Here Is Where You Should Start

Your diet is a critical factor in supporting your body's detoxification system.  You should start with a "pre-detoxification" phase, lasting for two to six weeks before starting the full detox.

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The goal is to remove inflammatory and allergenic foods such as sugar (especially fructose/HFCS), processed and packaged foods, fast foods, most starch and grain. Your pre-detox phase should be low in carbohydrates, moderate-to-low in protein, and high in plant based saturated fats (as high as 50-70 percent). Proteins repair ‘skewed’ protein molecules and supply sulphur, and fats repair the cell membranes. This type of diet gets your body ready for detoxification as well as have the additional benefit of improving your insulin sensitivity and reversing type 2 diabetes.

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IMPORTANT: You should keep reminding yourself that mercury detoxification is a long process.  In fact, you don’t want to be quick about it to avoid flare ups.  For the majority of people, a 6-month period is recommended but for some the process may take serval years.

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Eliminating the Source of the Exposure

It’s all about helping the body’s natural detox mechanism to function better.  We start by removing the source of the mercury exposure, whether it’s amalgams, seafood or both.  This is the point when you should get tested.  The test I recommend is the one mentioned above but if you do not have access to it or cannot afford it than you should consider a conventional blood/urine test.  (The two main forms of mercury accumulate differently in your body, and are eliminated through different pathways. For example, mercury levels in the hair only reflect the mercury from the fish consumed. However, mercury levels in the urine reflect the mercury coming from amalgam fillings (plus some of the fish-based methylmercury that has broken down into inorganic mercury). The only accurate way to determine if there is a problem is to compare hair and urine levels with levels in the blood.)

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Once you’ve determined the level and the source of the exposure you can start reducing your exposure. For example, avoid consuming contaminated fish and sea food and start the process of replacing your amalgams. 

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Removing amalgams must be done with special care and by specialised biological dentists who used a specific protocol to remove the amalgams.  Not using the services of a biological dentist who follows a special protocol is likely to exacerbate your problem and cause serious damage to your organs.  Finding the right dentist can be a bit of a challenge and the availability may depend on your location.  But don’t take a short cut on this issue.

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Now that the source of mercury is been reduced or eliminated we can start the actual detox protocol.

 

This protocol has 3 phases:

1. Increasing Glutathione Production

You can’t have an effective mercury production without increasing glutathione levels.  Most orally consumed glutathione supplements are noneffective because they don’t survive the digestive process.  However, if you eat food containing glutathione precursors (specifically, cysteine-rich foods), the body will make more of it.  The best source is organic whey protein but you mustn’t over consume it.  Another goo good source is liposomal glutathione, which is a supplement that is actually well absorbed and I recommend using it. 

 

   2. Mobilising Mercury

Now that glutathione levels are rising, we star reconstructing the other parts of the glutathione detox mechanism. Specifically, enzymes and transport proteins.  We do this with the help of superfoods, especially from the cruciferous family (cabbage, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, radishes, wasabi etc.) which are rich in sulphur (because glutathione is a sulphur based molecule).  Garlic in the form of oil of garlic  is particularly powerful detoxifier. 

 

Other recommended compounds are:

• Sodium R-lipoic Acid  - also good for increasing insulin sensitivity and treating type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and mitochondrial dysfunction

• Pine Bark Extract - most potent polyphenolic antioxidants which has been found to prolong the activity of vitamin C; good as an aide to vitamins C, E and lipoic acid

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Taking these compounds should ideally be done with the assistance of a healthcare professional trained in heavy metal detox who will be able to help you decide on the optimal dose and schedule. In principle, the approach with these compounds should be to gradually titrate the dose upward to a high therapeutic level, then reverse it down. It's best to "pulse" the treatments because our body can't sustain upregulation for very long. Shorter bursts at an appropriately stout therapeutic dose are likely to be more productive. This means taking the treatments for a few days, followed by a few days off. I recommend cycling your treatments on the schedule of five days on, two days off (to start), working up to 10 days on, four days off. approach with these agents should be to gradually titrate the dose upward to a high therapeutic level, then back it down. It's best to "pulse" the treatments because your body can't sustain upregulation for very long. You will be more productive with shorter bursts at an appropriately stout therapeutic dose. This means taking the treatments for a few days, followed by a few days off. Dr. Shade suggests cycling your treatments on the schedule of five days on, two days off (to start), working up to 10 days on, four days off. He instructs, never go more than 10 days on when upregulating your detoxification system. Never continue for more than 10 days on when upregulating your detoxification mechanism.

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   3. Catching and Eliminating Toxins with Intestinal Binders

Once mercury has been mobilised to the intestines, we need to make sure there’s an ‘escape route’ out of the body.  For this we require agents that will bind to it and extract it from the intestinal wall. We call these agents ‘intestinal binders’.  They assist in carrying out the mobilised toxins, preventing them from building up in the bloodstream.  The binders also help prevent intestinal inflammation (which is a likely cause of bringing the process to a halt due to the shutdown of the transport proteins).  Inflammation will cause the toxins to reverse into the liver, kidneys and bloodstream and dysbiosis.

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There are several types of intestinal binders, but only a couple of them work well for binding to mercury:

1. Thiol Resins –  Has a powerful attraction to mercury and is the most specific to heavy metals (mercury, lead and arsenic) and produces high rates of excretion.

2. Chlorella – I suggests working up gradually to 3-6 capsules per day, which is a lot of chlorella. If you haven't yet had your amalgams removed, you may find rinsing with a binding agent helpful. Chlorella, activated charcoal, or N-acetyl cysteine can be prepared as a mouthwash where it binds to the mercury coating your mouth. Levels of mercury can be very high in this rinse, so don't swallow it.

3. Beneficial Bacteria - One of the most potent detoxifiers of mercury and heavy metals. Their cell membranes tend to bind very effectively to the metals and they are typically excreted in the stool. One of the best ways to provide your body with this resource is with fermented vegetables or good quality probiotics.

 

Other binders you'll hear about are clay/zeolites, and pectin. For mercury, these bind very weakly, and you would have to take enormous quantities for many years to see any benefit so I don't recommend them.