detox

Spring Cleaning: 6 Ways To Detox Your Mind And Body

While it might not feel like spring as yet in some parts of the country, the season of warmer weather and chirping birds is finally here. So what can you do to prepare for the impending months of warm weather? Well, besides spring cleaning, doing a mind and body detox is always helpful, especially at the start of a new season.

It’s especially important to clear your mind if you’re a person who is constantly on the go. “Outside a good night’s sleep, we don’t get many breaks from this mind chatter,” Dr. Robert Puff, a licensed clinical psychologist. “Even if we’re not thinking, we’re surrounded by external stimuli such as television, music, and conversations around us.” This prevents us from relaxing, and most of the time we end up feeling stressed and overworked. Here are a few helpful tips to get your body and mind detox started:

Mind:
1. Emphasize Positive Emotions: By emphasizing thing such as love, trust, compassion, forgiveness, and joy, you’re essentially increasing the importance of these emotions in your life. By doing so, you are affirming the good things in your life and focusing on the positive. This leaves little to no room for negative thoughts. However, there is no clear-cut scientific answer as to happy thoughts equaling a cure for any type of disease or ailment. But there’s evidence that mood can predict whether someone who has had one heart attack will have another

2. Morning Meditation: Taking 20 minutes in the morning to just focus on yourself is a good way to calm your mind and collect your thoughts before you start your sometimes hectic day. “Mind strength is one of the most empowering tools we can employ to impact and improve all aspects of life,” according to psychotherapist Dr. Ron Alexander.

3. Start Working On Your Goals: By taking control and getting hard at work on your goals, you’ll begin to feel more accomplished. Even small tasks can have great rewards because they eliminate overthinking.

Body:
1. Eliminate Alcohol: By eliminating alcohol, you’re essentially ridding your body of one form of toxin. And a 2013 study also noted that those who didn’t drink alcohol lived longer.

2. Eat Plenty of Fiber: Eating fiber is a key component in mainlining healthy bowels and ridding the body of physical toxins.

3. Dry Brushing: This entails using a bristle brush in a circular motion all over your body. This helps to eliminate the dead skin cells, decrease the look of cellulite due to an increased blood flow, and improve skin tone.

Source: medical daily

10 Foods That Detox Your Body and Cleanse Your Liver

Here are 10 foods that detox your body and cleanse your liver. Think of your liver as an air filter. All the toxins we eat, drink and breathe in get clogged up in this hard-working organ. Even though our body has it’s own natural detoxification system, there is a lot we can do to give it a helping hand, largely by eating the right kinds of foods.

Most of the foods in the gallery contain a special protein called glutathione. Glutathione handcuffs toxins and drags them out of our body…quite effectively. Here’s the catch: this handcuffing process works best when foods are eaten raw. In fact, all of the foods listed here go from being a great source of glutathione to not containing any at all when they’re cooked.

If your body needs to get the yuck out, add Brussels sprouts to your diet today. Brussels sprouts are high in sulfur, which helps to remove toxins from the blood. Eating a serving or two of Brussels sprouts daily will help sponge out toxins – whether they’re environmental or dietary.These little sprouts also boost glucosinolate, an antioxidant that forces the liver to release enzymes that block damage.

Garlic:
A fresh bulb of garlic. Don’t have any in your kitchen right now? You should. Here’s why…garlic is loaded with sulfur, a mineral that helps rid the body of toxins. Garlic has also been shown to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Garlic has been used in the treatment of high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and bacteria-related illnesses. Keep in mind, heating destroys many of the beneficial properties of garlic. If you can’t stomach raw garlic, you can find it in capsule form in most grocery of health food stores.

Dandelion

Yes, that’s a dandelion. While I don’t recommend pesticide, fertilizer-covered weeds to anyone, store-bought varieties are perfectly safe. If you can’t find dandelion leaves in your grocery store, opt for dandelion root tea instead. Dandelion root tea has been shown to rid the liver of toxins. Since our liver is responsible for breaking down fats, producing amino acids and generally filtering the gunk out – we need to take care of it. Dandelion root tea has a fairly bitter taste. I often brew a few cups of it, let it steep for a while, add lemon juice and sip on it all day.

carrots
Carrots are another food rich in glutathione, a protein that helps detoxify the liver. In addition to the detox properties, carrots contain good amounts of vitamin C, B6 and potassium. They also loaded with vitamin A and K, too! It’s best to eat these raw. Try with a side of guacamole, hummus or even mustard!

Raw tomatoes:
Raw tomatoes do a great job detoxifying the liver, containing 169 milligrams of glutathione per serving. The benefits don’t stop there. Tomatoes are famous for their lycopene content, which has been shown to protect against breast, skin and lung cancer. Eat tomatoes when they’re fresh. Try with a little balsamic vinegar and sea salt.

Grapefruit
Grapefruit contains just over 70 milligrams of liver cleansing glutathione. Grapefruits also contain a special kind of pectin that has been shown to lower cholesterol like no other pectin-containing food. One whole grapefruit is about 80 calories, so enjoy with a cup of cottage cheese or plain yogurt sprinkled with cinnamon and you’ve got a great breakfast.

Spinach
Popeye’s favorite, spinach, contains a whopping 166 milligrams of glutathione per serving when eaten raw. Cook it, and it all goes away. Spinach also contains twice as much energy-boosting iron as other leafy greens. Spinach has also gained a lot of attention as a cancer-fighter, too. Try a spinach salad today with a little olive oil and sea salt drizzled on top.

Walnuts
Walnuts detox the liver and feed the brain! A good source of glutathione and a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, a little bit of walnuts goes a long way. Why not sprinkle a few on your next spinach salad?

Avocados
Avocados are another fruit rich in glutathione. This green goddess is also a good source of monounsaturated fats and has been shown to lower cholesterol levels when eaten regularly.

Asparagus
In addition to being great for the liver, asparagus is a great vegetable to eat raw when you’re feeling bloated. Asparagus is a natural diuretic.

Source: chicagonow