Smart Nutrition Notes – March 2017

The #1 Secret to Easy Detox
Make Cleansing Painless – Detox Every Day

It is a natural instinct to want to cleanse in the spring to move out sluggish winter energy. However, some health professionals would say that we don’t need to cleanse because our systems are designed to detoxify us moment to moment. And that’s true.

But consider this. We are barraged with toxins every single day—in the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink. Since the turn of the 20th century over 80,000 chemicals have been added to our environment many of which have never been safety tested. Plastics, which are a major source of endocrine disrupters, dominate our world. Our food is tainted with herbicides, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Not to mention all the unpronounceable chemicals that are found in processed and packaged foods.

The fact that should make us all shudder, is a recent study done on newborn babies. It was discovered that, on average, 287 foreign chemicals were found in their cord blood at birth. This seems like undeniable data that says our natural detox systems are overwhelmed.

The liver and all the other detox organs just can’t keep up with the level of toxins we are exposed to every day. So, toxins become trapped in the body’s organs and tissues. Here they can negatively impact health, vitality, and wellness and may contribute to the development of chronic illness.

For this reason, I recommend cleansing at least twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. But it is just as important to practice every day habits that help to reduce your toxic burden. And if you are not quite sure yet that you want to experience a cleanse, it’s a good way to get started on the road to better health. However, if you have any of these symptoms: digestive issues, skin challenges, brain fog, struggle with weight, puffiness, irritability and/or joint pain, a gentle cleanse will help you feel better in less than 2 weeks.

9 Ways to Enhance Your Daily Detoxification

There are some simple things you can do every day to support the organs systems that are responsible for detox as well as ways to diminish your exposure to decrease your toxic burden.

Let’s start with the 5 organ systems that work hard for us every day.

 1.  The liver is the main work horse for cleansing largely through the activity of enzymes. You can support it by eating foods such as garlic, cruciferous veggies, avocado, beets, and carrots.

Garlic activates liver enzymes and is a good source of allicin and selenium that assist in detoxification.Cruciferous veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel’s sprouts, and kale are a great source of glucosinolates. These special compounds increase enzyme production in the liver.

Avocados help the body to produce glutathione which is powerful compound to that supports the liver to cleanse toxins.Beets and carrots are high in flavonoids and beta carotene for stimulation and overall improvement of liver function.

2.  The kidneys also have a major role in ridding your body of toxic substances.To support them, drink lots of clean, natural water. About half your body weight in ounces of water will do the trick.

Fruits are a great way to support the kidney, especially high potassium fruits. Good choices include oranges, cantaloupes, bananas, kiwis, apricots, and prunes. Sweet potatoes and winter squash are good sources, too.

3.  The gut is the first line of defense against any toxins you may be ingesting. Its primary job is to absorb nutrients from your food which help in detox and to send the toxins further along the GI tract for elimination.

Keep your gut working optimally by eating lots of fiber such as fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. These fibers will act like a broom to “sweep” out the toxins and move them along the gut to the colon for excretion.

Fiber also feeds the probiotics or healthy bacteria in your gut. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kombucha, raw or fermented pickles, kimchi, and fermented miso or tempeh are excellent forms of probiotics. Yogurt and kefir can be good sources too if you tolerate dairy.

4.  The skin is our largest organ and plays a key role in detoxification. Each one of our pores are designed to help toxins to exit from the body.

Skin brushing is a great way to facilitate this process. You can use a dry loofah or dry boar-bristle brush directly on dry skin before you shower. The technique is simple. Start at your fingers or toes and gently scrub in a circular fashion all the way back to your heart.

This creates 3 benefits: it helps to massage your lymph system which assists toxin removal, it removes the dead skin layer and opens your pores, and lastly, it creates smooth glowing skin!

5.  The lungs play an important role removing toxic waste.Support your lungs by deep breathing clean air. For some of us that means investing in an air filter. A high-quality air filter will remove many of the air pollutants that enter the home, reducing the workload for your lungs.If you exercise outside, choose to exercise in cleaner areas such as well wooded parks or around forests.

Four more Daily Detox Enhancers

6.  Filtered water is a must. Public tap water is often contaminated because it travels through miles of pipeline gathering contaminants, pesticides and industrial run-off as it moves along. It’s been disinfected with potential carcinogens like chlorine, chloramines and ammonia and treated with fluoride. We are already exposed to too many chemicals.

At the very least, use clean bottled water which you know doesn’t come from the tap (nearly 50% of the bottled water sold is tap water) or a Brita filter.

7.  Plastics are everywhere in our lives.  Make a conscious effort to avoid it by storing your food in glass containers, drinking water out of a glass bottle or a glass, refusing to put your produce in those little plastic bags, and visiting a butcher that uses paper instead of plastic to wrap meat, chicken, and fish.

8.  Make yourself sweat. Exercise is a great way to help you rid yourself of toxins through sweating. A sauna can be helpful too. And the best is infrared sauna. Jumping on a mini trampoline for 3-5 minutes a day can also help to stimulate the lymph system.

9.  Be careful of your personal care products. Experts say that the average woman uses a minimum of 16 products on her skin before she leaves the house in the morning.

If you are still using personal care products that contain questionable ingredients like phthalates, parabens, synthetic colors, fragrance, triclosan, and sodium lauryl sulfate, among others, it may be time to make some changes. It’s appalling how little control the FDA exerts over the cosmetic and personal care industries.

Be sure to check out the upcoming Happenings on the Events Page.