Cleansing Your Body With Food

Last week I wrote about why cleansing your body a 2 to 4 times per year is essential to keep help prevent illness and to promote overall well-being. If you missed last week’s post, you could read it by clicking here. ​​When it comes to detoxing, many different options are available depending on your need and the practitioner you are working with. Fasting 

programs and three- to seven-day juice fasts (drinking only fresh fruit and vegetable juices and water) can be an effective way to release toxins from the body. However, this type of detox can be too extreme and stress your body and depending on your existing health condition they can introduce potential risks to your health, e.g., if you have a tendency for diabetes, they can increase your blood sugar levels. Therefore, if you are suffering from a chronic illness or if you prefer a gently cleanse, I recommend an elimination diet approach where you can cleanse while at the same time you nourish your body.

Similarly, for proper nutritional content and for helping to cleanse the liver, you should incorporate a balance of all flavors (salty, sweet, sour, and bitter) and colors in your diet. Buy organic produce whenever possible to limit your exposure to pesticides, GMOs, and other environmental toxins. Additionally, organic fruits and vegetables are considerably more nutritious than nonorganic.

During this cleansing period, you will want to focus on eliminating common toxic foods and eating a nutrient-dense diet. The foods to remove from your diet include:

• Dairy
• Gluten
• Soy
• Corn
• Eggs
• Refined Sugar
• Peanuts
• Red Meat
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Hydrogenated Oils
• Packaged/processed foods 

Incorporate in your diet fresh, organic vegetarian meals, that contain whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits. The following foods nourish the body while helping you detoxify:

• Consume green plants that clean and renew the liver such as:
  • Chlorella regenerates cells and organs.
  • Wild blue-green algae are highly cleansing yet nurturing to the liver.
  • Seaweeds are also cleansing and restore the liver and gallbladder.

• Eat fruits that contain phytochemicals and antioxidants, such as berries, pomegranate, and grape. Watch your fruit intake if you are a diabetic.
• Lemon and lime can be squeezed into water or used in food preparation daily.
• Cilantro gently removes toxins from the body. It removes arsenic, cadmium, aluminum, lead, and mercury in our tissues.
• Basil is alkalizing, supports liver function, and detoxifies the body. Add it to your smoothies.
• Incorporate into your diet sharper-tasting bitter greens like arugula, kale, watercress, mustard, and dandelion greens. They are bitter leafy greens packed with nutrition and alkaline-forming, and they have a detoxifying effect on the body. 
• Complex Carbohydrates are essential for proper peristalsis (bowel movement) to take place. The body needs to have adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. These foods are high in fiber. Including more fiber in your diet provides the bowel more material to work with when eliminating waste from your body, and it will require less time to transit time through the body.
• The pungent taste is cleansing and can be found in many spices and vegetables, such as chili peppers, garlic, onions, mustard, turnips, scallions, daikon radish, black radish, horseradish, red radish, wasabi, black pepper, ginger, and cayenne.

The difference between spicy and pungent is negligible. The pungent taste warms the body, cleanses the mouth, clarifies the sense organs, enhances other flavors, and improves digestion, absorption, and elimination. Additionally, the pungent taste clears congested sinuses, promotes sweating and detoxification, helps to discharge gas, and improves circulation. It is stimulating, invigorating, and penetrating, and it removes moisture, stagnation, and congestion. It also increases circulation, eliminates toxins, cleanses the blood and the muscles, reduces cholesterol, and clears blockages.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Remember I’m here for you. If you need guidance on anything health related in the future, I’m here to help!

​Regards,
Toni