How Toxic Are You? The Detoxification Quiz: Focusing on your yeast levels, Gauging your gastrointestinal health, Thinking about your allergies, Recognizing effects of chemicals and heavy metals and Testing the health of your liver.

How Toxic Are You? The Detoxification Quiz

In This Chapter

▶ Focusing on your yeast levels

▶ Gauging your gastrointestinal health

▶ Thinking about your allergies

▶ Recognizing effects of chemicals and heavy metals

▶ Testing the health of your liver

No matter how hard you try, you’re bound to end up with toxins in your body. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to keep toxins out and detoxify your body after they’re already in, but in truth you can never completely win the battle against toxins. Toxins are inescapable, especially now that the presence of heavy metal, chemical, and biologic toxins in the environment is greater than ever before.

This chapter is short but important. In the next few pages, I offer a series of quizzes that you can take to figure out just how toxic your body has become. Take the time to evaluate any symptoms of these toxin-related ailments, and you can get a good feel for how much toxins are causing problems for your body’s many systems.

The quizzes in this chapter aren’t meant to diagnose an ailment or disease. Rather, they can alert you if you have frequent symptoms that are an indicator of toxicity. If you have significant symptoms, you should consult a physician — preferably an open-minded one who is willing to consider toxicity as a real threat to your health (see Chapter 5).

Here’s how this chapter works: For each of the quizzes, score the frequency with which you experience each symptom. Then total your score and com- pare that number to the severity rating scale that corresponds with that quiz.

Note that if your score is low, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in the clear if some of your symptoms are severe. Also note that some symptoms are involved in several different types of toxicity.

Here’s the frequency rating scale that you can use throughout the chapter:

0 = Never

1 = Infrequently

2 = Occasionally

3 = Frequently

4 = Constantly

Yeast Toxicity

If your score is in the moderate to severe range, you may also want to consider the following:

✓ Do you use antibiotics frequently?

✓ Do you use stomach acid–reducing medications frequently?

✓ Do you use medicinal steroids frequently?

✓ Do you receive radiation or chemotherapy treatments?

✓ Have you been diagnosed with elevated mercury toxicity in the past?

If your score on the quiz puts you in the moderate or severe categories and you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, your risk of yeast toxic- ity is that much higher. If your score causes you some concern, flip back to Chapter 5 for some information on how to lower your yeast levels. You also want to consult with a physician who is well versed in yeast toxicity.

Gastrointestinal Toxicity

How did your scores add up? If you’re in the moderate or severe toxicity range, take another minute and think about the following questions:

✓ Do you use laxatives frequently?

✓ Do you often travel internationally?

If you answer either or both questions in the affirmative and your scores are high, you could very well have a problem with gastrointestinal toxicity. If that’s the case, consider talking to your doctor, and be sure to flip back to Chapter 5 for details on bowel toxins and Chapter 4 for information on how your body works to detoxify your digestive system.

Allergic Toxicity

Did you end up with a score in the moderate or severe range? If so, you may want to visit your physician to talk about your symptoms. You can also flip ahead to Chapter 12 to read up on how toxins can affect allergies.

Chemical Toxicity

Chemical toxicity — an overwhelming level of toxins like pesticides, fertilizers, phthalates, and food additives to name just a few — can result in many different kinds of symptoms and ailments. It’s a general problem that is best solved with a wide-ranging detoxification effort. Check out Chapter 3 for some information on where those toxins may be coming from, and go to Chapter 18 for some basic information on a few detoxification methods that may work for you. Of course, a visit to a physician who is familiar with toxicity may also be in order if your symptoms are severe.

Heavy Metal Toxicity

This quiz includes symptoms of toxicity that are caused by mercury, lead, arsenic, and aluminum. The symptoms from different metals often overlap, and multiple metal toxicities can be as much as 100 times more toxic than the individual toxins.

If you register moderate or severe toxicity according to this quiz, ask your- self these questions to continue the process:

✓ Have you received multiple influenza vaccinations?

✓ Do you have amalgam dental fillings?

✓ Do you often use antacids that contain aluminum?

✓ Did you receive childhood vaccines before 2001?

✓ Do you eat fish frequently?

If you answer yes to these questions and you also have a high level of toxicity according to the quiz, you could very well be suffering the effects of having too many heavy metals in your body. Check out Chapter 18 for some useful detox guidance so you can start detoxing immediately, and be sure to read Chapter 3 so you understand how you’re being exposed to harmful materials. You should also consider going to the doctor to get tested for mercury, lead, arsenic, or aluminum.

Liver Toxicity

How did you do? If your score puts you in the moderate or severe toxicity range, please think about the questions that follow.

✓ Do you have a history of chemical exposure?

✓ Do you consume excess amounts of fat and protein?

✓ Do you consume a lot of alcohol or use drugs?

✓ Have you contracted hepatitis at any point in the past?

Answering yes to one or more of these questions can mean that you have an increased risk for liver toxicity. Your liver is a completely essential organ, and you want to make sure it’s healthy. If you think your liver may be suffer- ing, flip back to Chapter 4 to get some details on liver detoxification and think hard about scheduling an appointment with your physician to discuss the problem.