Detoxifying Children 101
Our children today are suffering. It has become commonplace for children to take antibiotics and steroids, have their tonsils and/or adenoids removed, and suffer from eczema, skin conditions, digestive issues, bowel diseases, ear infections, allergies, and asthma. These symptoms show that something is wrong in the body and that it needs to be corrected. The root of these issues is a clogged and congested system.
Often, what we call sickness and disease is simply the response of a body trying to deal with and remove toxicity. As long as we only look at stopping the symptoms instead of addressing the root problem, the body will continue to weaken. Where the medical system and pharmaceutical drugs work against God's design of the body by suppressing symptoms, the real goal should be to work with symptoms and assist the cleansing and healing process.
How could our young children have congested systems? Although most people are unaware, the reality is that congestion and toxicity are passed down through generations at birth. With each passing generation, the effects of choosing processed foods, pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines, and other toxins have created the problems we are facing today.
Our goal is to create a free-flowing river of life within each child that brings freedom from these various issues. Removing toxins and congestion from our children is easier than you might think. God designed the body to cleanse and heal itself, and our responsibility is to partner with the process.
Here are 5 BASIC STEPS to help your children with gentle detoxification and a healthier, happier life.
1. Know your toxicity through Lab Testing: It is helpful to have some guidance on the toxicity you are going after with each child. Lab testing using urine, stool, hair, saliva, and blood can help reveal where to start. Test results can discover heavy metals, chemical toxins, hormone imbalances, high acid levels, and nasty gut infections like mold, clostridia, fungus, yeast, and candida. This information can help determine your plan of action. How you help a child with mercury toxicity will be different than helping a child with a clostridia infection in the bowels.
2. Stop clogging the pipes: Imagine a clogged pipe in your home that never gets cleaned out. Eventually, there is a big problem, and the whole house will suffer. There are a few main systems (pipes) that are responsible for removing waste from the body; the colon, kidneys, and lymphatic system. When these pipes become congested, it becomes a breeding ground for sickness and disease in the body. Dairy, grains, sugars, and excessive fats are the worst offenders. Dairy is a heavy, mucus forming and congesting food. It is not designed for little humans, so eliminate it and don't think raw dairy will be much better. Even if it's pure, raw, and straight from the farm, it still has the same adverse effects on a blocked lymphatic system (learn more about dairy)
Grains and sugars are the next bad cloggers. These types of grains include bread, pasta, pizza, muffins, cookies, sweets, candy, and other baked goods. Baked goods are a double-whammy bad combo of high fat and sugar; same as donuts and French fries. If your goal is cleansing, be careful not to go crazy on fats, even healthy ones like nuts, seeds, avocado, and coconut oil. We have been programmed to believe a whole food diet is enough to bring healing for our children. It might surprise some people, but what we often need is a more in-depth cleansing diet for our kiddos, not a heavy one (learn how to break a sugar addiction).
3. Eat the cleansers and LOTS of them: Fruits, greens, and veggies, go! Repeat. Fruits, greens, and veggies, go! Kids love fruit. Fruits are the BEST cleansers of the human body and loaded with vitamins, minerals, and natural energy. You can cleanse and heal a child on a fruit diet. Eat grapes, oranges, grapefruit, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, pears, mango, and the list goes on. Citrus and grapes are the BEST cleansers. Add some greens, veggies, salads and if you need to, a little fish, chicken, or turkey. Can kids eat a diet of 80-90% fruits, veggies, and greens? You bet! Many don't believe it simply because they haven't tried it. When you need to cleanse and heal a child, you need high energy, high nutrient foods that don't have heavy fats, sugars, and complex carbohydrates that slow down the healing process. Fruits are the best for this. The next best are veggies and greens. Nuts, seeds, and small portions of meat can be added in moderation for sustainability as needed (Why we love fruits and vegetables).
4. Use herbal formulas that cleanse, heal, and build: The plants that God created all have different functions and purposes. Some plants heal wounds, some strengthen tissues, some cleanse the kidneys, some balance hormones, some kill infections, some sweep and cleanse the colon, etc. The diet is crucial. If you can pair a cleansing, healing diet with herbs that open up and help the body remove the unwanted impurities, kids will get better! -See Vaughn's Top 5 Supplements for Children for a list of herbal formulas that can help cleanse, detoxify, heal, and strengthen the body.
5. Get the entire family on board: If you want to be successful, mom and dad must be on the same page. This needs to become a family affair. Because of the need to help one child, often the entire family gets healthier! We love it when this happens. Not only have you helped your child and family, but also generations to come. It takes strength and unity. With every family, it will not be perfect, but it will look different for each family. Healing takes time, persistence, and a long-term mindset. Most importantly, let God guide and direct you on this journey.