Safe Cleansing and Detoxification

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]By Melanie Mathews CHN Holistic Nutritional Consultant

With spring around the corner comes a sense of renewal. It’s also a great time to detox your body from the winter blues. While I’m sure you are aware, there are many approaches to detoxification yet most of them are extreme at best and dangerous at worst. The good news is that the body is designed to detox itself naturally! The bad news is that we do encounter a massive amount of toxins in our world today. Therefore, sometimes our bodies can use a little help.

By incorporating specific foods, herbs and self-care remedies, I have created a short guide to safe cleansing and detoxification.

Start by cleaning up your diet, set dietary goals and cleanse the cupboards:

Eliminate saturated, hydrogenated, and Trans fats. These are found in processed foods, fried and greasy foods
Reduce consumption of sugar, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine as these are the most stimulating habits for much of the world
Clean house (get rid of any unwanted or unused items that are causing clutter)
Minimize exposure to environmental chemicals and household chemicals (detergents, dryer sheets, body lotions, perfumes, air fresheners, scented candles, exhaust, smoke)
Set aside time to commit to 3 goals that will improve your diet and lifestyle

Introduce these powerful elements to boost elimination, detoxification and renewal:

Water is the most important detoxifier. Drink 2 litres of water daily, adding a cup per hour of exercise-water helps flush toxins and promotes detoxification through elimination
Increase fibre to also promote detoxification through elimination (30grams per day) Flax seed, oat bran, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, spelt, teff, kamut, fruit and vegetables with skin, beans, legumes, sprouted grains
Anti-Oxidant rich foods create a balance between damaging free radicals and protective effects of antioxidants. These include dark leafy vegetables, brightly colored vegetables, eat a rainbow of colors, onions, garlic, brazil nuts
Important liver detox and blood purifying nutrients such as beets, carrots, radish, dandelion root tea, chlorophyll, lemon, lime, grapefruit, celery and ginger
Exercise regularly to promote perspiration and toxin removal and relax in an Epsom salt bath to help draw out impurities

Here’s a link to a clean and yummy detox recipe for you to try!

http://www.eatyourselfskinny.com/my-favorite-detox-salad/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

7 Best Natural Anti-Inflammatory Foods

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Natural anti-inflammatory foods are key to your good health. Read below for the 7 best foods that fight inflammation.

Inflammation is an immune response to injury, toxins, infection, nutritional imbalance and allergies that causes pain, redness heat and swelling in the affected area. Acute, short term inflammation may be a warning but continual inflammation can become your enemy. Many major diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression and Alzheimer's have been linked to chronic inflammation.

Since more than 70 percent of our immune system cells are found in the digestive tract our immune response is hugely affected by the foods we eat. If you want to eat for long-term health, lowering inflammation is crucial. Therefore, I recommend eating a diet focused on anti-inflammatory principles.

Start by avoiding inflammatory foods. These unhealthy foods also contribute to weight gain, which itself is a risk factor for inflammation.

Foods That Trigger Inflammation:

Refined sugar
Fried Foods
Red meat
Processed and pre-packaged foods
Stimulants such as caffeine and pop
Nightshade Vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant)
Grains containing gluten (barley, kamut, oat, rye, spelt, triticale and wheat)

Introduce the Mediterranean diet, eating this way not only helps protect against disease but it also slows the aging process by stabilizing blood sugar and increasing metabolism.

Foods That Fight Inflammation:

Free range eggs
Raw nuts and seeds
Wide range of colorful fruit and vegetables
Wild fish and lean meats (turkey, chicken, wild game)
Fresh herbs and spices (turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, ginger and parsley)
Gluten free whole grains (quinoa, millet, rice, teff, buckwheat, amaranth)
Healthy fats and oils (coconut, avocado, olive, grapeseed, sesame seed, hemp seed, chia seed)

Drink plenty of clean, filtered water and follow a balanced, wholefoods based diet, this is beneficial not only for reducing risk of disease but also for improving overall quality of life.

Here’s a link to a delicious anti-inflammatory recipe for you to try!

http://feedmephoebe.com/balanced-diet-salmon-quinoa-bowls-kale-tahini-yogurt-sauce/

By: Melanie Mathews CHN Holistic Nutritional Consultant[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]