Spring is the time of the liver in Chinese medicine, and therefore the ideal time for detox. The link between chronic degenerative disease and inflammation resulting from “toxic overload” is acknowledged in all arenas of natural medicine and increasingly by western medicine. Something as common as allergies may be a warning.
Please join Dr. Tips and me as we explore the crux of this very serious issue facing all of us in the modern world.
It has been my great privilege and pleasure to be mentored by Dr. Jack Tips over the last 10 years. He has consulted on many of your cases over that time, always providing invaluable insights and strategies. This interview with Dr. Tips was originally done in 2007. Some of you still ask me for copies of it. It was updated for this issue of the Oriens Quarterly.
Dr. Jack Tips, N.D. Ph.D., C.Hom, C.C.N. has been in clinical practice for over 30 years. He participates as a member of the scientific counsel of the International and American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists, and serves on the advisory board for the International Association of Naturopathy. In 1984, he developed a three-tiered approach to health: classical homeopathy to stimulate vitality, combinetic herbology to support specific tissues, and clinical nutrition for metabolic balance. He is the author of twelve books, including: The Pro-Vita! Plan For Optimal Nutrition, The Weight is Over, Your Liver, Your Lifeline, and Conquer Candida And Restore Your Immune System. In addition, Dr. Tips maintains a rigorous lecture schedule, speaking at a variety of naturopathic, medical, and secular schools around the world on nutrition, herbology, and homeopathy.
EC: In Chinese Medicine, Spring is the season in which the energies of the liver are highlighted. We know from both the eastern and the western perspective that the liver performs many vital functions. One of its main roles is to “detoxify.” Could you speak a bit about what that means? What is detoxification and why is it so important?
JT:
In the context of the seasons, we can think of detoxification as spring cleaning. No matter what, it’s needed every year. In fact, Hippocrates, the renowned Father of Medicine, states, “ Disease is an expression of detoxification.” This means that all of our symptoms are 1) the body trying to detoxify: or 2) the body blocked from detoxification; 3) or both.
In natural health, every disease that is labeled by medicine as “no known cause, no known cure” is rooted in ineffective detoxification of pathogens, chemicals, and metabolic wastes which, in turn, is either the cause or effect of a lack of cellular energy. The only exception to this is genetic disorders and mechanical malfunctions. Thus every chronic degenerative disease and auto-immune disease is rooted in inflammatory patterns, which themselves have toxins as triggers.
The body’s chief detoxification organ is the liver. In the current phase of life on Earth, we all live in a chemically-oriented culture and this ignorance has made toxicity a major concern. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that Americans consume over four pounds of pesticides each year and have over 400 toxic substances stored in their tissues. More than 3,400 chemicals are found in our current food supply. This is literally a seminal, survival-threatening event that has a profound impact on our health.
Toxic diseases have increased, with cardiovascular disease and cancer being most prominent followed by arthritis, allergies, obesity, and various skin problems—all the result of toxicity. Early warning signs of the need to detoxify include the various mild symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, pains, hormonal imbalances, coughs, gastrointestinal problems.
Toxicity can occur on an internal and an external level. We are all exposed to toxins daily and can acquire them from our environment by breathing, eating, or touching them. Also, prescription drugs, food additives, and all allergens can create toxic elements in the body.
If the liver detoxifies all the xenobiotic (foreign chemicals) that it is responsible to eliminate, then a relative state of good health is maintained. If the liver fails to detoxify the onslaught of toxins, then they are stored in various tissues, especially adipose (fat) tissue resulting in weight gain.
Toxins that attach to the cell membrane cause that membrane to be less effective in receiving the oxygen necessary to produce ATP (adenosinetriphosphate)—the chemical energy of life. Additionally, a toxin-altered cell membrane is unable to receive the directives of hormones such as estrogen, thyroxin, and insulin. Thus cellular toxicity is the cause behind hormonal imbalances, metabolic ineffectiveness, and glucose metabolic functions. Thus, more specifically, menstrual problems, low thyroid function, and diabetes can be the result of toxins bothering the cellular membranes.
Further, toxins disrupt the cells’ communication with other cells, and that means that the core of the immune system is compromised. Thus, toxicity is a major concern of all auto-immune diseases, and detoxification is often a milestone on the pathway to cure.
