******* Spring Cleaning ! - Detoxification *******
Lately I have been seeing quite a few articles about
detox. I think it's important all year round, but a spring
cleaning could be a good start..
And I found it very interesting that different traditional
cultures (and religions) have their own ways of spring body
cleansing though their reasons and purposes may vary.
For instance:
--Refraining from (giving up) something for Lent
--Having bitter herbs for Passover Seder
--In Japan, soft cooked rice with 7 kinds of spring herbs is
eaten for health
etc.
There must be more examples that I am not aware of, too.
Below, I will pick up some of excerpts about detox from
various articles.
***Why detox?
"We're living in an environment that's full of chemicals,
toxins and pesticides, and there's no way of avoiding contact
with them," says Chris Clark, M.D., medical director of The
Raj, an Ayurvedic healing center in Fairfield, Iowa. "A lot
of those chemicals are associated with specific illnesses,
like cancer. For that reason alone, everyone needs to detox."
Recurrent colds and flu, fatigue, digestive ailments and skin
disorders are sure signs that one's body's waste removal
systems (liver, kidney, lungs, skin, lymphatic and
gastrointestinal systems) could use a thorough cleansing.
Liver health becomes compromised through diseases such as
hepatitus A as well as smoking and drinking alcohol and coffee,
which deplete the body of important antioxidants and other
nutrients.
Fortunately, the liver is highly regenerative, specially when
we give it some help.
Regular detoxification may also help with chronic conditions,
including cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and
cholesterol levels, arthritis and allergies.
If you just want to try for spring,
flush out toxins through an intense five- to 21-day regimen
that includes avoiding or reducing sugar, caffeine, nicotine,
alcohol and drugs; consuming fresh, whole organic foods and
purified water; exercising; using stress management techniques;
colon cleansing; massage, bathing, steaming and all-over body
exfoliation. "It takes 21 days to change the chemistry of the
body,"
It's important to remember that detox is not for everyone.
People who are pregnant, convalescing, preparing for surgery
or who have blood glucose imbalances should not undertake
this type of program because it puts added stress on the body
at a time when it has other priorities.
***Detox in details
1. Detox Diet
Have more - vegetables---organic, when possible. Specially
dark green, leafy ones like kale, parsley. Beets,
artichokes, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beans,
broccoli, Brussel sprouts, green and red cabbages,
Chinese cabbage, bok choy, celery, cauliflower,
cucmbers, eggplant, escarole, arugula, Belgian
endive, butter leaf, Bibb and romain lettuce,
dandelion, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radicchio,
spinach, watercress, horseradish, daikon radish,
Bermuda and green onions, chives, leeks, scallions,
shallots, green, red and yellow peppers, sprouts
(clover, mung bean, radish, sunflower), squash (
crookneck, Italian, pattypan, scallop, yellow, or
zucchini), tomatoes...
- seaweeds (kelp, wakame, dulse,
hijiki, kombu, arame, nori, sea palm..).
Seaweeds have long been used in Eastern healing
systems, including Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.
Modern research shows that seaweeds have protective
effects against liver injury and that antioxidants
in seaweeds may help prevent aging and other
diseases through their ability to scavenge
free radicals. Seaweeds are also used medicinally
to help people detox from radiation exposure.
* Pep's note on seaweed and hair - I get less grey hair when
I have a lot of seaweeds (and also ground sesame seeds).
I have heard that seaweeds could help hair growth as well.
And with salads with some seaweed (soaked wakame or hijiki),
I lost a lot of weight as they are excellent source of
fiber. Personally I rarely eat salads any more because they
are too yin (cooling) for me at the moment, but I still eat
lots of seaweed in soups, sushi rolls etc.
- fruits
- fluids, particularly purified water and
fresh-squeezed juices. They help flush toxins
from your body. Unsweetened cranberry juice helps
the liver open up its detoxification pathways.
Cranberries contain several digestive enzymes not
available in other foods.
* Pep's note on cranberry juice and UTI - After I started
drinking cranberry juice regularly, I stopped getting
bladder (urinary tract) infection. On the regular basis,
I prefer cranberry juice mixed with other -like peach, apple,
grape- juices because 100% cranberry is very very strong,
though it might work better if trying to treat UTI. I used
to get it quite often, but I haven't had it for several years.
Have no
(or less) - meat, dairy, junkfood, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine,
sugar, salt..
2. Try some herbal teas---burdock root (protects, tonifies and
detoxifies the liver), peppermint, dandelion,
fenugreek, eucalyptus, spearmint, milk thistle..
3. Try castor oil packs - a detox therapy stimulate the live and
gallbladder and draw out toxins from the body.
Do not do this during period.
4. Breathe deeply - The liver is dependent on the amount of oxygen
coming from the lungs.
5. Exercise -- Do not forget a walk outside as sunlight provides
bone-building vitamin D and stimulation to the
optic nerve, which tones every gland in the body.
Aerobic exercise is good because of the breathing.
6. Take a bath, a steam bath, or sit in a sauna since they loosen
toxins and move them out of your body.
7. Relax or meditate at least five minutes each day.
** OK, let's see how many of these we can pick up and how long
we can keep up..
Good luck & good health !
Pep
(4-13-01)
* If you came to this page directly by search, home is at
http://www.geocities.com/pepchun/p.html
thanks.