If Clay is So Great, Why Don’t More People Take it?
When I write about eating dirt, I’m not actually talking about heading to your backyard and scooping out a spoonful of dirt. Not all dirt is the same. In fact, I would plainly tell you to stay away from scraping up the dirt under your shoes and pretending it’s good for you!
A Very Special Type of Dirt
What I am talking about is a very special type of dirt. A type of dirt that is called, clay. And the clay that I am speaking of is a supplement that has undergone specific clinical studies to validate its use as a detoxifier. It’s called montmorillonite clay and it’s the subject of my second book, Healing with Clay: A Practical Guide to Earth’s Oldest Natural Remedy.
Now, some people will think it’s a crazy practice to eat dirt, clay, soil, or anything that comes from the ground. And I thought so too. But that was until a strange growth popped up on my wrist. I wasn’t sure what to do outside the recommended surgical options, so I looked for an alternate natural treatment.
But it’s So Weird!
When I was first told about clay, I balked at the idea because it sounded so bizarre! The idea of ingesting dirt was a foreign concept. I couldn’t help but wonder if the naturopathic physician who recommended it to me was a charlatan? Or if this was indeed a real thing with some science behind it? Perhaps it was a practice limited to a small group of granola eating, alternative healthcare fanatics living on some remote island?!
However, the more I researched edible clay, the more I learned that the science behind geophagy (a fancy word for eating clay) is quite credible. Not only is edible clay sold in the natural foods industry, but also the pharmaceutical industry. Did you know that all over the world, pharma is involved in the production and sale of various clay minerals in both over the counter and prescription products? Neither did I. Several clays selling under different brand names include clay likes kaolinite, attapulgite, and smectite.
Is Society Too Clean?
People these days would sooner shower in chlorinated water, eat foods ridden with pesticides and herbicides, consume meats plugged up with synthetic hormones and antibiotics, and breathe cancerous fumes and vapors from factories, cars, and dyes than ever consider eating natural dirt from the earth. Never mind that the dirt has beneficial effects like drawing toxins from the body, providing an array of minerals, and absorbing and binding pathogenic viruses, pesticides, and herbicides. The thought of eating dirt just makes people feel, uh, well, dirty.
In response to our society becoming too clean, Dr. David Elliott, a gastroenterologist and immunologist at the University of Iowa, stated “Dirtiness comes with a price. But cleanliness comes with a price, too. We’re not proposing a return to the germ-filled environment of the 1850s. But if we properly understand how organisms in the environment protect us, maybe we can give a vaccine or mimic their effects with some innocuous stimulus.”
Maybe it’s time to ditch our obsession with cleanliness and check out earth’s oldest natural remedy.