Striving4Zen

The following is a list of the common symptoms of chronic toxicity. If you suffer from any of the following, detoxifying might be critical for you to get healthy and feel good again:

• Fatigue
• Muscle aches
• Joint pain
• Sinus congestion
• Postnasal drip
• Excessive sinus problems
• Headaches
• Bloating
• Gas
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Foul-smelling stools
• Heartburn
• Sleep problems
• Food cravings
• Water retention
• Rashes
• Skin problems
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Canker sores
• Acne
• Bad breath
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Other menstrual disorders
• Puffy, dark circles under the eyes
• Difficulty concentrating
• Trouble losing weight

Labels: detox, detoxify, holistic healing, Holistic Health, illness, wellness

The only things as important as eating the right foods for brain health are limiting your toxic exposure and enhancing your detoxification system.

Avoid Brain-Damaging Foods

The list of brain-damaging foods you need to avoid is short:

1. Processed, refined carbohydrates and sugar
2. High-fructose corn syrup
3. Toxic fats—especially trans fats
4. Food additives and preservatives
5. Alcohol
6. Caffeine
7. Food allergens (the two most common are gluten and dairy)

Eat Detoxifying Foods

If you want to enhance your detoxification and develop an UltraMind, you need more glutathione, a sulfur-like substance that transports toxins out of your body via your urine and stool. To naturally increase your glutathione, increase your intake of the following foods:

• Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, collards, kale, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, arugula, radish, wasabi, watercress, kohlrabi, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnips)—at least one to two cups, cooked, daily
• Curcuminoids (turmeric, curry)
• Garlic (a few cloves a day)
• Green tea, one to two cups a day (boosts liver detoxification)
• High-quality, sulfur-containing protein (eggs, garlic, onions)

Take Vitamin D3

In addition to what is in your multivitamin, you should take vitamin D3 because it is significantly deficient in so many people.

Reduce Your Heavy Metal Exposure

Heavy metals are some of the most toxic chemicals in our environment. The two biggest culprits are lead (from lead paint, leaded gas, and coal-burning factories) and mercury (from dental fillings, vaccinations, and industrial pollutants).

Avoid Environmental Petrochemicals

Limit your exposure by doing the following:

• Do not dry clean your clothes.
• Avoid the use of garden chemicals.
• Buy furniture that has been built without the use of formaldehyde or other preservative agents.
• Eliminate your exposure to secondhand smoke and car exhaust.

Source

Labels: brain, cruciferous vegetables, detox, detoxify, Dr. Mark Hyman, formaldehyde, garlic, lead, living holistically, mercury, toxins

As the name implies, dry brushing is brushing with a dry brush. Commonly used for exfoliation, these brushes help remove flakes but actually help with several different things at the same time. Unclogging skin doesn't just eliminate dead cells but also encourages the body’s discharge of metabolic wastes and other things excreted through perspiration.

Using the brush before you get in the shower stimulates circulation and de-gunks your pores. It detoxifies your skin with a gentle internal massage while helping tighten the skin and reduce the appearance of cellulite. It also helps mobilize fat and improve muscle tone by stimulating those nerve endings that causes the individual muscle fibers to activate and move.

Pick up a brush with soft bristles — preferably made from natural materials, as most synthetic bristles are too sharp. Make a circular motion with the brush, applying light pressure in areas where the skin is thin and harder pressure on places like the soles of the feet. Work over your entire body. Now, I'm not saying this brush is an excuse to stop eating healthily and eliminating that gym regimen but, if you're like me, you want to get all the help you can get to keep your skin and body in tip-top shape!

Thanks Bella!!

Labels: detox, detoxify, dry brush, healthy living, living holistically, massage, skin care

Artichoke leaf	Stimulates production of bile, the liver's main carrier to expel toxins; helps strengthen liver cell membranes so they can resist toxin absorption.
Dandelion root	Increases bile flow from the liver.
Green tea	Protects the liver from toxin damage, especially that of alcohol; may also help prevent liver tumors.
Milk- thistle seed	Strengthens liver cell membranes; stimulates bile production; promotes glutathione production.
Turmeric root	Anti-inflammatory herb that elevates detox enzymes in the liver.

Labels: dandelion root, detox, detoxify, green tea, healthy living, milk thistle, supplements, turmeric

A reporter from US News and World Report called me for an interview about toxins and how or if skin-care products could purge them from skin. I appreciated how this reporter framed her question; she asked if it was possible.

