A Healthier You: Enderbodies Day Spa
Think Raw
Eat plentiful amounts of raw fruits and vegetables, especially dark green leafy vegetables and orange, yellow, purple and red colored fruits and vegetables. Thirty to forty percent of the diet should consist of raw fruits and vegetables. Try to eat some raw fruits or vegetables with EVERY meal, as they contain living enzymes, vitamin C, natural antibiotic substances and anti-cancer phyto-nutrients.
Good Fats
Avoid the fats that present a high workload for the liver and gall bladder. These are full-cream dairy products, margarine's, processed vegetable oils (hydrogenated fats), deep fried foods, foods that are not fresh and contain rancid fats, preserved meats, animal skins and fatty meats. In those with a dysfunctional liver, I recommend avoiding all animal milks and substituting them with oat, rice, almond or soy milks. Eat the good fats which contain essential fatty acids in their natural unprocessed form.
These are found in cold pressed vegetable and seed oils, avocados, fish (especially oily fish such as salmon), raw fresh nuts, raw fresh seeds such as flaxseeds (linseeds), sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, alfalfa seeds, pumpkin seeds and legumes (beans, peas and lentils). Seeds such as flaxseeds can be ground freshly everyday (in a regular coffee grinder or food processor) and can be added to cereals, smoothies, fruit salads and vegetables. Spirulina, evening primrose oil, black currant seed oil, borage oil and lecithin also contain healthy oils to help the liver. Do not use butter and/or margarine on your breads and crackers. Replace them with tahini, hummus, pesto, tomato paste or relish, freshly minced garlic and cold pressed oil (chilli or other natural spices can be added if enjoyed), nut-spreads, fresh avocado or cold pressed olive oil. The good fats are essential to build healthy cell membranes around the liver cells. As we get older we need to oil our bodies.
Think Natural
Avoid artificial chemicals and toxins such as insecticides, pesticides, and artificial sweeteners and colorings, (especially aspartame), flavorings and preservatives. Avoid boxed & processed food. Excess alcohol should be avoided.
Be Diverse
Consume a diverse range of proteins from grains, raw nuts, seeds, legumes, eggs, seafood, and if desired, free range chicken (without the skin), and lean fresh red meats. If you do not want to eat red meat or poultry this is quite acceptable as there are many other sources of protein. It is safe to be a strict vegetarian, however you may need to take supplements of vitamin B 12, iron, taurine and carnitine to avoid poor metabolism and fatigue. To obtain first class protein, strict vegetarians need to combine 3 of the following 4 food classes at one meal - grains, nuts, seeds and legumes; otherwise valuable essential amino acids may be deficient. If your body is lacking amino acids you will be fatigued and you may suffer with mood changes, reduced cognitive function, hypoglycaemia, poor immune and liver function and hair loss. Many vegans can feel unwell because they are lacking amino acids, iron and vitamin B 12. After supplementing with these nutrients and modifying their diets they quickly regained excellent health
Let Food be Your Medicine
Many diseases can be overcome by eating healing foods that contain powerful medicinal properties. Optimal health and the prevention of disease is only possible by including these healing foods regularly in the diet. The healing substances found in certain foods or therapeutically active chemicals are known as phyto-chemicals. Mediterranean countries have a lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases because of the protective effect of traditional Mediterranean foods, such as olive oil, tomatoes and legumes. Tomatoes contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene, which according to a paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1997:66:116-22), is the most powerful of all the dietary carotenoids. The researchers found that the dietary intake of lycopene was linked to a lower risk of prostate problems. They also found that higher levels of lycopene in the blood lowered the risk of cell proliferation, which would theoretically exert a powerful anti-cancer effect. Cooking or chopping tomatoes increases the absorption of lycopene into the body. Eating tomatoes with oil increases the availability of the lycopene to the body, which is another reason that Mediterranean cuisine confers health benefits.
Broccoli and other vegetables in the cruciferous family are known to reduce the risk of bowel cancer, but it is only recently that scientists have isolated the phyto-chemicals which confer this protection. Broccoli has been found to contain a phyto-chemical called sulphoraphane, which enhances the phase two-detoxification pathway in the liver. Sulphoraphane has also been found to block mammary tumor formation in rats.
Beetroot is a beautiful deep purple color because it contains the antioxidant anthocyanidin. Constituents of beetroot have been shown to exert anti-viral and anti-tumour effects in animal studies. Other foods, which also exert these properties, although to a lesser degree, are red and green peppers, red onion, paprika and cranberry. These foods contain healing phytonutrients such as carotenoids, capsanthin and anthocyanins.
Certain foods have high concentrations of plant hormones, which are known as phyto-estrogens. Examples of these are the isoflavones genistein and daidzein (found in soya beans and red clover), and lignans (found in flaxseed). Asian communities consume a high intake of soy, and have a significantly lower incidence of hormone dependent cancers of the prostate, uterus and breast. All legumes such as beans, peas and lentils contain beneficial phyto-estrogens.
A study published in the British Medical Journal in 1990, looked at a group of postmenopausal women who were given 1.5 oz of soy flour for 2 weeks, followed by half that of flaxseed meal for 2 weeks, and then half again of red clover sprouts. This produced improvements in various blood hormone levels and menopausal symptoms.
