Monday, February 18, 2008

Day 13

On the first week or so of the cleanse, I constantly had a metallic taste in my mouth. I just figured it was from the acid in the lemons. But after the 9th day or so, it went away. I was reading an article about the different detox symptoms you can get when your body is getting rid of different toxins and realized that the metallic taste in the mouth is a symptom of detoxing heavy metals. This makes perfect sense to me because of the large amount of fish I used to consume. The levels of mercury in salmon and tuna are very high. Besides being toxic, mercury can also cause depression.

Heavy Metal Elimination

Almost every person is poisoned by deposits of heavy metals in the body. Lead, aluminum, copper and arsenic collect in organs throughout the body. Because of their heavy weight, they are difficult to eliminate, and may cause discomfort as they leave the body.

Lead enters the body through auto exhaust, paints and canned foods. Aluminum may come from preparing or storing food in aluminum containers. Arsenic is present on sprayed foods, and so on.

Since these metals are heavy, they, tend to remain in the body until a cleansing diet or fast is followed. As these metals come out, headaches and a general achiness all through the body may occur. The gums may hurt and the kidneys may throb as these metals leave the organs and bones.

Occasionally, you can actually taste the metal that is being eliminated. Lead, especially often leaves a metallic taste on the tongue when it is leaving the body.

Heavy-metal poisoning can make you feel uncomfortable all over, and it is very common due to all the environmental toxins. As you eliminate these metals, bear the uncomfortable body aches and realize that they are leaving your body forever.


The article has many other interesting detox symptoms which are good to know.
The entire article is here.

I found another good resource. It is a website that has lists of every kind of fish and tells you how healthy or toxic it is based on where it was caught or farmed.
Seafood Watch Program

Not much else to report. I feel a bit lazy and uninspired today. I think its a bit of depression that the temperature went back down to the teens and I really can't go outside and get any fresh air or exercise. It is going to be this way for the next two days as well. Ho hum..

more, later....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting article, just one note of clarification, salmon do not have high levels of mercury, they may have high levels of PCB's though, especially if they're farm raised. Because they're fed fish meal and fish oil, and PCB's concentrate in oils and fat. Mercury occurs in species higher up on the food chain, mercury binds to muscle and it bioaccumulates over time. This is why some of the longest living top predators in the ocean are also the most toxic to eat, such as sharks, tuna and swordfish. For more information, please visit the Seafood Watch website, www.seafoodwatch.org.

-Serena, Seafood Watch Program

;) said...

Good to know about the Salmon. I have eaten quite the large amount of Tuna as well. I thought because of the higher fatty level of the Salmon it would have more toxins than Tuna.