Much like any myth, if you hear or read about it often enough it becomes fact in the mind of many consumers. Once that happens they are eager to seek out the benefits of what amounts to little more than snake oil. Purging toxins from the body and skin is equal to the perceived need to drink lots of water (and often too much water) to keep skin hydrated. Neither is based on fact. Just like the medical world discourages people from smoking and over-eating, or it encourages exercise and other beneficial behavior in the most direct campaigning possible (with solid research and studies of why you should follow their advice), so it’s no surprise the medical field hasn’t jumped with agreement on the “let’s purge toxins” bandwagon. If purging toxins from your body could help then physicians would be at the forefront of getting the information out to you (as soon as it was shown to be true). But truth doesn’t always sell products.

When it comes to fiction, snake oil salespeople are supreme at quick fixes and euphoria. I love the drink more water example, because if your water intake is greater then what your body needs all you do is go to the bathroom more. Nothing in your body changes, it doesn't change the status of "toxins" in your body or how dry your skin is. Dry skin for most adults is the result of sun damage, genetics, health issues, certain medications, and their environment, not water intake. Believe me, I wish alleviating dry skin was as easy as increasing water intake!

In terms of skin and the purging of toxins we move into the absurd. At least with routine (not excessive) water intake it helps to stay hydrated and not be thirsty. When it comes to purging toxins from the skin there isn't a shred of evidence it is even possible, let alone helpful. Yet somehow sucking toxins out of your pores or between skin cells has become a basic part of many women’s attempt to achieve flawless skin. As a result of this flawed belief, detoxifying skin as sold by the cosmetics industry or earnest spa attendants and estheticians and the vitamin/herbal supplement world has become a sizable business.

And exactly what is a toxin? What you may hear are more general, vague terms such as bacteria, airborne pollutant particulates from cars and city life, bad fats (this is a big lie in cellulite treatments), faulty lymph systems that build up who knows what, even fast food and secondhand smoke requires purging in this part of the cosmetic industry. Listening to all of this is enough to make some people want to live in a sterilized, airtight bubble for the sake of whole body purity, but there’s no need to take such a drastic step.

Without ever doing even basic testing, the people selling these detoxifying skin-care products or treatments leave it up to their imagination and they are adept at creating imaginary, unspecified toxins that are causing wrinkles, open pores, oily skin—you name the skin care complaint—and purging the skin is supposed to help. That expensive spa treatment wrapping your body in herbs, salts, fragrant oils, clay, or minerals might feel good and for a short time make your skin feel smooth, but in reality no skin condition has changed: your wrinkles haven’t gone away, cellulite is still there, pores haven’t changed, yet your pocketbook is lighter.

Many of these products claiming to detox the system, at least as far as the cosmetics industry and spa world is concerned, are fairly benign and do little, if any, harm. Overheating the body with saunas, Jacuzzis, and facial steaming can cause more problems than they help by damaging the skin’s ability to hold moisture, causing capillaries to surface, and increasing oil production. Putting fragranced salts into your bath can irritate the vaginal skin lining. Mostly it is just a waste of money and following myths isn’t a recipe for good skin care.

What has me concerned is some research I saw on really dangerous snake oil treatments as reported on a blog/podcast site at http://skeptoid.com, which had several posts written by Brian Dunning, a computer scientist who debunks pseudoscience reports as a hobby (I confirmed that the content is accurate and all quoted material below is from the author’s blog):

Mucoid plaque is supposedly a toxin naturopaths and herbal charlatans say everyone has growing inside their bowels; in fact they are created by the pill sold to purge them. In other words, the supposed cure is causing the problem making people assume the malady is real.

What you get to cure mucoid plaque is “…a bowel cleansing pill, said to be herbal, which causes your intestines to produce long, rubbery, hideous looking snakes of bowel movements, which they call mucoid plaque. There are lots of pictures of these on the Internet, and sites that sell these pills are a great place to find them. Look at DrNatura.com, BlessedHerbs.com, and AriseAndShine.com, just for a start.”

