Spring Cleaning-Part 2

Today we turn to spring nutrition.  This is the season to tend to our livers.  Our bodies have processed and stored Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas cookies, New Years' champagne, and Valentine's Day chocolates, and now it's time to let it all go.  If we don't clean out now, we shall be holding excess fat over summer, and thus become overheated as we literally bake our own fat in the sun.  Not to mention all the toxins floating around in our blood.  Gross.

Think green.  The more green vegetables and salads you can eat, the better.  It would behoove you to eat only the most natural, unprocessed foods you can find.  These are easier for your body to break down, and the less work your liver has to do in terms of digestion, and therefore can work on more important functions.  

Natural and unprocessed means nothing that comes in a box!  Stay away from the inner aisles of the grocery store and instead turn to organic fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains (brown rice, oats, whole wheat, rye, millet, quinoa), and beans.  Dairy, eggs, fried foods, and meat tend to be acidic and mucus producing.  And we want to clean out the mucus during springtime.  Think again of your fat and mucus baking in the summertime.  Yuck.  You're just asking for weight gain and blemishes.

To support your liver, besides the cleansing food choices, Dr. Elson Haas gives these 5 tips:

1. Avoid toxins such as household and industrial chemicals, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, and many prescription drugs. 

2. Drink lots of fluids and use fresh lemon in your water for liver cleansing.

3. Fresh organic cold-pressed olive oil is the best for the liver.

4. Exercise and sweat regularly to help with liver detoxification.

5. Milk thistle herb (silymarin) and olive leaf extract support and disinfect the liver.

Also consider fresh vegetable juices, or greens powders.  Cell-nique is a great detoxifying beverage that actually tastes delicious.  Check the fridges at your local Whole Foods or health food store, or check cell-nique.com.  

And always email me if you need more suggestions or help with your spring cleansing!  I'll be back later this week for another posting!