Detoxification – Taking the Easy Way Out

Everyday our bodies are under assault living as we do in an era of relentless toxic exposure from heavy metals, plastics, pesticides, and additives or processes of one kind or another to our foods leading all too often to obesity and chronic ill health. Small wonder then if after 30 years or so of toxic overload so many of us succumb to the great debilitating diseases of our age, heart attack, cancer and diabetes. Various means of minimizing or lowering this toxic load are possible and the good news is that that they don’t necessarily have to be unpleasantly radical. Fasting for instance is supremely effective. In fact, it is the only true cure for all diseases. The trouble with that is that it only works when you don’t eat. So while you may not die of cancer, you will die of starvation. Colonic irrigation, liver purges and stringent diets can and do work if properly applied but these are not particularly pleasant activities.

If we are to detoxify ourselves, and it is important that we do, what if there were an easier simpler approach to doing so that did not involve radical or intrusive interventions that most of us avoid? Fortunately for us the body will do the job for us given half a chance. There is a way…

Harmful chemicals beset us on all sides. They are in the water we drink, the foods we eat, and the air we breathe. Let’s not forget the lotions, shampoos, deodorants, and air fresheners we use, not to mention chemicals in household furnishings. Even our cookware can be toxic from Teflon pans, plastic particles from spatulas, and cooking sprays loaded with propellants. Dangerous compounds, insecticides, PCB’s, heavy metals, benzene, dioxin, phthalates, pesticides, DDT metabolites, flame retardants, styrene, xylene, dichlorobenzene, etc.… all have been found in routine tests of the stool, urine and blood taken from people all over the world. So prevalent are toxins on our planet that even newborn infants, not yet exposed to the world, are in affected. In 2005, the American Red Cross took samples of fetal cord blood from 10 newborns and found a shocking 287 chemicals, which included dioxins, phthalates, pesticides, Teflon byproducts, flame-retardants among other things.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg. A study published in the journal Neurotoxicology took samples of the first bowel movement of 426 infants and found:
– 84% contained mercury
– 27% contained lead
– 27% percent had DDT, a pesticide that has been banned in the US for the past 25 years

It is hard to escape this toxic burden. It’s inside us right now and harming our cells, with the potential to cause severe inflammation, clogging the liver leading to obesity and the accumulation of dangerous belly fat. It ages us at an accelerated rate. Happily, as noted, there are few simple tweaks we can make to our diet to help our bodies eliminate the toxic burden, reduce weight and help us look and feel younger.

All you need do is add four foods to your diet and you can begin to reduce your toxic load and barely notice your doing it. These foods will help purify the body
of chemical build-up, reduce chronic
inflammation, cleanse your liver of fat-storing
toxins so as to lighten your load in every way so that within seven days you can notice a difference.

Food #1: Turmeric

Turmeric is well known as a super spice. Used predominantly in Indian cuisine, the root is used for dozens of health benefits, including acting as a powerful, natural anti-inflammatory agent. Turmeric assists the liver’s enzymes flushing out carcinogens from your body, critically important for optimal health and efficient fat loss because your liver acts as a natural detoxifier. It’s your body’s fat burning filter and turmeric helps keep it healthy. A poor functioning liver will sap your energy making it hard to avoid weight gain and perform its function eliminating drug residues, pesticides, and environmental chemicals.

Turmeric not only assists you maintain a healthy functioning liver, research indicates curcumin, an active ingredient of turmeric, helps reduce joint pain caused from inflammation and lowers your blood sugar eliminating cravings… all of which acts to keep your metabolism working optimally, keeping you fit and healthy.

Food #2: Lemon Juice

The natural alkalizing effect of fresh squeezed juice, from organic lemons, has a powerful detoxifying effect purging toxins from the blood and helping remove harmful compounds from the body. Counter-intuitively, while lemons are indeed acidic, inside your body they have the opposite effect and are an alkaline balancing your body’s pH, leading to better health and higher energy levels. Lemon juice is known to improve digestive function, acts as a mild diuretic and is loaded with healthy nutrients (citric acid, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, bioflavonoids, pectin) that help boost immune function. Combine all these benefits together and you have the correct environment for fat loss. All you need to do to get these benefits is squeeze a medium-sized preferably organic lemon into a glass of water every morning first thing.

Food #3: Cruciferous Vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables contain a naturally occurring ingredient called Diindolylmethane (DIM), a strongly anti-estrogenic substance that helps block xenoestrogens, otherwise known as ‘bad’ estrogen, that accumulate inside the body as a result of constant exposure to environmental toxins. This hormone is the reason why it is so easy for us to store more fat in our midsections as we age. It can also be responsible for low testosterone levels in men. This can lead to various unwelcome side effects like facial hair in women or “man boobs” in men. It also makes it much harder to lose weight.

DIM not only wards of off bad estrogen but also acts as an immuno-stimulant in that it naturally boosts the immune system and is regarded by many as having potent anticancer properties. Among cruciferous vegetables, obvious choices to add to your daily nutrition plan are broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and cabbage. Other super veggies include Swiss chard, arugula, collard greens, bok choy, kale, and watercress.

Point of note, since DIM is fat soluble, it’s best to consume these veggies with other healthy oils and friendly fats like olive oil or organic butter. This enhances the absorption of these powerful nutrients.

Food #4: Tart Cherries

Over hundreds of millions of prescriptions are issued yearly for anti-inflammatory drugs. Among their many side effects, these medicines can not only wreak havoc on the digestive system, but could damage the heart, liver, and kidneys if over or wrongly used. But the anthocyanins and phenols found in tart cherries have been shown to provide just as effective if not better protection against muscle injury and damage than these strong medications. In other words, this tiny fruit has been proven better than things like Ibuprofen for reducing inflammation and muscle soreness.

In fact, there are over 74 published studies which indicate tart cherries deliver a high level of protection against cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and are even helpful in the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease. Many of these studies also validate that tart cherries and tart cherry beverages speed up recovery time from exercise and reduce inflammatory markers significantly. The benefits go on… tart cherries also contain a hefty dose of naturally occurring melatonin, which improves sleep, and they have one of the highest anti-oxidant scores of all fruits and they score very low on the glycemic index (~20). So they’re one the best fruits to eat for fat loss.

So by eating treating yourself and investing in a regular punnet of tart cherries (or organic tart cherry juice) you can help your body recover faster from exercise and sore muscles, avoid gout attack and reduce joint pain through the anti-inflammatory response, sleep better, while aiding kidney function and promoting fat loss.

Repetition and a virtuous cycle such as suggested here seems a pretty good detox option to colonics or a purge. Bon appetit!

ParacelsusAsia
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