“Imagine how terrifying it would be to actually see one of those come out of your body. If you did, it would sure seem to confirm everything these web sites have warned about toxins building up in your intestines. But there's more to it. As it turns out, any professional con artist would be thoroughly impressed to learn the secrets of mucoid plaque (and, incidentally, the term mucoid plaque was invented by these sellers; there is no such actual medical condition). These pills consist mainly of bentonite, an absorbent, expanding clay similar to what composes many types of kitty litter. Combined with psyllium, used in the production of mucilage polymer, bentonite forms a rubbery cast of your intestines when taken internally, mixed of course with whatever else your body is excreting. Surprise, a giant rubbery snake of toxins in your toilet.”

“It's important to note that the only recorded instances of these "mucoid plaque" snakes in all of medical history come from the toilets of the victims of these cleansing pills. No gastroenterologist has ever encountered one in tens of millions of endoscopies, and no pathologist has ever found one during an autopsy. They do not exist until you take such a pill to form them. The pill creates the very condition that it claims to cure. And the results are so graphic and impressive that no victim would ever think to argue with the claim.”

Another detoxing gimmick I came across is from the electrical foot bath products on the market. “The idea is that you stick your feet in the bath of salt water, usually with some herbal or homeopathic additive, plug it in and switch it on, and soak your feet. After a while the water turns a sickly brown, and this is claimed to be the toxins that have been drawn out of your body through your feet. One tester found that his water turned brown even when he did not put his feet in. The reason is that electrodes in the water corrode via electrolysis, putting enough oxidized iron into the water to turn it brown. When reporter Ben Goldacre published these results in the Guardian Unlimited online news, some of the marketers of these products actually changed their messaging to admit this was happening — but again, staying one step ahead — now claim that their product is not about detoxification, it's about balancing the body's energy fields: Another meaningless, untestable claim.”

“But detoxifying through the feet didn't end there. A newcomer to the detoxification market is Kinoki foot pads, available at BuyKinoki.com and many drugstores. These are adhesive gauze patches that you stick to the sole of your foot at night, and they claim to ‘draw toxins’ from your body. They also claim that all Japanese people have perfect health, and the reason is that they use Kinoki foot pads to detoxify their bodies, a secret they've been jealously guarding from medical science for hundreds of years. A foolish claim like this is demonstrably false on every level, and should raise a huge red flag to any critical reader. Nowhere in any of their marketing materials do they say what these alleged toxins are, or what mechanism might cause them to move from your body into the adhesive pad.”

“Kinoki foot pads contain unpublished amounts of vinegar, tourmaline, chitin, and other unspecified ingredients. Tourmaline is a semi-precious gemstone that's inert and not biologically reactive, so it has no plausible function. Chitin is a type of polymer used in gauze bandages and medical sutures, so naturally it's part of any gauze product. They probably mention it because some alternative practitioners believe that chitin is a ‘fat attractor’, a pseudoscientific claim which has never been supported by any evidence or plausible hypothesis. I guess they hope that we will infer by extension that chitin also attracts ‘toxins’ out of the body. Basically the Kinoki foot pads are gauze bandages with vinegar. Vinegar has many folk-wisdom uses when applied topically, such as treating acne, sunburn, warts, dandruff, and as a folk antibiotic. But one should use caution: Vinegar can cause chemical burns on infants, and the American Dietetic Association has tracked cases of home vinegar applications to the foot causing deep skin ulcers after only two hours.”

“Since the Kinoki foot pads are self-adhesive, peeling them away removes the outermost layer of dead skin cells. And since they are moist, they loosen additional dead cells when left on for a while. So it's a given that the pads will look brown when peeled from your foot, exactly like any adhesive tape would; though this effect is much less dramatic than depicted on the TV commercials, depending on how dirty your feet are. And, as they predict, this color will diminish over subsequent applications, as fewer and fewer of your dead, dirty skin cells remain. There is no magic detoxification needed to explain this effect.”

I’ll end this article by coming full circle back to skin care. Trying to eliminate wrinkles and other skin woes with false hopes that involve throwing your money down the toilet on products that can’t help doesn’t really make sense. When there are brilliant things you can do your skin, wasting money isn’t the way to go. Purging yourself of the myths the industry loves instigating and perpetuating and learning what you really should do instead is the best way to take care of your skin.

Source

Labels: detox, detoxify, Kinoki Foot Pads, myths, Paula Begoun, scam, skin care

Some signs that your bod may need a jump-start include: chronic headaches, insomnia, eye puffs or dark circles, sinus problems, acne, hair loss, allergies, iffy digestion, joint pain, low energy, mood swings and frequent illness. But a detox
plan is also something you may want
to try after a holiday season of overindulging,
or anytime you feel like your body and brain need some fine-tuning.

