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15 Most Cleansing Foods

Apples: Apples are high in pectin, a type of fiber that binds to cholesterol and heavy metals in the body. It helps to eliminate these toxins and cleanses the intestines.

Avocados: Avocado is a cleansing food that contains a nutrient called glutathione, which cleanses many toxins from the body, and helps the liver detoxify and eliminate synthetic chemicals.

Beets: Cooked or raw borscht soup is very cleansing and nourishing.  Beets contain a unique mixture of natural plant compounds that make them superb blood purifiers and liver cleansers.

Blueberries: Truly one of the most powerful healing foods, blueberries contain natural substances that help clear inflammation in the body, lessening pain. Blueberries also act as antibiotics by blocking bacteria in the urinary tract, and can help to prevent infections. They also have antiviral properties and help to block toxins from crossing the blood-brain barrier to gain access to the brain.

Cabbage: Cabbage contains numerous antioxidant compounds that help the liver. Cabbage also cleanses the digestive tract and neutralizes some of the damaging compounds found in cigarette smoke (and second-hand smoke). It also strengthens the liver’s ability to detoxify.

Celery and Celery Seeds: Celery and celery seeds are excellent blood cleansers and contain many different cleansing and healing compounds that help detoxify unhealthy cells from the body. Celery seeds contain over twenty substances that help to clear inflammation from the body… they are particularly good for detoxifying substances found in cigarette smoke.

Cranberries: Cleanse your body from harmful micro-organisms that may be lingering in your urinary tract with cranberries. Cranberries  contain substances that clear harmful microbes.

Flaxseeds and Flaxseed Oil: Flax is loaded with essential fatty acids, particularly the Omega-3s, flaxseeds and flaxseed oil are essential for many cleansing functions throughout the body.

Garlic: Eat garlic to cleanse harmful bacteria from the body, and intestinal parasites from the blood and intestines. Raw garlic has a lot of antioxidant activity. It has many properties that help detoxify the body of harmful substances. Additionally, garlic assists with cleansing the respiratory tract by expelling mucous build-up in the lungs and sinuses. For the health benefits, choose only fresh garlic, not garlic powder, which has virtually none of the above properties.

Grapefruit: Add a ruby red grapefruit to your breakfast to benefit from pectin fiber that binds to cholesterol, thereby cleansing the blood. Pectin also binds to heavy metals and helps escort them out of the body. It also has compounds that cleanse harmful microbes out of the body. Grapefruit is an excellent intestinal and liver detoxifier. Also, grapeftuit therapeutic grade essential oil can be used in water or added to other foods and helps to breakdown excess and unhealthy fat in the body.

Kale: Steam or chop raw kale and add to other vegies in a salad and benefit from its powerful antioxidant compounds that help cleanse the body of harmful substances. It is also high in fiber, which helps cleanse the intestinal tract. Like cabbage, kale helps neutralize compounds found in cigarette smoke and strengthens liver cleansing.

Legumes: Add a handful of sprouted or cooked beans to your next meal since they are loaded with fiber that helps lower cholesterol, cleanses the intestines, and regulates blood sugar levels. Legumes also help protect cells to maintain healthy activity.

Lemons: Excellent liver detoxifier, lemons contain high amounts of vitamin C, a vitamin needed by the body to make an important substance called glutathione. Glutathione helps the liver detoxify harmful chemicals. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (not the bottled variety) to pure water to support your cleansing efforts on a daily basis, or add a couple of drops of therapeutic grade lemon essential oil. The lemon oil contains Limonene which greatly supports the immune system.

Seaweed: Seaweed could be the most underrated vegetable of all. Studies at McGill University in Montreal showed that seaweeds bind to radioactive waste in the body. Seaweeds also bind to heavy metals to help eliminate them from the body. In addition, they are powerhouses of minerals and trace minerals.

Watercress: If you haven’t tried watercress add this delicious green to your next salad, since it increases detoxification enzymes. In a study at the Norwich Food Research Centre in the United Kingdom, smokers who were given 170 grams of watercress per day eliminated higher than average amounts of toxic substances in their urine, thereby eliminating them from their body.

Eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables assists with detoxifying harmful substances from your body. It also helps the cells to maintain normal and healthy cellular activity. Who knew cleansing could taste so good?

Adapted from: The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan by Michelle Schoffro Cook (John Wiley & Sons, 2006). 

Revisions, edits and additions by Malaika Namara: EclecticWellnessLIfestyle@gmail.com

“I begged the Wise one to tell me the secret of the world. Gently he whispered, the secret cannot be spoken. It is wrapped in Silence.”

Rumi

The top 10 Elements of an Optimal Wellness Lifestyle are kind of…NOT negotiable. Take only a few of these steps and you will get some good results, but you very likely won’t get the ultimate package. Staying radiantly healthy and happy through the ups and downs of life requires commitment. And paying attention to all these important aspects of an Optimal Wellness Lifestyle.

It’s truly worth the effort for the abundant rewards that bless and elevate your life!

The Foundation – Take care of your physical body first!

1. Basic, Good Nutrition: Eating a good diet full of organic fruits and vegetables, grains and easily assimilated protein is more essential than many people ever realize. As much raw as possible and a multitude of greens is so important!! Green foods are a huge key to being optimally nourished and they are a tremendous source of highly usable protein. Sprouts are another tremendous source of protein. Find a source for sunflower or other sprouts and add them to your diet abundantly. Good nutrition will greatly support your emotional wellbeing. This is a crucial, added benefit of consistently eating a pure, healthy diet that is rich in all the essential nutrients. Superfoods are absolutely necessary to achieve this!

