Karen’s Free Health and Fitness Tips

Juice fasting is becoming increasingly popular amongst health conscious individuals around the world. Juice fasting has been proven to eliminate harmful and poisonous toxins from out of the body and to leave the juice faster feeling, revitalised, rejuvenated and reinvigorated.

There are many fruits and vegetables that could be included in a juice fasting detoxification program. Some are more effective than others at clearing harmful toxins from your body, but some fruits and vegetables are more effective at achieving rapid weight loss. You need to decide what your main goal is for your juice fast before you begin to develop your own juice fasting recipes.

Here are a few juice fasting recipes that I consider to be some of the most effective (and some of the best tasting) recipes:

I call this one the ‘Brain Exciter’ as it really gets the brain pumping and fresh.

• 1 orange

• 1 pear

• 1 yam

• 1 grapefruit

• 1 apple

Peel the orange, the yam and the grapefruit. Cut everything into sections, juice and stimulate your brain with this juice!

I call this one ‘Energy Enhancer’ because it pumps your energy levels sky high immediately after drinking the juice.

Don’t you know that clay can be used in eliminating the toxins and other harmful chemicals which have been gradually deposited in our colons over the years? Finding it impossible to believe? Ingesting natural clay has been proven to be very effective in promoting internal cleansing. In fact, it has been used for centuries for its medicinal properties by over 200 indigenous cultures all over the world, most notably in South America, Africa and Australia.

Natural clay used by modern day practitioners of alternative medicine is more commonly known commercially as “bentonite clay”, “montmorillonite” or “Pascallite”. Technically, the clay is formed from the weathering of volcanic ash in the presence of water.

There are two available types of natural clay - sodium bentonite (swelling type) and calcium bentonite (non-swelling type). Sodium bentonite is primarily used for industrial purposes (examples are in the drilling mud for oil exploration, in closing up and sealing subsurface disposal systems for used nuclear fuel and other hazardous chemicals, etc.). The richest sources of sodium bentonite can be found mainly between South Dakota and Montana, in the Southwestern parts of the Unites States and in Greece.

Nowadays many detoxification programs are appearing on the market which are specifically designed and made for individuals of various ways of life. These programs may include herbal detoxification, sauna baths, juice diets and many others. Studies indicate that there are also a few detoxification programs that have direct effects on our liver and kidneys.

The Juice Diet Program

A traditional juice diet program will comprise of freshly made fruit and vegetables juices. It has been a leading choice for a long time, and a great alternative to water fasting since fruit and vegetable juice have alkalizing and uric acid neutralizing properties and other nutritional elements that out body requires. Fruits and vegetables can also be eaten, are easily digestible, packed with essential vitamins and give us a satiating feeling without the guilt.

Herbal Detoxification Program

Many individuals have labeled it a great choice for detoxification. It employs the natural healing power of a wide range of herbs that are very effective in cleansing our bodies of toxins. They can provide excellent detoxifying results when taken properly. These herbal supplements can come in the form of pills, tablets or most recently, in tea form. Examples are herbal teas made from dandelion root, cranberries and red beets. Studies have shown that herbal teas made from these ingredients have the ability to cleanse the liver and kidneys at the same time.

The body has a very sophisticated and complex detoxification system that is working on your behalf all the time so do you need to bother with programs and plans that tell you how to detox the human body?

Researchers are noting that in spite of advances in medical treatment people are getting diseases at younger ages for which there appears to be no answers at the moment. People are surviving longer but they are in the main not healthier. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are all on the increase. Many scientists are questioning why this is happening. There is little research into what is the underlying cause of these and other degenerative disease.

There is no doubt that we are all constantly bombarded with toxins that our detoxification systems were not designed for. Although our bodies seem to have an amazing capacity for developing pathways or routes to get rid of some of these chemicals researchers have discovered that we are all now contaminated with chemicals that can persist for years interfering with how our bodies work. The more pronounced the build up the greater the capacity to disrupt the intricate and delicate mechanisms that keep the body functions running smoothly.

Feeling tired, body aching, mind wandering? Now is the time to detox your body. Detoxing is simply the process of removing poisonous substances from the body by cleansing the blood in the liver, via the kidneys, lungs, intestines and skin.

So how it is done? Here are some easy steps for a natural body detox:

The first step is to reduce the intake of certain foods that release toxins into your body - coffee, alcohol, saturated fats and refined sugar, as well as cigarettes. The next step is to cut back using personal products such as toothpaste, body cleansers and shampoo, as well as household cleaners and chemicals.

