Detox, Weight Loss and Anti Aging

Last post we looked at natural ways to detox and how that could make you healthier and have more energy. It could also help you to lose weight and have many anti aging health benefits.

In fact, detox, weight loss and anti aging are all inter-connected.

The majority of people that try various diets and exercise to lose weight fail. Why? Because they are missing out on the most important reason that they can’t lose the weight or how to prevent the diet yoyo. The standard line you get is that you need to diet and exercise to get results, and for some people, especially the younger generation, this works. But for a huge number of the population this is just not going to work, try as they may.

The missing factor in a successful weight loss program is the cleansing of your colon. If you are not familiar with colon cleansing then this may sound like an odd statement to make. But, consider this; a backed up colon will not only prevent weight loss, but will also cause a whole host of other symptoms such as:

-Always tired and sluggish
-Interrupted sleep
-Weight gain
-Aches and pains
-Premature wrinkling of the skin
-Unexplained skin rashes
-Constipation or diarrhea
-Bloating and gas
-Menstrual cramping
-Headaches

These are only some of the symptoms of a clogged toxic colon. What does this have to do with weight loss?

Acai Berry Extreme All-In-One Colon Cleanse, Weight Loss, Antioxidant, Appetite Suppressant, Metabolism Booster

In a normally functioning colon, the food we ingest gets broken down, nutrients are absorbed in the small and large intestine, the friendly flora produce b-vitamins and nutrients are sent to the rest of the body where all the cells are fed. This normal function produces the hormones we need and keeps the metabolism high and allows for weight management. The problem with today?s environment is that it is toxic from all the chemicals, pesticides and pollutants we are bombarded with on a constant basis.

Another huge factor is mans craving to change things all the time and that includes food. In the name of profit, the food industry is reinventing food and changing them from their natural wholesome form and adding preservatives, dyes and coloring which dramatically alter the foods we eat. It creates great profit, and the shareholders are happy, but this is at the expense of our health.

All you need to do is look around you at Americans and the answer is there for all to see. We are an obese, tired nation. Foods such as white flour, rice, pastas, dairy products, hormone filled meats and sliced meats full of sodium nitrates and processed food wreak havoc with our digestive system.

Applied Nutrition Dual Action Cleanse with Green Tea Fat Burner Bonus

The food we eat should be digested and eliminated in 2 to 3 days, but with processed food it can take 5 to 6 days.

Undigested food starts clogging in your large intestine making it difficult for it to absorb the nutrients you need. As you get further backed up this material becomes toxic and hard making it very difficult to eliminate. You could literally have 4 to 20 pounds of old fecal matter and a narrowing of the passage so that future eliminations become difficult and constipation sets in.

When you eat the typical American diet you may feel full but may be starving for real nutrients. If the diet remains poor, the intestines remain clogged and the body becomes desperate to eliminate toxic buildup. It put tremendous stress on the liver and kidneys and can even manifest itself by trying to get rid of toxins through the skin and odd unexplained rashes appear. Premature wrinkling can occur and metabolism slows making it difficult to lose weight.

If you want to lose weight, get healthy, look and feel better, then do a good colon cleanse first. Take care of the toxic build up and you may feel like a million bucks. You?ll then lose weight, and if you eat the right foods, drink a lot of water and exercise; you should be able to reach your goal. (It would not hurt to follow with a liver and kidney cleanse)!

Click here for a FREE INTERNATIONAL TRIAL of PROCLEANSE COLON CLEANSER

It’s March and the traditional month for spring cleaning, and I have been looking at natural ways to detox to spring clean the body.

There are so many products and methods on the market it’s hard to know what is right. In the end, one of the natural ways to detox that seem to make the most sense is a fasting and detox diet.

Now I must say that fasting conjures up images of sitting miserably at home with a glass of water and thinking of food but in fact, water only is not recommended for a fasting detox as it will release toxins too quickly.

And if natural ways to detox are done sensibly, you could gain a lot of anti-aging health benefits from it, such as lose weight, get more energy and look much better. What a fast does is to give your body a chance to get rid of all the waste and toxins without adding more to the system. Your immune system can therefore zero in on getting rid of the bad stuff and not get distracted with all the new toxins coming in.

A fast could be one or ten days. The longer you do it (up to ten days), the better your body will heal itself and keep diseases at bay. A three to five day fast is quite common as it cleanse the blood, gets rid of toxins and rebuild the immune system.

