#49 May 2022 Simplify Health News - Spring Time - Time to Detox with Healthier Food Choices!

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#49 May 2022 Simplify Health News

Spring Time - Time to Detox with Healthier Food Choices!

Simplify Holistic Nutrition Consulting & Functional Medicine Health and Wellness Coaching

Hopefully, this newsletter finds you well.

My husband and I just returned from a month of travel, where we did not eat our usual healthy, clean and lean food choices. Eating out is a nice treat once in a while. The downside is that we can not influence the quality of foods served. Especially the fats used in restaurants can have such an impact on our health, so we have decided to detox for at least a month.

Happy family sharing nutritious foods outdoor

As Spring is in full swing, and the body loves to be cleansed during this beautiful energizing season, it is time to support the body in the detox processes with healthier food choices.

There are all kinds of detox supplements, pills, and shakes available. There are plenty of books and concepts out there to help us learn about how to detox our bodies. Some are fantastic to help you detox.

I love the healthiest, cleanest way of eating for that purpose!

Food is medicine.

You might be surprised that many of your favorite foods also help the body’s detoxification organs like the liver, intestines, kidneys, and skin to get rid of harmful toxic buildup. To ward off the harmful effects of chemicals, pollution, food additives, second-hand smoke, and other toxins with delicious fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, healthy oils, and beans is the best cleanse available.

Supporting your body’s detoxification system is critical for good health, and a cleanse which can get your body’s primary detoxification organs running more smoothly feels best in the Spring. After the more inactive wintertime, before we start exposing ourselves in lighter clothes, making better food choices will present us with ample energy for the active months to come.

A detox generally involves eating a simple diet with ample amounts of detox-friendly foods and herbs, along with plenty of water, herbal teas, vegetables, low-sugar fruits, and plant foods in general. Raw, juiced, pureed, steamed, soups and broths are good choices.

Depending on where we are all coming from, concentrating on drinking enough good quality water will be a great way to flush out the kidneys. To drink ½ of our bodyweight in pounds in oz. is a baseline measurement for the water amount we daily need. Of course, if you sweat a lot while doing cardio work- outs, or use a sauna regularly, please add more water to replenish!

Avoid processed foods, sugar (and artificial sweeteners), alcohol, caffeine, dairy, and red meat, at least for a limited period.

Eat organic foods and feel the difference! The environmental working group (www.ewg.org) puts together the most pesticide and herbicide loaded produce, so we can learn what is safe to buy not organic (Clean 15), and what must be consumed organic (Dirty Dozen).

EWG's 2022 THE DIRTY DOZEN
(Should be consumed organic)

Strawberries

Spinach

Kale, collard &
mustard greens

Nectarines

Apples

Grapes

Bell &
hot peppers

Cherries

Peaches

Pears

Celery

Tomatoes

EWG's 2022 THE CLEAN 15
(Safe to buy not organic)

Avocados

Sweet corn

Pineapple

Onions

Papaya

Sweet peas, frozen

Asparagus

Honeydew melon

Kiwi

Cabbage

Mushrooms

Cantaloupe

Mangoes

Watermelon

Sweet potatoes

Get protein from beans, nuts, seeds, wild-caught salmon/seafood, chicken (preferably free-range/organic).

DETOX-FRIENDLY FOODS

Although a plant-based diet rich in vegetables and fiber supports healthy detoxification in general, certain foods are detox superstars by encouraging bile production, or acting as diuretics. Aim to eat lots of the following foods during a detox and extend the benefits by enjoying them regularly in your daily diet. Here are a few examples of detox superfoods:

Bitter herbs like artichoke, dandelion, radicchio, and arugula, chicory help detox the liver.
Diuretic herbs like dandelion, parsley, and hibiscus make excellent teas to flush our kidneys.
Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, kale, watercress, cabbage, bok choy, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, radishes, and turnips are great for metabolic detoxification and liver support.
Asparagus can act as a natural diuretic, according to a 2010 study published in the West Indian Medical Journal. This can help rid the body of excess salt and fluid, making it especially good for people suffering from edema and high blood pressure. It helps flush out toxins from the kidneys. Asparagus contains glutathione as well as inulin, a special polysaccharide that promotes digestive health.
Avocado is not often referred to as a cleansing food but these nutritional powerhouses’ lower cholesterol and dilate blood vessels while blocking artery-destroying toxicity. Avocados contain glutathione, which blocks different carcinogens while helping the liver detoxify synthetic chemicals.
Beets contain betalain pigments that have shown to support activity in our body’s Phase 2 detoxification process. Phase 2 is the metabolic step that our cells use to hook activated, unwanted toxic substances up with small nutrient groups.
Berries, citrus fruits and citrus peel, garlic and onions, and flax and chia seed are excellent detox foods too.

Detox Caution:

It’s worth noting that detoxification is generally not appropriate if you’re pregnant or nursing, and you should seek a practitioner’s guidance before cleansing, especially if you have diabetes, heart disease, kidney or liver disease, or you take pharmaceutical medications. Acute liver and kidney issues require medical attention, not a cleanse.

FIT Tests as Detox Tools

I often tell my clients when the FIT Tests results come back, to treat it like a cleanse. Eliminating the foods that your body reacts to with an inflammatory response is an amazing way to reclaim health, reduce inflammation, feel more energized, improve gut-health, and maybe lose a few unwanted pounds in a healthy way.

Please call if you have questions. Included in the FIT 132 Test and the FIT 176 Test is now Zonulin, a measurement for Leaky Gut.

As a practitioner, testing for Leaky Gut feels a bit out of my comfort zone, but many of you love this additional information. Even as the prices for me at KBMO Diagnostics were raised with this included Zonulin information attached, I have decided not to raise my prices at this point. Please take advantage of it. The FIT 176 Test including 1 hour test review, a 7-day meal plan, the app and Zonulin tested is a great deal at Simplify Holistic Nutrition Consulting that many of my clients value.

So, what am I doing to cleanse my body:

As I love to work out in the morning, I am not a breakfast eater. So I guess you could call that Intermittent Fasting, which I have done since 30 years, but not for the reason to fast. Tea and water are my morning routine, until I am hungry. Lunch could be leftovers from dinner, eggs with self-baked flourless bread (made from nuts and seeds), vegetables and herbs.

Dinner during this cleansing season is a vegan meal consisting out of 3-5 different vegetables, plus a mixed salad. I love to steam my vegetables with tiny amounts of avocado oil and water. I use beans, lentils and chickpeas in my cooking as additional protein source. All items that we are consuming during a cleanse are grown organic. I feel great, energized, I sleep deep and sound for 7-9 hours and wake up refreshed, ready for the day. If you have more in depth questions about detoxing, please let me know.

Wishing you good energy and a happy Spring!

With health and happiness,

Silke