Environmental Toxic Load: What We’re Exposed to Every Day

Introduction to Radioactive Toxins 0:00

And you hear about heavy metals and of course, lead, mercury, cadmium, you know, these heavy metal, they're toxic and yeah, I don't want to consume them, but radioactive elements are even a whole another level above that. And the reason why is not only are they heavy elements as well, But they're actually unstable. And because they are unstable, they give off radiation as they degrade and decay into other isotopes or other elements. The easiest analogy I always think about is if we had a charcoal grill and those, you know, charcoals were just, white, so hot.

I take that and I swallow it. Yeah, it's going to burn my mouth. but it's still burning all the way down and it is going to keep burning. And that's what a radioactive element is. It's not just a one and done, it it going. Symptoms are only part of the story. I'm Dr. Drew Kidder.

Podcast Intro and Guest Background 0:55

and on the healing terrain, we explore deeper systems influencing clinical outcomes from toxic burden and microbial imbalance to the foundational factors that drive resilience and long-term health. Hi, I'm Dr. Emily Hernandez, naturopathic doctor and clinical educator at Cellcore, and I have the pleasure to be sitting here with Dr J. Davidson, one of the founders of CellCore. And this is the Healing Terrain podcast. So excited to have him on to pick his brain about all things toxin, but why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself first?

Yeah, grew up very interested in sports and had injuries and through the injuries, the knee injuries. And surgery was exposed to the physical therapy world. Then I was like, I want to be in the health world, so that pushed me into health and have a little bit of an OCD personality. So I got kind of, you know, dove into that and got interested and. trying to figure out exactly what I want to do in health. My mom told me, why don't you go see my chiropractor? You know, so I went and saw him on a college break and talked about nutrition and body healing.

And I was like, this makes sense. That's what put me into chiropractic school. Right before that, I met my wife who was going to chirapractic school too. So we went to school together. Things got real serious from that and an opener practice. And then my daughter was born in 2012 and the bottom fell out. My wife nearly died. Just, it was, I mean, yeah, super scary crisis. But through that, you know, pain came purpose or through the mess, obviously now has a message and got through that and just, you know, we went through our fire and came on the other side, the Phoenix and rocking and rolling.

Yeah, he used it as a silver lining to learn, heal her, and heal so many other people. And educate, appreciate it. Well, we're going to talk about toxins today, which I know is a really big topic. I remember being environmental school in environmental medicine in school. And after class, everyone just had this like shock on their face of I don't want to breathe. Let's maybe see how we can unpack it a little bit, empower people to just be knowledgeable about what they're being exposed to and maybe how to remove or limit that exposure and any other kind of tips that you have.

But first and foremost, what are some of the toxins that we should be thinking about that were exposed? Yeah, well, I mean, ultimately, the reason why chemicals, toxins, toxicants, poisons, if you will, whatever word you want to choose and and how you define that's fine, but the reason that that is so impactful is it negatively impacts the body, damages mitochondria, causes pathogens to go nuts,

Why Toxins Matter for Health 3:34

suppresses the immune system, you know, parasites, co-infections, Lyme, all this stuff thrives when the poisons are there, clogs up drainage pathways. And so the reasons why we want to consider, environmental toxins, chemicals, and trying to figure out how to limit exposure and detox from it, is because it is really at the core of what's causing issues in the human body. Dysfunction, right? Yeah. So with that, I mean, it can be scary. Because it's like, wait a minute, you know, Dr. Emily, Doctor Jay, like you're saying everything in my house is, could potentially be full of chemicals.

Like, well, when you were just starting down this route, yeah, mean it could be, but you just got to Like you got to start somewhere. So just pick and, you know, so don't be overwhelmed. You're just taking the information and from it, this is a good piece of advice that I've taken is when you listen to lectures or you listened to podcasts or, read a book, it's like, well, what's one or two actionable items that can do. And then you can always revisit that book podcast. It's, like okay, What can I do now?

