Reduce These Critical Toxic Exposures For Your Health

Ann Shippy, MD

Welcome to Mold, Mycotoxins, and Chronic Illness Summit. I’m your host Dr. Ann Shippy and today I want to talk with you about the importance of other environmental toxins. So when our bodies have accumulated the mold toxins, it’s also a sign that there are other environmental toxins that have built up in our bodies. So what’s happened is our ability to zip the toxins out is less than what we really need at the time. So these toxins have accumulated in all the nooks and crannies in our bodies, in our cell membranes, affecting enzymes and how they work to break things down and to make things. How our mitochondria are functioning and so much more. So when we’re sick it definitely is something that we have to look at as to these toxins accumulating in our body and how it’s affecting us. So a lot of times we get really sensitive like our bodies give us warnings, like when we’re in the grocery aisle or when the neighbor has sprayed pesticides or we’ve eaten fish that’s toxic like our bodies just start screaming at us and we get more and more sensitive. And so it’s our body’s way of really letting us know that this is something to pay attention to but not everybody has that either. So what I want to do is cover how these toxins like we think that they’re additive like lead and mercury when you put them together, that it would be one plus one but often they have synergistic effects. So it’s not straight math. It’s like one plus one is really 100 or 1000 or more. And there’s never just one toxic.

We know from the Environmental Working Group that babies being born even 10 years ago out of 400 chemicals had over 250 of the chemicals that they were looking for at the levels that their active in the body. Like when we look at what levels drugs need to be to be active in the body, it’s that kind of level. So it’s significant. They’re chemical messengers in the body that are new and a lot of them haven’t even been studied. So the worse the toxins build up in your body, the worse the cellular communication. Most of the mitochondrial functions are affected and even our ability to detoxify is reduced. So what I want to do today is help you think through some of the steps that if you haven’t taken them already, that you can start to do just a step at a time, because I know that this can feel like a lot you just to start to have some awareness around some of the things that you can do. So we know that toxins at their even a lot of times the way we get medications into the body so we know that they go through the skin like if you think about medication patches and that kind of thing, it’s often a very effective way to get medicine. Well, the same thing with toxins. So like if you’re rubbing on sunscreen, the toxins in the sunscreen will go right into your system. 

So think about that that goes through the skin, through the digestive tract. So when we eat or drink things that have toxins in them, they can get absorbed and start to accumulate faster than what our bodies can get rid of. And then the most direct route, like if we need something to get into super fast, often it’s the respiratory like when you inhale medications, it goes in super fast. That’s our fastest way to get certain things in. So we have to be aware of all of those and try to minimize what goes into our bodies. So just a couple of tips of things that I think can be helpful. Number one is it’s not always available, you know, especially when you’re traveling and depending on where you live, but to eat organic as much as possible. So a lot of stores like Target, Costco, and farmer’s markets are making organic food that hasn’t just been blasted with the pesticides available to just about everybody. They’re making it so much more cost-effective, and especially if you’re just if you’re trying to eat healthy and not buying less of the and buying less of the packaged foods. A lot of times you can make the budget trade-offs. The next thing I want you to think about is to filter your water. So in one of our interviews, the person mentioned that they’re seeing moldy water filters in the refrigerator because it’s really difficult to clean those. So, and they don’t filter that great. So get the best water filter that you can afford. It might be one of the under-the-sink ones that might be on the countertop.

Just whatever works in your budget, get the best one. And then on that same line, try not to drink out of plastic. We really, I’m seeing levels at the BPA, BP and then the substitute plasticizers accumulate in people’s bodies. So try to not have water out of plastic unless you’re, you know, in a situation where you can’t get it out of glass and then start to store any of your leftover foods in glass containers rather than plastic, and definitely don’t microwave food and in plastic. The next thing I want you to think about is getting some type of air filter for where you spend the most time. Usually, that’s in the bedroom because you’re trying to get eight or nine hours of sleep. So if you can at least get a HEPA filter, that’s great. But if you can get a filter that also has charcoal on it to get some of the VOC out as well, that would be great. And then one of the other big toxins that I see in patients that are suffering from mold or some of the heavy metals. So those that would include really minimizing fish, I would just take a good quality fish oil to get the omega-3. It’s really, really challenging these days to get fish that doesn’t have high mercury and arsenic. And then we’re also seeing arsenic and rice. So when we go gluten-free to try to reduce the inflammation in our bodies from the gluten, often people are starting to have a buildup of mercury from eating a lot of rice products. So really try to get organic on that, especially if you’re eating a fair amount of rice.

And avoid fragrances. Fragrances are really, really toxic. And they go into, you know, through the respiratory system, just like the mold toxins do. So anything you can get, whether it’s a cleaner, even a dishwashing soap if you can get it fragrance-free, that’s so much better than even getting something that has a natural fragrance in it. Our laundry detergent. I just stopped using the dryer sheets altogether because I feel like the chemicals in those get just aerosolized and sent through the house. Perfumes and all the skin and hair products try to get fragrance-free, and then also low toxicity. Then there are a lot of cleaners on the market and even some DIY that you can make natural cleaners yourself, that is things like vinegar and baking soda. So really try to not get those harsh chemicals right now. And then when you’re especially if you live in Texas, if you don’t do something, you’re going to end up with a lot of pests, you know, cockroaches and things like that in your house. So do the research and try to get the most natural things possible for your home in your yard. And the last thing I’m going to suggest is that you use that you just get rid of all the nonstick pans that you have because those and they’re called PFAS as they actually get into your food. And those are chemicals that are even harder to get out of the body than the toxic, than the mycotoxins.

This can be overwhelming to start to think about. But I really wanted to give a quick overview of what some of the I think the most important things to do are. We have a guide on my website on how to be safe in a Toxic World. It’s under resources so that maps out even more. And then in my online master class mold will also step through this in more detail and come up with an even more detailed plan about not how to not be adding to the toxic load. So I think this is really important and hopefully, it is helpful without being overwhelming. Just do one step at a time and in the long run, you’ll be amazed with how many of these changes you can implement that will really help your body to unload the toxins. Thanks so much for joining me and I hope you enjoy the lectures today.