Body congestion substances can be divided into two groups:
– waste;
– toxins.
Waste is a substance that accumulates in the body but does not cause changes or damage. In other words, waste is congestion in the body that needs removal. The problem with it is its amount. If the excretion systems are copying with its removal well, then it does not accumulate and represents no threat to its functions. However, if the amount of the waste (mainly from the foods consumed) exceeds capacity of the excretion systems, with time, it invites disease.
The waste can be divided into 3 types:
1. Mucilage/mucus (the most common and researched in naturopathy type of waste).
Arnold Ehret, the founder of raw eating, introduced a “mucus free diet” that encourages removal of mucilage ( “mucus”) from the body that results in restoration of healthy body functions. Ehret believed that “mucus” is the culprit of body congestion and the consequence of the traditional eating habits.
Everyone, at least once in their lifetime, could see this type of mucilage in the form of the running nose and cough with this very “mucus” coming out from the nose and the broncs.
A standard urine test shows the level of blennuria – mucilage in the urine. The level of blennuria is often at a maximum.
Where does the mucilage come from? Mainly from the foods that convert into mucus.
There is often a misunderstanding as to what the mucus is. Some people think that it is fluid that mucous lining naturally produces. Whoever introduced the term of the “mucous lining” must have believed that the function of the lining is to remove mucus. In fact, the glands of the lining produce moisturising fluid to keep the lining moist. If we do not have a running nose and touch the internal surface of the nose, we will discover that it simply feels moist with no sticky mucilage present. If you happen to breathe in some dust, the glands would produce more fluid that would wash the dust particles away. Similarly, synovial fluid in the joints is there to reduce friction between them. Normal fluids are present in pleura, heart sac, abdominal space etc, yet they are not slimy (excuse for the details!). Slime in the body is from the mucus-producing foods and is not a natural fluid! It starts in the digestive tract, gets absorbed by the intestines and spreads throughout the body, causing chronic running nose, skin acne and other problems. This very process contributes to what is called mucilage or mucus – a type of body waste.
2. Water retention.
As we know, the body retains water if our lymphatic system is not coping to remove from the body regularly . Some of us may be surprised to think that water can be a type of waste, especially so that we are told to drink plenty of water every day. However, the reason our body retains water is
the load of toxins that the body struggled to remove. In order to prevent intoxication, our body has to dilute these toxins with a substantial amount of fluid that accumulates in the connective tissue. If the water is present in the body exclusively for this purpose and does not perform any other functions, it can be considered a type of ‘body’ waste.
3. Stones are another type of body waste. We know that they are formed in kidneys and often cause kidney stone disease. However, stones consist of the microscopic crystals that can be present not only in kidneys. When crystals accumulate inside a joint, for example, they can cause rheumatism. Crystals reduce the joint’s flexibility irritating its surface and causing inflammation. The main cause of ALL joint problems is the accumulation of those insoluble salt crystals. It is important to know that this process starts in early age and progresses actively throughout the entire life. That is why, with age, people’s original flexibility deteriorates while various joint problems develop and often become chronic.
Modern medical science does not otter any cure of those conditions and defines many of them as incurable. However, there are ways to get rid of these insoluble salty deposits through a number of detox measures that we will look at in other articles.
In the next post, we will talk about another type of body congestion: toxins.