2. Superfoods/Cellular Prosperity: Green Powders, Marine Phytoplankton, Blue-Green Algae, Medicinal Mushrooms, Goji Berries, Inca Berries, Cacao and Herbs are all excellent for high level nutrition and optimal cellular functioning. High levels of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and the most viable, absorbabe protein on this planet. If you’re not enjoying these products, you are really missing out!!

3. Exercise: Do a combination of aerobic exercise and stretching at least 3 times per week. Yoga or stretching exercises will be phenomenal for your body, if done regularly. Dancing is great exercise combined with fun and interacting with partners. Dancing is an activity that can be continued throughout your lifetime. You may also want to consider strength building, your favorite fitness program or sports. The key is regularity and a variety of movement.

4. Bodywork/Treatments: You get a regular auto tune-up and oil change for your car, right? Well, your body needs that as well, in order to run properly. Have frequent massage, physical adjustments or other treatments. Once a week is ideal, or once a month, at the very least. There is no doubt that a really great practitioner who knows how to release tension and adjust the body is as good as Gold. Having this done on a consistent basis will make a huge difference in your overall wellbeing. Physical alignment and a finely tuned body is a huge factor in feeling fantastic.

5. Cleansing: Adopt a program you like for cleaning out your system. Do 1-2 longer cleansing programs per year for at least a week to 10 days and a mini cleanse for 2-3 days, every other month, when you are not doing a deeper, longer cleanse. The digestive and elimination systems needs a break! Also, have colonics be a part of your regimen, once every 4 months would be great, or at the very least twice a year. Stay hydrated daily with plenty of pure, filtered water.

Next we need to consider our Emotional Wellbeing!

6. Relaxation/Stress Management: There are many techniques and activities that will reduce your stress levels greatly. See my post on how to “Release Stress Quickly and Easily” on page 5 of this Blog. This is a very amazing and effective process that I have taught many people over the years. My clients have benefited greatly from using this approach often, as needed. It can be used as a very brief exercise in literally 3 minutes anywhere, anytime – or as a longer, more meditative approach. Just do it when stress levels are high! It truly makes a big difference and that’s what counts. Repatterning is an amazing system for shedding layers of old patterns, emotions and energy – and updating to who you are choosing to be in your life NOW. This is the best way I know of to detoxify on a deep emotional level and have impact on the unconscious level. So many imprints from past experiences are stored and still holding charged emotions at the unconscious level. You can transform unconscious patterns!! That’s definitely like getting a new lease on Life!

7. Financial Wellbeing: Being free from unnecessary and excessive debt is very important for maintaining a relaxed, healthy body and peaceful mind. I don’t believe a true Wellness Lifestyle can exist without well managed and sufficient financial resources for taking very good care of yourself and your family. Back-up funds for special circumstances are a must for maintaining a stress-free body, mind and spirit. It can be very helpful to have great financial consultants guiding you. Consultants who are living examples of prosperity and financial wellbeing themselves can be great guides.

8. Positive and Productive Relationships/Companionship: Happy, fulfilling relationships are an art form and some mastery is required. Relationships are the most important personal growth opportunities in our lives. Communication skills are typically learned, and don’t necessarily come automatically for most of us. Don’t make a habit of complaining, as this will definitely wear out any relationship. Take time to study the dynamics of all types of relationships. Learn the differences between men and women and how each think, express emotions, communicate and what’s most important to each of them. Do you ever stop and put yourself in the other person’s position when things are tense? How about a 5 year old boy, or an 8 year girl. A teenager? Have you forgotten what it was like to be in those challenging teen years driven by hormones and emotions, trying to find your way? Shift your perspective now and again and it will be quite enlightening and enhancing to your relationships. Do you offer some kind words when someone is having a challenging time? Do you compliment people consistently and express appreciation? Do you light up and share in the joy when someone around you is having a meaningful experience or doing what they enjoy? Do you take yourself too seriously? Depending on how you answered these questions, you may be noticing that you have some reflecting, opening and shifting to do. It will be well worth the effort, I assure you! Reading a book or two may be very helpful, especially if you put into practice what you are learning. This is definitely a very big subject!!

9. Fun/Entertainment/Laughter: Commit to enjoying your life as fully as possible. Spend plenty of time doing the things that bring you the most joy. Be amused, entertained, curious and surprised. Give and receive abundantly! Have a good dose of adventure in your schedule frequently. The world will not fall apart if you take time to play and be free. In fact, ironically, you may find you have extra time and accomplish more than when you were obsessing over everything and mistreating yourself.

Spirituality and Life Purpose – Inner Life is so hugely Important!!

10. Spiritual Practice/Quiet, Inward Alone Time: This is listed last, but is most definitely not of the least importance. For a Balanced, Healthy life you must have purpose and feel you are making a difference in some way. You must go inward and have contemplative time or you will likely start coming apart at the seams at some point. Adopt some philosophy that connects you to a higher vision of what your life is all about. Practice compassionate actions and random acts of kindness. Apply the powerful principle of Giving Back. Generosity is deeply rewarding. If you don’t find yourself feeling significantly rewarded by some of these meaningful actions, you may seriously need some support and re-prioritizing. And that’s OK, providing you get it. Find a great mentor, therapist, coach or counselor to guide you through some deep personal healing. Transformation just may be the true purpose and underlying objective of  this life.

Follow these recipes and you will be as happy as those playful mammals in the photo above!

For a free 20 minute Personal Wellness consultation contact Malaika at: EclecticWellnessLifestyle@gmail.com

“The Art of Mastery is not just how we live our life, but why we live it, our focus, our purpose. It’s about service and living compassionately in alignment with our higher wisdom and guidance. And it’s about moral virtue and lifestyle choices that entrain us with the essence of our divinity.”

Collaborative Reflections