason is simply due to the expense – since it’s not what the average Joe would shell out money for.
But what IS Body Burden testing?
In short, it’s an individual test that shows the level of chemicals that are IN you – kind of a blood test on steroids. However, as with any test – it’s only showing you a “snapshot in time” as far as what was happening in your life at the very moment the blood was drawn.
Then again, it can provide an enormous amount of information! Is it useful? Perhaps.
As I mentioned, it’s also enormously expensive – it can run around $10,000 or so – usually not an option for the average person!
So unless you’re a celebrity, or a TV journalist who’s putting together a documentary, it isn’t something that’s real useful for the average person – regardless of your age.
Besides, you can already be pretty sure that you have lead and mercury, and parabens and phthalates and all these other things in your body – even without any testing.
It’s simply a fact of modern life.
Which means that – at the end of the day it’s not valuable information, because you already KNOW you have all this crap in you.
Does that also mean there’s nothing you can do about reducing your exposure?
Of course not!
This what I teach in my programs – with the goal of helping you get a handle on your immediate home environment, making it both healthier and safer for everyone in your household – even if ‘everyone’ means YOU.
If you haven’t yet listened to my Free online class – The Skinny On Weight Gain – this would be a great time to check it out!
After all, environmental toxins are truly the ‘elephant in the room’ – especially when it comes to you weight, or whatever symptoms you might be struggling with!
Check it out here.
Can’t wait to see you on the other side!
Follow
Speak Your Mind