Vicarious / Secondary detoxification of the body
I've actually written a few articles on this in the past. The idea of secondary detoxification which I consider a crucial component to assessing whether or not your health is in some way compromised.
Secondary and / or vicarious detoxification is when your body's four major pathways for natural detoxing are in some way suppressed or even worse, overburdened!
This idea of secondary detoxification could explain all sorts of minor sickness, especially viruses which obviously the world is very concerned with at the moment.
More on how viruses actually work and are created later.
The above mentioned book by Dr. Henry Bieler, who I admittedly don't know much about except for the book itself, was one of the biggest game changers to my outlook on how most disease itself is a symptom of detoxification of the body. Even though he operated in the early 1900's his ideas are extremely useful today...but this information is sadly still missed by many healthcare professionals.
He is the only doctor, or author for that matter, that I have ever heard use the term vicarious detoxification which simply put is the body shifting detoxification duties from the four primary pathways which are the liver, kidneys (urine), digestive tract (biles) and of course our largest organ: the skin.
When these pathways are clogged in various ways, the body shifts to removing toxins through secondary and less efficient pathways such as through mucus in the lungs and sinuses, extreme sweating, and even through thyroid issues.
Normally, your body is detoxified in a "normal" way. You go to the bathroom, you exhale and breath out toxins, and you exercise which produces sweat and removes more toxins. Of course the liver this whole time is operating smoothly.
Our lifestyles have created very toxic internal environments. Pharmaceuticals, rampant antibiotics, cleaning chemicals, poor food and drinking water are just a few of the many things that insult a healthy body. For this reason many people experience secondary detoxification which again is the body getting rid of things in abnormal and inefficient ways. Runny nose, coughing up phlegm, even blotchy and unhealthy skin can all be ways that your body gets rid of toxins.
image courtesy of http://www.biosciencenotes.com/functions-of-liver/
It can be difficult to determine exactly which pathways are malfunctioning and the best bet would be to read Dr. Bieler's book if you're looking for some self diagnois. But the best bet is to follow simple guidelines such as these:
Drink plenty of clean water and other healthy liquids such as beet juice and cranberry juice. Buy a good water filter like a Berkey so that you're limiting the toxins that come naturally in drinking water. Tap water in the United States is flooded with pesticides, pharmaceuticals, parasites and more.
Get outside in the sun, getting plenty of vitamin D stimulating sunshine, exercise and break a sweat. There is no coincidence that during the winter months when people are wearing more skin-covering clothing, getting less sunlight on their body and not sweating as much that things like cold season happen. A cold is a symptom of vicarious detoxification through the mucus!
A healthy diet is a must, not just to make sure that you get enough vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and more but avoid ingesting artificial sweeteners, rancid fats, massive amounts of sugars as well as all the other chemicals that are in our food. Eating healthy is a double pronged attack. It reduces toxic load and gives vital nutrition.
Practice mindfulness activities. Meditation is of course a useful tool, but just belly breathing and paying attention to your breath goes a long way. Mental nutrition is just as important as physical...perhaps even more so. The mind is very important.
One last thing on viruses
I said I had some thoughts on viruses and they fit in perfectly well with the idea of vicarious detoxification. I firmly believe that the idea of viruses as we are told by mainstream medicine is false. I do not think these are primarily toxins that are "alive" and "spread" from person to person. Instead they are identical to exosomes and I believe are created naturally by toxic cells.
exosomes
We already know that the body as a whole needs to detoxify, but let's not forget that each individual cell is like a fractal picture of the entire body. Each cell is like a small city, and like cities they create pollution in different forms. The cells themselves have to detoxify. Exosomes may be the way that they do this. They start as endosomes (intracellular) and then are transported through the cell wall, where they become exosomes. These particles are essentially identical to viruses.
In fact, if you google image exosomes you will find plenty of actual microscopic images to choose from. Viruses on the other hand? You get a lot of cartoons. This is typical of the medical system...which loves to use "models" but rarely can deliver the goods in terms of actual footage. Dr. John Kaufman, recently deleted off Youtube (what a surprise) explains this idea in fine detail.
Could it be that these particles are actually acting like garbage trucks, transporting different debris from toxic cells to be removed through the body via...detoxification pathways? Wouldn't it make sense that since the Western person is infinitely more toxic in every way than much of the world, that there would be more incidences of toxic insults that result in vicarious detoxification i.e. cold / flu like symptoms? Symptoms that are now being used as a smokescreen known as Covid-19?
Regardless of what people think about this idea, and lord knows most doctors would scoff at it, it is still fairly common knowledge, or at least it should be, that we are in the most control of our bodies in terms of health, and that we should do everything we can to limit our intake of toxic chemicals while ensuring that we get the nutrition that we need and keep our physical, mental and even spiritual environments clean?