Detoxing After a Fire
By Kimberly Lynn Williams
When a fire occurs, an abundance of poisons are released into the air. The current fires in both northern and southern California are creating toxic clouds that can severely impact the health of those in the area as well as those living downwind from the smoke.
Due to the deforestation epidemic that has occurred in recent years from various pests such as the bark beetle, pine beetle, emerald ash borer and gypsy moth, our woodlands have been doused with toxic chemicals in an effort to save these precious ecosystems.
In addition, many forests are regularly sprayed and baited for mosquitos and ticks. When a forest fire occurs, combustion happens causing all of these chemicals that were sprayed to be part of the smoke.
In addition, new chemical combinations can form through the process. Smoke from a forest fire can be highly carcinogenic.
Now add to this the additional environmental toxins that are in our homes when the fire reaches a residence or neighborhood. Unless the home is a log cabin that was built with 100% untreated natural materials, the smoke from a burning home is extremely caustic.
Paints, stains, varnishes, fiberglass insulation, tar, mercury in light bulbs, and formaldehyde, all go up in smoke from the fire. Then, fire retardants are dropped from airplanes and helicopters.
Ailments, as we know them, are caused by toxemia and deficiencies. Too much of something bad for us and not enough of something good for us causes damage to an organ or gland, for example, and a label is attached to it that we call an “illness”.
The secret to reversing disease is to detox the poisons that do the damage to our body, and to rebuild new healthy cells.
In the case of firefighters or residents who have been exposed to smoke inhalation, these poisons can enter via the lungs doing respiratory damage and can then get into the bloodstream and travel throughout the body storing in various other organs causing damage.
One person may have immediate symptoms such as shortness of breath, while others may never know that damage has been done until later in life as most ailments are an accumulation of toxins over time.
Detoxification of these harmful chemicals is essential to staying healthy. There are a number of ways to do this including doing breathing exercises that can force poisons from the lungs.
Sweating is also another way the body naturally removes foreign substances so hot yoga, sitting in a sauna or steam room, or exercise that builds heat that allows for intense sweating, can all be especially good for eliminating heavy metals. But one of the easiest ways to continually detox the body is through food.
All toxins have a positive ionic charge to them. All cooked food has a positive ionic charge as well. However, all food in its raw unheated form has a negative ionic charge and thus binds with the positive ionic charge of toxins to pull them out of the body.
The first raw food one should eat when they have been exposed to a fire, or any other environmental poison for that matter, is raw fat.Raw fat can look like avocado, cold-pressed olive oil, fresh coconut and coconut cream (not canned), raw eggs, and raw unpasteurized dairy such as milk, cream, yogurt, kefir and butter.
There is also raw fat in fatty fish so eating salmon sashimi or other fatty fish will put healthy raw fats into our body. Toxins go to fat if it’s available, as the fat protects vital organs, so drinking high fat raw unpasteurized milk, for example, would coat your throat and protect it from irritating poisons in the throat and esophagus.
You also want raw fat circulating in your bloodstream so it can pick up poisons throughout your system before they can be stored and do damage. Anyone exposed to environmental poisons on a continual basis, such as firefighters who are breathing in toxic smoke, should consume raw fats consistently to protect their body from damage.
Kimberly Lynn Williams is a private health coach and detoxification specialist. You can contact her at Kim@KimberlyLynnWilliams.com or 424-335-9335.
