Detox your Toxic Body!

Trying to lose weight can be hard. Even more so if your body is full of toxins! How do you know if your body is full of toxins you ask? Well it is kinda simple to tell. Your body will let you know. A few tell tell signs of your body being full of toxic material is:

1. You work out and work out and can't seem to lose any weight.
2. Allergy or intolerance to certain foods
3. Bad breath and foul-smelling gas and stools
4. Constipation, diarrhea, sluggish elimination, irregular bowel movements
5. Frequent congestion, colds, and viruses
6. Flatulence or gas and frequent intestinal disorders
7. Frequent headaches for no apparent reason
8. General aches and pains that migrate from one place to another
9. Intolerance to fatty foods
10. Low energy; loss of vitality for no apparent reason
11. Lower back pain
12. Lowered resistance to infections
13. Needing to sleep a long time
14. Pain in your liver or gall bladder
15. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), breast soreness, vaginal infections
16. Skin problems, rashes, boils, pimples, and acne

These are just to name a few. If you have one or more of these symptoms, You probably need a good detox to rid your body of these nasty Toxins. What are Toxins?  The Nemours Foundation describes body toxins as, "A toxin is a chemical or poison that is known to have harmful effects on the body. Toxins can come from food or water, from chemicals used to grow or prepare food, and even from the air that we breathe. Our bodies process those toxins through organs like the liver and kidneys and eliminate them in the form of sweat, urine, and feces."

Kinda gross isn't it?  Well, as stated above, their are 4 kinds of toxins. Air, Water, Food, Chemicals. Surprisingly enough you really can't avoid any of these toxins. If you ever eat out or even buy foods from the grocery store, You most likely have been exposed to the food Toxins. If you drink out of the tap or even wash your foods in the water, You have been exposed to toxins in water. Air, that one no one. including the cleanest person, can get away from that one. Lastly, their is the Chemical toxins. These are actually very common. More common than you think. Even if you buy the all natural cleaners and such, you are still exposed to these toxins.  Kinda scary to know by just walking out your door or even cleaning your home, Your body is being contaminated by toxins that can cause us severe harm.

Now that I have talked about what toxins are and how you can get them, Let's now discuss what you can do to get rid of them. First off, your body has a built in detoxification system already at work.  Our detox organs include: liver, kidneys, skin and lungs. Our bodies' digestive, lymphatic and circulatory systems all play a major role in the process of detox. Wish I could say this was enough but unfortunately it isn't. With all the toxins we are exposed to, our bodies can't keep up getting rid of it all. So we need to give it a little bit of help to insure our bodies can help keep us healthy longer.

Simple, Inexpensive Detox Measures you can do at home!
  Most of you know I don't have a huge amount of money. So where I can save a dollar or two, I will do it. So the easy and simple ways to detox your body will surprise you.

1.  Eat foods high in fiber.  Foods that are ultra high in 'colon-cleansing' fiber, are meant to literally brush and sweep out the built up toxins in your colon. A few examples of these are, bran cereal, black, lima and kidney beans, lentils, avocados, peas, raspberries, grapefruit and dried oats. All natural plant foods have dietary fiber in their make-up. (warning! Ask your doctor before ingesting Grapefruit as it tends to cause negative reactions to some medications)

2. Fasting. A fast is an ultra low-calorie diet (sometimes in all-liquid form). These are usually juice diets. A juice fasting is normally where you intake mostly freshly juiced fruits and veggies for a few hours to a few weeks, to take the stress off your digestive system for in order to strengthen the natural detoxing abilities of your body. These juices contain a lot of the high fiber fruits and veggies above.  Only in juice form. I like to juice just because you can use the pulp to make an awesome bread when you making home made pizza. (I will include a how too below)

3. Skin Detox. Another form of detox comes through the skin: saunas, HIIT and 'hot yoga' provide high-sweat environments that aim to speed up detox through the largest organ in your body. Your skin. Epsom salts and 'skin brushing' are also wellness practices that have been known to speed up the detoxification of skin-bound toxins. You can find Epsom salt at nearly every grocery store and every pharmacy. I actually like to take Epsom salt and mix it with water and juice from fruits like watermelon and strawberries with a few drops of olive or coconut oil, making it into a skin skin scub to remove the surface toxins from my body.

4. Exercise and Hydration. Exercise actually works with your lungs,skin and blood/digestive system, to speed up your circulatory and respiratory systems. In turn it promotes natural sweating, an all natural detox method used by the body. Which is why it is important to also shower after a workout to rinse off these toxins before they are reabsorbed though the skin. Another very important part of a natural detox, is your hydration level! Your body is able to detoxify itself a whole lot easier if you are drinking the proper amount of water you need daily.The best way to determine this is take your weight, say you are 250 lbs. Take that number and divide it by 2. This means you need to drink no less than 125 oz. of water a day. Water, fresh fruit juices, herbal tea, and even coconut water are wonderful beverages to stay hydrated. 

