Dear readers, first of all I would like to wish all of you wonderful and healthy New Year. May 2016 bring lots of happiness and memorable moments for you and your families. May your dreams have no limits, but remember that you can never achieve those once you have lost your health. That is why I will devote this month’s section to detoxification and premier detoxing center.
We just stepped into a New Year and surely we have all have been indulging ourselves in Christmas treats without thinking. Perhaps some of you have added a few extra kilos on, while others just feel sluggish and unhealthy. Let me give you few tips on how to support your health and feel better instantly.
Gone are those times when detox holidays was an occasional luxury. Unfortunately they became a necessity. Health experts are now warning, that toxic overload plays a major part in ageing. If you do not give your body chance to detoxify, toxins accumulated from your diet, drug use or environmental exposure will lead to poor digestion, colon sluggishness or even dysfunction, poor elimination through the kidneys, respiratory tract and will even increase the skin’s toxicity.
Intermittent Fasting
Surprisingly intermittent fasting is one the most recommended steps to start with. I suggest you choose one day a week, when you have your last meal around 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Do not eat any food for the rest of the day until following late morning. Ideally, you would go for a light workout to boost burning of fat from those hidden reserves, which become your source of energy during fasting. But be careful not to do heavy workouts on your fasting days. You need to ensure you drink plenty of water to help with toxins being carried away from your body. If you find it too difficult, you can have a tablespoon of coconut oil or some chlorella during the fast. That should solve your hunger and cravings issues.
Once you have got used to intermittent fasting, you can try a full day fast once a week, Be aware, that few hours into the fast you will become hungry, agitated, tired, dizzy with possible headaches due to the lack of sugar in your blood stream. What you are really doing is, that you are clearing toxins from body, neutralising or transforming them, and clearing excess mucus and congestion. Stay on the track with your fast and enjoy the rewarding moment of having the first meal after your fast. It should be light, easily digestible meal containing lots of vegetables and preferably no meat. You will be surprised how your taste buds have changed! You will be more sensitive to salt and sugar and want to eat healthy.
Detoxification is a process that involves not only dietary, but also lifestyle changes that reduce intake of toxins and improve elimination. Regular exercise, walking outside, soaking up the sun, breathing clean air and walking barefoot are all part of the cycle.
You can support the process of detox with some other therapies like Colon Hydrotherapy. It is a rejuvenating and highly effective treatment of internally cleansing the colon, that encourages the removal of hardened and impacted waste matters elimination, build-ups of gas and mucous from the body. Along with good nutrition, exercise and relaxation, colon hydrotherapy helps minimise the toxin load and break the destructive pattern of self poisoning. It does not make sense to go for a one-time treatment as it generally takes days to reach the end of colon. Ideally you would embark on a week-long journey of full fast with two colon therapies a day.
Green juices are certainly part of the process to a healthier you. So much has been written, that it all sounds confusing now. Perhaps you are wondering, what is the real difference between juicing and blending.
Blending means taking the whole vegetables, herbs, commonly some unpeeled lemon, green
apple for sweetness, even few nuts. You would also add some extra liquid (water, coconut water, herbal tea etc.). The end product is thick and creamy juice, you could possibly even call a smoothie. Add some superfoods like chlorella, goji berries, wheat grass, maca powder and you will have a perfectly balanced meal replacement, that should serve as an ideal breakfast and even main meal.
While blended vegetables will keep all the precious fibre, clear green juice will be highly cleansing, giving your digestive tract a break. That is why I recommend green juices during the detox of South Florida.
Green Juices and Detox
Juicing, like blending, breaks down the cell walls of raw food and liberates nutrients for easy
digestion. Besides detoxifying, the benefits of juicing are the keys to giving you a radiant, energetic life, and truly optimal health.
Every health authority today recommends that we get 6-8 servings of vegetables and fruits per day and very few of us actually get that. Juicing is an easy way to virtually guarantee that you will reach your daily target for vegetables.
Cooking and processing food destroys micronutrients and enzymes by altering their shape and chemical composition. Juicing of organic and non gmo beet juice powder will help to “pre-digest” nutrients from the vegetables for you & make up for the nutrients you lost in cooking, so you will receive most of the nutrition.
Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.
It is important to note that vegetable juice has very little protein and virtually no fat, so by itself, it is not really a complete food. It really should be used in addition to your regular meals not in place of it.
So unless you are undergoing some special fasting or detoxification program, it is probably unwise to use juicing as a meal replacement. Ideally, it can be consumed with your meal or as a between-meal-snack.
Points to Remember While Juicing:
- Vegetable juice is highly perishable so it’s best to drink all of your juice immediately or within 20 minutes unless you store it in a glass bottle and fill it up to the maximum to allow minimal oxidation.
- Juicing fruit is recommended only in moderation. Most fruit juices simply end up loaded with a ton of sugar because you are removing the valuable fibre which helps lower the absorption of the fructose in the fruit.
- Always add a few drops of any oil to your juice. That way oil soluble vitamins A, D, E and K will be released and made bio available.
- Drink your juice slowly! Enjoy every sip of it, keep the juice in your mouth for a few seconds allowing the digestive enzymes from your saliva mix with the juice! That is, in fact, a fair advice from Oxford Dental Care professionals. Mind the temperature too, make your teeth happy. You can also check out some reviews here about the best mouthwash which can help you maintain good oral health.
Detox Holidays
Going on a proper detox holiday is a challenge and a life time experience. I strongly recommend you give it a go. My experience was beyond imagination. The sense of complete body and mind cleanliness, sharp thinking or an absolute body lightness and endless energy to name a few.
However, there are points to remember before you go and when you return back. You need to start preparing for the detox few weeks prior to going in order to bring your body on the alkaline side which is your optimal state. Acidic environment promotes disease and does not encourage healing. Stop drinking alcohol, tea and coffee, limit meat consumption and increase the intake of vegetables prior to detox holidays.
If your detox holidays include colon therapy, be aware that you will be flushing out your intestinal microflora. Reputable centres should offer gut probiotic replacement after your last colon therapy.
When you complete your detox, you should continue consuming as much raw foods as possible and then slowly start introducing other food items back into your diet once your gut microflora has been fully replaced and built up. Good probiotics will help this and you can refer to my articles on fermenting vegetables and using kombucha and kefir on my website at www.ivanahph.com
Ivana has been living in the UAE for 16 years. She is a qualified Health Coach and member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. He passions are nutrition, organic gardening, healthy cooking and homemade organic skin care. She is running weekly workshops on above topics. More info on her Facebook page, Health Powerhouse and at Sublime Wellness Center.
Words + Photos By: Ivana Chiles