EC. How much of people’s allergy complaints are related to toxins?
JT: Actually quite a bit. Toxicity is always a significant factor in allergies. With allergies, there is first the genetic code for the body to react against the allergen out of a self-preservation directive. Allergies are simply a beneficial immune feature turned against the body due to over exuberance.
But what causes the over exuberance? Here’s the pathway. Let’s say that a person has a genetic factor that reacts aggressively to the protein in wheat. So this person lives in a state of low level, chronic inflammatory activity in the small intestine because wheat a major factor in the diet. This inflammation is not enough to cause a diagnoses of celiac sprue, or irritable bowel syndrome, because of its low level. But this “small war” occupies the immune system and puts all the immune cells on “red alert.” Next, along comes a mold or pollen in the air and the immune system over reacts with histamine release and antibodies that take a toll on energy. Now the allergic person is miserable, weak, and susceptible to bronchitis. The person goes to the doctor and gets allergy shots for pollen, steroids, and antihistamines but this does nothing about the cause. In fact, suppressing the body’s expression of the allergy can further confuse the immune system and leave the body susceptible to free radical pathologies, e.g. cancer and cirrhosis of the liver.
EC: Thank you. I’d like to move on to a discussion of what it means to “cleanse and detoxify,” which is making a lot of headlines these days. In both Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, there is the understanding that a very intimate and important relationship exists between the liver and the colon. That is one reason why healthy bowel function is essential. Could you elaborate on this relationship?
JT: Toxins in the bowel can directly impact the liver when they are absorbed into the bloodstream or congest the portal pathway between the liver and the bowel. The bowel is often the source of chronic inflammation that deranges the immune system leaving a person susceptible to acute illnesses (colds, flu) as well as susceptible to chronic degenerative diseases and super-infection, like H.I.V.
This is why, for the past 80 years, acupuncturists and naturopaths advocate cleansing as an excellent place to start a detoxification program. Our bodies need help due to the onslaught of toxins acquired each and every day.
So if a person has frequent indigestion, fermentations, belching, flatus, constipation, diarrhea, etc., it’s a strong indicator that the liver is being overburdened with toxins such as ammonia and phenols that demand instant performance from the liver in addition to the liver’s massive daily workload.
Internally, our bodies produce toxins through normal cellular metabolism. These cellular, biochemical processes generate excessive free radical molecules associated with cancer and degenerative diseases. When these are not properly quenched by the body’s normal processes, they cause inflammation and alter normal tissue functions which then are diagnosed as diseases of certain tissues. Oxidized fats and partially-hydrogenated fats are primary causes of free radicals (free electrons that destroy cells).
Functionally, poor digestion, colon sluggishness and dysfunction, reduced liver function, and poor elimination through the kidneys, respiratory tract, and skin all add to increased toxicity.
The immune system generates free radicals as a method to eliminate bacteria, viruses, and fungi. But the additional free radical molecules that that occur from dietary sources and toxins become too much for the body’s anti-oxidants to handle and cellular destruction occurs resulting in diseases.
Pathogens such as intestinal bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and parasites, produce metabolic wastes that the liver must handle. Our emotions and stress generate increased biochemical toxicity by altering metabolism. A normal functioning body was created to handle certain levels of toxins; the concern today is with highly excessive exposure and production of toxins, and the inability to eliminate them.
Toxicity occurs in our body when we take in more than we can utilize and eliminate. Toxins can produce an immediate reaction (allergy) or cause long-term, degenerative diseases.
If our bodies are detoxifying well, exhibited by an effective immune and eliminative processes, we can handle our basic everyday toxin exposure. It’s not a hopeless situation. Through detoxification, we clear out the backlog of toxins and wastes, and allow our bodies to maintain a better degree of health. Thus doing an annual detoxification program is literally a new lease on life that keeps us healthy and energetic and youthful.
EC: “Cleansing” and “detoxification” programs that focus on increased bowel activity are everywhere in the news these days, and all over the internet. Celebrities and experts are touting many kinds of products and methods. And unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there! What are the biggest dangers of these fad cleanses and detox programs?