With that out of the way – here is the game plan for natural ways to detox:

Two days before, eat only fresh fruits and vegetables to prepare body for detox fasting. Avoid all caffeine, sugar, salt, processed foods and alcohol. Drink lots of water, especially first thing in the morning.

Drink herbal tea that will cleanse the digestive system. Teas such as peppermint, rose hip and burdock are good.

Get ready to be irritable, bad tempered and suffering from migraines and headaches as your body gets rid of toxins. Also prepare to experience bad breathe, body odor, skin eruptions and diarrhea. It won’t last long but probably best to do this detox fast on a quiet weekend or when there are a few days holidays.

The Juice Fasting detox

On day or days of fasting, drink only fresh fruit and vegetable juices mixed in with pure distilled water (about half juice, half water). Do not mix fruit and vegetable together except for apple. Fruits such as apple, watermelon and lemon; and vegetable such as carrot, cabbage and celery are great for detoxing.

Add raw garlic and/or spirulina powder to your drinks to get rid of intestinal bacteria and to give yourself some added green nutrients. Drink herbal teas.

Don’t chew gum or take fiber supplements.

Phone up friends and moan about how terrible it all is but feel secretly pleased with yourself for going through it.

After the fasting period, don’t rush out and eat the biggest steak/burger/cow you can find. Introduce back the fresh fruits and vegetables (like the two days prior to fasting) for a day or preferably two. Continue with the water and herb tea.

Slowly integrate cooked foods after that in small potions spread out more frequently during the day.

—————————

Once you see the great benefits of detox fasting and you have gone through the motion of doing it the first time, you will want to integrate a fasting detox schedule to your life. A small fast (1-3 days) once a month is a good start with a longer period (7-10 days) once or twice a year will give lots of health benefits – the most important of which is to cleanse your system and keep diseases away.

If you need a little extra help for colon cleansing and detoxing, try :
Health Plus Colon Cleanse Regular
Health Plus Colon Cleanse Tea
Cellular Research Formulas – Dual-Action Cleanse – 60 Tabs Total Body Purifier + 90 Tabs Colon Clear

Related articles for Natural Ways to Detox:

• WATCH: Detoxing From Today’s Modern Diet (huffingtonpost.com)

In a previous post, I wrote about anti aging nutrition and the importance of eating smart, not eating more to maintain good health especially as we age.

This post I will be looking at free radical damage – what it is, how to prevent free radical damage, what we can do on a daily basis and antioxidants.

What is free radical?

A free radical is an atom or molecule that is chemically highly reactive due to at least one unpaired electron. This unpaired electron will bond readily with other components which could cause a lot of damage to the cells in our body. Free radical damage is closely related to oxidant stress, where the level of antioxidants and oxidants is imbalanced in favor to oxidants, resulting in cell degeneration.

How do they cause damage?

Free radicals only exist for one-millionth of a second each but if they are present in excessive amounts, they can do considerable damage to the protective membranes of our cells and our DNA. On top of that, our immune system may view the damaged cells as foreign invaders and start attacking those aswell. Dr. Denham Harman is considered the father of the ‘free radical theory of aging’, and he views aging as our bodies’ ever increasing accumulation of oxygen based free radicals that contribute to diseases such as cancer and arteriosclerosis.

“Harman’s logic proceeds from three observations: (1) irradiation causes premature aging; (2) irradiation creates oxygen radicals, which may mediate its effects; and (3) cells produce oxygen radicals under normal conditions. From these premises, he theorized that aging could be caused by endogenously generated oxygen radicals”

-Science of Aging-

How can we minimize free radical exposure?

1. Don’t smoke! and also avoid second hand smoke.
2. Avoid deep fried foods and burnt foods such as toasts with burnt edges and browned cheese toppings.
3. Minimize consumption of saturated fats such as meats and dairy products. Make one meal a day vegetarian.
4. Use monounsaturated oils such as olive oil and don’t heat it.
5. Don’t exercise in polluted areas and in highly congested city areas.
6. Avoid over exposure to the sun.
7. Limit alcohol consumption especially hard liquor.

What is antioxidant?

Antioxidants are natural compounds that neutralizes free radicals by binding to their free electrons. It protects our cells from free radical damage.

Where can I get antioxidants?

You can get antioxidants in two ways : food and supplements.