Especially the good ones, right? Book market. and whatnot. And so when we're looking at chemicals and toxins, I mean, the water supply, yeah, food supply and what we breathe in, those are the big three and everything falls within that. Okay. So what are some of the things within water? Let's start with water then, like, what Are some Of the toxins that people should be kind of thinking about or evaluate their water for potentially? Yeah, i mean the basics is, you know, chlorine and fluoride. Then fluorine can be a lot tougher to remove from the Water supply.

Most cities put it in there. and it's not even actual fluoride, but they call it fluorided. It's a byproduct of fertilizer industry that is sold as a biohazard waste that then they dump into our water and they say it is fluorides. So that alone is Like, yeah, we shouldn't drink that.

Water Contaminants and Distilled Water 5:39

There's also industrial and environmental toxins, there's herbicides and pesticides, the glyphosates of the world and, you know, that category. there are also the things that are naturally in the soil and can be released at a lot higher level from fracking and things like radioactive elements. The reason why they're a concern is they hear about heavy metals and of course, lead, mercury, cadmium you know these heavy metals they're toxic and yeah you don't want to consume them but radioactive elements are even a whole nother level above that and the reason why is not only are they heavy elements as well but They're actually unstable.

And because they're unstable, they are giving off radiation as they degrade and decay into other isotopes or other elements. The easiest analogy I always think about is like if we had a charcoal grill and those, you know, charcoals were just, there are white, so hot, I take that and I swallow it. Yeah, it's going to burn my mouth. But it is still burning all the way down and it will keep burning. And that's what a radioactive element is. It's not just a one and done, it is going, you know. So you're looking at uranium, your looking a radium and that is probably the most prevalent one to look at.

There's strontium, there's different radioactive forms of barium as well too. You can get radioactive elements. you know, that they do, they give you injections before an MRI, right, for the tracine and things like that, gadolinium, and they're all toxic, but the fact that their radioactive, it's like having that coal inside, constantly causing inflammation, like the alpha irradiation of radium, you don't necessarily absorb it in the skin. So it's like, yeah, I mean, if you want a shower filter, great.

But the more important thing is what do you drink? What do your water? Right. Because we're made up of what? Almost 90% more water. Yeah, If you look at water being H2O, 96% of our body is carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Right? So H20, or hydrogen oxygen is a huge piece of of body for sure. So what's your kind of tip for getting good, clean drinking water? Distilled water. Okay. Yeah. And you can buy that at the store. The problem is, is you know, if you, it's like what happened to that water before you bought it?

Yeah, because it sitting out in the cold or the hot, right? Is it in a plastic container? And is that leaching? and honestly, when you taste distilled, water that you buy, It just doesn't taste like when, you make it, You know? So you get water distillers. yeah. Of course it is an investment and the people, that get most offended are the ones that just spent, you know, I just invested X number of dollars into a whole water thing. Now you're telling me like, yeah, it's as simple as water distillation because as you look at water filters.

Water filters will eventually always fill up. They'll always eventually stop filtering. And as soon as they stop, now you're the filter. Right. If a water distiller, because it does a phase shift where it goes from water to gas back into water because of phase shifts, if it doesn't the first time, it's the millionth time. So you know that if you are filtering it the 1st time you good later on. You might get some volatile organic compounds. And a simple carbon filter, carbon pot after, right? Every once in a while you switch that out.

Right. But other than that, water distillation is the most important thing, the water you drink. Because think about in all the schooling, all of the conferences, I mean, dehydration for people. Yeah. Always talked about. And what do they, what every doctor taught. sure they drink eight glasses or you know take their body weight yeah divided by that's an ounces and if you exercise add more but in all reality if there's chemicals in the water you're not hydrating at all. You know radiation dehydrates you internally so if those radioactive elements in your water supply and you are trying to be healthy and drinking water but yet it's in there it is causing the opposite.

Yeah. And you said something today about one of the questions I was thinking and I think you answered it really well earlier today when you're speaking, is what about distilled water dehydrating? Some people feel like, oh, there's no minerals in it. You're going to be dehydrated. So what do you kind of... Yeah, so distill water is H2O, right? So if I want to hydrate, all I need is Like our body does need sodium, it does the magnesium, we need potassium. So I still recommend take minerals, take electrolytes.

