Week before last, I wrote and talked about diet and how it is the most profound thing you can do to control symptoms. But what diet works for one toxic person may be a total disaster for the next. So, pay attention to what your body is telling you and don’t be influenced by “food evangelists.”
There are all kinds of natural chemicals in foods, and some toxic people, because of their impaired metabolisms, will react to one or another of them. You will have to figure out on your own, through observation, what you can and cannot eat.
That said, there are also foreign chemicals, that your body has no experience with at all, that are added to foods for this or that reason. It is a good idea for everyone, toxic or not, to avoid these. So, to the best of your ability, eat organic, and learn how to cook! If you can’t afford all organic at least avoid the “toxic ten,” which you can easily Google.
One issue that nobody knows much about but is a particular problem for mercury toxic people is that of "thiols," which are molecules that are found in certain foods. They are also called mercaptans or sufhydryl groups and are a form of sulfur. Not all sulfur molecules are thiols, but all thiols are sulfur.
Mercury can wreck your body’s ability to regulate thiols. Some people will have levels that are too high and high thiol foods will give them symptoms. Some people will have levels that are too low and will need to eat more of these foods, or supplement with high thiol supplements, to feel well. For some people it doesn’t make any difference. The mercury was off wrecking something else and left your body’s thiol regulation system alone.
Andy describes the following happening when a thiol sensitive person eats a high thiol food, “the reaction happens in a certain order and not all at once. First the person is happy, chatty and euphoric. Then they become all babbly. Then they become libidinous and kind of messed up, mentally hyper and disconnected. Finally, after two to three hours, they become tired and crash. They then become cranky, achy and depressed. This part goes on for days.” (A friend of Andy’s asked with a laugh, “Is that how it affected him?”) Being sensitive to thiols may affect you a bit differently. But the main thing to take away is at first you feel good and may crave the very thing that is bad for you. The feeling bad part comes as a delayed reaction and can last for days.
It is hard to know from casual observation if you are sensitive to thiols or not. It is a good idea to do an elimination diet for four days and then eat one high thiol food meal and see what happens. You ought to be able to tell from that if you need to avoid thiols or eat more of them. If you are sensitive to them, taking them out of your diet will make you feel worlds better.
The list of high thiol foods is in the Detox Manual and Andy, who was thiol sensitive, came up with it by experimenting on himself. (Andy did a whole lot of self-experimentation.) That he was sensitive to thiols, is fortunate for us, I guess, or otherwise he would never have figured this issue out.
Andy’s list of high thiol foods is copyrighted and you have to buy the book to get it. But, overall, high thiol foods are all cruciferous vegetables, most dairy, garlic and onions, and coffee (alas). Doing a round of alpha lipoic acid will raise your thiol levels as ALA is high thiol. You must use alpha lipoic acid to get better. If you are thiol intolerant, it is really going to help your chelation undertaking to stay away from high thiol foods in order to leave some space to use the alpha lipoic acid. People who are thiol sensitive may have to start out at a lower dose of alpha lipoic acid. People who need more thiols can usually dose higher with the ALA from the beginning.
Remember thiol sensitivity is not a problem for everyone. Only about a third of toxic people have this problem and the rest don’t need to cut them out. But if you are thiol sensitive, eliminating them from your diet will help you feel better. And hopefully, with some rounds of chelation under your belt, you will be able to start eating them again.
Please like and share and all those good things. Next week I am going to interview Sandra Gentry who is another chelation coach. She has a very interesting story to tell.