5. Massage or Physical Stimulation. I actually love this one to be honest. When massaging your body, you are actually loosening up those pesky toxins that are stored away and hiding in your cells. By breaking these loose, it allows your other organs to go into action to rid your body of these nasty things. Besides, It feels good and helps release Serotonin which makes you feel better.

Now the yummy part! Recipes!

This one just so happens to be my Favorite detox method when It comes to drinks. I have made this one a few nights ago and I had to make more.
I have seen so many variations of this recipe. If you go to google.com and type in Detox Water, You will find a ton of different ones.

DETOX WATER
16 oz Coconut Water
1 sliced grapefruit 
1 Tangelo (or other sweet orange style fruit)
1/4 large cucumber, thinly sliced
2 peppermint leaves- you can add more if you want a more predominate mint flavor
Plain,  or Fruit Chunk Ice
(I added blueberry ice in mine a friend ads lemon or lime ice in her's. You can also add other berries to sweeten it naturally ~Add 1-2 small blueberries or thinly sliced fruit, to each ice compartment, fill with water and freeze~)
Directions
Wash and slice all of your fruit. Combine all ingredients then add 16 oz. of coconut water into a large pitcher.
 If you don't plan to drink this right away, refrigerate! (the longer it sits, the more the natural juices infuse in the water)
Warning: The longer it sits, the stronger the flavors will become. The more grapefruit you use, the more the water will taste like pure grapefruit water. A friend even tried this and mixed it with 12 oz of coconut water instead of water and she liked that as well.

Juice Pulp Pizza Crusts

: Elaine Glover – Get RaWcous!

: Main

:  20 mins

:  24 hours

:  24 hours 20 mins

Never waste the nutritious left over pulp from your juicer again! This recipe calls for ‘ground almonds’, and I find the best kind to use in this is pre-dehydrated almond pulp left over from making nut milk. It is very crunchy and gives these pizza crusts a fantastic bite. If you haven’t got any dehydrated almond pulp to hand though, don’t worry as fresh almonds ground in your coffee grinder or pre-bought will also work well. I’ve used cumin in the recipe, just because I love it, but admittedly it’s not very Italian! So feel free to substitute the cumin for oregano or any other Mediterranean herbs.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh vegetable pulp (from making roughly 1 pint of juice)
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 1 cup ground almonds (see note above!)
• 1 cup ground pumpkin seeds (ground in a coffee grinder)
• ⅓ cup ground chia (ground in a coffee grinder)
• ½ red onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp tamari
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp sea salt.

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Either using a spoon or your hands, mix all the ingredients thoroughly (I find using my hands works best!).
3. Once mixed, scrape the mixture out onto a Teflex-lined dehydrator tray.
4. Press the mixture down and work it into a large flat circle, about a ¼” thick (think pizza!). You can also make it into little mini circles – get creative and have fun!
5. Roughly score the mixture with a sharp knife into 8 or 12 slices, depending on how big you want your slices.
6. Dehydrate the pizza at 115° for 8 hours, or over night. When the top is dry, flip it over and peel away the Teflex liner. Break the individual slices up and place back in the dehydrator for another 8-12 hours.
7. When they’re ready, they should be nice and dry and crunchy. Remove from the dehydrator and get topping!

Notes

Dehydrating may seem like a long winded thing to do, but it is actually a very stress free way of making food. Once the mix is in, you can just forget about it, and if it runs over an hour or two, nothing has really spoiled. The only thing is planning ahead. If you are wanting Pizza tomorrow night, get the mix in tonight and it will be ready and waiting for you the next day. Also, if you’re making crackers, it’s a good idea to make a big batch so you always have some on hand. 

Recipe found at  http://getrawcous.com/recipies/juice-pulp-pizza-crusts

Roll out flat on wax paper and stick in the oven with door opened a little to dehydrate till it is as crispy as you like.
 Marinara Sauce
    1 large onion (chopped)
    5 cloves garlic (chopped)
    2 teaspoons olive oil
    28oz tomatoes (crushed, peeled)
    6oz tomato paste
    7 cups water
    3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
    2 tablespoons dried basil
    1 teaspoon honey
    1 pinch crushed red pepper
    salt
    pepper
recipe found at http://www.primalprimos.com/paleo-marinara-sauce/
In a large pot over medium heat, add olive oil and sauté onion, shallot and garlic until the onion becomes transparent.
 Next, add crushed tomatoes, water, tomato paste, seasonings, and honey. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer., stirring occasionally.

Add the Marinara to your freshly made pizza crust and top with your favorite veggies and meat. Injoy!
(this recipe is Paleo Friendly)
Research resources:
http://www.primalprimos.com/paleo-marinara-sauce/
http://getrawcous.com/recipies/juice-pulp-pizza-crusts
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/09/what-are-toxins-in-my-body-detox-101.html
http://www.naturesintentionsnaturopathy.com/body-detox/signs-and-symptoms-of-a-toxic-body.htm