I think that's important regardless. But most water that you're drinking, all the... You know, besides there being rocks in it, basically, minerals that are inorganic, so they're not usable by the body, that's the same thing that builds up on your bathtub and your sinks and faucets, right? Your body's not meant for that form. Minerals, because all minerals are actually metals, but minerals, are meant to be from your food supply. That's where you're supposed to get it. Yep, makes sense. So if you have well water, if have city water and in your area super hard water.

Yeah. It's like, yeah, there's minerals in it, but they're not usable. Right. The more important thing is all the other poisons that are there. So it's, like we want to start with pure water first because that is it. Take some electrolytes, take some minerals, But just make sure they are a source that's usable because the stuff that in tap water or from a you know, well water, it's not usable. And then it has all the other chemicals in it. Yeah, great. That's super helpful. Now, if somebody switches to distilled water just know you might feel a little bit more.

Because your body is detoxing. You're finally not consuming it, right? So where you're like, oh my gosh, this is just like flushing through me. Your body's probably trying to clear out what's been built up for X number of years. Right. Finally has just the pure water to do it. Yes. Yeah. Cause if you keep drinking poison, your body can never start working on the burden. It's just, it's constant exposed. So it only dealing, just trying to deal with what it exposed to.

Food Toxins and Everyday Exposure 11:58

so it just pushing away what can't. As soon as you stop being exposed it, now the body's like, Ooh, I have bandwidth I can get rid of and it'll start clearing. Amazing. Okay. What about food? Where, what kind of toxins are we thinking about with food. Yeah, the biggest toxins I would say are more the herbicide, you know, pesticide, that stuff that gets into our food supply, glyphosate. I mean, they've done so many studies where you buy organic and there's still glyphasate So tough. So I feel like people come to me feeling defeated because they're like, I'm eating so healthy.

You know the clean 15, a dirty dozen and avoiding those. getting organic and wild caught. I think it's just a really tough challenge that we have. Even when we try to eat as healthy as we can, we're still being exposed, unfortunately, at least in this country. Yeah, yeah. they spray the skies, you know, with biocides or otherwise known as pesticide herbicides. They spray for mosquitoes, especially in warmer climates, from trucks and airplanes. And it's like, I'm all for organic. I do think it is cleaner, but it doesn't mean it perfect.

And then especially when you go eating out, the exposure is usually pretty bad because of what's required at restaurants in order for it to be clean and properly sanitized, The chemicals they use, food oils that they cook with, and they're mostly rancid. So the solution, yeah, it's scary. It's like, man, there's chemicals everywhere. Just breathe, pause, reflect. The things that you can impact, great, do. The things that you can't control, that's what a binder a day is for. That's really the new multivitamin is you're exposed to chemicals.

So just take a binder, grab onto that so it can build up. Love it. And also like once you do get to a place of, you know, as much as you get that homeostasis or health, I mean, the body is made and is this beautiful, resilient system that is to filter things out, right? So it's like, we're always going to be exposed to these toxins. We just want to kind of reflect, are those drainage pathways and detox pathways working as optimally as possible so we can remove the toxins as we are being exposed.

Versus like living in a bubble and trying to remove everything from your exposure. It's hard to do that. Yeah, and especially if you're brand new, kind listening and try to figure it out. A lot of times it can feel doom and gloom, but it is awareness. Let time pass and just know there's hope. I mean, my wife nearly died twice in her life when she was younger, diagnosed with Lyme and went into coma and brain encephalitis and they had no idea what was going on when was seven years old. And then again, when my daughter was born, you know, in 2012, and it's like you look at her now and she's so vibrant and healthy.

Air Quality, Mold, and Filtration 14:38

The point is what you said, the body can rebound. Body, right? remove what's interfering with it, give it what it needs to build upon. The body is incredible. And someone today was speaking at Eco here. We're here at an amazing conference that you guys started. I was talking about just like, you know, the body's constantly trying to protect you. So even though sometimes you may feel like there's symptoms that are unwanted or unpleasant, like it's innately intelligent and it is doing those things to ultimately protect and just having faith and trust in that process.

