Turn down the faucet.
The most powerful “detox” is the one where you reduce what's coming in. Before you spend a dollar or an ounce of effort pulling toxins out, the highest-leverage move is to stop adding so much. Here's where to focus, and the tools I currently recommend.
In Chapter 11, toxins are the sand that accumulates in your bucket day after day, year after year. Reducing your exposure isn't the boring prelude to cleansing. It is cleansing, and it's the part you have the most control over.
The goal isn't to frighten you or send you down a rabbit hole of anxiety. You can't avoid everything, and no one can. The goal is awareness and reasonable reduction: knowing where your biggest exposures are so you can make a handful of high-impact changes.
Where to focus
Organized by the areas of daily life where you have the most control. Start with water.
- You drink it every day, and it's one exposure you can control almost completely.
- A quality filter rated for heavy metals, PFAS and chlorine byproducts. Reverse osmosis systems are excellent.
- Filtering also removes minerals, so see Hydration on the Supplements page for adding them back.
- Reduce ultra-processed foods, with their additives, oxidized oils and emulsifiers.
- Choose organic strategically for the produce and grains you eat most.
- Eat smaller fish, lower on the food chain, for less mercury.
- Be mindful of rice as an arsenic source if you eat it often.
- What goes on your skin goes into you.
- Switch to fragrance-free or naturally scented products and simpler formulas.
- No need to throw everything out today. Choose better as you restock.
- Skip synthetic air fresheners and scented plug-ins.
- A HEPA-with-carbon air purifier for your bedroom, especially near traffic or in wildfire areas.
- Take your shoes off at the door, ventilate when painting, and fix leaks and water damage quickly.
- Never heat food in plastic. Microwaving plastic is one of the worst sources of BPA and phthalates.
- Choose stainless steel or cast iron over nonstick cookware.
- Store food in glass or stainless steel, and decline paper receipts, or wash your hands after handling them.
- Each change turns down the faucet a little.
- Over years, a little adds up to an enormous reduction in the sand entering your bucket.
- Knowledge here is leverage, not a reason for anxiety.
Your Exposure Audit
An honest inventory of where your sand is coming from. Check the ones that apply to you. There's no score; each box is simply a faucet.
Check the boxes that apply to you.
Your next step: pick your three highest-volume, most-controllable exposures, and start reducing those.
Your answers stay on your screen. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Know what you're reducing
The major categories covered in Chapter 11, and where they usually come from.
A note on amalgam fillings: if you have them and are concerned, removal is its own careful clinical decision. Improper removal can release more mercury than leaving them in place, so it should only be done by a dentist trained in safe amalgam removal.
Going further
This page is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical diagnosis, treatment, or advice. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Macie may earn income on products purchased through links on this page. You are never obligated to purchase anything.