By Angie Smith
Becoming a parent is no small choice. If you and your partner are planning this life-changing event, then congratulations! Planning in advance is an ideal situation for more than one reason. It gives a wannabe-mom plenty of time to detox. How important is this? Why do it? Is it safe? We’ll get to that later.
Nutrition Alone Is Not Good Enough!
What we know today is that nutrients aren’t the only things passed from mommy to baby through the umbilical cord and placenta. Some of the first things modern medicine advised against were the consumption of alcohol and smoking, while also avoiding secondhand smoke. For obvious reasons, even centuries ago, women were advised against drinking during pregnancy. Old Doc giving a pregnant woman the go-ahead to light up seems ridiculous now, but just a few decades ago, some doctors simply told their patients to “cut back” and just not smoke as much. I heard of one case where the doctor lit up while examining a pregnant woman, and after her exam, they both smoked together during the end of the visit! I know, it sounds insane, but it happened. So, humanity has progressed….or has it?
What of our “normal” environment? Each person has what’s called the “body burden”, or the collection of chemicals and toxins we accumulate over a lifetime. How does this affect the unborn? We now have years of research and findings to back up the theory that not-so-nice things, like toxins, heavy metals, and other unwanteds, reach the unborn fetus. We’re just now discovering the results of this disturbing occurrence.
What Do Studies Say About Toxicity In Pregnant Women?
Harvard University’s Medical, Dental, and Public Health Schools recently concluded an 18-year study of more than 800 children. Their mothers ate seafood containing mercury while pregnant. The study concluded that the toxic effects of exposure to mercury in the womb were permanent, and affected brain function. Even very low levels of mercury consumption produced slower hearing-related signals in the brain in children who were tested at age 14. The teens also had irregular heart rates, which is a sign of mercury toxicity in the brain stem.
Some the other nasty effects of mercury on the human body are:
- Psychological Disturbances (Remember the “Mad Hatter” character in “Alice in Wonderland”? He was called so because hat-makers oftentimes eventually “went mad”. Later, we found out that the cause was the mercury used in the hat-making process.)
- Oral Disease
- Heart Conditions (irregularity, low pulse, pressure or chest pain)
- Neurological Problems (headaches, slowed motor skills, ringing in ears)
- Immune Disorders (allergies, asthma, eczema, swollen lymph nodes)
- Endocrine Disorders
- Memory Loss
- …And too many more to list here.
Where Does The Mercury Come From?
So having said the above, it’s safe to say that an informed expectant mother would want to cut back on seafood and/or fish during her gestation period. But why is there mercury in our fish to begin with?
It goes something like this:
Mercury gets into the air from industry, garbage incineration, coal power generation, metal recycling, and among others, mining and manufacturing processes. Then, the airborne mercury deposits on land and in water, where microorganisms convert it into a more biologically active form, methylmercury. The methylmercury then works its way up the food chain, and since organisms tend to store mercury instead of excrete it, concentrations of mercury get higher as larger, longer-living creatures gobble up smaller ones. By the time you get to a top predator fish like a swordfish, albacore tuna, or shark, the concentrations are quite high. So when you open up a can of albacore tuna (like I did yesterday….yikes!), you are likely getting a pretty hefty dose of a nasty toxin, mercury.
Not only is the mercury bad for you, it can wreak havoc on baby’s delicate, forming brain.
I got conflicting advice when I was pregnant with my first baby over 11 years ago. The Internet was in its infancy, only a select few in my rural town had access, and the information that was out there in cyberspace was probably a 1000th of what it is now. So, I relied on my doctor’s advice and that of pregnancy books. My doctor told me to eat lots of tuna (“protein….it’s brain food…” he said), while the few pregnancy books I had did mention the mercury connection, and how a woman should be cautious about fish and seafood intake. I went with my gut instinct and almost entirely avoided fish while pregnant. Today I have two strong, healthy boys.
Leap ahead to the latter part of the first decade of the new millennium. Moms-to-be are so blessed now to have the wealth of information available at their fingertips!
Many women are now choosing a detox program before they take the plunge into mommyhood. And some moms who got a surprise visit from the stork are wondering how they can safely detox while pregnant.
Most obstetricians would advise against a colon-cleansing-type detox program for mothers who are already pregnant. This is not the most pleasant way to detox, as you can imagine!
A Better Way To Rid Your Body Of Heavy Metals Including Mercury
A newer, better way to detox with a patented mineral called zeolite has been making waves in both traditional and holistic medicine circles as of late. If you have read any of my articles or blog entries, you already know all about zeolite and its amazing properties.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens M.D., a doctor who wrote an amazing report on liquid zeolite, said, “In my work to develop a detoxification system for prospective mothers to enable them to bring non-toxic babies into the world, I have searched for a simple, natural remedy that could serve as a practical antidote for toxicity.” He goes on to recommend liquid zeolite for anyone wanting to start a detox routine, but especially for moms-to-be. Liquid zeolite has been shown, in anecdotal testimonials, to have also been safely used in women who were already pregnant.
Angie Smith is a Freelance Journalist who lives in Kentucky and has a keen interest in keeping her family in good health. Angie can be contacted by e-mail at angiesmith74@gmail.com and she will be glad to personally answer any questions you may have about liquid zeolite.
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