JT: I find that the public awareness of the dire need to help the body detoxify is a good thing. However, many of the cookie-cutter programs can indeed cause problems if they force the body to free up heavy metal toxins, e.g. aluminum accumulation from antiperspirants, mercury in vaccinations and teeth, lead from the air, cadmium from tobacco smoke, estrogenic compounds from plastic food cartons and water bottles; and put them in circulation and stress the body’s already stressed detoxification pathways.
If the body does not have the detox pathways open (a concept called “drainage”), then these disease-causing metals can settle deeper in tissues such as the brain, kidneys, ovaries, etc. and be the root cause of death by disease. It really is essential to consult directly with an expert to have a detoxification program custom designed or to have them point you to a ready-made program that they know to be safe.
Detoxification should occur without the person becoming more ill on the road to better health. Thus when a detoxification program causes headaches, skin eruptions, greater fatigue—not bad per se, but it’s best to reduce the program and slow down the process.
Additional support of the cell membranes (anti-oxidants, glycoproteins), as well as the detoxification pathways (lymph, liver, kidneys, skin, gall bladder, etc.) are necessary as the person proceeds with the detoxification process.
EC: Knowing what NOT to do, and to be careful of, is so important. Now let’s discuss how to lighten our toxic load and support our organs properly. What are the essential missions and stages of this very important process?
JT: Our bodies innately handle toxins by transforming and eliminating them. Our cells themselves can combust toxins when there is adequate cellular energy (ATP).
The liver transforms toxic substances into harmless agents, and the blood carries wastes to the kidneys for excretion. The gall bladder is a companion to the liver as it eliminates wastes through the bile into the intestines for excretion.
Historically, Chinese Medicine reveres the gall bladder whereas Western Medicine has quick and easy methods to surgically remove gall bladders leaving people with an impaired detoxification system.
Detoxification is so important, the body has several methods to get it done such as through perspiration, but our culture abhors sweating and blocks the process with chemical antiperspirants that contain aluminum (a toxic element).
Other detoxification organs include the lungs (toxicity is the true source of bad breath), sinuses (via mucous drainage), and skin (often seen as acne, psoriasis, eczema, hives.)
Any time people take in fewer toxins and eliminate more, their bodies are more healthy, so dietary and lifestyle changes that reduce intake of toxins and improve elimination must be addressed.
Avoidance of chemicals (from food or other sources such as cosmetics and household products), refined food, sugar, excessive caffeine, tobacco, excessive alcohol, and drugs help to minimize the toxin load.
Drinking extra water and increasing dietary fiber by including more raw fruits and vegetables in the diet are positive steps in the detoxification process that anyone can do. In natural health practices, we detoxify to clear symptoms, counter disease processes, and prevent further problems. We also detoxify to rest our overloaded digestive organs.
The information in my book, The Pro-Vita! Plan For Optimal Nutrition, is an excellent place to start because it advocates a low stress approach (fewer toxins), good bowel elimination, and excellent liver support.
However, when we eat an average diet high in fats, non-organic meats, non-organic dairy products, refined foods, and chemicals, frequent detoxification becomes absolutely necessary. Today we find that virtually everyone needs to detoxify.
EC: I know you support the RESET Your Metabolism Gentle Detox we do a few times per year at Oriens. Kathryn leads a group of participants around New York and the country in this super simple cleanse. It’s a good starting point for a healthier lifestyle.
For those that are ready to do more in-depth detoxification, in your experience, what is the best vehicle for accomplishing these goals? Could you speak about safe and effective options such as homotoxicology and combinetic herbology? Who would benefit from one over the other?
JT: RESET is a wonderful start to getting blood sugar stabilized for healthy weight and getting people ready for a healthier diet. Shifting the diet toward organic produce reduces the body’s toxic burden.
Filtering your water is now a necessity considering that your body is 75% water. So food and water are two big steps toward avoiding toxin accumulation and staying healthy. Exercise helps the body detoxify though better blood circulation. But we still breathe the air, and inadvertently encounter numerous toxins daily.
I think it is best to combine the two sciences—homotoxicology and herbology—for effective detoxification therapies. The homeopathic remedy addresses the known toxins and opens the eliminative pathways (drainage). The herbs help neutralize the toxins (chelation) and strengthen the detox pathways. Together, they provide a comprehensive plan based on both bio-energy and biochemistry.
EC: When someone is doing a program safely, what can be expected? What kinds of experiences might one have? Is it possible that they might not feel anything different at all? Why would that be?
