Come detox with us: Dr. Marty (Part 1)

How did I get here?
I never in my life ever thought that I would be “toxic” enough to “detox”.  Turns out… I am.  46 years of “I can eat whatever I want and not be affected because of my *genetics*” turned out to not be such a good approach to healthy living.  After all, we are supposed to be Dr’s of healthy living, as opposed to Dr’s of sickness and medication.  So what kind of example have I been?  Not so good.  Unless you’ve seen me in the last 2 years.  I guess that’s where I need to start.  A couple of years ago I got a little restless and started looking for avenues to get back into “something bigger than myself”.  I was struck by the disaster in Haiti and had a buddy who was flying supplies in from an offshore ship.  I really got a hunger to be a part of that disaster relief effort but found that the FEMA has little to no need for chiropractors for disaster relief – at least as far as they know.  I was discussing these prospects with another buddy of mine who was a firefighter and he suggested that I become a “first responder” – that way I would have marketable skills and would be able to participate in disaster relief.  So I started looking into it and found that Louisville Fire – my route to being a first responder – had already chosen their class for the year and I would have to wait until the next one.  It’s a good thing I had that time because not only had I been eating what I want, I had also been less than committed to any sort of exercise program.  I was in no shape for Fire Academy at that time.  But I had time.  It was a rough start.  It’s hard enough to get in shape when you are younger – worse if you’ve let yourself go into your 40’s.  Not impossible, but not easy or fast.  Fast – that’s funny.  Another thing I was not, was fast – and I chose running to be my activity of choice for this “getting in shape-a-thon”.  I had struggled with running, even back during my time in the Navy (we had 13 minutes to complete a mile and I took nearly every second of it) so, I decide to start small and work on an elliptical machine to get myself up to speed.  My first day on the elliptical was less than impressive.  I could barely even stay on it more than 10 minutes.  Pretty pathetic but you gotta start somewhere.  So I stuck with it.  I got a little better each time and by the time May rolled around I was tallying up 5 miles (elliptical miles) in 30 minutes.  I say “elliptical miles” because, as it turns out, there’s no real likeness to actual miles.  I thought I was pretty hot stuff with my 30 minutes of 6 minute miles.  After all, if you remember – I struggled with a 13 minute mile back in the Navy.  So I decided to take the show on the road and see what two months of conditioning on the elliptical would translate into running miles.  My 6 minute mile on the elliptical translates to be about a 17 minute mile in actual running.  Hence – the “elliptical mile”.  I figured out I was still… slow.   I kept at it and, still running a little slow, always increased my speed.  At the same time, I started to notice that my pants were getting looser.  It wasn’t my intention to lose weight but it really became a motivation when I started seeing it happen.  And I found out one way to make your upper body look bigger is to make your waist smaller (but I was also working on that upper body as well).  And other people noticed too – not a bad payoff for a few months of learning how to run.  In the end my training paid off because I was able to achieve my goals – I got accepted to the fire department (which I have since had to resign from because of time limitations) and got to participate in tornado disaster relief in Alabama – and along the way learn about running, nutrition, weight loss and … of all things … detoxification.  That’s the very short version of the story.  If you have the time and the inclination, pull me aside sometime and I’ll tell you all about it.  In the course of all this I had been reading lots of books and articles and running and weight loss and ultimately – detoxing.  And what I’ve learned is that the type of “weight” that I have around my waist – the last to fall off – is not excess fat, it’s excess fluid.  This fluid is from a toxic liver that is not properly draining the fluid off.  When we eat things that stress out our liver (it’s individual so no details here), the liver “backs up” and the result is excess fluid (ascites) around our waist.  Since it’s been two years of hard work and still a little “spare tire” around the waist, I decided it was time to try to see if this information is valid and find out what kind of results I could achieve.  And that’s how I got to the place where detox made sense for me.  And I’ve heard from other patients that the program that I’m going through now and that we’ve taken other patients through has also resulted in weight loss for them.  I’ve never had six-pack abs and I’m closer now than I’ve ever been in 46 years.  That’s my motivation.