If you are looking for a healthy detox program for your body, refrain from choosing one of the much-publicized detox programs and create your own with the help of your doctor or registered dietitian. Eating foods that naturally detoxify your body is preferable to following any promoted detox diet, according to the Mayo Clinic. Good food choices include fresh garlic, green tea, fresh fruits, cruciferous vegetables and foods rich in flavonoids.
Foods Containing Flavonoids
More than 4,000 in number, flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds that help detoxify the body naturally, according to the Linus Pauling Institute, because they have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-allergic and anti-tumor properties. They are also antioxidants that fight harmful, cell-damaging free radicals. Incorporating foods rich in flavonoids into your diet on a continuing basis is an important part of a healthy detox solution because not only do environmental toxins find their way into the body, but the body's own biochemical reactions produce toxic waste products that require elimination. Flavonoids are found in broccoli, eggplant, celery, onions, parsley, thyme, soybeans, kale, tomatoes, berries, apples, purple grape juice, cherries and cranberries.
Fresh Garlic
Garlic contains allicin that has anti-fungal and antiviral properties and may kill the bacteria that causes ulcers, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, although research supporting this is not yet conclusive as of 2011. Because garlic is rich in antioxidants, it can neutralize the free radicals in your body that damage cells and contribute to aging, cancer and heart disease. Always choose fresh garlic over supplements; use it in your casseroles or on raw salads, in guacamole or sprinkled on toast. Nevertheless, do not increase your garlic intake without consulting your doctor, because garlic can thin your blood and cause other side effects, such as muscular aches, bloating, headaches, upset stomach and dizziness.
Green Tea
Green tea helps the body produce glutathione enzymes that defend against cancer-causing chemicals and toxic substances that damage DNA, according to research at the Arizona Cancer Center, published in 2007 in "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention." Green tea may also protect the liver from toxins such as the ones found in alcohol. Drinking 10 or more cups of green tea each day, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, makes it less likely for men who drink alcohol to develop liver disease.
Fresh Fruits and Cruciferous Vegetables
Known as cruciferous vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, watercress and horseradish have their characteristic odor from the nitrogen, sulfur and glucosinolates they contain. Because glucosinolates break down in the body into phytochemicals known as isothiocyanates that fight cancer, these vegetables are good, healthy detox solutions. The isothiocyanates may also inhibit certain steroid hormones that promote breast and prostate cancers, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. This happens through stimulation of enzymes to convert estrogen into a benign form. Eating fresh fruits is another healthy detox solution because fruits contain phytochemicals that have anti-cancer properties.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Do Detox Diets Offer Any Health Benefits?
- The Linus Pauling Institute: Antioxidant Activities of Flavonoids
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Garlic
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Green Tea
- Linus Pauling Institute: Cruciferous Vegetables
- ScienceDaily: Green Tea Boosts Production of Detox Enzymes, Rendering Cancerous Chemicals Harmless
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