JT: During a detoxificaton program, a person can experience some side effects as the toxins put a burden on the body while they are being cleansed. The natural health practitioner will help minimize this by custom designing the program. When designed by a natural health practitioner, most people have very few health issues during detoxification because that practitioner has the tools and experience to help the body detoxify itself. If too many symptoms are arising, the health practitioner can slow it down so the body goes along with the detox more easily.
On the positive side, even if there is some discomfort during the detox process, people soon experience better energy, mental clarity, fewer allergies, better sleep, fewer signs of aging, increased sexual satisfaction, and a host of internal benefits called disease prevention.
As the “terrain” is cleansed, the body no longer provides a breeding ground for pathogens. A great French physician, Beauchamp said, “The terrain is what predisposes a person to disease, not the pathogen.” His arch rival, Louis Pasteur, cried out on his deathbed, “Beauchamp is right, the terrain is everything.” A clean terrain does not support pathogens. A terrain tainted with toxins forms biomasses that support Lymes disease, amoebas, viruses, fungi, and other pathogens that ultimately weaken the immune system and cause disease.
EC: What are the most common side effects of cleansing that tell a person to slow down and seek additional support from her or his health professional?
JT: Here are some of the most common side-effects:
Fatigue: Can occur during the first three days as numerous toxins are released for removal. Take a warm, ‘salt and soda bath’ (2 lbs sea salt + 2 lbs baking soda in a bathtub full of water), sweat into the water. Drink additional water and electrolyte beverages (tea, fresh juices) and get more sleep. This should help restore energy during the cleanse.
Constipation: Be sure your pure water intake is eight to ten glasses a day during the detox program. You might need additional digestive support, and bowel support from your natural health practitioner. You must not be constipated during a detox program.
Headaches: Can occur during the first three days of a detox program as the toxin removal process is a temporary added stress. Increase pure water intake. Have your natural health practitioner prescribe a supplement to neutralize toxins. Be sure there is no constipation. Note: A colonic or high-enema is helpful to stop headaches.
Sinus drainage: Your body is detoxifying through the sinuses. This will result in improved sinuses and eliminate future post nasal drip. Support this process with a colonic or enema, and an herbal formula.
Diarrhea: Your body is detoxifying through the bowels, but this must not be a long-term condition. Contact your natural health practitioner. Reduce any bowel-cleansing formula and see if it stops in a day or two. If it lasts more than three days, you may need anti-pathogen support, and high quality, targeted pro-biotic supplementation.
Failure To Lose Weight: There are several issues here: 1) if using the ACCELL meal replacement formula during your cleanse, you may be gaining lean muscle mass and thus not un-tipping the scales. This is most excellent, and weight loss will occur within the next few weeks; 2) Low thyroid; 3) food allergy. Be sure you are not still eating wheat, corn, or dairy during your cleanse program. Focus on raw fruit and vegetables; 4) Stress: If your stress level is high (contraindicated during a cleanse, but often occurs), then support your adrenal glands. This will also help increase your metabolism and lower your stress-generated cortisol hormone which keeps excess weight entact. Your natural health practitioner will address all of these issues for your benefit and safety.
Food Cravings: Your body will crave what it is allergic to. During a cleanse, you can eat fruit and vegetables more frequently to turn off your appetite. Snacking on a carrot will satisfy the body’s need for sugar or carbohydrates. Use green tea. Ask your natural health practitioner for the right supplements to stabilize blood sugar.
EC: Is cleansing something everyone should do periodically, or are there some people who should stay away from a process of this nature?
JT: Everyone needs to detox because of the polluted Earth environment. Diabetics have special considerations in that they will require less insulin during a detox because the dietary program stabilizes blood sugar and they eliminate the refined carbohydrates that cause a demand for more insulin. So insulin-dependent diabetics should monitor their glucose level accordingly. Note: 90% of all adult onset diabetes can be corrected with diet, exercise, and supplementation per the New England Journal of Medicine. Normal glucose regulation is quite possible through natural health solutions.
The RESET program is a basic and easy way to start on this one.
EC: What about persons undergoing intense health challenges such as cancer? Or chemotherapy? What about after chemo?