The main goal of a detox diet is to knock out the foods that tax your body’s ability to eliminate toxins. These include fatty cuts of meat, processed foods of any kind, simple carbohydrates (white flour, white rice, and pasta), sugar, caffeine, coffee, alcohol, yeast, and artificial sweeteners. It’s also a good idea to steer clear of foods that frequently cause allergic reactions, such as dairy, soy, nuts, and night shade vegetables (peppers, white potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant). Side-stepping condiments such as vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, teriyaki, mustard, and mayonnaise is also advisable, since they are fermented and so contain yeast, which can compromise the body’s immune system. So is laying off fruits with a high glycemic index (those that quickly break down into sugar). Think: grapes, bananas, oranges and watermelon.

So What Can You Eat?
Pretty much every vegetable and salad fixing are on the menu, as are fruits with low glycemic indexes (those that are broken down slowly). Think: apples, pears, melon, grapefruit, and
blueberries. Chicken, turkey, fish, and even lean cuts of lamb and beef also get the green light. Olive oil and other healthy fats are also a “do.” “Many detox diets fail because they are so low
in fat that people never feel satisfied,” Dr. Morrison says. “Healthy fats also ensure your body stays well-lubricated. Many detox diets fail because they are so low in fat that people never feel satisfied...” Salt, black pepper and virtually every other spice, except for cayenne pepper,
should help beat the blandness of overly rigorous detox programs. And if you can’t completely ditch caffeine, green tea is definitely doable.

Source

Labels: detox, detoxify, diet

Green leafy vegetables Eat them raw, throw them into a broth, add them to juices. Their chlorophyll helps swab out environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides) and protects the liver.

Lemons You need to keep the fluids flowing to wash out the body and fresh lemonade is ideal. Its vitamin C, considered the detox vitamin, helps convert toxins into a water-soluble form that's easily flushed away.

Watercress Put a handful into salads, soups, and sandwiches. The peppery little green leaves have a diuretic effect that helps move things through your system. And cress is rich in minerals too.

Garlic Add it to everything -- salads, sauces, spreads. In addition to the bulb's cardio benefits, it activates liver enzymes that help filter out junk.

Green tea This antioxidant-rich brew is one of the healthiest ways to get more fluids into your system. Bonus: It contains catechins, which speed up liver activity.

Broccoli sprouts Get 'em at your health-food store. They pack 20 to 50 times more cancer-fighting, enzyme-stimulating activity into each bite than the grown-up vegetable.

Sesame seeds They're credited with protecting liver cells from the damaging effects of alcohol and other chemicals. For a concentrated form, try tahini, the yummy sesame seed paste that's a staple of Asian cooking.

Cabbage There are two main types of detoxifying enzymes in the liver; this potent veggie helps activate both of them. Coleslaw, anyone?

Psyllium A plant that's rich in soluble fiber, like oat bran, but more versatile. It mops up toxins (cholesterol too) and helps clear them out. Stir powdered psyllium into juice to help cleanse your colon, or have psyllium-fortified Bran Buds for breakfast.

Fruits, fruits, fruits They're full of almost all the good things above: vitamin C, fiber, nutritious fluids, and all kinds of antioxidants. Besides, nothing tastes better than a ripe mango, fresh berries, or a perfect pear.

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Labels: detox, detoxify, fruits and veggies, Green veggies, greens, Holistic Health, liver, nutrition, Vitamin C

If You Knew All That Your Skin Did For You On A Daily Basis - You'd Treat It With VIP Care....

YOUR SKIN:

• Protects your internal organs from injury and infection.
• Helps detoxify wastes through perspiration. It absorbs and excrete both nutrients and toxins through its pores.
• Provides an important line of immune defense against infections — your healthy skin creates a barrier to viruses and bacteria.
• Protects you against extreme changes in temperature, through its thermoregulatory effect of controlling heat flow between you and your environment.
• Produces and stores vitamin D, which is important to your immune system.
• Rich in receptors, it allows you to sense conditions around you — like hard/soft and hot/cold — and send information to your brain so you can react to it for self-preservation.
• Protects your body from sunburns.
• Protects you from dehydration.

Put simply, your skin plays a major role in your health.

So Give it Some TLC!

Source

Labels: detoxify, Holistic Health, skin, vital organ