Simplify for Spring: Try These Cleansing Foods as Medicine
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Food as medicine — who needs a spoonful of sugar?
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” –Thomas Edison
As the weather warms up and spring cleaning begins, it’s a great time to start thinking about revitalizing your body from the inside out. Thankfully, there are many foods and drinks that can aid in detoxification, including fruits, vegetables, herbal teas, and sea plants. One way to make the process more enjoyable is to incorporate a good recipe mentioned in the HappySpicyHour blog, where you can indulge in delicious, detoxifying foods and drinks with friends or family. Remember to prioritize fresh and organic ingredients for maximum benefit.
The Benefits of Fruit
Blending your favorite fruits in the morning can make for quick, fortifying and detoxifying breakfast. Since fruit juices speeds up the metabolic rate, aiding in the quick release of waste and alkalizing the body’s pH, it can help to reduce sugar cravings.
Citrus fruits and juices are rich in alkaline salts like potassium.
High-fiber fruits, like apples and pears, can help stabilize insulin levels and improve regularity.
For maximum results, fruits should be eaten by themselves, without protein or complex carbohydrates.
Vitality of Veggies
Not only do fresh veggie juices taste savory and delicious they provide the body with vitamins, minerals and enzymes that help support natural detoxifying processes within the body.
Here are a few tasty combinations you can try:
3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, one-half bunch spinach and one-half bunch parsley. This high and in potassium juice is helpful for cleansing blood and tissues, neutralizing acids and rebuilding cells.
1 large or 2 medium beets, cut into pieces, 1/2 lemon, zest removed, 2 large carrots, 1 large apple, cut, 1″ piece of ginger. Beets have been shown to lower blood pressure, carrots are packed with beta-carotene, apples help with digestion, blood pressure and are cancer-fighters and ginger is great for your heart.
Don’t forget the leafy greens: Chock full of chlorophyll, a powerful detoxifier that helps cleanse the kidneys and blood as well as clear the skin. It also boosts immunity with Spirulina (blue-green algae) and chlorella (green algae) being the most become popular in supplement form because of their high chlorophyll content.
Along the same lines are sea vegetables and the variety of seaweeds which help transform toxic metals into salts for elimination. These rich sources of vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates and proteins include seaweed, dulse, kelp, nori and wakame. Two tablespoons of minced sea vegetables added daily to a bowl of soup or mixed into rice is beneficial dose.
Green tea (Camellia sinensis), high in antioxidants this herb is well-known for helping to combat free radical damage and boosts enzyme production in the body. Green tea has antibiotic, antiviral and antibacterial properties.
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) can be found in health food stores and tea shops sold as a medicinal tea and is one of the best liver-cleansing herbs. Rich in nutrients and antioxidants, combating radical damage, when paired with Burdock (Arctium lappa), becomes a super detox blend look for Yogi Teas Detox Blends. For optimal effects drink these teas over the course of a day, 2 or 3 cups a day.
Exercise for Toxicity
As we’ve gone over in more depth in previous posts exercise and massage help to milk the toxins out of the tissues. Some of our favorites are walking, yoga, bicycling and dancing around you living room. It doesn’t have to be a chore — have fun with it and remember to breathe deep and full.
Our lives, our bodies are not relegated to disease and disrepair. By taking the time to recalibrate your system from time to time and feeding your engine good quality fuel, you can achieve greater health, energy and vitality and extend your life of this incredible machine called your body.