While there are several methods of detoxification, it is wise to choose a way that suits you best. Here are some examples:

Not everyone may have a full understanding of what the term body detoxification means. As most people are used to giving their bodies a good dose of harmful toxins and chemicals everyday with their daily activities, it is no surprise why body cleansing can be handy every now and then. Undergoing body detoxification on a regular basis can prove to be a very crucial move in keeping the body clean not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. We can therefore say that the whole procedure of cleansing the body using different methods is called detoxification. Body detoxification can take different forms and styles, and its benefits will be described in succeeding paragraphs.

What are the methods used in body detoxification?

There are numerous ways that people can choose when going under a full body detoxification program. Some will go about using a single method of detoxification, while some will employ the methods of several body detox programs in order to achieve the best results possible. Whichever methods are chosen, people deciding to get their bodies detoxified are taking the right step towards a better health.

Detoxification diets are those diets which help the body in restoring its condition by way of eliminating the toxic and harmful substances that got accumulated over a period of a few years. These detoxification diets have fast picked up with people belonging to all walks of life and are believed to endow great results for those who follow the process in a stringent manner. Detoxification diets are also popular as detox diets in its short form and help in evacuating the wastes from the body. Usually, these diets do not last for longer periods of time and are found to give favorable results if done for short duration only in terms of days.

Here are the benefits that one can derive out of going on a detox diet:

• One feels rejuvenated just a few days after being on the detox program as it helps in eliminating the impurities out of the body. There is an increase in the levels of energy.

• During the detox process, one has to consume a lot of water. And water has a terrific cleansing effect on the skin and the skin gets a new sheen as the cells get revitalized with increased intake of water levels into the body. Toxins are expelled out of the body in the form of urine and sweat.

When your body is sick in any way the pH is disrupted. Your body does whatever it can to keep up with the extra acid produced. When it can’t keep up, disease happens. Disease is a breakdown of your body’s cells optimal function. Disease happens through poor eating habits, overwork, stuffing your emotions, eating too many cooked foods, too much sugar, salt, caffeine, drugs, vaccines, tension, depression, lack of proper rest, lack of exercise, environmental contamination of the air/water/food and the retention of metabolic wastes (constipation). The only effective way to “cure” disease is to eliminate the causes.

Can we stop disease or reverse agonizing symptoms? Yes. How? We have to clean up our lives with optimal nutrition, special diets, cleansing programs, specific vitamins and supplements, fresh extracted juices, herbs and other natural therapies which do not harm the body over time. We must change our living habits and the way we think. We need to find a balance between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our life.

All cures come from within the central core of your body first, then it progresses outward and from the top of your body down to your feet and in reverse order in which the symptoms first occurred.

In recent decades there has been a trend in the fads of dieting, and it is actually no different in the world of detoxification advocates. For those who continue to push detoxification diets there are a whole range of issues that they are not thinking about. For example, before one continues or starts a detox diet then everything about that person must be taken into consideration: his or her current diet, weight, current state of health, as well as body size and age. There may be some type of benefits that certain people experience by performing a detoxification diet in their lives, but let’s look at the ways in which there is false hope with the issue of detoxification:

#1: Detoxification Will Not Cure Your!

There are many people who are suffering from major diseases and sickness, like certain types of cancer or other incurable diseases. However, the detoxification world makes everything out to be so simple that they put too much weight on some of the benefits of detox diets. If a person has been suffering from lung cancer for quite some time and sees advertisements for a total body detoxification and restoration product then he or she may easily buy into the false hope that is being presented.

Being a health buff, I’ve considered myself fairly healthy for a majority part of my life. I have an optimal weight, surprisingly slim that is. I eat the regular meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner, and usually stayed away from most junk foods. Or so I thought — I had little idea that my lifestyle and eating program were not so great after all.

My food choices were favoring a Western style of eating — fast foods, soft drinks, instant juice drinks, foods filled with lots of saturated fat, salt and sugar. And smoking was a part of me too — I typically smoked two packs of menthol cigarettes each day. I noticed I was more inactive physically.

This is the lifestyle and eating habits I had that I thought was just plain normal since this is how most of the people are living their lives day in and day out. I had little idea that all the chemicals, preservatives, additives, and unhealthy fats I was consuming were shockingly very harmful and deadly for my health. Even the air I breathe is filled with harmful carbon monoxide from vehicles, pesticides, solvents and other heavy metals and chemical lingering in the atmosphere.