How to flush those festive season toxins
Myrl
How to flush those festive season toxins
January 06 2005 at 02:10PM
By Lindsay Ord
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=117&art_id=vn20050106104726479C562042
If you're still sluggish from all the festive indulgence, give your
body a spring clean with a detox.
And if you fear that detoxing is weeks of mineral water and vegetable
juice, think again. The new thinking around detoxing is that the body
should still be nourished while you eliminate toxins.
"The body is designed to detox," says Durban consultant dietitian Carol
Browne. "You don't have to starve to detoxify. If you have eaten and
drunk too much over the festive season, cut back and follow a normal,
balanced diet, but stricter than you normally would. Include high fibre
items like lentils and high fibre cereal to get your bowel moving and
drink plenty of water."
So what's the solution?
British nutritionist Dr Gillian McKeith says that because we live in a
toxic world, the body stores toxic substances which, before long, seep
into our blood stream and cell membranes, disturbing metabolic function
and causing tissue damage.
In her book You Are What You Eat (Penguin, R184), McKeith states that
in many cases, people are carrying around up to 4,5kg of unhealthy,
mucous-harbouring toxic waste.
So what's the solution?
"I have found that patients who implement my simple detox tips for
everyday life and then embark on my easy one-day detox, are able to
lose weight much more easily," says McKeith.
"They are also able to eradicate all kinds of health problems like low
sex drive, infertility, impotency, PMS, indigestion, malabsorption,
ovarian cysts, headaches, joint pains, bad breath, allergies,
constipation, brittle nails, skin eruptions, poor memory, depression,
insomnia, excess weight and more."
Start skin brushing
McKeith gives six simple tips to incorporate into a daily routine to
keep the body relatively toxin-free.
1. Study this Top Foods List Top Detox Foods:
Fruit and vegetable juices, water, raw food/sprouts/ greens, fruits,
veges, whole grains, legumes, seeds.
Foods to avoid: Sugar, fried foods, dairy, alcohol and caffeine
2. Buy and start using the following items from today
A juicer to start making your own vegetable juices. Don't worry about
buying the most expensive model - just get whatever you can afford.
Once you get into juicing, you can upgrade.
A blender to start making easy-to-digest food for the health smoothies.
3. Start skin brushing
Buy a skin brush (from bath shops) and use it. Dry skin brushing speeds
up the rate at which toxins are expelled from the body because it
motivates the cells and lymph tissue, two physiological detoxification
avenues. Note that this must be done dry, not while you are showering.
How to do it: Smoothly brush the soles of the feet, working your way up
the legs, then up the arms and down the back.
Brush in long, sweeping movements towards the heart to increase
circulation and improve skin tone and texture. Brush lightly and gently
and avoid broken skin, thread veins and varicose veins.
4. Breathe
Oxygen is a powerful detoxifier and deep breathing is the key. Most
people breathe in a shallow manner, depriving cells of oxygen, which
literally feeds blood and cells as it detoxifies organs and glands.
It is just as important as adequate supplies of water and good quality
food.
A lack of it actually starves the brain, nervous system, adrenals,
pituitary, kidneys, gall bladder, spleen, liver, diaphragm and colon.
5. Exercise daily
Simple, gentle movement is all that's required. Stretching, walking,
stair-climbing, mini-trampolining, dancing, disco, swimming, bicycling,
aerobics, Pilates or tai chi.
Just keep active.
6. Drink water
Regularly drinking still, filtered water is one of the most efficient
detoxifying fluids you can give yourself. Six to eight glasses a day is
recommended.