Asian and Mediterranean cuisines are now integrating themselves into the old fashioned Western diet consisting of meat, bread and 4 vegetables. This culinary multiculturalism has enormous and proven benefits for our health and also for our enjoyment.
Watch that sweet tooth
Use natural sugars from fresh fruits and juices, dried fruits, honey, molasses, aguave nectar, fruit jams, carob, date sugar, maple syrup or rice syrup. Avoid refined white sugar and candies, cakes and white flour products made with refined sugars. If you find you crave these foods on a regular basis you may have the very common metabolic imbalance known as Syndrome X. By following the eating principles and taking nutrients to rebalance the metabolism you can get cravings under control making weight loss and maintenance of energy much easier.
Rehydrate your body
Drink large amounts of fluids such as water, raw juices and teas (green tea, herbal and regular weak tea is fine). Aim for 2 liters of fluid daily and this will prevent constipation problems and help your kidneys to eliminate the toxins that the liver has broken down. Use a household water filter. Water filters with sub-micron, solid carbon block filters are able to remove parasites and many toxic chemicals. Shop around and take a look at different types of filters before you buy and get professional advice as technology is improving rapidly.
The liver is the major organ involved in detoxification, however it is still important to support the other body organs of elimination. The skin and the kidneys eliminate toxins through sweating and urine and this is why saunas and a high intake of filtered water can reduce symptoms of toxic overload
Go organic
Not many people want to eat fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed repeatedly with insecticides and fungicides, ripened with ethylene gas and perhaps waxed with an insect secretion. It is a little off putting while biting into your lovely red juicy steak to think that this animal may have been fed antibiotics and the ground-up remains of thousands of dead animals, and had potent sex hormones implanted into it to accelerate its growth. The healthy reputation of meat was tarnished by the epidemic of mad cow disease (BSE) that has been troubling England and other parts of Europe for some years now. In 1996, the British government conceded that BSE could possibly pass to humans and cause a fatal type of dementia called Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD). The British government has banned farmers from feeding livestock the remains of dead cattle, and the use of meat and bone meal as an agricultural fertilizer. Dr. Carleton Gadjusek, noted for his Noble Prize winning research, believes that a form of BSE could manifest in chickens and pigs fed the melted down remains of many animals found in meat and bone meal. The disease may not be obvious because the animals are slaughtered before the disease has time to develop.
Organic food is sometimes called biodynamic food and is produced without synthetic herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, post-harvest fungicides, antibiotic growth-promoters, or size enhancing hormones. It relies upon Mother Nature's forces, recycling of nutrients and sustainable methods of production. Foods certified as organic must be grown on farms that are inspected and fully certified according to a stringent set of standards. Packaged and/or processed organic foods are free from artificial preservatives, colorings, flavorings or additives, and should not contain irradiated or genetically modified ingredients.
Keep your Bowels Moving
Avoid constipation by having plenty of fiber, found in unprocessed food and raw fruits and vegetables. One really good trick to keep your bowels moving is to grind flaxseed (linseed), sunflower seeds and almonds (LSA), in a blender or coffee grinder to produce a fine powder, and eat 2 to 3 tablespoons of this powder daily. You can add other ground up seeds, that are high in fiber such as psyllium, pumpkin, sesame and alfalfa seeds to increase the fiber content of the powder. Add this powder to smoothies, vegetables, soups, cereals and fruit salads. Other good sources of fiber are brans made from wheat, oats, soy or rice. Sweet corn either raw or lightly cooked, is an excellent source of bowel cleansing fiber. Fiber acts like a broom in your bowels and sweeps their walls clean of accumulated layers of waste products.
Pamper your liver
Eat foods to increase nutrients beneficial to liver function. These are:
- Vitamin K - green leafy vegetables and alfalfa sprouts.
- Arginine - this helps the liver to detoxify ammonia, which is a toxic waste product of protein metabolism. Arginine is found in legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), carob, oats, walnuts, wheat germ and seeds
- Antioxidants - found in fresh raw juices such as carrot, celery, beetroot, dandelion, apple, pear and green drinks like wheatgrass and barley-grass juice, and fresh fruits, particularly citrus and kiwi fruit.
- Selenium - sources of the antioxidant selenium are Brazil nuts, brewer's yeast, designer yeast powders (very good source), kelp, brown rice, molasses, seafood, wheatgerm, whole-grains, garlic and onions.
- Methionine - is essential for detoxification. Is found in legumes, eggs, fish, garlic, onions, seeds and meat.
- Essential fatty acids - Seafood, cod liver oil, and fish oil. Seafood may be fresh, canned or frozen such as sardines, salmon, mackerel, tuna, trout, mullet, blue mussels, calamari, tailor, herring, blue eye cod, gemfish. Fresh avocado, fresh raw nuts and seeds, legumes (beans, peas, lentils), whole grains, wheatgerm, green vegetables such as spinach, green peas and green beans, eggplant, cold pressed fresh vegetable and seed oils, freshly ground seeds, especially flaxseeds (linseed), evening primrose oil, black-currant seed oil, star flower oil. Essential fatty acids are required for healthy membranes in every cell of the body and plentiful amounts are required for healthy liver function. This is why strict low fat diets are not beneficial for general health, weight control or liver function.
- Natural sulphur compounds - are found in eggs (preferably free range), garlic, onions, leeks, shallots and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
Educating Our Clients Toward a Healthier Lifestyle.
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