Toxicity
Your body is quite frankly smarter than you give it credit for. Its constantly detoxifying itself, cleaning up after you, while also taking care of your nutritional needs. It likes a clean ship, if given all the necessary resources. The problem is that we don't always give our bodies the "necessary resources" to be able to properly detox which leaves you in a state of constant toxicity. Toxicity is when you build up more toxins than your body can get rid of. Otherwise known as just feeling like poop.Where do these Toxins come from?
Toxins come from the natural waste produced from normal cell activity. They also come from our environment. Its the food you eat, the water you drink, and the air you breathe. All of these toxins are just a natural part of life but can be really exacerbated with poor diet and environmental pollution that we're exposed to everyday. To keep this toxicity in check and to just feel better in general, its always great to help your body to properly detox.
How to Detox
Proper detoxification requires foods high in vitamins, mineral, and fiber. The vitamins and minerals give your body the tools to remove the toxins from your blood or soft tissue. The fiber on the other hand helps to literally carry it out of the body. The fiber is really key here. You don't want to detox only to have those toxins reabsorbed into your body before their exit.
There's a few ways you can go about detoxification. You can do a juice or smoothie fast if your very serious about detoxing. The down side to that is you'll have pretty bad detox symptoms depending on your level of toxicity. The more intense you detox, the more intense your detox symptoms. Symptoms can range from feeling like you have a small cold to feeling like you have a bad flu with aches and pains. Another option is intermittent fasting where you don't eat for 1-2 days a week to give their digestion a break. Your probably thinking "What? You want me to starve myself?!" Thats not at all the case. People that do this intermittent fasting report having a lot more energy. But this kind of fasting isn't for everyone. The obvious down side is people don't want to give up their three (or four) meals a day just for a little detox.
In my person opinion, the best way to detox for most people is to slowly add detoxifying foods to your everyday diet. You won't have horrible detox symptoms with this approach and there's no serious changes here. You just do what you can and build from there. The best part is these detoxifying foods are all very familiar.
Common Detoxifying Foods
Lemon
This common food is antibacterial, antiviral, and helps build your immune system. Lemon juice is high in Vitamin C, one of the most detoxifying vitamins. Its known to to detox the liver and cleanse the blood. Lemon juice can also help to remove calcium stones like kidney stones in the body.
Also here's a fun fact about lemon. Its one of the only negatively charged foods. And if you know anything about electrical charge and disease, most disease is associated with a build up of positive charge. So lemon juice literally helps to ground you and get rid of built up positive charge.
Lemon juice can be easily added to salads or my favorite is just having some hot water with lemon juice.
Ginger
Ginger is a natural antiviral, antiseptic, and antibiotic. It can be particularly helpful for people with joint and muscle pain because of its anti-inflammation properties. Ginger is great for cleansing the kidneys which means it can dissolve kidney stones. It can even help remove intestinal worms and parasites, if you happen to become a host. (Yuck!)
Ginger can be used in smoothies or even in teas. I personally like to make hot water with lemon juice and diced ginger for twice the detox power.
Cilantro
Cilantro is mostly known for being able to chelate heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and lead. That basically means cilantro has chemicals that bind to the heavy metals in your body, so they can then be removed. Its also has great anti-inflammatory properties. AND it also tastes great. You can easily add it to a salad or in a smoothie.
Garlic
Garlic is a natural antibiotic, antiviral, and anti-fungal. Its much stronger and more effective than most antibiotics. Just as a testament to its effectiveness, garlic can even "wipe out the bacteria, yersinia pestis, which causes bubonic plague or black death." Nuff said.
Dandelion
Dandelion is great for liver detox. Those weeds that grow in your lawn every year? Yes! Dandelion leaves and roots can be harvested in early spring and late fall before and after flowering. The leaves can be added to a salad or even steamed a bit for a less bitter taste. Early spring dandelion greens have "historically saved people from malnutrition after long hard winters." But be wary if you are foraging for dandelions outside, so that you don't accidentally eat pesticide laden leaves. Dandelion greens are sold at some health stores, although they are a lot bigger than what you find outside. You can also find dandelion root tea in just about any grocery store, which is always an easy option.
Dark Leafy Greens & Veggies
Dark leafy greens like Kale, Spinach, and Chard get their color from the chlorophyll in their cells. Chlorophyll is a natural blood cleanser and blood builder. It also stunts the growth of toxic bacteria in the body. These greens and vegetables in general also have lots of fiber. That fiber is key to keeping those detox processes moving in your body.
Green Tea
Green tea helps to support the immune system, is anti-allergy, and helps liver detox and function. However this applies to good quality green tea. Not the kind you get free with your Chinese food. Drinking some good quality organic green tea can be a great way to start your mornings.
Chia & hemp seeds
Chia and hemps seeds help to cleanse the intestines because of their rich omega-3 fatty acid content. Omega-3 rich foods help to lubricate the intestinal walls and remove toxins so that they can be eliminated. Hemps seeds can easily be thrown in a salad or used in a nut milk. Chia seeds can be added to overnight oatmeal and also make fabulous vegan puddings. The texture can be a little weird if you're new to chia, but that gelatinous texture is what really helps out your intestines.
Water
Its very important to stay hydrated so that these toxins can be properly removed. On top of that, we should be drinking clean water so we're not ingesting even more toxins. If you are on tap water, you need to get a good water filter. Tap water commonly has chlorine and fluoride added to it which is very very bad for the body. Get a filter; end of story. If you have access to spring water, even better. You can find a spring in your area on this helpful website: http://www.findaspring.com.
Chlorella
Although this food is not as common or familiar, it really can be worth the health benefits to buy some chlorella powder or tablets. It can be as easy as taking a few chlorella tablets everyday, which are completely preservative free.
Chlorella is rich in protein, contains all essential amino acids, and has one of the highest concentrations of that great detoxifying chlorophyll. Its also consider an "intelligent detoxifier" because it has the ability to bind to toxins without binding to nutrients in the body. Chlorella is great for detoxing heavy metals. It also helps to further activate your T-cells, helping your immune system to better fight off bacteria and viruses. Chlorella is also considered a beauty food because of its ability to clean the liver, blood, and intestines which directly reflects healthy looking skin.
I hope you've enjoyed this food for thought or more like thought for food. Happy detoxing!
Very informative, want more information about hangover detox.
ReplyDeleteAnother great blog Claire! Tons of info! Proud of you!!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mom