Food :

Most fresh fruits and vegetables :

• Yellow and orange citrus fruits and vegetables such as oranges, mangoes, carrots, sweet potatoes
• All types of berries such as blueberries and strawberries
• Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage
• Red fruits and vegetables such as red pepper, tomatoes, watermelon
• Dark green vegetables such as watercress, kale, spinach

Fish :

• Salmon
• Tuna
• Mackerel

All types of nuts and seeds:

• Brazil nuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts
• Almonds

Lentils and beans

Wholegrain products, soya products, wheatgerm

Garlic, ginger, onions

Red wine (in moderation)

Green Tea

Next post we will look at preventing free radical damage with supplements.

Video : Effects of Free Radicals in your body.

Related articles for preventing free radical damage:

• Top 10 Brain Foods (dirjournal.com)
• Fresh Fruits and Your Health (thebestrawfooddiet.com)

Anti Aging Nutrition – What is it?

This is the first part on anti aging nutrition. I have no idea how many parts there will be, I only know that I will cover as much as possible about anti aging nutrition and its effect on anti aging health. Please feel free to post your comments below.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

I use to work on the eighth floor of a twenty five story building. Each floor seemed to have their ’specialization’.

A few floors would be dedicated to offices like the one I was working at, and other floors would cater to lawyers, accountants and doctors.

I found out later on that in fact one whole floor was dedicated to geriatrics. The number of elderly people who used to come into the lifts in wheelchairs, or hooked up to oxygen tanks or some tube or another was quite a sight.

It used to well, scare me a bit. It was such a horrifying portrait of old age : the inertia, the decaying smell, the blank stares into the impending finality of life; and as an impressionable twenty something then, I vowed I would rather die young than be reduced to a state like that.

Well, years have passed now and the clock is ticking. Let’s be honest, our time will come no matter what we do. But what I have realized meanwhile is that I want to live long, as long as I possibly can – but I also want to live in a state where I can enjoy my ‘old age’ and not be incapacitated with all sorts of diseases and illnesses. Diseases and illnesses I can avoid by being a little smart about my lifestyle.

Anti aging nutrition I decided, was the place to start.

The Chinese view food as medicine and medicine as food, with a healthy sprinkling of herbs to treat all sorts of ailments. Nutritious eating for them is synonymous with disease prevention and good health, with the understanding that in this balancing act, prevention is always better than cure.

They are so right – and the trick is not to eat more, but to eat smart.

A lot of people consume many calories a day, yet still lack the essential anti aging nutrients to keep them healthy and fit. It is not uncommon to see individuals consume 3-4,000 calories a day and still suffer ‘malnutrition’.

How important is anti aging nutrition? There certainly is increasing evidence that a healthy diet, exercise and  proper nutrition will determine quite dramatically how we age.

“Provided you are not in the grip of degenerative disease already, you are likely to get at least a decade of vigorous years, and perhaps a lot more, no matter what age you are now [through optimal nutrition]“.

– Dr. Michael Colgan, Colgan Institute -

There is also evidence that consuming less calories, about 10-25% less, will extend your lifespan. Eating less but eating right – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and not processed foods, unsaturated fats and empty calories such as crisps and sugary pastries. In Okinawa Japan, where there are more centenarians than anywhere else in the world, the Okinawans eat 17-40% less calories than other Japanese. Their diets also contains plenty of fish, soya products such as tofu and dark green vegetables including seaweed.

When you think that one in three Americans will get some form of cancer in their lifetime (with the number closing in on one in two), and that approximately 60% of people over age 65 gets high blood pressure; or that there is a 45% chance of being on some form of medication when you become a senior citizen – looking at what you eat and how you nourish your body is vital.

As we age, our bodies’ ability to absorb and assimilate nutrients becomes less efficient.  Our cells’ re-generation process slows down, or stops altogether.

Free radicals are produced every time our bodies convert glucose into energy. Our immune system deals with most of these oxidants but about 1% of our cells’ DNA are left damaged where our immune system has missed or cannot reach. Over time, the damage accumulates. On top of that, our bodies’ ability to repair the damage diminishes with age, which means that without proper care and attention, we age faster.

Next post we will look at one of four tips to prolong life and improve aging  health : 

Preventing free radical damage.

Related articles for anti aging nutrition :

• How To Slow Down the Aging Process (howcast.com)
• Dr. John Salerno: Why I Recommend Organic Foods To My Weight Loss Patients (huffingtonpost.com)