JT: Chemotherapy is a toxic drug. So during chemotherapy, most natural health practitioners let food and water serve the body and avoid doing detox programs that might also make the chemotherapy less effective. But after chemotherapy, an extended detox program is critically essential. It helps recovery, and helps avoid a terrain that might support future metastasis. For people who refuse chemotherapy, cleansing is the lifeline, but special attention must be paid to weight loss that, if excessive, is contraindicated during therapy.
EC: I’d like to move to a slightly different topic: candida and yeast overgrowth. What is it and in your experience, what percentage of the population experiences this problem?
JT: Yeast overgrowth is the “canary in the mine shaft” meaning it is the early warning of immune compromise. When the immune system is compromised, common yeast in the intestines can mutate and become a fungus, and in it’s fungal form, it contributes to increased toxicity, inflammation, and allergies.
But what compromised the immune system in the first place? Most often it’s heavy metals, thus detoxification is the key to overcoming candida issues. Herbology has much to offer in this area. I discuss this in detail in the book, Conquer Candida And Restore Your Immune System.
EC: How would you know if candida is an issue? What are some of the symptoms? What kinds of health problems can result?
JT: The symptoms of yeast overgrowth are legion – acne. allergies, anemia, asthma, catatonic schizophrenia, chemical sensitivities, constipation (chronic), cold hands and feet, coughs, cramps, cystitis, dementia, depression, diabetes, diarrhea (chronic), drug use tendencies, drunk feeling, earaches, eczema, endometriosis, environmental sensitivities, food sensitivities, gas, headaches, hives, hyperactivity, hypothyroidism, impaired sensory perceptions (hearing, sight, taste, smell), irrational fears, joint pain that travels, kidney/bladder infections, lethargy, loss of libido (sex drive), low self-esteem, menstrual irregularity, memory lapse, migraine headaches, miscarriages, muscle cramps, numbness, obesity, premenstrual syndrome, vaginitis, auto-immune diseases such as Crohn's, hemolytic anemia, lupus, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, procrastination, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, scleroderma, sore throat, thrombocytopenic purpura, weight gain, and others. There is a questionnaire in the above-mentioned book that is quite accurate in helping people determine if candida is an issue. But keep in mind that the concern is NOT the yeast-fungus, candidia, it the underlying toxicity – thus detoxification is the key.
EC: What about reproductive health? Why is Candida often a hidden factor in infertility?
JT: Yeast binds to estrogen and progesterone receptor sites and thus disturbs the innate hormone balance. Inflammation from yeast can affect the ovaries as well as establish that the body is not a suitable host for offspring.
EC: What are the best ways to handle candidiasis and yeast? Food is one way the problem persists and worsens. What are some straightforward and simple changes people can make to get this under control?
JT: One must detox heavy metals and chemicals. This will help restore the immune system and the immune system can then handle candida. Again, the key is the terrain. If the terrain is supportive to yeast’s mutation to fungal forms, then problems result. If the terrain is healthy, the fungal forms do not occur.
Some people need help eliminating the entrenched fungal forms of pleomorphic candida (yeast that has adapted to a specific environment and becomes more virulent), but it is the terrain that defines what organisms can live there. Yeast may actually be Nature’s synergism at work to protect the body from the toxic heavy metals, thus an ally that causes side effects rather than an overt enemy. So the concept of killing candida is a limited and ineffective approach. Again, it all comes back to detoxification.
EC: Probiotics are key. Could you explain what they are, how to know they are of quality, and how to use them?
JT: Candida gets a foot-hold when antibiotics kill off the beneficial, life-supporting flora in the gastrointestinal tract. Replacement of this flora with probiotics—the beneficial microorganisms that normally inhabit a healthy intestinal tract) is essential for the immune system as well as the production of nascent B vitamins. Anyone who has ever taken an antibiotic needs to reestablish the beneficial flora.
EC: If these strategies with food and a good probiotic are not enough, what types of homotoxicology or herbal programs can be engaged to stop the proliferation and heal the body?
JT: The natural health practitioner should most definitely design detoxification programs specific to the needs of the individual. There is no one-size-fits-all program that can be effective.
EC: Thank you so much for sharing your vast knowledge and experience with my patients. With all the myths, fads, gimmicks and false information on the internet, in advertising and in the press, it is crucial to have evidence-based and responsible information brought out through the substantial experience of leaders in the field.
JT: My pleasure.
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