Okay, so our third one is air. What about the air? What are we kind of talking about in terms of toxins and some easy solutions, hopefully? Yeah, for the house, sometimes people actually have natural gas leaks. So if you have a gas stove or you a fireplace, I mean, get a meter just to make sure, because that's an easy one. Carbon monoxide detector, put in your house. carbon dioxide, put them both in your house, you know, check that. Mold is probably the biggest one for the house. And it's not mold you react to necessarily.

It's the toxin the mold creates. Yep. You breathe that in, that gets in you lungs, it gets into your sinuses. That's a big miss I see in the health realm is people will take binders to clear the mould out, especially lungs and GI, but they're not sinus rinsing. And so, sinus rinsing is really important with that. And then, unfortunately, yeah, I mean, the stratospheric bioengineering and them dumping chemicals in the sky, it's not just strontium and barium, and aluminum, It is also pesticides, herbicides, other chemicals.

When flu season hits, it's usually that they just dump something in the sky. As conspiratorial as that can sound, I've got all the receipts. The Department of Ministry in Spain even publicly put out right after COVID, we always do these aerosol missions, but now we're going to add biocides to it, which is pesticides and herbicides to protect everybody. It's like, well, health deteriorating comes from poison. So how does putting more poisons out there, you know what I mean? It's like injecting in poisions in your body too and expecting you're going to be healthier.

Oh, it's going protect you. It is like no toxicity is a core issue in health. Yeah. We want to limit toxins and detoxify. And yeah, air pollution too. You know, certain cities, the way that they're made, I mean, you got the phoenixes of the world or Vegas when it's hot out and the air becomes stagnant. You've got Los Angeles, New York, different amounts, obviously, India, China, air quality. Especially India, it's a whole other level. Any particular air purifiers that you like for the house, especially in the bedroom, to keep that air clean as much as you can while you're sleeping?

Yeah, you definitely want to change your filter on your HVAC. I mean, most people will say, get the highest MERV you could, 13, 15, but in all reality, just makes your hVac work a little harder. Merv 8 is fine, you know, personally on the health side of it. If you're in a warmer climate, I like having a UV bulb within your HVAC too. and get them clean, get your vents clean. Make sure the recirculating fan that your HVAC system uses isn't super old, just replace it. The air quality is super important.

And then, yeah, I love if you're at home or work from home, or somewhere in your house all the time, like the bedroom. I mean, if sleep eight hours, you are there at least probably nine hours then. Just the prep and all that, so that could be a third of your day. So my daughter has an air filter in her bedroom, My wife and I have one in ours. I think that's the most important area. Yeah. What kind of brand do you like? I mean, in general, I thing anything with HEPA is good. Charcoal filters inside of it too, because it can help with odors and things.

There's lots of brands out there. Usually your biggest cost is going to be replacement of the filter. So it's not just buying a machine, but looking at Okay, how often do they recommend replacements and how expensive or how costly are those, right? I mean, it's really an investment in your health and it is super important, but just future pacing because you do have to replace those filters. So we have a couple of different brands, I think anything PEPA or something that maybe does an ionization where the filter and grab on more is good options.

Well, we're already out of time, believe it or not. I feel like I got some great takeaways of just kind of what toxins to kind to be looking out for and how we can kind slowly try to eliminate that exposure, but also just keeping that hope and knowing that your body is able to tolerate and especially when we use things like binders and support our drainage

Closing Thoughts on Detox and Resilience 19:28

and detox pathways that our bodies are resilient and they can handle this stuff as long as we are taking care of it and our environment. Yeah, there's absolutely hope. Just keep moving forward and sometimes the easiest things are where to start. Biggest dominoes, start knocking those down and things will move forward. Great. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Thanks. See you guys next time! Thanks for listening to The Healing Terrain. If this episode challenged the way you think about health and healing, please follow, share and leave a review.

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