In order for our immune system’s to perform their best, we must give them the support they need. Food can have a dramatic impact on our immune health, and several foods have reproducibly been shown to decrease our immune systems’ ability to fight off infections.
(more…)Periodic cleansing can help the body function optimally by allowing you to ‘clean-house’ as your diet and lifestyle change throughout the year. Spring-time is often associated with liver detoxification. While there are many ways to help the liver perform it’s many functions, simple cleanses often work the best.
(more…)Detoxification programs can vary dramatically. Here is a simple 3-day, food-based detoxification program that you can do over a long weekend to get a jump start on spring-cleaning.
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We all know that being properly hydrated is important. What most people do NOT know is how to get properly hydrated. It turns out that there’s a bit more to it than just pounding water a few times a day… (more…)
In Part 5 of this series, we introduced you to the Orange and Yellow Phytonutrients, many of which have been shown to help improve vision and eye health. Many of the foods that contain green phytonutrients also help improve eye health. In addition, the green phytonutrients convey a wide variety of unique health benefits.
Lutein and zeaxanthin are green phytonutrients that have been shown to maintain good vision while reducing the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. While these two nutrients are widely found in various supplemental formulas, they are also plentiful in foods, including kale, spinach, leafy greens (turnip, collard, and mustard), romaine lettuce, broccoli, green peas, kiwifruit, and honeydew melon.
Another key group of green phytonutrients are the indoles, which includes indole-3-carbinol and diindolylmethane. These compounds are not only potent antioxidants, they have also been shown to convey significant protection against a variety of cancers. In fact, these indoles have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of breast and prostate cancers while reducing the risk of tumor growth in most types of cancer, including melanoma.
Indoles seem to exhibit their cancer-protection by altering estrogen metabolism to produce less-carcinogenic metabolites. It also seems to directly inhibit the growth of reproductive cancer cells. Indoles are readily found in a variety of vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, bok choy, arugula, Swiss chard, turnips, rutabaga, watercress, cauliflower and kale.
Chlorophyll is another potent antioxidant that is found in all green vegetables. Chlorophyll has also been shown to have anti-cancer properties. Research has shown that chlorophyll can bind to potential carcinogens and interfere with how they are absorbed in the human gastrointestinal tract; these studies suggest that these effects help lower the risk for certain types of cancers, including liver and colon cancer.
Another group of antioxidants that have been found to reduce the risk of cancer are the Blue & Purple Phytonutrients; these will be the subject of our next post.
Cleansing is something that is often discussed in the natural health field, but is often poorly understood. This post will cover the changes that occur within our bodies as we prepare for autumn and how we can facilitate and benefit from these natural changes. (more…)
Give the gift of health!
